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HISTORY 



OF 



BRADFORD COUNTY, 

PENNSYLVANIA, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SELECTIONS. 



" 1 hear the trtad of pioneers 

* -t * * * 

The first low wash of waves, where soon 
Shall roll a mighty sea." 

— A nonyiiwus. 



By H. C BRADSBY, 

al.thor of the "history of arkansas," "battle of gettys- 
burg," "history of illinois," and the compiler of 
divers local histories in illinois, missouri, 
indiana and pennsylvania. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



CHICAGO; 

S. B. NELSON .^' CO., PUBLISHERS, 
1891. 




DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, 

Printers and Binders, 

407 TO 425 Dearborn St., Chicago. 






PKEFACE. 



SOME distinguished pundit has remarked that the nation whicli 
best knows its own history is sure to be made up of the best 
type of patriots, and the chances are of the highest quality of civil- 
ization. If the reader and the writer are agreed on this philosopher's 
conclusions, then this page need hardly try to do more than simply 
say: "Here it is — make the most of it." 

The attempt has here been made mostly to preserve facts, recorded 
and otherwise, that may be excellent material for the historian, who, 
let us hops, will some day come and tell it in form and manner worthy 
of the great theme. This is simply saying that no true history is 
written by the contemporaries of the great eras of a nation's story, 
and therefore no attempt here is made at history save that of a period 
three-quarters of a century ago, and the earlier day movements of 
men that cluster around the ])ioneers, the Revolution and the early 
civil history of the formation of the County. If the attempt has been 
at all successful, then the possessor of this volume may know tliat he 
has both a book for future reference as well as one that tells of tlie 
inner movements of his ancestors — that forlorn hope 

" Who were the tirst 
Tliiit ever burst 

luto tliat silent sea." 

Part I, deals mostly with the past, thougli bringing the official 
and social records down to the present hour, yet so far as there is any 
attempt to discover the secrets of the movements of men's minds as a 
society, it will be found in this division of the volume. 

Part II. presents an immense array of facts concerning nearly 
every prominent family in the county, both the living and their 
departed ancestors. 



PREFACE. 



Thus the two are companion pieces, as it were, and as a whole 
represent something of a vast number of the most prominent people 
in the eventful story that founded this little empire within our great 
empire, as well as those who are to day the brawn and brain that are 
so busy building upon the enduring foundations laid by the immortal 
conquerors of a continent and the destroyers of tyrants. 

One thing is quite certain : Time will add infinite value to this 
book even if by any lightly estimated now. The consciousness of this 
fact will rob the sting of any ruthless attack that may be made upon it. 

While it is customary in works of this kind to make of the "preface " 
mostly a means of returning thanks for special favors in aiding and 
encouraging the enterprise to specified parties; while the sincere thanks 
are here given, yet so many are entitled to mention that to name all or 
a greater part is simply impossible, therefore to the good people of 
Bradford county, one and all, for your considerate aid and repeated 
kindnesses, thanks — ten thousand thanks. 

THE AUTHOR 






conte:rts. 



PAET I. 

CHAPTER I. 

GEOLOGY. Page. 

A Lnnd of Farmers, "Where Every Man Should Know Local Geology— The Forma- 
tions—The Valuiihle Chemung Rock— Etc 19-27 

CHAPTER II. 

INDIANS. 

They are Fading Away— Petritied Intellectually — Coureurs des Bois— The Villages 
and Shacks in Bradford County— The Doors of the Six Nations— Moravian 
Missionaries — Trails— Pol3^gamy — Cannibals — Canoes — Wards of the Nation — 
Treatment by the Government— Etc 27-39 

CHAPTER III. 

MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS. 

The First Wliite Men Here— Coureurs des Bois— Hunters— The Moravian Mission- 
aries—Etc 39-44 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE PIONEERS. 

A Comparative Study— " The Simple Annals" of the World's Remarkable Men— 
The Hard Schools of Fate that Produced Them— The Silent INIen of the Wilder- 
ness—Their Work— The Splendid Results and the Paucity of Resources at their 
Command— The j\Ien Who Made Emigration a Science and Built an Empire 
Founded on the Bible— The Siixon and the Gaul— The Fur Trade— Tlie Cour- 
eurs des Bois— Etc 44-53 

CHAPTER V. 

EARLY SETTLERS, 

To the Commencement of the Revolution— During the War the Country Aban- 
doned by the Whites— Marauding Indians— Fox and Shufelt, the First Set- 
tlers — List of Those Following Them— First of the Susquehanna Company — 
The First Discoverers Unknown— Appearance of the Country — A Boy and 
Leatber Breeches— Etc 53- C9 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

the log cabin. 

Page. 
The First Brush Cabins — The Improved Ones — Etc 69- 79 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

Mankidd's First Attack upon King Fetich — War Meeting, 1774 — "Whigs and Tories- 
Three Companies Sent to the Field — Prominent Men — Rudolph Fox Captured — 
Battles in Bradford County — Wyoming Battle, and Near Wj^alusing — Captives 
Escape — Sullivan's Expedition — Col. Franklin, Samuel Gore, Maj. Flower and 
Others-Etc 79-111 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SEVENTEEN TOWNSHIPS. 

John Winthrop, under Whom was the Beginning of Great Things — The First and 
the Second Pennamite and Yankee Wars — Attempt to Form a New State 111-148 

CHAPTER IX. 

GLEANINGS OF THE EARLY TIMES. 

What the First Newspaper Tells Us— The Bradford Gazette— Much Real Early 
History Gleaned — Sparse in Editorials, but Rich in History — Every Item Inter- 
esting—Etc 148-189 

CHAPTER X. 

PROGRESS IN CIVIL ORGANIZATION. 

When this was Montgomery County, Connecticut — A Part of the Seventeen Town- 
ships — The Two Original Townships Along the River made Three, Four, Etc. — 
Bradford County Formed as Ontario County — Changed to Bradford — Its organ- 
ization and Civil Progress — Contestants for County Seat — Original Townships 
and Election Districts— Petitions for New County — To be called Hiram— Others 
wanted It called Loraine — Nonst-use of Hunting for Indian Names for Places — 
A Possible Vision, Standing on Table Rock — Amusing Gerrymander — Etc. 189-204 

CHAPTER XI. 



Mail Routes and Postoffices— First Mails Carried on Foot as There were no Roads for 
Other Travel— First Mail Coaches by Conrad Teter— Navigating the Susque- 
hanna— Present Postoilices— The Old Berwick Toll Road— Etc 207-219 

CHAPTER XII. 

WARS AND RUMORS. 

The War Fever of 1799— War of 1812-15— Mexican War— Civil War 1861--65— 
Bradford's Part Therein— Companies and Regiments— Bounties Given by the 
County- Militia of 1862— Emergency Men, 1863 220-249 



CONTENTS. Vn 

CHAPTER XIII. 

INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN THE COUNTY. 

Page. 
Introductory — Republican-Federalists and Republican-Democrats — Political Ques- 
tions — Newspaper and Other Advancements— Miscellaneous 249-271 

CHAPTER XIV. 

BRADFORD COUNTY CIVIL LIST. 

Past and Present State Officials— Past and Present County Officials 271-280 

CHAPTER XV. 

POLITICAL. 

First Meetings and Elections — Why Federalists — Jefferson and Hamilton— Land 
Question — First Two Voting Districts — Federal and Whig Parties Overthrown — 
Old Labor Party — Lincoln, Douglas and Trumbull, an Episode — Election 
Returns to Date— Etc 280-301 

CHAPTER XVI, 

EMINENT PEOPLE. 

David Wilmot — Chief Justice Mevcur — Patil Dudley Morrow — Burr Ridgeway — 
E. O'Meara Goodrich 302-317 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ATTORNEYS. 

The First in the County — Story of A. C. Stewart — List, with Time of Coining — 
List of Present Attorneys— Etc 317-324 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PHYSICIANS. 

Early Practice of Medicine — The Old-Time Heroics— The Ancient Hoodoo, Charms, 
Blood-Letting and Hot Water — Calomel and Salivation — License to Practice — 
Homeopathy — Medical Society — Present Officers- List of Registered Practi- 
tioners—Etc , 324-330 

CHAPTER XIX. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Introductory— The Argus— The Reporter-Journal— The Republican and other 

prominent Journals and Journalists in Bradford Cotmty 330-340 

CHAPTER XX. 

SCHOOLS. 

Some of the First — Academies — Hypatia — Miss Westover — Susquehanna Collegiate 
Institute— Public Schools Established— Number of Schools and Cost— Etc. 340-351 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

churches. 

Page. 

liaptists — Presbyterians — Methodists — Episcopalians — Disciple Church — Universal- 

ists — Catholic and Other Churches in the County — Early Preachers, Etc. — 
Miscellaneous 351-3G6 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SOCIETIES. 

Commencing Back in the Other Century — Rapid Increase in the Last Few Years — 

Etc 869-382 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

STATISTICS AND MISCELLANEA. 

List of Taxables by Districts— Census Statistics Including Population — Miscella- 
neous 382-388 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Albany Township 388-389 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Armenia Township — Alba Borough 389-391 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Asylum Township , 391-393 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Athens Township — Athens, Sayre and South Waverly Boroughs 394-431 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Barclay Township 432-432 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Burlington Township — Burlington Borough. 438-441 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Canton Township — Canton Borough 442-453 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Columbia Townshi[)— Syl vania Borough 453-459 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Franklin Township 459-460 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Granville Township 460-463 



OONTKNTS. IX 

CHAPTER XXXIV. Page. 

Honick Townshij) 4«;3-464 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

LeRoy Township 465-460 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Litohlicld Townslilp 467-468 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Monroe Townsliip — JMonroe Borough 468-472 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Orwell Township. 473-478 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Overton Township 478-479 

CHAPTER XL. 

Pike Township— LeRaysville Borough 479-482 

CHAPTER XLI. 

Ridgebury Townshiji 482-483 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Rome Township — Rome Borough 483-485 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

Sheshequin Township 485-487 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

Smitlifield Township 488-489 

CHAPTER XLV. 

South Creek Township 490-490 

CHAPTER XL VI. 

Springiield Township 491-492 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

Standing Stone Township 495-495 

CHAPTER XL VIII. 

Terry Township 496-497 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

The Towandas— Townships and Boroughs 497-531 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER L. 

Page. 
Troy Township— Troy Borough 532-538 

CHAPTER LI. 

Tuscarora Township 539-541 

CHAPTER lill. 

Ulster Township . .541-544 

CHAPTER lilll. 

Warren Township 544-546 

CHAPTER LIV. 

Wells Township 546-551 

CHAPTER LV. 

West Bnrliugton Township 551-551 

CHAPTER LVI. 

Wilmot Township 552-555 

CHAPTER LVII. 

Windham Township 556-559 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

Wyalusing Townsliip— Wyalusing Borough 559-576 

CHAPTER LIX. 

Wysox Township 576-578 



PAKT II. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 

Biographical Sketches in Alphabetical Order 581-1306 



r®ee ® :~~~^ '»^ 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



rOUTRAITS. 



' Ayres, E. J 315 

^ Avery, Cyrus 325 

^ Black, J. H .....331 

V Bronson. S. N 349 

♦ Bosworth, J. F .185 

- Bostwick, Dimon 155 

A Chubbiick, O. J 125 

A Colt, Rev. Samuel F., M. D 145 

1' Codding, John A 115 

^Corss, Charles C 205 

: Craft, Rev. David 313 

^ Culver, L. J 245 

^ Detrick, Harrison 52fl 

/ Fell, U. M 367 

'' Gillette, John F 255 

Hull, Charles T 385 

'Kilmer, George W 235 

i Lauing, Robert H 195 

Lyon, Samuel 475 

, Madill. H. J 135 

^ Morrow, P. D 45 



Page. 

"'Moody, U 421 

^'Nichols, J. W 457 

"Noble, A. C 439 

Noble, George W 440 

Overton, E 95 

* Overton, Edward, Sr 35 

"^Peck, Benjamin M 75 

iPratt, D. S., M. D 55 

^Powell, Joseph 105 

''Piollet, V. E 65 

^Russell, C. S 85 

Shumway, William 295 

' Satterlee, J. F 175 

Squires, P. S. 403 

rShepard, S. W. , M . I) 166 

<- Shepard, Silas E 165 

Spencer, E. C 493 

Taylor, L, D 375 

•Vandyke, G. H 265 

' Varney , Ira 511 

Walker, Z. F 285 



Map of Bradford County 14 and 15 

Index, Pavt I., History 1307-1311 

Index, Part IL, Biographies 1311-1330 



V 




BRADFORD CO. 

PFNN 



■S' IT 



L L 



PART I. 



History of Bradford County, 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



BRADFORD COUNTY. 



CHAPTER I. 
GEOLOGY. 

A Land of Farmers, Where Every Man Should Know Local 
Geology — The Formations — The Valuable Chemung Rock — Etc. 

BRADFORD COUNTY is of itself a little agricultural empire; 
as beautiful as a painting in her landscapes, and is compara- 
tivelv rich in all those things that contribute toward the highest and best 
civilization. Within her borders are 59,095 people, and a larger part of 
the Avealth of the population is in the 6,160 farms which they own and 
cultivate. Its location on the map, its soils and waters, have deter- 
mined its place as the favored home of the agriculturist. The num- 
bers of the farms indicate the distribution of these rich acres. There 
are no powerful land barons here with their swarms of attendant serfs 
and poverty. Her wealth is great, but it is distributed— the happiest 
possible condition for man. There is no great city within its borders 
— boroughs and villages only. Hence, instead of tenement houses, 
deep cellars, noisome purlieus that mar all great cities, here are small, 
neat, well-kept farms, clear skies, pure air, crystal waters, happy 
homes, universal plenty and content. Here are sweet valleys and the 
sun-kissed old hills — -the sacred graves of th.e departed, the restful, 
happy trysting places of their children's children. The neat and well- 
built boroughs and villages are but quiet and orderly places of exchange 
in supplying the varied wants of a favored people. Here is every com- 
fort and every reasimable luxury side by side with generous industry 
and a healthy frugality. While an agricultural county, it is dotted 
here and there with its necessary mills and factories. Outside the 
borough of Towanda there are 330 manufactui'es, and in the county 
seat are the nail and iron works, the shoe factory, the toy works, 
Daj^ton's flouring mill, two foundries and machine shops, a furniture 
factory, and many small concerns, all contributing to not only the 
varied employments of the people, but their real and general comfort. 
A lovely and favored land, indeed! What a haven it presents for the 
worn and weary who have long struggled for life and air and sun- 
shine in the roar and filth of the world's great cities. The gaunt pau- 

3 



20 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

per, with outstretched hands, begging for bread or medicine, is not 
here, nor is the rich miser relentlessly coining his heaped-up gold of the 
tears and the groans of his unpitied victims. Remorseless greed, 
and that other monster in society, far worse than the miser's cruelest 
infliction, are practically strangers to the good people of Bradford 
county. Health, virtue, intelligence and happiness come best to the 
world amid just such conditions as these. Many a bright young man 
of the county, fired with ambition to quick wealth or fame, has left 
his old Bradford home and gone to the great city, and has either 
regretted the change all his life, or returned and never tired of telling 
of his joy and happiness in so doing. "Is life worth living? " is not 
a vexed question here — may it never come to a living soul. 

The children of the land should be compelled to learn much of the 
geology of their particular sections. Here is the startmg-point of 
practi'cal knowledge — the powerful factor in good morals, good relig- 
ion and intelligence. The average of the schools are too much a 
mere struggle to advance the grades, heedless of the fundamentals of 
education; of the starting-points in life, of the groundwork of all 
intelligence, and the thorough intrenching the child's mind in these. 
The rudiments of education sliould be as thorough as, in all true edu- 
cation, they are practical. 

Any good farmer is a tolerably well-informed geologist. He will 
succeed in the business beyond his neighbors, much in proportion to 
his superiority in this respect. He has benefited by experience, and 
knows in that way the soil he cultivates. He knows certain ones, 
and comes to know that certain kinds of soils are best for certain kinds 
of growths. He can judge of almost any soil by its rocks and vegeta- 
ale growths. He has come to know the good corn land, wheat land, 
tobacco, potatoes, rice, cotton, flax, hemp, as well as the difl'erent fruits. 
His practical eye, in selecting his future farm-home, will see all these 
things as well as the waters and climate, that go to form the whole. 
The water and grasses will point him to the spot where the best 
animal life will grow. The fleet-footed thoroughbred horses are the 
effects of his intelligent experiments and observations — the splendid 
results of his self-education. He has learned tliere is more bread and 
butter in corn roots than in Greek roots. Nature's books are better 
and cheaper than those of the school-book syndicate— edited, written 
and bound by the hand of God, the rich inheritance of all men. 

State Geologist James Macfarlane reports substantially of Bradford 
county: The surface rocks belong to only three of the geological for- 
mations, the Chemung, Catskill and Carboniferous. The last two of 
these are verv extensive formations in Pennsylvania; the State geologists 
have subdivided them, and renamed them, and given them numbers to 
classify them. This simplifies and makes easy reference to these sub- 
divisions. The old mode was to classify these by their fossils, as all 
adjoining beds containing the same fossils belong to one and the same 
formation. By this arrangement Bradford county gives us the follow- 
in ir table ; 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 21 

Pa. Nos. Pa. Names. N. Y. Names. 

XIII Coal Measures Carboniferous. 

XII Serai Conglomerate Carboniferous. 

XI Umbral Red Shale Catskill Mauch Chunk, Red Shale of Lesley. 

X Vespertine Catskill, Pocono, Red Shale of Lesley. 

IX Ponent Red Sandstone Catskill. 

VIII Vergent Alive Shale Chemung group. 

These are placed in the descending- order, tlie coal measures being 
the highest and the Chemung rocks the lowest visible in the county. 

The western part of the county, and the valley of Towanda and 
Wysox creeks, and in the lower part of the county the valleys of Tus- 
carora creek and Sugar run are covered with vergent or olive-colored 
shales (YIII), or what in New York is the Chemung group. The 
latter is the name in the text-books on geology. The general dip of 
this formation is toward the south and, tlierefore, in going north the 
lower rock formations make their appearance. Two great flexures in 
the strata penetrate the county, and are called coal basins because they 
contain coal. These run northeasterly through the county, and in the 
lines of tliese basins the highest rocks visible in the county are 
brought to view. Separating these two lines of basins are two lines 
of upheaval called anticlinals. 

The Chemung rocks give out the best soils. Where these are 
the best agricultural lands are found, because it is of an earthy (argil- 
laceous) character, and contains less sand than the Ponent or Catskill 
(Xo. IX). The upper or shaley formation of this rock is about two 
thousand live hundred feet. These rocks are a vast succession of thin 
layers of shale, of a deep olive or greenish or light gi'ay color, with 
thin layers of brownish gi'ay and green and olive sandstone. These 
layers are so thin that it is diflicult to find buildmg stone. There is a 
great uniformity in all parts of this vast rock formation, and as you 
travel on the railroad from W^^oming Valley northward to the State 
line, and north or east or west, all over the southern part of New York, 
you will see the same Chemung group. The Erie Railroad and 
branches run on it three huntlred miles. The cuts on the railroad and 
the hills show the same beds of this soft mud rock, with thin-bedded 
sandstones between. 

A few miles west of Athens a conglomerate sandstone is found 
capping the hills. Once these were mistaken for the conglomerates 
underlying the coal, but it is now demonstrated that these beds of 
conglomerates are thousands of feet below the coal measures. This 
is the rock in which is found petroleum, both in Xew York and in 
Pennsylvania. It is full of vegetable fossils showing land-plants, 
which may be readily seen in much of the building-stone used in 
Towanda. These are the oldest evidences of terrestrial vegetation 
known. Specks of coal are found in the rock. The evidences are 
many that the earth was ])re{)aring to deposit the coal beds when this 
rock was foi-med. 

That the Chemuni>' oroui) comes more ocnorallv to the surface 
than m any other county of northern Pennsylvania, is the wdiole 



22 HISTOllY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 

secret of it being the richest agricultural county of them all. This 
is the Bradford county farmer's bank that will alwa3^s honor his 
checks from its inexhaustible deposits of wealth. Its cashier Avill 
not go Canada for his healtli. Twenty-five hundred feet deep 
extends the maiden gold awaiting to be refined by the thrifty farmer. 
The stranger coming into the county is amazed to see the farmers 
plowing on the steep hill-sides, where in ordinary soils the alluvial 
would all soon wash into the valleys below. When he understands 
the nature and value of the Chemung group, then he realizes that the 
peaks are here as rich in plant food as are the overflowed lands of the 
Nile, and the wash of the hills is simply going deeper and deeper in 
the mine of wealth; and this will continue until the hills become a 
broad level plateau. 

Now, cross the county from west to east. On entering you pass 
through a district similar to the north half of the county, but between 
Troy and Burlington the high hills are covered with a different soil 
and a rock of a reddish color — the same that you will see on the hio-h 
grounds from the railroad as you go between Troy and Alba, also in 
crossing on tJie common road the high hills between Towanda and 
Wyalusing. These red rocks are of the Catskill group. 

"^ Running from the southeast to the northwest through the county 
are two great basins with two upheavals of the rock formations 
between them, throwing them into a waving form. These waves are 
wide, and their slopes are gentle. They have little connection with the 
present surface, which was cut into valleys by other causes long after 
the rock strata assumed their present shape. The first basin of this 
rock formation is a prolongation of the Biossburg coal basin in Tioga 
county. At the mines at Morris run are to be seen in the gangways 
the strata of coal and rocks descending toward the run, and then 
rise on the other si^de' in regular trough-like form. All the strata of 
rock above the coal bed as well as below it, as far down as they can be 
examined, have the same flexure. Near Troy you will see the red 
rock formation, which lie below the coal making their appearance, all 
bent in the same manner as the coal bed, into a wide and trough-like 
form, and all gradually rising to the northeast. 

This is sufficient of the geology to put our young people on further 
investigation — educating themselves into the true knowledge of their 
environment— nature's only way of not only teaching but creating. 

Drainage.— T\-iQ inclines that carry off the waters of a country 
are the water-sheds ; the deep-cut beds'of the streams, worn low in the 
solid rocks, are its system of drainage. The clouds carry the waters 
to the mountain tops, and the rivers carry them back to the sea. The 
air and the water are the forces that are" changing and building up in 
all its varied beauties of the earth's surface. The tides and the multi- 
tudinous sea waves are answered by the slow-moving, resistless gla- 
ciers that are the craftsmen fashioning the face of the earth and mak- 
ing for us our beautiful dwelling-places. 

The North branch of the Susquehanna river enters the county mid- 
way on its northern boundary, and' the Tioga (called Chemung in New 



MISTORY OF BRAD^'ORt) COUNTY. 23 

York, and Tioga sometimes in Penns3'lvania), flowing from the north- 
west, draining central and southern JN^ew York, unites with it below 
Athens, five miles from the State line. Just here occurs what perhaps 
can be siiid of no other county in the Union. The Chemung river, quite 
an important stream of considerable length, is reported by State Geolo- 
gist Macfarlane to have its source and its mouth in Bradford county. 
If you will examine McKee's school map of the countv. you will find 
in Armenia township, which lies on the west and southerly line of the 
county, a small lake, the Tama)'ack, from which flows a little stream 
toward the southwest, going into Tioga count}^ This little lake, and 
the small branches that soon unite with it in its southwestern flow, are 
marked in McKee's school map as the "headwaters of the Chemung." 
Following this stream, however, to its northern flow in Tioga countv, 
its name on the map is Tioga river, and not the Chemung, which really 
has its rise in New York. Evidently Mr. McKee's mistake arose in the 
fact that the Tioga river, after starting south in Armenia township, 
turns northerly and empties into the Chemung river. This fact, con- 
nected with State Geologist MacFarlane's statement that the Che- 
mung river is called the Tioga from the State line to where it joins the 
Susquehanna river, causes this error. The remarkable circuit the water 
makes, however, is that it starts in the south westerlv ]mrt of Bradford 
county, runs southwest, turns north and goes into ]SIew York as the 
Tioga" river, bends around and returns to the county and ])asses into 
the Susquehanna river at Athens. There is no good reason for calling 
the Chemung river the Tioga after it enters Pennsylvania. It is all 
confusing and its abandonment would surely be advisable. The flow 
of the water, starting in Armenia township in what is known as the 
Tamarack lake, forms a course like the letter C. 

The Susquehanna river flows due south to near the center of the 
county, and then winds to the southeast, with a continuous system of 
nine horse-shoe bends, until it enters Wyoming county. During its 
straight course it flows in a tolerably wide valley of erosion in the 
Chemung rocks, and its windings are through the red Catskill rocks, 
and cuts canons through the synclinal Towanda mountains, and the 
valleys are narrower and deeper through the anticlinal Chemung for- 
mations to the south. 

One-half of the county is a high, rolling country, into which enter 
two ranges of flat-topped coal measures, synclinal mountains, connected 
with the great mountain plain of Lycoming county to the southwest 
and south. 

Blossburg mountain crosses the west line, and occupies Armenia 
township. This was once high mountains, but now Mount Pisgah is 
the chief high point left of this range. These mountains, it is sup- 
posed, once extended to or across the Sus(|uehanna at Ulster and 
Sheshequin, and they must liave penetrated New York from the north- 
east corner of Bradford county. 

The salient feature of the county is the Towanda mountain. It 
comes up out of Lycoming county, and is very broad and flat, and is 



24 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

split lengthwise by the deep caiion of Schraeder's creek, and is cut 
across transversely by the gorge of South Branch creek. It was cut 
through in the early, geological ages by the Susquehanna river. At 
Standing Stone, Wyalusing, Tuscarora, Herrick and Pike townships, its 
ancient marks are distinctly traceable. The right-hand branches of 
Wyalusing creek drain this highland southward, while the left-hand 
branches of Wysox creek and the headwaters of Wappasening and 
Apolacon creeks drain it northward and westward. 

In the western part of the county, Seeley's, South and Bentley's 
creeks flow north into the Chemung river, while farther south Sugar 
and Towanda creeks follow a nearly due east course into the Susque- 
hanna, which they reach in less than three miles of each other; while 
still farther south the South branch and Sugar run flow nearly north. 
The south line of the county is the water-shed between the North and 
West branch valleys of the Susquehanna, the source of the Lycoming 
being at the southwest angle of the county, and of the Loyalsock in 
the townships of Overton and Albany. 

Towanda and Blossburg mountains are of about equal elevations, 
at the summit of the Barclay mines, in Barclay township, being 2,038 
feet; the head of the incline plane, 1,753 feet ; its toot, 1,268; at 
Greenwood, where Schraxler creek falls into the Towanda, 820 feet; at 
Monroeton junction with the railroad south to the coal mines in Sulli- 
van, at Bernice, 759 feet; the heiglit of the mountain above Towanda, 
1,200 feet, and the depth of the gorge which splits the mountain is 
therefore 1,200 feet. 

Mr. C. F. Heverly, in Ids " Two Towandas," gives the following 
table of local elevations about Towanda : 

Table Rock above tide 1.317 feet. 

Summit of Towanda hills 1,450 " 

Plateau between Towanda and Sugar creek, average 1,200 " 

Corner Bridge and Main streets 735 ' ' 

West end public bridge 739.9 ' ' 

The Lycoming creek and Towanda head together in the southwest 
angle of the county, 1,200 feet above tide, and flow in op])osite direc- 
tions, toward Towanda and Williamsport, respectively. 

Coal. — Abner Carr discovered bituminous coal in Bradford county 
in 1812, by a mere accident, while hunting on the Towanda mountain; 
the bed of coal outcropped in the stream, where was commenced the 
first mine. This was on land which belonged to Eobert Barclay, of 
London, and by inheritance afterward to his son, Charles Barclay. 
The tract contained 6,000 acres. This land was bought in 1853 by 
Edward Overton, of Towanda, John Ely and Edward M. Davis, of 
Philadelphia, who formed tiie Barclay Kailroad & Coal Company 
and the Schra?der Land Com|)any. The radroad was com])leted from, 
the canal to the mines in 1856 — it being sixteen miles in length, with 
an incline plane half a mile long and 475 feet high. James Macfarlane 
was general superintendent, having sole charge of affairs for the next 
eight years. He encountered great difficulties in establishing the coal 



ITISTOKY OF BHADKOKI) COUNTY. 2o 

business in connection with the meaner facilities offered by the canal. 
In 1868 Mr. Macfarlane organized the Towanda Coal Company and 
leased the Barclay mines. The Fall creek mines were opened in 1865 : 
the Schranler mines in 1874. The total output in 1856 was, in net 
tons, 2,295, and the total in 1890 was over 3,500,000. The county lies 
north of the anthracite coal belt. 

Iron, Oil, Gas, Etc. — For many years the county has been startled 
by reports of rich finds in the way of iron, coal or natural gas. But 
iron has been the mainstay of the most of those sensations. Diggino- 
for iron and boring deep through the hard rocks for oil or gas have 
been expensive experiments to some of our people. It is estimated 
that at one time or another enough money lias been wasted to have 
given the entire people of the county a fair education in the geology 
of this locality. The public schools are remiss in their plain duty 
when they fail to teach in all their schools the fundamental lessons of 
geology and botany. A few facts are here given on the subject of 
iron in the countj^ that may be of practical use in the future, if heeded. 

As already stated, the whole county is in the Devonian region — 
the valley formation being the Chemung, that of the hills the Catskill. 
Entering the county from the southwest are two mountains, the To- 
wanda and the Blossburg. The Towanda mountain, entering LeRoy 
township from Sullivan county, extends across Barclay, Overton and 
Monroe townships, and ends in llob. Wood mountain In Asylum. It 
is represented by hills and highlands on across the county into Susque- 
hanna county. From Tioga county the Blossburg mountam enters 
Armenia township, extending throughout the township. It is repre- 
sented by hills and a plateau extending nearly to Ulster, and can be 
traced across the county. As has been mentioned, the valley forma- 
tion is Chemung, immediately above which is the Catskill, divided into 
lower and upper, the latter" forming the crests of the highest hills. 
On the Towanda and the Blossburg mountains the Catskill is covered 
by the Mauch Chunk red shale, serai conglomerate (millstone grit) 
and the coal measures. The Chemung formation covers the wliole 
northern and eastern part of the county. 

Iron ore can usually be found among the coal measures, and Bar- 
cW coal basin furnishes several varieties of ore of various values. 
These ores occur sometimes as argillaceous carbonate of iron, and can 
be taken from their beds in large slabs like flagstones. More often 
halls of ore are found among the layers of shale and sandstone. Next 
in importance is the kidney ore, much like the balls just mentioned. 

Probably a score of ore-bearing strata could be found in the Bar- 
clay field, and if the iron-bearing shales, slates, etc., were included 
this number would be more than doubled. For example, near Fall 
creek a stratum ten feet thick has five layers of ore, the thickest being 
18 inches, and a section taken at the head of Wagner's run shows in 
eight feet of depth four layers of iron ore, four of iron-bearing shale 
and two non-bearing shale.*^ 

Specimens of ore taken from the various localities accessible yield 



26 HISTORl OF liRADFOKD COU JTTY . • 

from 32 to 50 per cent, of metallic iron, the average being 40.5 pel' 
cent. At only two or three localities would the working of these ores 
be found profitable at present, though the}' may be valuable in the 
future. The ore is of excellent quality, but is found in too small quan- 
tities to work with advantage. 

In Bradford count\% none of the formations below the coal meas- 
ures have shown any iron ore except the Chemung. This formation 
has furnished the iron ore for the many " valuable" discoveries which 
have been made throughout the county. Running through the Che- 
mung rocks of Bradford and Tioga counties are several beds of iron 
ore, the most important of which have been called the Upper or Mans- 
field bed, the Middle or Fish bed, and the Third or Lower bed. 

The Upper bed lies very near the top of the Chemung rock, often 
being found in those "transition beds" for which Bradford count}^ is 
noted. These beds shrewd geologists have been unable to assign to 
Catskill or Chemung, just as an artist might be unable to assign to 
either color any point in the blending of red and yellow. Thus the 
upper bed is sometimes said to lie in both the Catskill and Chemung, 
but none of it has ever been found in well-determined Catskill, while it 
it is often found in true Chemung. 

Iron ore which ])robably belongs to the upper bed is found at sev- 
eral localities on Towanda creek two or three miles above Canton, 
yielding from 14 to 32 per cent, of iron. Southeast of Canton is a 
two-foot vein yielding about 28 per cent, of iron. In the main road, 
about a mile and a half west of Le Hoy, is exposed a bed three or four 
feet thick holding 29 per cent, of metal. The same bed is exposed at 
LeRoy in Gulf brook, being four feet thick. 

The second or Fish bed lies from 200 to 400 feet below the Mans- 
field bed. It is found half a mile southwest of Columbia Cross 
Roads, at a place near the one just mentioned, but one-quarter mile 
Avest of the N. C. R. R., and at Austinville. The Columbia vein is 
four feet thick, and has 32 per cent, of iron. At Austinville the bed is 
seven feet thick, only four feet being good ore, and bears 33 per cent, 
of iron. It has been mined quite extensively, most of the ore 
ffoino; to Elmira. The most interestino- feature of this bed is the large 
number of fish remains, one of the characteristics of the middle bed. 
These fossils occur as fragments, mostly bones. They retain the nat- 
ural color and seem to indicate fish of unusual size. Of the large 
number of fossils taken from this mine the most and best have gone 
to the New York State Museum, but lately the Pennsylvania Geolog- 
ical Survey has obtained several specimens at least two of which, being 
submitted to an eminent palaeontologist (Dr. Newbury, of Ohio), were 
pronounced new species. 

The second bed shows some good surface indications in ('olumbia 
township, on the roa.d from Snedeker's to Springfield, and about two 
miles wfest of Smithfield. At the place first mentioned an excavation 
would proI)ably reveal a bed of ore similar to that at Austinville, 
though perhaps without fossils. 



iilS'rOllY OF IIRADFORD COUNTY. 27 

The tliird bed lies from 100 to 200 feet below the second, and has 
not been found exposed in Bradford county, but is sometimes found in 
drilling wells, often passed thi'ough undetected. It has to us no finan- 
cial importance whatever. No exposures of ore of any importance 
have been reported either near or east of the Susquelianna river. The 
most vahiable ores are and will be found near tlie Bradford-Tioga 
line. 

The reader is left to form his own conclusions as to the value of a 
" find " of iron ore in this county. A fair idea of the immense deposits 
near Pittsburgh, in the Lake Superior mines, at Iron Mountain, Mo., 
and in the mountains of east Tennessee, will cause the apparent value 
of Bradford county ore to lose its existence. Bradford county ore may 
be valuable in the future, but it is not now. Mention might be made 
of such absurdities as the ''Hathaway ore" sensation ; the mining at 
Snedekerville of brown sandstone for iron; the " Arienio shaft," where 
$20,000 were thrown away in a search for anthracite coal in Chemung 
strata; the silver mine in white sandstone of Ridgbury township, the 
Bristol silver mine in Catskill argillaceous sandstone of Monroe town- 
ship, etc. As already remarked, such knowledge as might be obtained 
from a first book in geology would check the wikl search for coal 
thousands of feet below its natural position, and for gold and silver 
thousands of feet above their geological horizon. Many a farmer has 
lost a valuable farm in the search for buried wealth which did not exist, 
and many a farm would have been saved by a slight knowledge of 
general and local geolog3\ 



CHAPTER II. 

INDIANS. 

They ake Fading Away — Petrified Intellectually — Coureurs 
DEs Bois — The Villages and Shacks in Bradford County — 
The Doors of the Six Nations — Moravian Missionaries — 
Trails — Polygamy' — Cannibals — Canoes — Wards of the 
Nation — Treatment by the Government, Etc. 

C COLUMBUS, not realizing that he had discovered the New World, 
^ called the people that he found here " Indians," thus transplant- 
ing the name of a people of ancient origin in the East. The original 
inhabitants, therefore, to be strictly identified, must be called the 
American Indians. The picture of Columbus and his men meeting the 
natives on their ships first touching our south Atlantic coast is purely 
fanciful. These people, not as painted, were dirty, even filthy, and 
very ignorant savages. They had no idea of geography further than 



28 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

their eyes could see ; the universe simply reached beyond the next 
range of mountains. Their god was a great and very savage hunter, 
who was half-horse and half-alligator, as the ancient "Arkansaw Trav- 
eler" was wont to describe a backwoods tough. Primitive savages, 
moderately well developed as cannibals, with no arts or ideas above 
treacherous cunning and delight in torturing and killing. They were 
polygamists, and their drudge slaves were their wives, mothers and 
sisters. They were not much above the brutes on whose borders they 
lived and struggled for their wretched existence. Much of what we 
now read of the history of these savages is, like the picture mentioned 
above, fanciful. To civilize him and save him to the world and fit him 
for the Christian heaven was a deep sentiment of the relioious world. 
The idea of the more practical Coureiirs des hois, or the grim frontiers- 
men was to kill him first and then civilize him. Both were impracti- 
cable dreamers, so far as the Indian was concerned. The Indian was 
incapable of any advancement in civilization ; his intellect was petritied ; 
he deserved better than being starved and ruthlessly butchered; 
neither policv was right. He was entitled simply to be let alone — 
made to behave and battle his own way in the new order in which he 
so suddenlv found himself. If he survived and advanced, keeping step 
with the world about him. bravo! If he fell by the wayside, bury and 
forget him. His right to liberty and justice was as good as anybody's, 
but^the sickly sentimentality that holds he had an indefeasible title to 
the soil on which he existed, and could, therefore, keep back the 
increasing white civilization, has no part nor place in justice or good 
sense. " He was here first," well, so were the bumblebees and the 
wolves and the " foxes had dens." Anglo-Saxon civilization has rights 
bevond and above all savagery, not only here, but everywhere upon 
earth. Before its march all else must give way -if necessary, perish. 
Civilizing the Indian, preserving him and his tribes and multiplying 
his posterity was not one of the wants of the world. Millions of 
imperfectlv'^civilized and ignorant Indians would have now become a 
sore problem had we them in our country. He despised the manners 
and habits of civilization ; he loved his liberty as the bird or the beasts 
love it, and was no more capable of the higher order of improvement 
than they. Therefore it w^as best that he should slowly fade away as 
he has; his existence was not a matter of importance to the world. 
For the hfe the world gave him he has given nothing in return. No 
thought, no idea, no act marked his long existence here that deserves 
even°a slight remembrance. He did nothing and was nothing, and his 
passage from earth as a people was of no more importance than the 
swarms of "greenhead" flies that once rose up like pestilential clouds 
upon the western prairies to confront the pioneers. 

The general description of the Indians that were here when the 
first whi'te man's eyes fell upon this beautiful lam,! may be described 
as composed of the Five Nations. The particular one of the Five 
Nations that claimed possession of the Susquehanna was the Iroquois, 
whose headquarters were in New York. They had conquered the 



HISTORY OF BHADFOKl) COUNTY. 29 

Susquehanna from the Andestes, who inhabited tlie valley. This 
change it is supposed occurred about 1G20. The}' are spoken of in 
early histories as the Cauestoges and as the Susquehannocks. When 
the white man first came all this country belonged equally to the i^m^ 
JVaiions. The Iroquois were a powerful and warlike people. Thev 
made manv villages all the way from Tioga to Virginia. In this 
county at Wyalusing, Sheshequin, AVysox, Mehoopany and at Queen 
Esther's Town they had made considerable villages. It is said that 
all these places wei"e Indian villages of the Susquehannochs before they 
were driven out or exterminated by the Mohawks. In those Indian 
wars and invasions were constructed the fortifications at one time 
visible at Spanish hill and at the mouth of Sugar creek. The Susque- 
hannocl's were driven from their possessions along the river above 
Wyoming about 1650. The Iroquois held this territory about one 
hundred years. They are said to be the only Indian people who at 
that time'had anything approaching the forms of civil government, 
but this gradually died out, and they became little else than aimless 
roving bands. The Tusearoras had been driven by the whites from 
the South and came North, and were the addition that made the Sia' 
Nations of what had been the Five Nations. They came in 1712, a 
century before Bradford county was formed In this curious confed- 
eracy the Iroquois became the dominating race. Athens or Tjoga 
was made the door of entrance mto the territory of the Six Nations. 
At this place a Sachem was stationed, and only by his permission was 
any stranger, red or white, allowed to pass,— a primitive custom-house 
or Castle Garden, as it were. 

Wyalusing was one of the oldest and most important of the Indian 
villages m what is now Bradford county. It hatl been built by the 
tribe that was driven off by the Iroquois. 'The place originally was 
called Golion-to-to. After the tribe had been exterminated it became 
again the silent desert, and so remained one hundred years. In 1752 a 
somewhat noted Indian character called Poponhauk, a Monsey chief, 
from the Minisink country, came with a number of families and settled 
on the old village site. He rebuilt the village. In 1760 it was described 
by the Missionary explorers as having about twenty huts, but much 
better buildings than was usually found belonging to the Indians. The 
old Indian town was located at "the mouth of Wyalusing creek, where 
are the farms of J. B. Stalford and G. H. Wiles. The rich land in the 
valley was cultivated in a rude way ; corn and grass for the cattle and 
ponies, and the former for the Indians, were raised by the labor of the 
squaws in considerable quantities. In 1763, only three years later, the 
huts in the place numbered forty, nearly all built of split plank, set on 
end in the ground, the upner end pinned to a plate, on which were 
rafters, and covered with bark. This year, 1763, was the commence- 
ment of the Pontiac war. Tlie Indians of Wyalusing, not taking part 
therein, retired to Bethlehem, and from there went to Philadelphia. 

There is a noted old Indian burying-ground near Sugar run ferry, 
where have been found many Indian relics of various kinds. 



JJO HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNtlf. 

The SJiawnees had lived at the mouth of Towanda creek. They 
planted corn on the valley lands. They lived on the opposite side of 
the creek from Towanda. 

The Moravian missionary, Zeisberger, September 30, 1767, stopped 
at this deserted Shawnee post. In his diary he called it Wisach (from 
which came our Wysox). He says he went into camp in a deserted 
Delaware Indian wigwam. 

The Nanticoke Indians came up the Susquehanna from the eastern 
shore of Maryland in 17J:8. A part of the tribe stopped on the 
Towanda flats. 

An Indian town, Os'mJni, was supposed to be a very ancient town, 
situated just a little above the mouth of Sugar creek — the John Biles 
farm. On the farm lately owned by Judge Elwell, nearly opposite 
Bald Eagle island, was a strong settlement. 

As for permanent settlements, the Indians were nearly migratory 
in their habits. They moved with the game and with the seasons — 
the chief interruptions to their going and coming were the tribal wars, 
when the enemy hovered on their borders; then, like the wild animals, 
they gathered closely together for safety. The earliest missionar}^ 
visitors describe finding places in the deep woods where there were 
signs of the Indians having stopped there, but were now silent and 
deserted. They had written their story on the trees — a picture-lan- 
guage that was understood by the Indians. They would peal the bark 
off a tree, and on this paint the story of what tribe they were, their 
expeditions of war, the number of the warriors, scalps and captives, 
etc. — the same rather gruesome story that occupies so much space in 
the white man's adventures and explorations. 

A few families of the Monseys were located on the north side of 
Cash creek, near its mouth, at the close of the Pontiac war, near 
where is now the village of Ulster. 

Queen Esther's town was a settlement made about 1770 on the 
west side of the river opposite Tioga Point. This woman, or rather 
female monster, became notorious from her savage cruelties to tlie 
captive whites, 'especially at the massacre of Wyoming. 

One of the most important Indian settlements in the county, if 
not in the State, was made at Tioga — the junction of the Chemung 
and the Susquehanna. This was the "door" for a long time to the 
territory of the Tro(pwis. ■ AH the Indian trails in this part centered 
here, as all goers and comers must pass through this door, and unless 
his pa])ers were properly "vised" he would be treated as an enemy or 
sp3^ This "door" was the entresol to a very long " house " indeed. 
The doorkeeper was a Cayuga Saohern. Here the war parties 
rendezvoused, and here prisoners were brought and disposed of. The 
place was reported abandoned in 1758, during the French-Indian v,'ar, 
but was rebuilt in 1760. The place was finally destroyed by Sullivan's 
army in 1759. 

The story of Queen Esther, the pitiless enemy of the whites, is a 
chapter in the history of Pennsylvania. The writer of these lines, a 



IITSTOHY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 31 

few years ago, in tracing out the early history of Adams county, Pa., 
became convinced that this woman was an Indian by adoption and not 
by blood ; that she was a native of that county, and the child of a 
family that liad all been massacred except this gii'l who was seven or 
eighty ears, old at the time the family was destroyed. She was carried 
to western Pennsylvania, adopted by an Indian family, and when fif- 
teen years old married a full-blood. " She was eventually taken to the 
Seneca tribe in New York, and was married to a noted chief of that 
tribe. Her stay in Bradford county was short and uneventful. Her 
village was destroyed by the Colonial army, and the Queen and her ab- 
horred presence were known here no more. She was one of the eartlrs 
many unfortunates — her life among the savages had lapsed back into 
a more cruel savagery than was those among whom she lived ; vile in 
every respect, a female imp of Satan. A slight study of her character 
brings up the question: is all this boasted civilization, charity, love and 
refinement but a thin veneer that a circumstantial pin may readily scratch 
through to the solid, cruel, iniierent brute? Possibly it was because 
she was a queen that she was so utterly wicked and abandoned. There 
seems to be something in the "divine'' titles and office of royalty that 
is low and debasing. That is perhaps one reason why men are so am- 
bitious to become lords and kings, eager to sweep their soul to the devil 
for the miserable baubles. The only edifying page in the whole history 
of crowned heads was where the hunch -back, Richard 1 1 1., cried "A 
horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse ! " The language is highly sig- 
nificant. He was tired of the king business, it was too tame, and there 
was not play enough for his genius as a rascal in it all, and he wanted 
to be a jockey and with the jockeys stand. Fortunately for the fall 
races, his high ambition was nipped in the bud, and King Pdchard never 
was promoted to " Jockey Dick." Possibly if Shakespeare had person- 
ally known Queen Esther he would have married her off to Richard 
III., and improved the world's entire tribe of kinglets. The pride of 
America is that ^ye have no kings nor queens. In lieu we have, how- 
ever, the roaring demagogue— the meek and lowly " servant " and 
especial " friend " of everybody — the Honorable Fetich, of Shakerag. 

Along the shores of the Susquehanna, from the State line to the 
south line of the county, are spots that will be pointed out to you 
as once famous Indian resorts, villages, battle-grounds or scenes of 
massacres or something of that kind. There is a mixture of truth and 
fiction in it all. At one place, nay, at numerous places, may be 
pointed out spots in the dark and bloody legends, and at the isolated 
one or two places may be found memorial stones telling of where 
the wild children of the*^ forests bent their knees in awe and child-like 
wonder at the simple, sublime story from the lips of the hardy mis- 
sionaries of the church, as they answered in the wilderness the glories 
of the ever-living God. Lazy, simple and credulous, these wild 
people of the woods were deeply impressed with the forms and 
symbols of the Christian religion. That part of religion they 
could see with the naked eye was all there evidently was in it to 



32 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

these nomads, and they put on its outward forms with chiUlish ahicrity 
while deep in their hearts remained the undisturbed fetich worship 
of their tribes and fathers. They could simply add one religion to 
the other, not remove the one to give wholly the place to the new and 
the true religion. 

The barbarities suffered at the hands of the savages by the early 
settlers of Bradford county are a nightmare of horrors. The story in 
its details is one prolonged agony. This was nearly the same story of 
every portion of the country east of the Mississippi river. The people 
fleeing to the forts, the rising smoke from the burning cabins, and the 
scalps of men, women and children dangling as trophies from the belts 
of the warriors ; and the flesh of the tortured captives cooked and eaten 
by the most favored braves. Meaner than the ugly, hungry wolves, far 
more cunning and treacherous, human imagination palls in any effort to 
conceive of all the sad story that ran riot through the country. This 
was the average Indian. Not forgetful that there were crimes, 
monstrous crimes, committed against the wild people ; conscious of the 
fact that among the many immigrants to the Xew World were bad white 
men — some of the vile and vicrous who had been banished from their 
native land— yet, the truth is, those were the exceptions, and for their 
crimes it is but little answer to be forever pointing to " Lo, the poor 
Indian." This gangrened sentiment has found its way too often to 
our school books and light literature, vitiating the minds of the young 
and closing their eyes to the truths of history. The curtain is now 
rung down on the long and bloody drama, and the fierce warriors that 
once ambushed behind nearly every tree in the forests are now the 
wretched remnant of beggars, in filth and rags, hovering on the con- 
fines of our civilization. 

Indians always traveled in single file and, therefore, their paths 
were verv narrow, and were sometimes worn deeply in the hillsides 
where the rains added to the wear. The great Indian highway, that 
is, the deepest worn path in the county, passed through from south to 
north along the river, much as is now the bed of the Lehigh Valley 
Ilailroad. on the west of the river in the northern part of the county, 
and east of the river on the lower part. The Wyalusing path crossed 
at Wyalusiug, and was in a northeast and southerly direction, entermg 
the countv with Wvalusing creek about five miles west of the south- 
east corner of the county. The Towanda path entered the north line 
of the county about half-way between the Susquehanna river and the 
northeast corner of the county, and jiassed to the Shawnee village. The 
Minisink path came from the east, and passed nearly due west through 
the northern part of the county to Queen Esther's town. The 
Towanda path entered the county exactly at its southwest corner, and 
followed Towanda creek to the river; west of the borough some ten 
miles it branched to the north, and led to the Indian village north of 
Sugar creek, on the river. The Sheshequin path entered about the 
cetfter of tlie west line of the county, and followed Sugar creek. 

Nester and Wvalusing were the chief villages of the Indian con- 



HISTORY OF HKADFORD COUNTY. 33 

vei'ts Lo Christianity under the teachings of the Moravian missionaries. 
At these points they built huts, and at Wjalusing— called Friedens- 
/liiUen— they built a church, and at one time claimed a population of 
more than 200 souls. 

The management of the Indian by our Government since we became 
a separate nation has been one prolonged mistake. Be has been 
alwavs considered a foreigner in his native land, a foreigner under the 
Government that has made war on him and his, and conquered and held 
them, and to this day we hear of "treaties" with the red men, the 
same as if they were people of Japan or Kamskatka, and at the same 
time they are the "Nation's wards," regular boarders at the great 
American free soup stand— a kind of qiuisl acknowledgment of their 
title to lands— and these we purchase and never pay anything except 
the annual interest thereon. The Government in a manner feeds and 
clothes these poor wretches, and Christian people give in charity and 
send bibles, missionaries and school teachers, and tracts and prayers, 
and the Government opens Indian schools, colleges and training grounds, 
and carries train loads of pappooses and old hardened scalping experts 
back and forth from the Bad Lands and Lava Beds to see their 
"'Great Father" at Washington and strike camps in the rooms of 
Willard's Hotel. On the mimic stage what a farce this whole hum- 
bug scheme would be — the roaring travesty on good sense is a national 
necessity to provide soft places for our gang of political bummers — 
which, by the way, is a great joke on the average tax-payer. The 
smallest modicum'^ of honest common sense would have long ago for- 
ever disposed of the Indian question, by simply turning him loose and 
'' root hoo- or die." Let him educate and christianize himself as well 
as provide for himself — exact and even justice with no favors. 

The Indian knew nothing definite of his remote ancestors. He had 
his traditions and wild, crude legends, and some of them he perhaps 
believed himself, and others he cherished chiefly as we do epic poems. 
They were the exploits of great hunters and scalpers ; something, no 
douk, of the crude idea of our school boys in their Friday afternoon 
piping declamations about " Alexander's paw ! " as they would gather 
up the'r pudgy fists and beat the air, in the belief that that man-slayer 
went at his bloody work with bare lists. The Indians were merely 
wild children ; their history was unwritten, and was but dreams of 
lighting and killing their fellow-man. Their highest pleasures were in 
the prolonged and most exquisite torture — not necessarily of their ene 
mies, but of their captives— simply because they had them in their 
power; and after the victim was tortured to death, then to eat him 
was the crowning i)rivilege. Their women were mere slaves and 
drudges, somewhat lower in their estimation than their mangy dogs. 
These Indians that stand so patiently in front of tobacco shops are 
much cleaner and more intelligent looking than the originals, as found 
running wild all over this country when the white man came. 

All over the habitable world are evidences of the coming and pass- 
ing away of nations. Birth, gi'owth and final decay, it seems, is 



34 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

much the history of peoples as it is of the individual. All roads once 
led to Rome. And although this was in comparatively modern times, 
yet now these great works, paved highways and stone bridges are but 
Avrecks and broken remains of that once powerful nation. The angel 
of death, it seems, extended his shadowing wings, and the "mistress 
of the world" bowed to fate, and the owls beat upon the casements of 
their palaces, and the wild beasts lick their cubs where once was only 
the busy feet of men. In the sweep of time the nations come and go, 
as the ripples chase each other on the resting waters. Birth and death 
and a little, short intervening struggle for existence is the be-all and 
the end-all, until existence itself is but change. 

The numerous as well as poAverful tribes of red savages found in 
possession of the continent have practically gone forever. The original 
wild Indian is now a memory. He has not ])assed out from his wild 
state and been civilized into a changed and higher existence, but before 
the pale faces he has been pushed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
has sung his death-song and laid down to die. Some few miserable 
remnants of once great and dominating tribes have mingled their blood 
with the strange white races, and after being driven from place to 
place are now in the Indian Territory— the Nation's wards and depend- 
ants. Those that clung to their clouts and blankets, and refused the 
clothes and fashions of civilization, were driven to the lava beds of the 
western mountain fastnesses, and shot down like dangerous wild beasts, 
or hemmed in and starved to death. 

What a numerous race of Indians was here but a centur\' or two 
ago! IIow little will soon remain to mark their ever having existed! 
The white man met their cunning warriors in the trackless woods and 
slew them. When the last miserable, dirty beggar of them has 
departed what will there remain, except the words of the historian, to 
perpetuate his memory ? Nothing. As a people they have petrified 
in their ignorant savagery. He could neither lift himself up, nor could 
his nature be elevated to that higher plane where lives a nobler human- 
ity, lie has left behind no thought, no invention and no work of any 
value to the world or that deserves preservation. He was nothing, 
and therefore has left nothing. Ignorant, cunning, cruel and excess- 
ively filthy, he was neither useful nor beautiful. His wild nature could 
not be reclaimed, except by adulteration of his blood with other races. 
Born in the wild wood, rocked on the wave, his one redeeming trait 
was his unconquerable love of liberty ; this he loved far better than 
life. He would not be a slave. Had he preferred existence and slavery to 
death, he might have lived on in peace with the white man. Indeed, he 
might now have had the ballot in his hand and enjoyed the fawning 
of our demagogues, a very hero indeed about election times, instead of 
the wandering beggar in rags as we see him. But this was not his 
nature. He would be free as the eagle of the crags, and in his choice 
between slavery and extinction he never halted. He met his fate with 
an unequaled stoicism, and his death-song rose in his throat as the 
caroling of the forest birds. Herein was the strong individuality of 
the Indian — the redeeming quality of his nature. 

Joliet, Marquette and Hennepin, the first white men to visit the 




<^^^^i^ <^^^^^-7^S^Ie>^ 



^ftr 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 37 

Indians of the West, have left much authentic information of the con- 
ditions in which they found them. The pure and gentle Marquette 
was carrying to these wild children of the plains the Cross of Christ, 
and receiving the tender in return of the calumet and wanipun These 
explorers agreed that the northern Indians were inferior to thc^ j found 
in the South in tlieir knowledge of the sim[)lest of the arts. The Nat- 
chez were found to possess some little idea of the use of ir-on and cop- 
per, while their northern brothers knew nothing of it, and used only 
stone. On the borders of streams or lakes they had their scattered 
villages: their wigwams and shacks being the rudest and simplest 
structures. All seemed to be nomadic in their habits; each tribe 
having its chief, with no certain authority except to command hunting 
and warring expeditions. The men performed no manual labor, this 
being done bv the women or squaws. In the timber they built their 
wigwams of bark chiefly. This was laid on poles that were brought 
to a center, and here a hole was left for tlie smoke to escape. If very 
hungry, they ate the game captured raw. The most of their cooking 
was over the fire or in the hot coals; they would boil water by heating 
stones and dropping into the water in their crude stone vessels. Their 
best cooks would but poorly compare with our French chefs in some 
of our line hostelries. Their mode, for instance, of coolving a turkey 
was to pull a few of the largest feathers, and then cook it just as it 
was. This they regarded as not only saving labor, but saving all that 
part of the turkey that we throw away — a double economy. Their 
marital relations were loose and illy defined. Polygamy was often 
practiced, but not universally, as the bucks bought their wives, paying 
for them a pony, or game, or pelts, or whatever else that was the 
currencv of the realm. Wives were bought often for stated periods 
when they would return and be in the marriage market again 
without at all bothering the divorce courts. It was only such 
dusky maidens as mated without being paid for that were dis- 
credited in the first circles of Indian society. The female chil- 
dren, in case of separation, by virtue of the terms of the contract, 
went with the mother, and the males belonged to the father. With 
these impediments in his way it may be assumed that he would as 
soon as possible get another squaw to support " the old man and the 
boys." Sometimes as many as sixty persons would compose one 
family, and altogether these would live in one wigwam. — larger than 
the simple round ones. They slept upon the bare ground or on the 
skins of animals, and all their clothing in the rigors of the winter were 
also of the skins of animals. In the long winters their places of abode 
would be indescribably filthy. The numerous family and the dogs 
were huddled together in the smoke and the horrid air of their worse 
than kennels. While it was cold weather they never bathed, and they 
changed their clothes only by their wearing out -and falling off. In 
the warm weather all took to the water daily, like ducks, but 
when they came out would smear themselves with horrid rancid 
grease, mixed often with certain kinds of clays. This seemed to be 
the only part of their toilet that they were at all particular to attend to. 
The food of th© Indian consisted of all the varieties of game, eat' 



38 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ing nearly everything except the rattlesnake. They called this reptile 
"•grandfather," and believed that he had the soul of their dead ances- 
tor, and they held it sacred. When the hunters would find a snalce of 
this kind they would surround it, carefully keeping out of striking 
distance, and they would light their pipes and blow the smoke at it, 
calling it by endearing names, and pray to it to guard their families 
and help them in their expedition, whether war or hunting. In a 
rude way they cultivated corn, melons and squashes. From the corn 
they made their " sagamite," parched and pounded the corn, mixed it 
with water, bran and all, and roasted the mass in the hot ashes. 
Sometimes they mixed m the meal ground gourds or beans. 

They had three kinds of canoes, and these they made and 
handled dexterously. Having only stone axes they would burn down 
the tree, chopping away the charred part. They would chop it off 
at any required length in the same way, dropping water at the points 
they did not want to burn. The heavy wood canoes were burned out 
in a similar way, and with slow^ fires the}'^ could shape and fashion 
them exactly as wanted, and smooth and polish them with stone. A. 
pirogue was made by fastening two or more canoes together abreast 
by poles reaching across on the top. These would carry great weight, 
and were not liable to upset. Their most common canoe was made of 
bark-elm or birch. The elm-bark canoes were very frail and not used 
for long voyages. To make a canoe of the elm they would select the 
trunk of a tree very smooth, and at a time when the sap was up. 
They would cut around, above and below the length wanted, and then 
remove the whole in one piece, shaving off the roughest of the bark, 
making this side the inside of the canoe; fastening the ends of the 
bark together, the sides of the canoe were held apart by bows that 
would be fastened in about two feet apart. The}^ would sew up the 
two ends with strips of elm bark, and in such a way as to cause the 
two ends to rise, with a swell in the middle. Any chinks they sewed 
together and covered with gum they would chew. It may be that 
this is where our girls got the fashion of gum chewing without inherit- 
ing any knowledge of the better part of the business of making bark 
canoes. They would add a mast, and on this use their blankets or 
skins for sails. All the passengers in such a craft sat upon their heels. 
There was much art and perfect balancing required to ride without 
turning over. About like bicycle riding. It is supposed that one of 
our ordinary mouse or bug squealing girls could upset one of these 
vessels in a few seconds — at least by the time it had reached deep 
water. The chief merit of the elm-bark canoe was its lightness. 
A squaw could shoulder one with ease, and carry it along or over any 
portage. In ascending streams these people knew the road so well 
that frequently by crossing a great bend, and by going overland a 
mile or two, would save many miles around to the same spot. 

Canoes made of birch bark were stronger and heavier, and looked 
more artistic in finish. The frames of these were of strips of cedar 
wood, which is light and flexible. This frame was made complete and 
was then covered with birch bark, which would be sewed together like 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 39 

skins. The seams were covered with chewed gum. Cross bars were 
put in to bold the sides apart, and these made seats for the passengers. 

The French fur traders were tbe only white men who adopted the 
Indian's mode of making canoes, or bad the skill to use them after tbe 
Indian fashion. Some of these canoes of the traders would carry as 
much as 3,000 pounds, and in tlie hands of an expert tbey would shoot 
along tbe water with great swiftness. 

As already said, the Indians were cannibals, though human flesh was 
only eaten at war feasts. They would torture a prisoner to deatb ; in 
this tbe women and children were peculiarly deligbted, and tbe body 
would tben be tlirown into "tbe war kettle," and greedily devoured 
after a partial cooking. An early traveler among the savages, Josepb 
Barrow, says be saw Pottawatomies and Miamis, with liands and 
limbs, both of white men and also of otiier tribes of Indians. Tbe 
privileges of this feast were confined to the noted and foremost war- 
riors. 

Tbey would bury their dead with great care and ceremony. Jontel 
says : " The}'^ pay great respect to their dead. Some of tbe tribes 
would prepare the grave carefully and tben for days weep and wail 
about it; others would dance and sing for twenty-four hours. These 
dancers would bang their calabashes or gourds about their bodies, fill- 
ed partiall}' with dry beans and i)ebbles, and these would rattle and 
assist the mourners greatly in expressing their inconsolable grief. The 
heirs of tbe deceased were not forced by fashion to dissimulate their 
joy in tbe form of grief, because w^ben the old man died they buried 
his fortune with him, and bad to throw in something of their own to 
help him along the journey to the happy bunting-ground. 



CHAPTER III. 

MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS. 

The First White Men Here— Coureurs des Bois— Hunters— The 
Moravian Missionaries — Etc. 

TTJs now more than one hundred and fifty-three years since tbe 
-1- first white man passed up the Sus(juebanna,* following tbe windings 
of the river, and looked out ovei' this beautiful valley. Tbe waters of 
the streams were filled with shining fish, and the okfdark forests were 
full of game. The great flat tops of the Towanda mountains bad 
their gentle declivities sweeping away in graceful curves and windmgs 
to the soft, hazy, blue distance. Over all are the great hemlock trees, 
the mountain ash and the graceful pines, tbe more stubborn oaks, 
the thick groves of sumac and tbe climbing vines, all bending and 
bowing to the breeze, and clothed in oreen and bright flowers in the 
budding spring and in tbe rich colorings of the rainbow in tbe mild 
autumn. Here how beautiful and picturesque was all nature— the 



40 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

ever-changing panorama of the seasons unfolding in entrancing vis- 
ions! In the winter when the old gnarled trees bared their arms to 
meet the severest winter storms, and the driven snow softly wrajiped 
in its white mantle the earth, folding it awa}^ for the winter's long 
sleep and quiet, and then the spring when the earth is fretted with 
sprouting and the buds and flowers and leaves begin their low lullaby, 
and the earth and air are again vocal with joyous life, and then come 
the birds of delicious song from their far south wintering — the low 
distant drumming of the pheasant, the " gobble, gobble, gobble," of the 
enormous bronze wild turkeys, the merry matin song of the golden- 
winged blackbirds, the chattering magpies, the hoarse croak of the 
crane, and the merry clatter of the wild ducks and geese,, were 
answered by the nearly human scream of the striped panther and the 
sharp yells of the ever-hungry and savage wolf. In the rivers and 
the crystal mountain streams the shining fish disported themselves, 
and the beautiful shad, in great schools of many millions, would leave 
the salt sea and ascend to the headwaters of the Susquehanna to de- 
posit their eggs; and the "beaver in all his sleek cunning built his dams 
across the streams and thereon his winter houses, side by side with the 
sleek otter, and on land his fur-bearing conqueror, the bear, patiently 
hunted out the stores of the wild bees and grew rolling fat and laughed 
at the gorgeous springtime that came after his long winter's sleep in 
his dark and damp cave. 

These mountains and hills had slowly risen from the un fathomed 
depths of the sea, their rocky heads dripping with waters of the briny 
deep; slowly, stupendously they rose, then were dry rocky cliffs, and 
the rains and the winds, the heat and the cold beat upon them and the 
rocks turned to ashes, and from the first delicate mosses clinging to 
the hard stones gradually came this forest giant crowning in glory the 
hill tops, penetrating the low clouds and protecting the humbler vines 
and heavy undergrowth, filling the earth with insect and animal life 
and the air with birds of radiant plumage, caroling their songs to the 
deep blue heavens. 

Thus passed the golden summer with its ripened fruits and brown 
nuts — nature's bounty to all animal life. And then the sere and 
yellow leaf of autumn, the first frost, and lo, what an entrancing 
vision of beauty spreads out over the great old hills and the sweeping 
valleys. The season of the festival of the foliage is here in its annual 
visit. In banks and billows rolling up the mountain side, soft and rich 
in all the tintings of the rainbow blending away in the distance with 
the clouds beyond and spreading down to the silvery mountain 
stream far below. 

And the four seasons have come and gone, and thus the centuries 
and ages were reeled off with nothing here in beautiful Bradford to 
appreciate all this natural wealth and beauty more than the fish, the 
bird and the wild beasts and the wilder and fiercer savages. 

In the fulness of time to this new and beautiful region came the 
ever wandering white man— the "pale face" as he was described by 
the natives; the wandering home-seeker abroad upon the face of the 
earth; the fugitive from tbe Old World persecution, tU^ bloodiest and 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 41 

most pitiless tliat has ever struck poor suffering men, women and 
even little children. Stripped of his goods, and striped with the lash, 
broken on wiieels and nailed up in barrels filled with spikes, blown up 
with hand-bellows to the most intolerable torture; thrown in dungeons, 
and damp prison walls, tortured for confessions to madness, their 
tongues cut out, their ears cut off, and branded with hot irons and 
burned over slow fires of a few green fagots, so slow and so infernal 
that the poor creatures would struggle and bury tlieir chains deep in 
the flesh to get their faces down close to the smoke that they might 
hurry the prolonged death agony to an end. These horrible sufferings 
came to these poor fugitives in the name of the Heavenly Father and 
His meek and Lowly Son, who suffered and died that all men might 
be savetl. Whole communities and large classes of )ieo))le were driven 
from country to country in the East, because they were heretics; one 
country would drive out the Moors from Spain; the Jews from France, 
and thus from every district in the Old World communities were 
exterminated by persecution or became flying fugitives before the 
inappeasible wrath of their fellow-men. As the last hope the poor 
unfortunates turned their faces toward America, and in the frail barks 
steered into the deep waters, and the calms and storms of the elements 
were welcomed with pi-ayers and hymns to the Almighty for their 
escape from their pursuers — ^the victims of the crudest fanaticism 
that has ever darkened the face of the earth. The escape from the 
Old to the New — from the lands of churches and civilization to that of 
the wilderness and savagery. They came with their immigrant chests 
and the old black family clasp-bibles, in the heart of home and religious 
freedom. Poor in this world's goods, rich only in their deep and 
abiding religious faith. Landing upon these shores, these deep 
religious men erected their altars, and commenced the supreme work of 
founding the new empire. They made immigration a science ; founded 
a new civilization and builded the State whose foundation rested upon 
the Bible. Their surroundings at their old home, the circumstances 
enfolding them in the wilderness, in the end distinguished them as 
the most remarkable ])eople in all the annals of history. They 
became savagely religious, unconquerably brave, and fiercely dog- 
matic, as they daily read their family Bible and spelled out the syl- 
lables, and with horrid pronunciation accepted even detached sen- 
tences in the most literal sense, and then girded about their loins with 
the flaming sword of Gideon, ready to inflict upon heretics the same 
pitiless persecutions that had driven them in their poverty and utter 
wretchedness from their homes and their native lands. They were as 
brave and hardy as they were cruel and inconsistent against what they 
esteemed an error of faith. The North American pioneer is the une- 
qualed character in all time and all ages. A crude bundle of incon- 
sistencies, a power, nevertheless, something like the volcanic forces 
beneath the earth's surface. Hardly pausing where he first struck the 
sea coast, he planted the outpost, dressed himself in the skins of the 
wild animals he had slaughtered, shouldered his long flint-lock rifle, and 
pushed his way into the deepest forests, and westward the star of 
empire forged its way. A terrible bundle of incongruities and incon- 



4a HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

sisteiicies — too intense in iiis faith even to be merciful, so overflowing 
with doctrinal religion, his visions fixed on heaven, fearing nothing 
mortal, and hating everyone who crossed in the least any of his dog- 
mas, he forgot all gratitude, and with studied guile and craft he would 
circumvent and strike to the heart his only benefactor. The pioneers, 
the silent men, the avant-coureurs of the most remarkable movement 
of mankind in all history — the miracle of miracles. What secret force 
was it that ever pushed this wandering nomad on and o'er, across tiie 
seas, the rivers and the mountains, across the continent ? 

So far as we can now find the record evidence, the first man who 
was ever in what is now Bradford county was Conrad Weiser, an 
Indian interpreter. He was on his way to attend a council of the 
Iroquois^ or the Five Nations, at Onondaga, and passed up the Susque- 
hanna river, its entire length from the bay, and reached Tioga, the 
Indian town at the junction of the Chemung and Susquehanna rivers, 
March 29, 1737. This place was the "door'' to the Indian tribes to 
the north in New York, and here the traveler stopped several days and 
noted many of the peculiarities of the Indians. His journal of his 
trip was the first known to the world of the north branch of the wind- 
ing river that passes through tlie entire State of Pennsylvania. He 
was received with marked kindness, and partook of the food prepared 
by the great chief's bride, even eating it with tlie relish of a keen 
appetite after witnessing the mode of its preparation. He sums up his 
description of the settlement as consisting " of a few people, and all 
hungry," their chief food being the juice of the sugar tree. For a 
healthy person, who has camped out all his life, that was rather a deli- 
cate diet. 

This is the oldest record of the coming here of a white man, yet 
it assuredly is not the fact that there were none of the " pale faces " 
who preceded Weiser. The lower portion or mouth of the Susque- 
hanna river had beeen known to the whites more than one hundred 
years before Weiser came on his trip. The explorers, trappers and 
hunters, those restless busy, men who were spying out every nook and 
corner of the new continent, must have followed up so important a 
stream as the Susquehanna years and years before this man ]>assed 
through here on his mission to the Onondaga council. It was fifteen 
years after the interpreter came, 1755, that Lewis Evans published the 
first crude map of the "Middle British Colonies;" in this was the out- 
lines of what is now Bradford county, as well as this portion of north- 
ern Penns3'lvania and southern New York. The Indians had seen the 
"palefaces" before Weiser brought his here. His appearance was 
not regarded by them as either supernatural or even remarkable. 
They could converse with him as he understood their jargon, and 
could use signs, grunts and gestures that were much of the common 
language among the various tribes. 

In 1743, John Bartram, a noted English botanist, in company with 
Conrad Weiser, and Indians as guides, and Lewis Evans traveled from 
Philadelphia to Onondaga— leaving the former place July 3d — and 
they describe the "terrible Lycoming wilderness" through which they 
passed with much w^eary labor and suffering, as they slowly ascended 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 43 

the river over the same route the guide Weiser had learned well in his 
pi-evious trip. These parties ]iassed on beyond Onondaga to the lakes. 
These men traveled on horseback, and so far as is now known were 
the first who had come with horse transportation. 

In 1745, Spangenburgand Zeisberger, missionaries of the Moravian 
Church, made a visit to the Indians along the Susquehanna river. They 
readied the Wyalusing village, June 11th. They, like the other visi- 
tors, were simply travelers on their way to the New York Indian 
Confederacy, whose headquarters were at Onondaga. 

Three years after this, in August, 1748, the Nanticoke Indians came 
up the river from the eastern shore of Maryland. A portion of this 
tribe stopped at the mouth of Towanda creek. They cleared small 
patches of ground, and the squaws planted and raised corn in the 
Indian fashion — planting year after year in the same hills, the only 
part of the soil they disturbed in their primitive agriculture. 

Zeisberger returned to Philadelphia, and two years later induced 
Bishop Caminerhoff to accompany him on an expedition to Onondaga. 
He had deeply intei'ested his superior in the church work along the 
beautiful Susquehanna. Like the other expeditions, they traveled all 
the way to Onondaga, making only brief stops at the many small 
villages along the banks of the stream. All this time these travelers 
bivouacked under the twinkling stars, or sought cover in the rude wig- 
wams of the natives, subsisting upon the game that fell in their way, 
or partaking of the not very delicate viands of the savage repasts. 
They had become inured to the hard life of travelers in the " terrible 
wilderness." 

WiUiam Penn, the great and pure man, had made his treaty in 1682 
with the Indians, at Shackamaxon, and then for more than sixty years 
the province was at peace with the savages, and the friendliest inter- 
coarse existed between these two peoples. When this good man had 
long passed away, his Christian teaching had been forgotten, and the 
year that Weiser appeared as a traveler along the Susquehanna, 1737, 
the arts of deception and diplomacy were introduced in the trades for 
the Indian lands. Grasping at the possession of the lands and reck- 
lessness of honesty or integrity of their agents became a flagrant part 
of the intercourse with these simple children of the woods. The 
" walking purchases," in which lands were measured by walks, began 
to be used to cheat outrageously. The Delawares recused to recognize 
a treaty for their possessions of this kind, and would not remove from 
their lands. These were some of the first symptoms of what followed 
soon after, and is known in our history as the French war, in which the 
Indians sided with the French and were the tools of some of the 
bloodiest massacres in colonial times. After the defeat of Braddock 
in July, 1755, the whole frontier blazed out in war. In terrible fury 
the savages poured down upon the scattered defenseless settlers of the 
frontier. Some of the noted Indians who had been baptized into the 
church by the Moravian missionaries, apostatized and turned upon the 
people in implacable hatred. The Bradford county Indians, although 
some of them, it was supposed, had now become exemplary Christians, 
especially those at Wyalusing, joined in the war upon the whites and 



44 HISTOEY OF BRADFOED COUNTY. 

forgot all Christian precepts as well as their friendship for the pale 
faces. 

The Pontiac war, the most noted m the annals of troubles with 
Indians, broke upon the country in 1763. Northern Pennsylvania was 
then the border settlement, the most exposed always to the fierce 
marauds of the savages. 

In May, 1760, Christian Fredrick Post, a Polish Prussian, and 
missionary of the Moravian Church, arrived at Papunhauk's village 
(Wyalusing), and preached the next day. This was the first sermon, 
so far as we can know, ever preached in the county. This place had 
rival chief men, Papunliauk and Job Chillaway — the latter speaking 
English fluently. They were Christians, and the Moravian Church 
sent to that place a missionary, Zeisberger, accompanied by a man 
named Anthony. Zeisberger was recalled to Bethlehem in 1763. The 
Moravian converts at Wyalusing were taken to Bethlehem for protec- 
tion from the raiders who were devastating the country. After the 
Pontiac Avar these good Indians returned, and the intrepid missionary, 
Zeisberger, accompanied by a man named Smick and his wife, returned 
to Wyalusing, where they were permanently stationed in charge of the 
Indian Church. The place was now re-named — Frieden/mtten — ^' huts 
of 2->e<^ice.''^ 

Another Moravian mission was at Sheshequi?!, at the mouth of Cash 
creek, where were a few families of the Monseij Indians. This place 
was reckoned a day's journey from Wyalusing. Kev. Eoth was the 
stationed missionary at this place. On August 4, 1771, his wife gave 
birth to a child, this is said to be the first white child born in Brad- 
ford county. 



CHAPTER IV- 

THE PIONEERS. 



A Comparative Study—'' The Simple Annals " of the World's 
Remarkable Men— The Hard Schools of Fate that Produced 
Them — The Silent Men of the Wilderness — Their Work — 
The Splendid Results and the Paucity of Resources at their 
Command— The Men AVho Made Emioration a Science and 
Built an Empire Founded on the Bible — The Saxon and the 
Gaul— The Fur Trade— The Coureurs des Bois— Etc. 



T 



HE ripest scholars are realizing that the "simple annals of the 
poor" is the interesting and most important branch of history; 
and it will come to pass that the history of nations will no longer be 
considered written and completed when there is the long and dreary 
recital of the kings' and princesses' lives and the doings of the royal nur- 
sery and bedchamber, where a great era is marked by a princely birth, 
baptism or death; or a long account is given of wars and battles in 




^^.^^Wr^ 



-*r- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTS. 47 

which the life and habits of the coinnuiiuler and his doings are the 
chief objects to be rehxted in the minds of tlie historian. (Jnce the 
history of a nation or peojile was but little more than a rescript of the 
morning- court bulletins; his supreme, august nuijesty's menu, and the 
commotion among the courtiers and vast army of retainers, when he 
opened for the day his blood-shot eyes; who had the honor of handing 
his supreme highness the towels; how he swore and kicked his grand 
master of the hounds; and then how the little ones were up betimes, 
taking their royal ])ori'idgefrom gold spoons, and such other miserable 
nonsense through volume after volume, to be read with consuming 
delight by all the living, and passed on to ])osterity as "liistory." 
Kings and their households, wars and the commanders, and the bloody 
battles they fought, were for centuries all that was supposed to be 
worth any attention from the historian. Il(n'alty was everything, the 
common people notning. The peoi)le believed implicity, because so 
all were taught, that this was tlie order of heaven; that fate Inid so 
ordained that one man and his household wei'e to have and enjoy 
the earth, and that all else was made to slave for and give up 
their lives at the whim or pleasure of this divinely-born ruler. The 
people were born to these monstrous beliefs, and the king, gen- 
erally the most ignorant and superstitious of all, believed that he was 
sent of God to do with the lives of the people what he listetl. To be 
looked upon by the king was a supi-eme honor, to be touched by his 
hand was to be cured of even incurable diseases. When he rode 
abroad, couriers with loud bugle blasts preceded and warned the peo- 
ple to clear the highway, to hide themselves, and to prostrate their 
bodies in the dirt. The king, though often the lowest and meanest 
man in the realm, was immaculate, possessing all wisdom, could not sin 
and could do no wrong. The average king and queen of history, if 
stripped of the miserable fictions and superstitions concerning their 
lives, will be found to be a shabb}' lot, with hardly a redeeming quality 
or a gleam of superior intelligence in the whole gang. In the nature 
of things, in the whole of their education, it was not possible for them 
to be either wise or good men and women. The beliefs drilled ; into 
them, commencing even before they could lisj), were inconsistent with 
good sense, and, therefore, in violation of all good morals. These 
wicked superstitions al)out royalty grew witli the ages, like the boys 
rolling a snowball, until the long sufferings of mankind l)ecame so 
frightful, and then the miseducated turned upon themselves, destroy- 
ing and rending one another, in the belief that it was all the results of 
their own wickedness and lack of faith and fealty to their " divine 
ruler." If here and there a genius was born, wlio dared to think the 
least bit aloud in behalf of suffering mankind, the}" would rush 
upon him like wild beasts and tear him limb from limb. 

It is but a brief century or two ago when this was the belief of 
the generality of mankind. It was an awful sentiment to prevail 
throughout the half-civilized world, and the marvel will forever 
remain, how it was possible in such conditions that civilization could 
advance at all. Yet it has advanced reo:ularl v. It is still advancino- 
notwithstanding that there is yet a very large contingent of men 



48 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

making the same obstruction in its way that was so marked two cen- 
turies ago. The world slowly emerged from the dark ages— how it 
did so is one of the mysteries. Certainly man, like other things in 
creation, possesses inherent forces, that, in the long centuries, can not 
be resisted to evolve from the lower plane and spirally ascend into the 
purer air and the warm and better sunshine. 

Thestory of the American immigrants — the pioneers of this conti- 
nent—is by far the most important and really the most interesting of 
any of the great movements of the human race since the earliest 
dawn of history. It has remapped the entire world. Their lirst com- 
ing to America, so bravely leading the way for the innumerable throng 
to^follow, was the incomparable era in history, the turning point in 
the long struggle between ignorance and brutal life and that blessed 
civilization that is now^ running so brightly round the world. These 
early pioneers were the little persecuted bauds of the Old World, flee- 
ing from inflictions far worse than death, and in their rude ships brav- 
ing the dangers of the unknown seas on their way to the New World ; 
fugitives from the inappeasable wrath of their fellow-man, and espec- 
ially of their divinelyappointed king, they braved the treacherous ele- 
ments of the waters,' to land upon the shores of the cannibal savages, 
and the dark old forests that were alive with both wild beasts and wilder 
men, to beat them back or destroy them. Often there were colonies 
of them that had been fugitives ^all over Europe, and, when stripped 
of all earthly possessions, with nothing more than stout hearts and 
resolute hopes, they came across the ocean ; forgetting home and the 
bones of their dead, and their native land and its childhood memories, 
they came to create a new civilization. They made emigration a sci- 
ence, and founded the earth's greatest empire upon the old family Bible 
that thevhad so carefully kept and guarded in their long wanderings. 
These little bands, from Florida to Massachusetts, made their landings 
at points along the shore. Their first concern was a church service, to 
thank God for the free air they at last were permitted to breathe. 
These little colonies sometimes utterly perished from the earth, but 
there were others to take their places^md carry on the battle against 
savagerv. What odds, apparently, were against them in this contest, 
and yet'how these feeble beginnings have so quickly conquered and 
overrun the continent ! The savage man and beast, sickness in its 
multiple form of new and strange diseases, the absence of all 
resources to help the grim and hardy old pioneers, were some of the 
obstacles that they set about overcoming. 

The circumstances required religious, earnest, brave and hardy 
men, and such thev were supremely. They were made to want 
freedom because of their cruel persecutions at the hands of their 
fellow-man. Such an age would naturally create a new and distinct 
race of men, because man adjusts himself to his environments, and 
herein in this victory over the vast wilderness was the victory of all 
mankind, and it has given us the historical era in the movements, the 
advances and recoils of the human mind. 

These people had their strong prejudices and mastering super- 
stitions, and perhaps, in their times and circumstances, it were best it 



HISTOEY OP BRADFORD COUNTY. 49 

should be so. Tlie\' ciiine from the Old World where these things were 
intrenched in the deep and hopeless ignorance of the masses. They 
were the first people in the world who in moral affairs looked to God, 
and in all else looked to tliemselves. Self-reliance and those nobler 
qualities of a nobler manhood could only come of such a school. 
With energies ever alert, and senses whetted to tiie keenest edge, they 
slept upon their arms, and from the cradle to the venerable grandsire 
everyone learned to do picket duty over his own life. Their lives are 
the evidence that the highest possible acquirement of a people is that 
self-reliance and robust manhood that quails before notliing that is 
mortal. 

This was the first loosening movement of men of those bonds that 
bound our remotest ancestors to the blind faith and adoration of their 
kings or rulers — tliat species of national fetich for the stupid or brutal- . 
born king — which grew up in all men's hearts, antl that seemed tomul- 
tipl}'^ as the royal master descended in the scale of life. Whether it 
were the new-born babe — a little, animated bundle of scrofula or inher- 
ited blood disease — or whether it were some coarse monster, a moral 
leper, idiot or madman, it w^as all the same ; he was their national 
fetich, and the meaner he was, it seems, the more sacred he became. 

The first arrivals on American soil that came here for homes and 
havens from the cruelties they had left behind, no doubt, were but 
little aware, either of the permanent effects to come of their move- 
ment, or of the deep causes that impelled them. Indeed, they felt 
that their loyalty to the king was unabated. Thank God, in this one 
thing they builded better than they knew ; otherwise we would have 
had no Revolution, no AVashington or Patrick Henry, no liberating of 
men's minds and bodies from the cruel thrall of the dreary past. 

The results that come as the effects of men's lives are the only 
tests by which we can measure the great and small. When we add to 
this test a consideration of the resources each one had at command 
then in the history of the race, where is there a people to compare 
with the American pioneer? This silent man of the unbroken soli- 
tude, this man of great action and of little Sj)eech, this unwritten hero, 
came and went with no trumpet's blast and blare, no note of fame, no 
shouting rabble nor train of flatterers — indeed with no other thought 
but that he was of no more consequence to the great world at large 
than the wild game he pursued and killed; yet in his greatest obscur- 
ity and humility he stood side by side with many of the w^orld's celeb 
rities, how incomparably would he rise above them. 

Our young school children learn to look with interest at the rather 
cheap wood-cut in the old school books, representing Napoleon on his 
white horse, his martial cloak flattering in the breeze, as at the head 
of his army he is seen crossing the Alps. He is the "Young Corsican," 
the "Little Corporal," the "Great Emperor," at the head of his 
invincible army and its fluttering eagles, on his mission of death and 
woe, conquering and subjugating the world by sword and fire. Kings 
were his playthmgs, and empire was his booty. It was new and ple- 
bian blood among the effete ami nerveless I'oyal breeding nests of the 
Old World. In his earlier and the better part' of this wanderer's career 



50 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the bluest blood from the longest line of royal ancestors was no more 
to him than that of the humblest soldier of the line. We can not know 
the bounds of this man's original ambition. Wliatever it was, there is 
but little doubt tliat in time it changed, and instead of being the 
world's liberator he would be its conqueror and oppressor. No man 
has ever yet met and missed so great an opportunity as did Napoleon. 
Had he devoted his genius to the true welfare of mankind — liberated 
them, and then by his military power forced them to accept the libera- 
tion and to recast their thouglits on the subject of every man's right 
to absolute liberty, instead of driving to the one mean and low thing 
of becoming the great emperor, of simpl}^ destroying existing dynas- 
ties to supplant them with yet more cruel ones, liow different might 
the storv of Europe have been to what it is now. How radically dif- 
ferent might have been the memory of himself left as the world's 
legacy. If this man ever were great, he fell from that high estate, 
perished ignobly, and is now literally nothing to the world. Had 
Napoleon been smothered in his cradle, it would have been no loss to 
mankind. His life was not great, because it was not good. He cared 
only for his own aggrandizement, and Avas indifferent as to the cost to 
mankind. It was a feverish, turbulent life, ending, as it deserved, in 
wreck and ruin, and the diiinken Parisian mob, when it toppled over 
the great mausoleum that held his remains, were nearer in accord with 
the eternal fitness of things than were the mistaken authorities who 
taxed the poor unpaid laborers of France to build the glittering obe- 
lisk. There is many a costly marble or granite pile standing guard 
over the moldering remains of some of the world's most conspicuous 
shams and frauds. To the clear-eyed man they are mere sores and 
blotches on the fair face of the earth, the ugly evidences of so much 
unpaid or slave labor, and are so many wretched object lessons to 
teach the young minds to meanly admire a mean thing. 

No monuments, mausoleums, tall shafts, halls or great art buildings 
have ever yet been reared to the memory of the original pioneers of 
America. Th. most of them sleep in long-forgotten graves; in the 
deep woods, on the mountain-side, b}^ the bubbling spring, at the 
outer edge of the ancient "clearin'," anywhere that was most conven- 
ient, were buried these men as they fell with their faces toward the com- 
mon enemy of civilization, scalped so often by the savage, and left to the 
wild animals, and their scattered bones carried to the dens of ravening 
beasts. These heroes were standing picket-guards for the oncoming 
civilization, for us, and the comforts and luxuries we now enjoy. In 
the ceaseless struggle tliat was going on, there was not even time to 
stop and mourn over the fallen brave, but as one would go down there 
in time were two to take his place. How far nobler were the aim and 
end of these humble men's lives than was that of Napoleon ! His was 
to conquer, enslave and destroy by fire and sword. Theirs was to 
reclaim, to make us homes, to lift up our civilization, and bring peace 
and permanent happiness; to supplant savagery with gentle intelli- 
gence, and build the empire of thought over tlie ruins of brute force. 

Here are the results of the unwritten, obscurest of men's lives 
placed side by side with the world's great military hero, the subject 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 51 

somewhat stripped of this unreasoning adoration of the world's aver- 
age fetich. It is the contrast of the truly noble by the side of the 
admired and ignoble. It is the attempt, however feeble it may l3e, to 
direct the thoughts of men into higher and better channels. It is one 
of the true lessons of real history. It is worth imprinting on the minds 
of the young, and should be blazoned on the walls of the scliool-rooms, 
and hung in the halls and porches of the great institutions of learning. 
To produce such a gi-and race of men required a long course of 
preliminary preparation. Their love of freedom and their hatred of 
tyranny, their stubborn and resolute natures, to rising above that feel- 
ing of helpless dependence upon assumed superiors ; that peculiar frame 
of mind that dared anywhere and upon every emergency to rely upon 
itself and its own inherent resources, where no aid could come from 
others, where there were none of the arts or helps of civilization to call 
upon in sickness, in hunger, in death or birth ; no church, school, 
physician, blacksmith, mills, no nothing, save the implacable foes that 
fairly rose up out of the earth in legions to oppose his coming. The 
swarms of parasite and venomous insects, the rattling, hissing i^eptiles 
spotted with deadly beauty ; the howls of the hungry wolves, thepierc- 
ng screams of the panthers, and the savage war-whoops that oft woke 
the sleep of the cradle, were some of the things against which were 
raised the bare hands of tlie white man. Had these men stopped to count 
the odds against them, they surely would never have come — flying 
from present ills to those we know not of, and they did not stop, but, 
fearless and unconquerable, they moved ever to the front, shoulder 
to shoulder, silent and resistless. 

Mostly it is to the severe religious persecutions that three centuries 
ago overran Europe that we owe the people that came and the con- 
quering of the New World. This severe and blood}^ era was much of 
the preparatory school that bred the virile races of men destined to 
conquer and possess the wilderness, and cause it to bloom in peace- 
ful civilization. They were in the hunt of homes and the free 
temples of God, to worship and adore the Heaven Ifr Master with 
none to molest or make afraid. Here are now some of the results of 
these long and cruel persecutions. They were the fiery ordeals that 
brought forth the men and women, equipped for the great work that 
lay before them. 

"^ The Old World was sadly and cruelly governed, and of all these 
the bloodiest was that of Great Britain. Here were the peculiar, 
strong people, made to oppress, and to resist. On the one side full of 
the spirit of revolt, on the other simply savage and pitiless in repres- 
sion. Wild and unreasoning in their adoration and fealty to the 
crowned head, yet those rugged, wild, carousing old barons would lay 
down their lives for the king as readily to-day as they would chop off 
his head to morrow. Among no other people in the world's history 
would the nasal-twanged fanatic, Cromwell, and his terrible following 
have been possible. He was the noblest fetich smasher, particularly 
that ancient and deep delusion of "the divinity of kings," that has 
appeared since creation began. He enjoyed beheading kings and 
priRg§lets, shooting lorcl§ ^nl confiscating their landed estates, and h@ 



52 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

picked up tinkers, hostlers, scavengers, anybody, the lower in the old 
order of society the better, in the hunt for men, real men without the 
tinsel trappings, and made them premiers, judges, chancellors and 
high state officers, and his psalm-singmg, praying army was a flaming 
sword and the fiery blast. Think of the man as you may, yet who 
can withhold some meed of praise and admiration for the sovereign 
contempt with which he kicked over the nation's idols, the assumed 
human divinities, bowed to by the nation as fetiches? Cromwell's 
school was the seed of America, its possession and independence. 

Back in the Old World, its travails, its persecutions and its bloody 
schools were laid the preparations and making possible North Amer- 
ica, and to-day, here as everywhere and in all time, are effects follow- 
ing causes. 

The Saxon and the Gaul, impelled by the same motives, came in 
parallel lines, crossed and re-crossed each other's paths in the wilder- 
ness. The immigrants to the New World were at first lured into the 
deeper forests by the fur trade, and the glittering wealth from this 
source was the incentive that bore along that wave of humanity that 
has covered finally the continent from shore to shore. The French 
about Quebec were originally the most successful in getting the fur 
trade. Among them grew up a remarkable class of men knowni to 
history as the oonveurs des hois — translated — "travelers of the woods." 
The peculiar times as well as people were necessary to produce this 
distinct class of men. They were land sailors, and something of 
their remains may now be seen among the w^estern cow-boys of the plains. 
They were young Frenchmen who had come to or had grown up in this 
country, who upon the slightest taste of nomadic life in the wilderness 
were enchanted by it, and they threw off the stern morals of the 
churchmen who were in control of Canada, and repelled by austerity 
at home and allured by absolute freedom toward the wild wood, they 
practically abandoned civilized life and adopted that of the wild man. 

They traveled, did these brave pioneers, among the Indians, learned 
their ways of capturing game and living, and these brave and hardy 
young men soon became much as naked barbarians. Their long light 
bark canoes shot around the bends of the rivers, floated along the cur- 
rents of the smaller streams, or were carried over the portage here and 
there ; they struck into the dark old woods, scaled the steepest hills and 
passed over the tallest mountains, and to every tribe and Indian village 
they traveled and were welcomed for the bright trinkets and fire water 
that they exchanged for pelts and furs. Sailor-like, these voyagers in the 
woods married scpuiws with great impartialit\^ in nearly every tribe 
and village after the Indian fashion. The Indian law required the 
purchase of wives for an agreed time, and these rollicking young out- 
laws no doubt often for a single colored glass bead completed the wed- 
ding trade for as many days as they would remain trading at that 
particular place. They in time could equal, if not excel, the Indian in 
making the light canoe, and then in handling it on the water. They 
Avere exj^ert hunters and marksmen with the long old-stjde match-lock 
guns, and they could make and use the bow and arrow. They spoke 
the Indian languaofe, and in raeetins: a new tribe with a new language 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 53 

the}^ could readily by signs make their wants understood by the 
strangers. Tliey learned the streams and the countr}' well, and were 
familiar with the Susqueiianna and its br-anches for nearly a century 
before the pioneer settlers followed them to possess and hold it. 
While the authorities at Quebec were greatly scandalized by the 
immoral and reckless lives of these men, and enacted severe laws 
against them, yet they increased in numbers and were the builders of 
the fur trade that came to be the chief concern of the contending 
English and French at one time. These voyagers built up an impor- 
tant trade, as well as being the first to visit nearly every part of the 
unknown land. They would load their canoes with the little provision 
necessary, and the trinkets to trade and go oat on their fifteen months' 
expedition, and return laden with valuable furs. These they would 
sell to the merchants, and then in a few days' drunken debauch spend 
the entire proceeds, often selling the last rag of new clothes they 
had purchased on their arrival, and when everything was gone go to the 
trader and on credit get their meager sujiplies and outfit, and start on 
another fifteen months' expedition. Their commissary supplies were 
hominy and bear's grease— a bushel of l^^e hominy and two pounds of 
grease was a month's subsistence. To this meager fare they added but 
little of such as they could readilv get, and on it fared abundantly. 
When tlie adjustments of war came, these couretirs were the 
nucleus of armies that could successfully contend with the cunning 
and scattered savages in the forests and the swamj)s. 



CHAPTER V. 

EARLY SETTLERS. 



To THE Commencement of the Revolution — During the War the 
Country Abandoned by the Whites — Marauding Indians — 
Fox and Shufelt, the First Settlers — List of Those Follow- 
ing Them — First of the Susquehanna Company — The First 
Discoverers Unknown — Appearance of the Country — A Boy 
and Leather Breeches — Etc. 

AMONG the early immigrants to America, a strong and marked 
race of people were the Dutch ; these were among the first on 
the south line of the State — the oldest settled portions outside of the 
city of Philadelphia. Bradford county, being in the extreme northern 
portion of the commonwealth, was not settled for nearly one hundred 
years after the Dutch and Scotch-Irish had reduced to possession the 
bay and the mouth of the Susquehanna river. And here came the 
German Palatines, a people that were denounced in the father-land as 
religious outlaws, and had been driven out and turned their faces 
toward the New World, and landing in New York had located their 



54 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

colon}' in Schoharie count}". It is said the British settlers had placed 
these Palatines between them and tiie Indians as a protecting- shield 
against the incursion of the barbarians — the strong and warlike 
Mohawks. Many of these people were not pleased with their treatment 
at the hands of the English of New York, and cast about for a new 
location. They heard of Penn's Woods, and many of them came in 
scattering bands to this province as early as 1727, and as they came 
from the North down, the Delaware and then again from tiie Mohawk, 
the short portage to the Susquehanna, and once upon the latter stream 
they would naturally float down and the moment the current brought 
them to what is now Bradford county, they beheld the beautiful land 
and coveted it. It is not known how early the first of these daring- 
explorers discovered the northern part of the Susquehanna river; nor 
is it more than conjecture whether the hunters and trappers were here 
before them or not. The reasonable supposition is that for at least 
a hundred years before the Palatines had migrated from the Old World, 
all this region of country along the Susquehanna was known to the 
Avhites. Who were they ? And when did the white-faced discoverer 
come ? These are questions that echo only can give any answer to. The 
Palatines came in 1710 to New York; how soon after this they were 
here is not now knowable. The best that is known is that in 
1737, Avhen the Moravian interpreter, Conrad Weiser, came up the 
river on his way from Philadel})hia to the Six Nations, in the Genesee 
country, he found some of these Germans at Wyoming trying to buy 
lands of the Indians. 

Budolph Fox. — In the month of Ma}^, 1770, came two of those 
German relatives — Pudolph Fox and Peter Shuefelt [in time spelled 
" Shoefelt"']. Fox stopped at the mouth of Towanda creek, immedi- 
ately south of the borough, Towanda and Shoefelt continued on to 
where is Frenchtown. These were the first white families who under- 
took the work of making i)ermanent homes in what is Bradford 
county, whoever may have been here as mere travelers or hunters 
and trappers before them. The Penns had sent surv^eyors up the river, 
as high as Wyalusing, for the purpose of making surveys and allotting 
lands in that vicinity as early as 1769 — a year before Fox and Shoefelt 
came. Then, too, at or about the same time as these men, came the 
Connecticut people ; they had not only long been fulh^ acquainted with 
the beautiful country on the upper Susquehanna, but were ready to 
come and lay claim to it in the name of "The Susquehanna Com- 
pany." And the meager first arrivals from Connecticut were about 
the same time, or soon after, of Fox and Shoefelt. Some idea of the 
sociability of the first to arrive is seen in the fact that Fox settled at 
the mouth of Towanda creek, while Shoefelt continued on down to 
Frenchtown — these men were of the kind that wanted breathing 
room evidently — they had come from the Old World, crowded and 
cramped with wrong and oppression ; where liberty was scourged and 
coffined, and the very air was laden with taxation and tyranny.; where 
rulers w^ere many and great, and where the people were worse tiian 
mere chatties ; where ignorance and vileness were worshiped as " the 
King who can do uo wrong," and equally the masses could do " no 



HISTOKY OF UKADFORD COUNTY, 57 

rio-ht;" where whatever ruled was a sacred fetich — the self-assumed 
vicegerents of God, born to waste in worse than drunken debauchery 
the hard and never-ending toil and bread of life of the people; where 
the ruling powers were rich aristocrats, who taxed and exacted the 
very heart's blood of all men; where the governments were paternal in 
all powers over the people; where men were educated into ignorance 
far below the dull ox on the hill sides; where men's beliefs, from in- 
heritance and wrong education through generations, were simply stolid 
and absurd. The most venomous idea in this world is the long-drawn- 
out beliefs that man, in his aggregate, must have a supreme ruling 
head, born so, and whether a scrofulous infant, full-grown idiot, mad- 
man or a two-legged impotent animal in the prime of life, utterly base, 
low and vile, ignorant or brutal, yet always the "good king" with 
supreme ])owei- to tax. to oppress and destroy. They are all rulers, 
sacred heads of the society or government, the most of whom have been 
worshiped because they have been utterly vile. Some barbaric peo- 
ples have worshiped toads, lizards, snakes, alligators and man-eatmg 
tigers, and other peoples who worship kings and princelings for their 
national fetiches speak of and regard with contempt the snake wor- 
shipers; but would not a modicum of sense reverse all this and justify 
the wild barbarian's contempt for this boasted better civilization? No 
man-eating tiger god was ever half so evil as the average royal rulers 
the world over. The worship of the toad is a harmless lunacy com- 
pared to that of any of the " divine rulers," that can " do no wrong," 
the average " infallible head " or ruler, whether king, junta, 
head and supreme war-makers and governors — the whole race of born 
paternalists from Alpha to Omega. The bee-hives have their queen 
and their drones and innumerable workers. The qu-een is born in her 
regal cell, and is fed on queen food. The workers sting the drones to 
death at the end of the season and cast out their dead bodies ; all but 
one of the queens are destroyed, and that one, while she does not go 
to the field with the workers to gather stores of honey, yet she has 
her duties and lays all the eggs for the colony that in time is to go out 
and make new hives. She is a real queen, a good queen, but never yet 
has she tried to tax all her workers and take from them all the honey 
they had gathered during the long summer. And these little insects 
have ages and ages ago reached a perfection of good sense and social 
organization that compared to the best that man has been able to do, 
is an ideal government; a high water-mark of intelligence that poor 
dumb man it seems can never hope to attain. The most astounding- 
thing of all in human nature is the unshakable tenacity with which 
men cling to ancient, disgusting ])ractices. Sujipose tliat you 
could put a million of men, the wisest the greatest and best men in all 
the world, chosen from every quarter of the globe, on some new world 
to themselves, and surround them with everything that goes to make 
them great, happy and contented ; they would not be in their new 
place ten days before there would be a convention called to select an 
all-wise, paternal ruler, — a taxer, who could fix at will the amount of 
tribute the others should pay him for fine houses, palaces, servants and 
standing armies, — his chief business would be to build harems and 

4 



58 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

call about him his favorites to help spend in waste, extravagance 
and debauches the hard-earned substance of the people, and, as a rule, 
the more intolerably infernal he would become the more wildly 
worshiped he would be. Well, every forty years or less an entire 
new generation of the fourteen hundred million people on the earth 
is born. This entire new race find things just about as their fore- 
fathers found them, and that settles it; the man who dares to ask "Why" ? 
is in immediate danger of losing not only his reputation but his 
life. Possibly this is the divine order; that we are so constituted that 
we can in no other way be happy than by being completely miserable, 
so we balance the books by striking the balance sheet between opti- 
mists and pessimists. 

The ver}^ dreams of the wildest theorists build their Utopias on the 
old plan, invariably; they can and have worked out some beautiful con- 
ditions and theoretical lofty surroundings, but the foundations, the 
fundamental ideas are those simply of the good old cannibal king of 
pre-historic times, — a "divine" taxer, and lest poor man might escape 
government paternalism somewhere in the great futurity, there are 
watchful gatekeepers to the high walls on his every pathway. In this 
respect, the wildest barbarians, yet too wild and crude to form tribal 
relations, without fire and naked, fighting for life on the outer borders 
of brute creation, at least are not taxed, are not blessed or cursed with 
a paternal ruler. 

The first arrivals of the Susquehanna Company came to Bradford 
county in 1YY4 — four years after the arrival of Fox and Shoefelt. They 
had built their little bark huts, much after the Indian fashion, and 
enlaroed the "deadenings" about them, and were now raising a little 
corn and a few vegetables, and had ponies and cows, and from the 
streams and the woods all the meat they wanted. When the ground 
was cleared enough for the sun's rays to play freely upon it, the rudest 
cultivation yielded the greatest returns. These first arrivals surveyed 
for themselves the long east and west townships, Wyalusing and 
Standing Stone. Among these settlers were James Welles and Robert 
Carr, at Wyalusing; Edward Hicks, at Sugar Run; Benjamin Budd, 
at Terrytown ; Anthony Rummerfield, at Rummerfield ; the Yan- 
Valkenbergs, at Misiscum ; Lemuel Fitch, at Standing Stone, and John 
Lord, at Sheshequin, 

St. John de Creve Coeur, a Frenchman, passed up the Susquehanna 
river, with Indian guides, in 1774. A report of his exploration was 
published some time after in France. He was an educated man and a 
close observer ; he says : " On the fifth day we arrived at Wyalusing, 
situated ninety miles from Wilkesbury. It is a plain of considerable 
extent and of great fertility. I observed that the blue grass had been 
replaced by white clover with which the pastures were covered. There 
were as yet only a few families living along the river. Their cattle were 
of great beauty. * * * Passing up the river they showed me the 
remains of the ancient villages of tl^e Senec as — Sissusing (Sheshequin) 
Teoga, Shamond (Chemung), etc. After three days' navigation, always 
against the current, we landed at Anaquaga, one hundred and eighty 
miles from Wilkesbury." 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 59 

Bv the next year, 1775, the Proprietories had made grants and set 
off and surveyed them to the grantees. Among others was that of 
Casper Hoover, nearly opposite the Dodge farm, at the upper end of 
Terrytown. 

Henry Pawling, of Providence, in 1775, purcliased of Job Chillo- 
way, the' Indian, tiie valley of Wyalusing and four rights in the Sus- 
quehanna Company, adjoining, and that year, with his three sons, 
Benjamin, Jesse and William, settled on their land. With this family 
came Isaac Hancock, as tenant and housekeeper, and, as laborers, they 
brought Richard Berry and a man named Page. The three Pauldings 
were voung men who afterwartl were known as among the wealthy, 
intluential people of the county. The Pawlings for years lived on the 
site of the old Moravian Indian town. Isaiah Pasco lived just north 
or above them on a lot owned by Elihu Williams, and still further on 
was James Welles and family, near where the old Foley house stood ; 
Nathan Kingsley was a few rods above the depot ; Amos York on the 
John Hollenback farm, and near him his nephew. Miner Robbins. 
Capt. Robert Carr was on the nortli of Wyalusing creek ; he sold to 
James Forsythe, and he in turn to Abraham I3owman. 

In 1777, settlements were made near where is Camptown in Wyalu- 
sing, and also along the river at Asylum, Standing Stone, Macedonia, 
Wysauking, Towanda, Lower Shesliequin and at Sugar creek, Pbili]) 
Painter and Leonard Lott were in Wilniot, on the Gamble ])lace. 

Benjamin Budd and his three sons, John, Joseph and Asa, and also 
Parker Wilson were located at Terrytown. 

Peter Slioefelt, companion in the coming of Rudolph Fox, was at 
Frenclitown, where were also James Forsythe, Samuel Ketchum (his 
])lace afterward was the Willian Storr's place) and Samuel Cole and 
family ; Jacob Bruner and Ste[)hen Sara were at Macedonia. 

Anthony Rummerfield was the first settler on Rummerfield creek, 
and that stream bears his name; and at Standing Stone was Simon 
Spalding, Lemuel Fitch, fourof the YanAlstynes, Henry Birney, 
Charles Anger, John Pencil and Adam Simmons; these were mostly 
just below the York narrows. 

The Yan Yalkenbergs and Stropes were near the mouth of Wysox 
creek ; William Nelson, on the Banning place ; Isaac Larraway, senior 
and junior, and Samuel Showers were on the fiats nearly opposite 
Towanda. 

Jacob J^>owman was one of the first close neighbors of Rudolph 
Fox and Capt. John Bortles had made his "pitch'"' up the Towanda 
creek toward Monroeton ; John Neeley was at Greenwood. 

John Lord had settled in Sheshequin, on the Gore place, and he 
soon sold to William Stewart. 

At Tioga point was John Secord, family and two grown sons, 
James and Cyrus. A full account of the settlers at this point will be 
found in the chapter, " Athens Township." 

These constituted the beginnings of the '' Happy Yalley," at all 
events would have been, not only the happy, but as well the magically 
growing valley, had not cruel circumstances — in one sense like fate 
itself — come upon the people. There were the fewest of people, and 



60 HISTOKY OF BRADFOED COUNTY. 

only the wide-scattered, rudest of huts with their bark coverings — 
witliout schools, churches, courts, officials, police, culprits, palaces, 
paupers, penitentiaries, or preachers, these people were laying the 
foundations of peace, happiness, wealth and a great empire ; they were 
a law unto themselves — industrious, frugal, honest and intelligent — 
the world's fairest models of self-government; living examples of how 
very little men need governing when really left by rulers to govern 
themselves. A healthy, robust public opinion was the strong, supreme 
law of the land, before which the most hartlened outlaw slunk away 
from the sight of men as do the ferocious wild beasts and the venom- 
ous vipers. A blue-coated policeman wnth his brass buttons and tin 
star would have been to these simple-minded pioneers as veritable a 
show as the elephant and his keeper pulling himself up b}^ his tusks 
and poking his head in the animal's wide-extended mouth. Think of 
a police court every morning consigning the poor over-night drunks to 
the rock-pile in those primitive days ! About the only officer of the 
government they ever knew w^as the tax-collector, and he Avas not 
seriously dreaded, for, even though the nation was young, as all sup- 
posed, hopelessly in debt, all her great institutions to build, yet the 
tax was then but a fraction of a cent to where it is now dollars. 
Money was very scarce, but so were paupers and millionaires. The 
modern reader need not shudder in pity over these "simple annals of the 
poor" — they were the contented poor, with little or none of that sordid 
greed that has been the fruitful source of so much of man's inhumanity 
to man. With none of the glittering and costly trappings of state, 
hardly able to realize they had a tax-gatherer, they had set about the 
noble life-work before them, and the rainbow of promise spanned their 
eastern skv. But in a moment through their '' sweetest of bhe plains " 
went driving the plowshare of war — the people rose up against their 
horrid King fetich, whose cruelties had driven the iron into their very 
souls, and finally on the altars of liberty they staked their fortunes 
and sacred honor. Driven to rebellion they were rebels, outlaws, with 
a price set upon their heads, and for seven long, dreary, cruel years 
the cloud of war hung over the land, the invading enemy on one hand, 
open and secret foes and spies in their own midst, and the prowling, 
pitiless red savages in the rear, marking the trail of his marauds by 
the smoldering ruins of pioneer cabins and the bloodiest of massa- 
cres. Did these men and women, think you, realize that all this 
infliction had come upon them because they and their ancestors had 
held to the implicit faith of the "divinit}^ of kings," the right of 
taxing at will the people? They were not in a condition possibly to 
know that the only " divine " thing in this world is every human 
being's right to "liberty and the pursuit of happiness," absolute and 
unrestricted. 

The roar of resounding arms — the harsh tocsin of w^ar drove out 
the people from the fair and happy valleys of the upper Susquehanna, 
and armed men in serried columns cut highways through these forests, 
where were only the few and small deadenings and blind paths before. 
The people fled for their lives to the forts in the older and heavier 
settlements, the men as best they could conveying their families to 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 61 

places of comparative safety for the time, having-, when they left their 
backwoods cabins, left crops and kine behind them and departed at a 
moment's notice often ; and, as soon as the general rendezvous was 
reached, they would shoulder their rifles and join the army, and go 
forth with their lives in their hands — the long and indescribable cruel- 
ties and sufferings of war, invasion, rapine, "hired Hessians" 
murdering for lucre, and painted savages for even less compensation, 
the miserable instinct of cruelty confronting these men — pickets in the 
fore of civilization, and behind' them were their wives and babes and 
the dark, uncertain hope that hung only as a deep pall above them. 
For seven long years Bradford county was again the gloomy, silent 
wilderness, with no sign of life save that of the fierce growl of lighting 
wild beasts, the war-whoops of fiercer men, or the crack of the long 
black rifle, as some enemy of mankind bit the dust and laid his bones 
to bleach on the hill-side! The women and children to the forts, the 
men to war and the rare Tory to Canada, and the upper Susquehanna 
was again a lonely desert. On the heels of the fugitive pioneers came 
the Imlian marauders, headed by Englishmen, determined to stamp 
out forever all rebellion against the '' sacred King "—wash it out in 
blood and burn it up with Are, and behind these pitiless woods' people 
was the great English Empire — the bloody Anglo-Saxon, turning in 
inappeasable wrath upon his own kith and fdn, unleashing the dogs of 
cruel, horrid war. The forts were besieged and overpowered, and the 
bloodiest border massacres of the Revolution were enacted along the 
banks of the beautiful blue Susquehanna, when finally Washington 
sent Gen. Sullivan's expedition, and then the heavy heel of the Son of 
Man came with one fell crushing blow upon the head of the serpent. 
Gen. Sullivan cleared the beautiful valley of these devils incarnate, 
killing the men as fast as he could reach them, and then destroying 
their villages, driving off their stock and destroying the last vestiges 
of their crops — a very lesson of destruction both to the savages and 
their white allies. Then again the white man began to venture on 
these grounds ; hunt out the little spot where stood the cabin, now gone 
in smoke and a scattered handful of ashes, and the unconquerable 
pioneer, undaunted, set about the work of re-making his wilderness 
home. Nothing can be more tiresome than that dyspeptic sentiraent- 
alism that is now possible at rare intervals among American writers, 
who carp at what they call Sullivan's cruelty to '"Lo, the poor Indian," 
on the occasion of his expedition. Red or white, he struck to kill, as 
was his high and holy duty, and these hysterical outgivings — carpings 
that he came with real soldiers, instead of praying missionary women, 
to appease with gifts and burning aromatic incense these children of 
Satan — is a travesty ujion common sense. 

Hardly was the ink dry on the parchment that contained the 
treaty of peace when the eager Susquehanna settlers were again ready 
to pour into the valley and build anew their cabins on the little spot 
of ashes that was the onlv remains of their former homes. This border- 
land for more than seven years had been the scene of the march of sol- 
diers and the stealthy, prowling men in moccasins and their white con- 
querers. These had crossed and recrossed each other's tracks-the white 



'63 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

man most often in hot pursuit of some band fleeing from the lower settle- 
ments where they had swooped down in the darkness and committed 
some horrid slaughter and stolen the horses and cattle of their poor vic- 
tims ; many of their acts of refined cruelty were in stealing the children 
of the whites and carrying them away and keeping them in captivit}^, 
leaving a poor mother to waste the remaining years of her life in the 
pursuit or vain hope of recovering their precious babes. A little girl 
child was stolen and carried up the Susquehanna and adopted into the 
tribe, and was never again found by friends until long after she was a 
woman and the wife or squaw of an Indian. She refused at that late 
day to return to friends and civilization. 

Much additional particulars will be given of these pioneers in the 
respective chapters relating to the thirty-seven townships that consti- 
tute Bradford count^^ It is enough to say here that the development 
of the county was slow indeed — the people came in a little stream and 
never in swarms or colonies, as has been the casein some of the Far- 
West new territories. They encountered many obstacles then that are 
known not of in this age. For fifty years the advance was so slow 
that it was hardly more than perce):)tible; the dark old woods melted 
away reluctantly, and easy or rapid transportation was unknown to 
them. The children of even the most favored or wealthy, while they 
had nearly everything they wanted, were ignorant even of luxuries 
such as our present children demand as common necessities. Man}' a 
young man of that day was big and old enough to go " a-sparking " 
— that is what they called love-making in those simple, honest days, 
before he had become the happy possessor of a pair of boots. The 
young man of to-day breathes nearly a different atmosphere to that of 
the boys or young men of fifty years ago. One of these old-time boys, 
whose head is now white with many winters, recently recounted some- 
thing of his boyhood to his interested listeners. He was born in 
Bradford county of parents of more than the average advantages of 
wealth. He remembers every process of raising the flax and clipping 
the wool, and from that to the home-made clothes that dressed the en- 
tire family; how the ox was slaughtered in the fall, and the younger 
cattle in the spring and summer, and the hides were carried to the 
tannery and returned home ; and then the annual visit of the shoe- 
maker shod all around, the big and little in footwear that was worn 
with infinite pride, but each pair must last a whole year; how when 
he was large enough he hired out and rode one of the neighbor's plow 
horses while the man plowed his crop of corn, and three days the 
boy thus endured the sharp bare back; and when the man settled up 
he paid him two ten-cent silver coins — a picayune a da3^ and how, 
while he pocketed his wages in silence, as he trudged his way home, 
he took tlie coins out of his pocket and threw them into the brush by 
the wayside and huted the man most cordially all his life for his mean- 
ness. This man could draw a vivid picture of his boy life in this 
then comparatively new country, especially in the long walks the chil- 
dren often took to the log cabin school house, and while it was before 
the day of free schools, yet a large family of children then cost their 
parents less outlay of cash to educate them than each average child 



I 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 63 

now costs. This venerable man can tell yon that in his young 
manhood he commenced life for himself, without capital or 
even the backing of strong friends, and opened a store, and at one time 
sold more goods every week from his store in Towanda than is now 
sold in the same length of time from all the many stores in the 
borough. While the boys of to-day will hear of the boys of fifty years 
ago, and pity them, yet it is a fact that the young man of to-day^ is 
under very many disadvantages in the comparison of then and noV. 
Now, unless the young man has inherited capital, he must seek employ- 
ment as a rule from others, and it is very much more difficult to become 
an emplover of others than it was at one time. Capital and society have 
been recast. Capital has been aggregating, and the small beginners 
are smothered out; the country store, with its limited stock of goods, 
is more nearlv in direct competition with the great city stores than 
formerly ; and so of every other branch of business. The avenues to 
success are being slowly but surely closed up — fewer employers, and 
the army of employes constantly growing and expanding. In such 
surroundings the struggle for life, with all those who must struggle at 
all, will grow harder and harder. To use a phrase that is not exact — 
national wealth will more rapidly increase in these conditions, but so 
will the numbers of the poor and, alas, too. the numbers of those out 
of employment and seeking it. While stagnation is death, yet all change 
is not improvement. It is easy for us to say our society is now better — 
the nearest perfect the world has seen; that we have those things that 
contribute to our happiness in the highest degree ; that our schools and 
churches and the laws are better than ever known to the world before. 
There are pros and cons to all this self-laudation. We have better 
food, clothing, houses and drainage, and the average of life is longer 
than it was wlien our ancestors were first struggling here ; but we have 
more penal institutions, asylums, feeble-minded homes, soup houses and 
actual starvation; crimes wholly unknown and a class of criminals that 
our grandfathers never heard of; and one feature that is wholly new, 
and that is the bequest or gift outright by one individual of the enor- 
mous sum of six million dollars to the church and school, and hundreds 
of others giving nearly similar amounts, and yet the State has taken 
charge of educating our children, and from free schools and endowed 
universities and colleges laws are being passed to compel i)arents to 
send their children to school. And, amid it all, the demand exceeds 
the supply on every hand, except on the evil side. 

Honest simplicity is never an ungainly thing — it may call for a 
smile of pity, but never a tear. Phenomenal school children, cunning 
and tricky street Arabs of the city may know many things that George 
Washington never learned. The dullard boy of to-day knows more 
of fast living than did the brightest boy a hundred years ago; but 
does he live longer or enjoy it more 'I 

A Boy and Leather Breeches. — At the beginning of this century 
one of the sore needs of the people was wool with which to make 
clothing. The scarcity of this article was the mother of the idea of 
dressing deer-skins and making clothing. They were soon able to 
dress these skiuF, and they were soft and pliable, and the art of giving 



64 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

them a slight buff color was learned, and when made into trousers 
they resembled modern nankeen, and to this was soon added a bright 
color for the fringe around the deer-skin hunting shirts — these were 
soon worn with as much pride as a militiaman once strolled under his 
waving rooster feathers. '•^Doeskin " pants, as these leather trousers 
were sometimes called, were no doubt in their time quite dudish. 

The pioneers had their own amusements, and had more time to be 
amused tlian have our modern get-rich-quick people. They had far 
greater wealth then than now, in the way of dogs and many children; and 
if in the family was a rat-tailed spotted horse, the big bo3^s of that fortun- 
ate household were, not only rich, but happy. Fifteen children and forty- 
two grandchihlren, to say nothing of the great-grandchildren, reveled 
in all the needed prospective wealth of the eldest male Monte Cristo, 
in the "old man's" long squirrel gun, and the short, slim-tailed 
spotted horse, that in the course of nature would come to the expectant 
and hopeful heirs. It is a portentous fact that these peculiar guns 
and horses were far rarer in those good old times than are railroads 
and millionaire bondholders now ; and the prospective heir was far 
more happy, as well he might be ; and we know that great and 
splendid wealth is wholly in the variety of the dower, and not in any 
intrinsic values. For instance, our modern idiots dote on diamonds 
and similar miserable and useless trash, all not only worthless, but 
worse than bubbles. Compare these with cur dogs, sixteen children 
and a rat-tailed spotted horse and a flint-lock, long-barreled squirrel 
gun, and then please exploit yourself" a ass" in the stupid faith that 
the new order may smile in contemptuous pity upon the great past. 
Poverty then and"^ riches now, no sir! It is base diamond-crowned 
delusion now, and it w'as the gun and pony then — real substantial 
wealth versus a lunatic's dream. A glint of sunlight is worth more 
than all the diamonds and rubies the^vhole world has ever contained — 
and a dog, flint-lock and a calico pony, granting him a fair share of 
pole-evil and string-halt, is a solid, intrinsic reality ; a real wealth to 
dower fifteen towsley brats, and make them lords and ladies all. 

Then, too, the pioneers and their " brats " had amusements far better 
than anything we now know. Sugar-making camps in the early 
spring, when the sweet sap from the maple flows, when the whole 
neighborhood would go to the woods and camp and make sugar and 
thai dark and delicious syrup. Why our effete youngsters know not 
enough to dream in their lifeless way of real fun — life in its highest and 
best form. One hundred vears ago the people knew how to really 
live — live for all that healthy, bounding life is worth. The woods 
were full of game and the streams of fish, and hunting, trapping and 
fishing commenced as soon as children could toddle, and continued 
with no game laws interfering, as long as old age could again toddle. 
The nightly concerts of the wolves and panthers would literally 
knock silly our make-believe tragic operas ; two gew-gawed " lumaxes " 
singing out their mad duel, fought with paper swords, and another 
fellow stabbing himself with a bar of soft soap, accomjmnying the act 
with such boss bullfrog croaking as of itself ought to kill the lunatic as 
well as the audience. The pioneers had great hunting frolics, log 




J^.<^.^^.uo^ 



lllSTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 67 

rollings, and real courting that was give-and-take like the strokes from 
a blind mule's hind quarters comi)ared to this modern dude-lolling. 
Towanda creek especially was noted for the number of its rattle- 
snakes, and nearly every year hunting i)arties were organized, and 
at the meet divided off under captains, and contest as to which party 
could kill the greatest number of rattlers. Our modern men hunt 
snakes, but the kind that is corked up in bottles, whose bite is so 
intoxicating that men seek them out and actually pay so much a nip. 
And other things have changed as much as ancient and modern 
snake hunting. 

One of the old-time boys, so old that he remembers an incident in 
his life that occurred eighty years ago, relates the following : He 
was promised that if he would for the next month be a real good hoy 
—that is, work to the utmost limit of endurance— thela he might 
go afoot five miles to the shop and see the man pound hot iron. His 
imagination w^is fii'od at the very thought — was ever a boy so rich in 
anticipation — a real blacksmith and pounding hot iron and the sparks fly- 
ing in every direction and they never burned up the smithy,— a sure 
enongh king of fire, and his parents had promised him an afternoon 
holiday to go and see all this for himself! Time with that bov now 
lingered, loitered and fooled away his gallop along the way incom- 
parably slower than it now does with the hard-up young man who 
knows the ''old man " has made his will and there's millions in it for 
him, except the old man is awful healthy— has neither manners nor 
regards for his only hopeful and chip-of-the-old-block son ; if the lov- 
ing son only had energy enough he would poison the old duffer. But this 
is wandering from the boy that, if the slow^-coach time ever did get 
around, was going to see the hot iron pounded. His mother and sis- 
ters realized that the boy must have different clothes— must be dressed 
well, as w^ell as all over,*'to go on that great expedition ; he had a pair 
of "doeskin" trousers and roundabout of the same, and on a pinch 
could wear his father's moccasins, but he had no cap; a solemn coun- 
cil convened, and as a result of its deliberations a cat was killed, the 
skin dressed with the tail left hanging down his back for a queue. 
The great dav did arrive and the boy went, and as good lack would 
have it the sniithy was not too drunk to work, and his visions w-ere 
more than realized. The smithy, with a tooth for enjoyment, took in 
the situation when the gawking boy was looking on so intently as he 
worked the bellows and slyly spat on the anvil and jerked out the 
white heated metal and struck it a tremendous blow, and the loud 
explosion nearly frightened the lad to death, and he confesses that he 
was a married man and had children before he had any other thought 
but that the anvil, the hammer and the smithy had all exploded 
at the same time — a veritable cataclysm to him, and tliat the creature 
was supernatural was evidenced that it could not kill him, as he 
pounded away right merrily. 

When that boy returned he was the hero of all the children for 
manv miles around— all of them went to church, or meeting rather, 
the following Sunday to see him. The nods, frowns and thumb-jerking 
of the old folks could not control them— the good divine thundered his 



68 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

thirty-seventhly louder, but in vain; tlie children for once did not 
quake when he, a last resort with the good Sliephei'd when all else 
tailed to interest the people, as he called it, would '' lift the leds of hell 
and show them the fires," the children, the boys especially, had heard 
that before, but had never before known a boy that had been up to see 
hot iron pounded, and the poor preacher, parents, pickled rods, etc., 
were unheeded, and they gathered about the real hero of the day, who 
told them all he saw ; that is all that he had words to express. Happily, 
children can makethemselves understood to children, and there was never 
a boy at meeting that day but who went home witli the high resolve that, 
come what might, some da}^ he too would go and see the blacksmith 
pound hot iron — utterly reckless of consequences, some day when he 
had a pair of " doeskin '" ti-ousers, like those his big brother always 
wore when he went a-courting, he would go and his mother and sisters 
could not scare him out of it, especially if he could get hishairroached, 
and look big and not afraid ; hadn't he already gone clear out to the 
wood-pile one night, and although he heard a screech-owl he held onto 
his armful of wood and landed it, with a good deal of clatter, it is true, 
on the floor by the chimney corner — and then foolish girls talk to 
him about being afraid of pounded hot iron, even if everything and 
smithy too did burst, what of it? — ffo he would! 

Simply as a matter of relish of life can you imagiue anything, anj^- 
wiiere of modern days, that in tiie least compares with this instance in 
pioneer life? All true life is in the mind's excitation, the mental exul- 
tation in expectancy that fills the cup to the brim and it overflows. 
It is but one in every pioneer family of the land, where things were 
pure and primitive — when neither children nor grown persons died 
of ennui — when children had hardly anything as toys or luxuries that 
could be called " bougliten." Wliy is it that the children who never 
had a doll, except rag ones of their own making, remember their child- 
hood with so infinite a zest that it is beyond all comprehension of the 
modern child that is loaded and even oppressed with its multitude of 
elaborate and expensive toys? Luxuries, exj)ensive and valuable lux- 
uries, costing great sums of raone}^ and that are beautiful and fragile, 
are not what the cliild Avants, unless the little one is first trained out 
of all natural sweet childhood. The boy that gets some person to bend 
a pin for him, and provides his own string and fish-pole, for his first 
fishing in the shallow puddle, has incomparably more delight in fish- 
ing than is ever known to the coddled child of wealth who when he is 
nearly grown is allowed to go with a groom and fish with one of 
these expensive tackles that can be purchased at the sporting store. 
It is the boy fourteen years old who looks forward to the day 
Avhen his father will buy a new cap or hat, and give him the old one 
to dress up in and go to meeting, who will remember longest his 
triumphs and joys in the acquisition of new clothes, or anything and 
everything that comes to him in his callow days. The modern boy 
and man for that matter looks back upon the pioneer times and shud- 
ders at their primitive simplicity, because he is ignorant of the fact 
in the premises; he gratifies every appetite, and they in succession cloy 
and he gets drunk, if he has the energy, or might commit suicide, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 69 

has but the one consolation — that he didn't live l)efore tiiey had rail- 
roads and unifornietl sprvants and waiters on every hand, and lie may 
have looked t'oj-ward to the one glory of death, of being buried in a 
suit cut anil made in Paris. Expensive and artificial life is not a bound- 
less joy — rather it is the keen earnestness of simplicity — gratified 
rarely, but always intensel3\ 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LOG CABIN. 
The First Brush Cabins — The Improved Ones— Etc. 

THE log cabins of the pioneers were the powerful lever that 
pressed the Indians tiiat skirted along the Atlantic shore back 
to^vard the xVUeghanies, and then across the mountains and on to the 
Mississippi river, and across tliat and then to the Kocky mountains, 
and eventually across these snow-clad ranges and down the slope 
and finally to the Pacific ocean. Nearly three hundred years were 
consumed in these long and often bloody journeyings of the two peo- 
ples so distinct in color, race and instincts. They were antagonistic 
races that could not well exist together. The Indian's supreme im- 
pulse was that of absolute freedom — liberty in its fullest extent, where 
there was no law other than that of physical strength and courage, 
might was right, and from that the weak had no appeal save that of 
the stoic's div^ine right to death. The Indian's deatli-song was there- 
fore a part of his deep-seated philoso]ihy, and whether cooped up on 
the tall cliff— Starved Rock— and slowly starved to death, slain in 
battle, or dying of disease, his last and supreme act was to chant his 
weird death-song. Death then was not his one dreaded, invisible foe. 
When he could fight and kill no more, then it w^as his friend — the 
angel with outstretched wings in his extremity, tenderly carrying 
him away from his enemy and his pain. His ideal was that animal 
life typified in the screaming eagle of the crags, or the spring of the 
striped tiger, wdiose soft foot had carried it in reach of its unsuspecting 
prey. 

The rugged and w^eather-beaten ]Moneer, he or his ancestors had 
fled from tyranny and religious persecutions, severely austere toward 
his own real or imaginary faults, w^elcoming any inflection that would 
only purify, as by fire, his soul, and fleeing from the persecutor of the 
body, he erected' his altars to a God that was simply inappeasable, not 
only for his own sins, but for the yielding to temptation of the flrst 
mother of the human race, and this he unfalteringly believed " brought 
death into the world and all our woe." This creature of curious con- 
tradictions, while over-exacting toward himself, and w^elcoming any 



<^0 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and all self-inflicted strifes, slept on his arms for anything mortal that 
dared to intimate an approach on his religious rights or beliefs — yield- 
ino- all to his God, he would yield nothing to anyone or anything else. 
He would put a padlock on his mouth, that it might not speak evil, 
and his very thoughts in the stocks, that he might not think evil — 
silence and dreams of the glories of heaven alternating with the groans 
and outcries of the damned, and eyes closed to all earthly things, he 
even tried to control the strong impulses of his heart in its love for 
wife or children in the fear that God would be jealous and might blast 
forever his soul with a frown. And from the depths of bis troubled 
life he would cry out that he could do nothing to please God — that he 
was utterly unworthy and totally wicked; that his whole inheritance, 
throu^ii a'thousand ancestors, was sin, and it would be but a supreme 
mercv in his Maker to cast him out forever. He invented his own 
penance, inflicted his own judgments, clothed himself in sackcloth and 
ashes, and finally consigned himself as the only mercy he deserved to 
the endless tortures of hell. 

This was the fugitive, the waif cast upon the troubled waters, that 
came from the Old to the New in the hunt of religious liberty and a 
home. Unkempt and unwashed, rough and storm-beaten, with long, 
bushy hair, and in his leather jerkin, this apparition stood before the 
savao'es of the valley of the Susquehanna, rifle in hand, one foot thrown 
before the other, braced, erect, his keen eye directed straight into the 
wild man's soul; there he had put his heavy foot down, and the quick 
instinct of the savage told him never to take it up again. The wild 
man struck like the coiled snake; the crack of the white man's rifle 
echoed through the old forest trees and stilled the serpent's rattle 
forever. 

The first habitation w^as an opened-faced brush house, if such a 
thino- can be called a house at all. It was between two trees standing 
close together — a pole across, and leaned against this was brush, 
bramble and leaves piled on ; two wings projected from the ends simi- 
larlv constructed, and the whole front open, and here was the camp 
firel The furniture was a pile of dry leaves on one side of this brush 
dwellino-. This w^as rather a poor protection, 3^et there was a time 
when it has been all some of the earliest pioneers had during their 
first long winter in the remote wilderness. They possibly had simply 
wintered there intending to resume their journey when warm weather 
came. Sometimes they thus camped, waiting the fall of the high 
waters in the stream. These advance couriers of civilization were 
encumbered with no camp equipage ; the old heavy rifle, and the 
hunting knife, and the few leather clothes they wore were all they 
had. Then, too, they may have reached the one spot in the wilder- 
ness thev had traveled so "far to find. Just there a stream or a spring 
of sw^eet water, the giant trees extending their strong protecting 
arms, and the abundant evidences of game on every hand may have 
been the determining cause, or, as was often the case, living away 
back in Massachusetts or Connecticut, the young man had met 
some hunter and trapper, and had made eager inquiries as to where 
he could find the best place in the new country, and the hunter 



IIISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 71 

had mapped out to his mind the long road to that particular spot. 
How he would pursue a certain course, guided by the sun and 
the North Star, or the moss on the trees, and just where he would 
cross certain rivers and streams, and follow these to such a point, 
then deflect to the right or left and strike a certain prairie, and 
after a while he would pass a mound or a lone tree, and then in 
the blue distance a point of timber, and from that another point, 
and then for davs and days upon the prairie sea, and again reach- 
ing the timber another stream, and follow up that to where a creek 
or°arm emptied into it, thence up that stream, and a small prairie, 
and a grove, and then on and on to the timber and streams again, and 
here a'spring would be reached— a natural camping place and per- 
haps the end of the long journey, and to-day his grandchildren born 
on the old farm where he first stopped and ])ut up his brush house 
may not know or be able to iind the spring that was his objective 
point when he so bravely started from his old pioneer father's home 
in the east. The brush^ covering protected him somewhat from the 
inclement elements, the fire in front served a double purpose— it 
warmed and dried him when wet or cold, and kept away the fierce 
wild animals that otherwise would have attacked and devoured him. 
If during the night it burned low, the screams of the panther or the 
howls oF the close-coming wolves would admonish him to throw a 
few sticks on the fire, or sometimes amuse himself by tiring at the 
eyes of the beast that was so near him that its gleaming eyeballs 
make an excellent target. 

The first months of this man's life were passed in the most primitive 
manner. He procured food by his rifle, supplemented with the natural 
fruits and berries of the woods, learning to eat many of the roots lie 
could dig. He neighbored much with the Indians, and often got of 
them some of their coarse materials for making bread. The one 
chief deprivation, both to him and the Indians, was the want of salt. 
This no doubt was the one luxury of which he would often dream that 
he had left behind him when heVentured out from civilization. Early 
in the spring he was hunting in the woods for the wild onions that 
are among the first to push their green stems above the soil, and in 
the wild sheep-sorrel he found the delicious acid that his system so 
much needed, then the May-apples, and then the berries, the paw- 
paws, the nuts and wild grapes, the buds, the bark of certain trees,and 
at a certain time in spring tlie top root of the young hickory, were all 
in their turn within his reach, and were utilized. 

This was the first little wave, the immediate forerunner of the 
round log cabin. He had soon learned many of the Indian ways, and 
their expedients in emergencies. He was a demonstration of the fact 
that a civilized man will learn to be a wild man in less than a fifteenth 
of the time it will take to teach a savage to become civilized, or to 
like any of the ways and habits of civilized life. Had he forgotten to 
think of this lonely, silent life? He would visit his distant neighbors 
in their wigwams, approaching as quietly as they, enter with a 
grunt, seat himself, light his pipe, and all would sit and smoke in 
silence. An occasional orunt or a nod of the head, but never a smile; 



72 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and this had come to be his idea of enjoyment in social life too. He 
learned to goto the deer licks, as had the Indians, for other pm'poses 
as well as those of finding the deer there and shooting them. He had 
learned to find certain clays that the savages ate. He soon knew as 
much of wild woods life as did the natives. 

One da}^ late in the spring, while hunting, he met an Indian, who 
startled him with the news that a pale-faced neighbor had come and 
actually had settled as near as fifteen miles up the creek. This was 
the most astounding news he had ever heard. Only fifteen miles — 
why, this is settling right in my door-yard, and not so much as even 
saying, by your leave ! Can it be possible? I can't stand too much 
crowding. He quits the chase, and returns straight to his cabin, cooks 
and eats his supper, and sits on his log and smokes and thinks, yes, 
actuall}^ thinks, till his head fairly swims over the day's news. He 
goes to bed and sleeps and dreams, and millions of people are pouring 
into his cabin, and behind them still comes the eternal stream of 
humanity, laughing, crying, shouting, struggling, and the great wave 
is upon him, and he is being smothered, when, with a mighty effort, he 
wakes, and the owls are hooting from the treetops, and the wolves are 
howling be3'ond his cabin their mighty lullabies. And he is so thank- 
ful it is but a dream, but he again thinks over the news, and finally 
determines on the morning he will go and visit his near neighbor and 
make his acquaintance, and turns over on his dry leaves and is once 
more sound asleep. 

He pays the visit the next day, and his sudden and strange appear- 
ance is nearly as great a surprise to the newcomers as was the news to 
him the day before. He finds the man busy chopping, and for the last 
mile had been guided by the ring of the ax, and seated on the log, 
they tell each other the latest news from the settlements and from the 
wigwam villages. The new neighbor tells him that he and wife had 
come on foot from Vermont, and had arrived some weeks ago, and did 
not know that they had a white neighbor within a hundred miles. He 
described how^ he had carried the rifle, the ax and the few little things, 
they had brought, and his wife carried the hoe, the only farming im- 
plement they had, and hung on the hoe over her shoulder was the 
small bundle of her earthly possessions ; that they had heard of the 
rich country in the Susquehanna valley, and had got married and started 
for the good country, where they could make their home and their 
farm, and in time hoped to have a plenty ; they had planted the two 
or three potatoes, the half dozen pum])kin seeds and the few hills of 
corn, and the first year they ho])ed to raise some seed. The gun, the 
ax, an auoer and the hoe were their marriage dower with which to 
start life. They had brought a few trinkets, and on their way had 
exchanged these for some skins and furs, that were so necessary. The 
man and wife had put up the round-log (or pole) cabin, and covered it 
with bark. It had simply a door for entrance, and a stick-and-miid 
chimney — no floor, except such as nature had made, but here and 
there was laid a dried skin, and in one corner the man had made a one- 
legged bedstead, and crossed this with raw-hide whangs to support 
the bedding of skins. It is made by making the one leg, and then in 



HISTORY OF JUIADFORD COUNTY. 73 

the corner of tlie room you bore a hole in eacliwall; one of these 
holes receives the side rail from the post, and the other receives the end 
rail from the same post. The two walls of the building form the other 
side and end of the bed, and there you have it — fit for a king! if the 
mind is content. Upon these primitive beds of our fathers has come 
as sweet repose as ever found its way within palace walls, and on the 
great mahogany teester bedsteads draped in silks and satins and the 
costliest laces. 

The small ''clearing and girdling" was planted by the wife most- 
ly, while the men felled trees, chopped logs and gathered and burned 
the fallen timber. The wife worked with the heavy hoe, and the man 
with the ax and guH. The few seeds they planted grew at a remark- 
able rate, and now they had in store a little bread, a few vegetables 
and abundance of meat. His gun and traps had brought them meat 
and fur and feathers, and hone}' they had found in abundance in the 
forests. Before the year had expired the_y made a raft, and loaded it 
with their stores, and went to the trading post, and exchanged honey, 
furs and pelts for such manufactured articles as they needed, and am- 
munition and salt. They had enough to buy a pou}' of the Indians, 
and by the second year were farming in great content. 

But a few years have passed, and the land begins to be dotted with 
log cabins. That is, every few miles on the way could be seen in the 
distance the blue curling smoke lazily ascending from these outside, 
low, mud-and-stick chimneys. This, now, is the glorious log-cabin day 
and age. Let us examine one, and if we can, secure the shadow ere 
the substance has gone forever. As you approach you are impressed 
with the squat and heavy, solid appearance of the building. The roof 
is of split clapboards, weighted with heavy poles. There is not so 
much iron as a nail in all the building. The batten door is made of 
the same kind of boards, and swino^s on wooden hinges, and has a 
wooden latch, to which is attached a leather string that passes up and 
through a small hole to the outside. To pull this string is to raise the 
latch and permit the door to open. To lock the door it is only neces- 
sary to pall the string inside, and then no one on the outside can open 
it. Hence, there is much friendly significance when one says to the 
other, "my latch string always hangs out for you." You will notice 
as you ap])roach that to your right and near the end of the cabin, but 
some feet in front of a line with the front of the house, is a very 
small cabin, a kind of baby to the main building. This is the meat 
house. The lord of the manor is evidently a little proud of this larder, 
and hence it sets a little in front of the line of the dw^elling. It be- 
speaks for him a good pi'ovider, "and juicy hams and red gravy," 
galore. Farther ofi: there you see the stables covered with straw, and 
the stacks of grain and hay, and over there in a long rack made of 
rails crossed over a pole about two feet high, filled with straw, and 
about the premises are cows and calves, and horses with long hair 
and bushy manes and tails, and razor-back hogs, the largest parts 
apparently the head, from their long snouts. On every hand there 
are evidences of plenty and content. Pull the latch and walk in where 
a hearty and cheery welcome will greet you, even the long-haired 



74 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

curs will " bay you a deep-mouthed welcome," that will be stopped 
onl}^ by the authoritative voice of the master. The wild blazing iire, 
extending nearly across the whole end of the house, adds to the bright- 
ness, and the iron lard-lamp, with a rag for a wick, the recent great 
improvement on the scraped turnip that did duty as a lamp, you hardly 
notice as it burns away stuck in a crack in one of the logs. The good 
wife and the strong and red-cheeked girls are preparing the evening 
meal. The spare ribs hanging in front of the fire are turned fre- 
quently, and their odors at once- whet your already keen appetite. 
The bread is in the oven, and on this is a lid with the edges curled up 
to hold the heaps of coal that are on the top, while there are still 
more under the oven. An iron pot is hanging by the crane, and is 
boiling furiously. While these preparations are going on, take an 
inventory of the room. You are in one of the two split-bottom chairs. 
The old chest can hold or be seats for three or four of the family ; 
then thei'e are two or three three-legged stools. Then there is a 
bench made of a split log with legs to it, that is, seats all along one 
side of the table, but is moved around at pleasure. Over there is 
"granny" with her "specs," the brass rim nearly worn out, and all 
looking as old as she does excejit the new yarn string that holds them 
in place. That is her corner, on her low stool where for years and 
years she has knit and knit and knit, never stopping, even when she 
told of when she was a. little girl, and often lived in the foi't when the 
Indians would go marauding over the land. At the other end of the 
14x20 room are two beds standing end to end, with barely room for a 
person to squeeze between them. On these are such fat high feather 
beds, and over these such gay-figured red and light-figured woolen 
coverlets. These were woven away back in the old settlements. Such 
o-orffeous fio-nres, sometimes eao:les with outstretched wings, or horses 
and dogs or buffaloes, and even in a square m one corner were elabo- 
rate attempts at letters, but which as you never could see exactly 
right side up you could never read. A gay calico " vallance " hung 
around the legs of the bedstead, and you know that these hide under 
each big bed a trundle-bed. You see this was the original folding 
bed, and from this at one time universal part of the furniture of the 
cabin came that barbarous exjiression from some old sour bachelor 
about " trundle-bed trash." 

Opposite the door, which stood open nearly the year round except 
at night, is the window, the half of two of the logs cut away, making 
a hole a little over a foot wide and two feet long, and the light comes 
through greased ])aper that covered the opening. The floor was of 
puncheon — split logs; the face dressed down nicely with an axe, and 
the edges tolerably straight, but cracks frequent. On the walls hung 
strings of sage, onion tops and a beautiful wreath of red pejiper. 
Some loose boards were laid -on the cross-beams, and the stairway was 
cleats fastened to the wall. This was the girls' boudoir, and from the 
rafters hung dresses and female clothing, and in one corner close to 
the roof were the shoes that were only worn on Sundays when going 
to meeting. The ingenuity and taste of the girls had secured a barrel, 
and over this was spread a pictorial Brother Jonathan^ that had in 



I 




(fdt.yf2ypt^ 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 77 

some way come to the family long ago. This was their dressing-case, 
and on t lie barrel were were combs, ribbons and trinkets, and 4x5 
framed mirror hung gracefully above the dressing case against the 
wall. But, leaving the privacy"^ of the girls' private room we go below 
ao-ain, and soon we discover that we had overlooked some of the most 
interesting things in the living room. In the wooden racks over the 
door were the two guns of the family, and hanging from either end of 
these racks the pouch made of spotted fawn skins, and the large pow- 
der horns with the i1at end, wooden pegs in the small end that the 
hunter always pulled out with his teeth when he would pour out the 
powder in loading. The women were as proud of their household 
utensils as the men of their new buckskin hunting shirts or their guns, 
and chief among these was the cedar " pigon." This was a bright red, 
medium-sized bucket, with one of the staves long and formed into a 
handle. The broom stood handy just outside. This was made of a 
young hickory split up into small stri])s and turned over gracefully 
and tied in a wisp. For many years after we had the modern brooms 
these were still to be seen in every house, and were the scrub brooms. 
But supper is now ready and steaming hot, the dishes are sending 
out great volumes of appetizing odors, and you and the men and boys 
are all seated around the bountiful board. The women and children 
w^ait for the second table. How can you wait in patience while the 
good man invokes heaven's blessing upon what he is pleased to call 
the Lord's attention to this "frugal fare." He likes that phrase, and 
his boys often think that to get to say it is sometimes the chief impulse 
to the ceremony. When the good man addresses his Maker, he changes 
his language materially from every-day use, somewhat as he does his 
clothes when he goes to church. For instance, he emphasizes distinctly 
all the ed's, saying bless-ed, instead of, as commonly, " blest. ' 

The blessing over : " Now help yourself," is all the ceremony, and all 
that you feel you need. The broiled venison steaks, the well browned 
spare ribs, the "' craklin' " corn bread, the luscious honey piled in layers, 
and the cold sweet milk, and the hot roasted sweet potatoes, Avith 
appetites all around the board to match, this feast is fit for the gods. 
You eventually quit eating for two good reasons : Your storing capac- 
ity is about exhausted, and then you notice such a hungr}^, eager ex- 
pression in the faces of the children who are standing around and 
furtively watching the food on the table, and no doubt wondering if 
you will ever get through. Each one, when he finishes his meal, with- 
out ceremony gets up, and as no change of dishes is thought of, the 
particular youngster who is to eat after tluit ]iarticular person is (juickly 
in the place, and proceeds to sta\^ his appetite. This arrangement is 
one of the children's, and no doubt often saves serious scrambling for 
places. The supper over, the pipes are filled, and the women have so 
quietly whisked things away and cleared the table— how they did it 
and where they put them you can not for your life tell ; yet they are 
gone, and the day's working and eating are over, and in a few minutes 
the trundle-beds will be pulled out, and the children at the head and 
at the foot will fill them, something after the fashion of a sardine box; 
let us bid these good people good-bye. 



78 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

The Im/proved Log Cabin. — Nothing more distinctly marked the 
advance of the settlement of the country than the change in the archi- 
tecture of the log cabin. I have tried to describe the open-faced brush 
and the round log cabins that were so distinctly the first era. In a 
few years if you go back to see your friend, as you are very apt to do, 
as you will remember that supper a longtime, you will find a two-story 
hewed-log house, the cracks between the logs " chinked and pointed " 
with clean w^hite lime mortar, and it may be the walls inside and out 
are heavily whitewashed. It may be covered with shingles even, and 
glass windows with 6x8 glass put in with putty. Hard oak planks, 
mayhap with the whip-saw, are on the floors above and below. An 
outside rock chimney towers above either end of the building. A 
shed-roofed kitchen, which is also the dining-room, is along the whole 
length of the main building. A leaning ladder of easy ascent takes 
you " up stairs" which is one big room, while the lower part of the 
main building is divided by a partition. The upper floor is the sleep- 
ing-room of the boys and the " hands," while the room partitioned off 
is the girl's room, and which they consider the " parlor " as well as the 
bed-room. The old folks have their very tall feather bed in the main 
or living room, but under it is the trundle bed, as there is probably 
another under every bed in the house, and although the number of 
beds has greatly increased, if there is company to stay all night, this 
will necessitate " pallets '- on the floor. There is still the great wide fire- 
place and the cheerful open fire, and if it is winter, every evening just 
before dark a new back-log is rolled in with handspikes and into its 
place, and a " fore-stick " quite as large as one man can handle is placed 
on the short heavy dog-irons. But a second and smaller back-log is on 
top of the main one, and then the great yawning fireplace is soon full 
of the bright, blazing fire. A hanging crane is here as well as in the 
kitchen fire-place. In the same yard is still the old round-log cabin 
where the family lived before the neAv house was built. This is now 
the loom-house. It is also lumbered up with barrels and boxes and 
piles of truck and hoes, tools, and probably there is still a bed in it. 
The people are now wearing home-made clothing, and here the girls 
deftly weave those bright linseys with their bright red, white and black 
stripes. 

On the outer walls of the loom-house were now stretched the coon 
and possum skins, and the roof was used to dry apples and peaches in 
the fall of the year; and in this lumber house, tied in sacks and hang- 
ing from the cross beams were the garden seeds, the bunches of sage, 
boneset, onion tops, and the dried pumpkin on poles, on which Avere 
placed the rings as thickly as possible. The barrel of kraut stood with 
its heavy weights on it in one corner of the kitchen, and by the side 
of the fireplace was the huge dye-pot, and on this a wooden cover, and 
this was often worn smooth, being a handy seat by the fire. Even 
stories were told, that seated on this there had been much "sparking" 
done before the older girls were all married off. When a young 
man visited a girl, or for that matter a widower or bachelor paid any 
marked attention, it was universally called '' sparkin,' " 

This hewed-log house was sometimes neatly weatherboarded. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOIU:) COUNTY. 79 

painted and had a neat brick chimney, and you could not very readily 
tell it from a frame house. Here children were born, grew to maturity, 
married antl commenced life nearly in their one-room log- cabin, 
which more rapidly gave way to the nice frame or even the great 
brick mansion, with the ornaments and luxuries of modern life. Where 
now may be seen buildings of granite, marble and iron that gleam in 
the morning sun in blinding splendor that have cost hundreds of 
thousands, nay, even millions of dollars, once probably stood the 
round-log cabin that had been built from the standing trees about 
the spot by the husband, aided only by the young wife, with no 
other tools than the ax and the auger. These honest, patient, 
simple-minded folk never bothered their heads to anticipate the regal 
edifices of which their humble cabin was the beginning. Their earn- 
est and widest aspiration was merely, " be it never so humble there is 
noplace like home." Around these wide but humble hearths they saw 
their children grow up to strong men and women, honest, unsophisti- 
cated, rough and blunt in manner, but ignorant of the knowledge of 
the vices that so often lurk beneath the polish and splendors of older 
societies and supurfluous wealth. Their wants few and simple, within 
the easy reach of every one, their ambition brought them no heart- 
burnings, no twinges of conscience, and none of that pitiable despair, 
where what we may call that higher sphere in the circles so often 
brings — where there are no medicines to minister to a mind diseased. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE EEVOLUTION. 



Mankind's First Attack Upon King Fetich— War Meeting, 1774— 
Whigs and Tories — Three Companies Sent to the Field — Prom- 
inent Men — Rudolph Fox Captured— Battles in Bradford 
County — Wyoming Battle, and Xear Wyalusing —Captives 
Escape— Sullivan's Expedition — Col. Franklin, Samuel Gore, 
Maj. Flower and Others — Etc. 

IN preceding chapters are incidental allusions to the great American 
war for Independence— the war of all wars in behalf of mankind, 
of man's inalienable right to liberty and the unrestricted pursuit of 
happmess. The whole world had been for all preceding time domin- 
ated by the one idea that the masses Avere made to belong to their 
respective born rulers; to toil and sweat and yield tribute for the 
pleasure and glory of kings and princelings, whose will or whim was 
at all times the inexorable law ; that the life and labor of every one 
born below a certain favored circle was the property of the king, 
which he could use or destroy at his drunken pleasure. Of all the 
monstrous perversions of nature there has been no idea so utterly 



80 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

shocking, so laden with crime and woe unspeakable. On every hand, 
even with our self-government long past the century post, there is still 
a wide persistence in this fatal delusion, and the far larger portion of 
the race are now writhing in the horrors of the beliefs in these king- 
monkeys, these born rulers, these inheritors, the "divine governors" 
of the world ; these half-idiotic devotees of war to suppress freedom, 
wars for glory, wars for looting, wars for empire, where men are 
arraj^ed in mutual destruction as are fighting dogs in the pit, for the 
delight of spectators, hardly fit by nature to lick the wounds the poor 
brutes have received in the fray. In all history there has been noth- 
ing at all comparable to this perversion that reaches total depravity 
so shocking as this idea that these master-rulers are the heavenly 
order, to which the human race is unalterably fixed. Could any thing- 
be more pitiful to a healthy mind than the spectacle going on at this 
hour, of the rule of the mad king in one of the European powers ? 

This " divine " ruler, " who can do no wrong," is but one of a fam- 
ily of lordly maniacs, whose chief delight and employment is to slip out 
on his grounds and shoot peasants. His keepers humor him, load his 
gun with blank cartridges, and the people are required to fall when he 
fires, and as he tumbles them over he is wild with delight ; wholly daft, 
he is far more harmless, in fact, than have been the most of the sanest 
of the long line that have afflicted the world. And to see a nation black 
with grief over the deaths of such fetiches — in deepest, real sorrow, 
trembling for fear God has determined to ruin them by taking their 
beloved royal family, would be amusing as well as pathetic were it not 
the proof of a perversion so deep as to be hopelessly incurable. This 
condition of the race is artificial ; there can be nothing natural in it 
because it is monstrously cruel— the cruellest idea that ever found 
lodgement upon the earth, and it is absurd, stupid and horrid, through- 
out. The companion idea of this king-fetich worship is the one of a 
strong, fighting government, able to cross over and murder your 
neighbors and loot their country, and millions of men upon the earth 
ready to offer up their lives on the slaughter block in defense of the 
theory that their nation has a chip on its shoulders and dares all the 
world to knock it off. Naturally enough, indeed, the poet philosopher 
has exclaimed, " What fools we mortals be ! " 

The first real effective assault made upon this heathenism by men 
combined together to the extremity of life and death itself, was the 
immortal Declaration of Independence, made by our fathers, whose 
sharp swords cut the way to liberty and self-government. Other men 
had struck at the born-ruler idea, but it had been as Napoleon did^ — 
merely to push them off that he might seat himself on the throne and 
be a little more "divine" than the best of them, because he had the 
sharper sword ; a mere swapping of whips, which, no matter how the 
trade went, was sure to end in the deeper and still more cruel enslave- 
ment of the people. How our grand old sires slowly and finally 
reached the sublime idea of the nonnecessity of a crowned ruler to 
transmit to his offspring all the " divine rights," it is now easy enough to 
see, provided we commence only at the time of the signing of the Declara- 
tion ; but it is a more involved problem if we go a little farther back and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 81 

attempt to find the germ idea. It is g]ory enough that they struck 
down the king-fetich delusion, and proclaimed that they and their pos- 
terity^ were equal to the task of self-government, and no thanks to the 
bastard race. 

The proclamation of war against the mother country found the 
people of this section fairly consumedwith the Pennamite and Yankee 
contention, and the rebellion ])ortents came to them slowly; but the 
idea once grasped, all local questions were forgotten, and neighbors 
became Whig or Tory, respectively, and forgot that they were once 
divided between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Some prominent men 
on the lower Susquehanna had been denounced by their neighbors as 
Tories, and they had come to what is now Bradford county, to get 
away from their neighbors. But this was literally jumping trom the 
pan into the fire, as this was the outer borders and the confines of the 
Indian country. In 1777, some deserters from the Colonial army found 
refuge here, and in a little while the terms Tory and Whig were ban- 
died with even fiercer passions than had the old feud epithets. British 
emissaries stirred to foment the Indians, and the whites, whether Whig 
or Tory, had to flee for their lives. The Whigs, of course, suffered the 
most; many of them were killed, their property destroyed, and others 
carried into captivity; and from 1779 to 1783, there was not left a sin- 
gle white inhaljitant in what is now Bradford county. Yet this was 
an important theater of war during the entire seven years of the 
struggle. The most decisive act, of course, was the expedition of Gen. 
Sullivan, and the expedition of Col. Hartley, that followed up the 
river and destroyed nearly every Indian village that lay in his route. 
The great Indian war path follow^ed the river, and in their incursions 
upon the Wyoming they usually traveled the Sheshequin path. Hardly 
a month passed, from the beginning to the end of the war, but these 
old hills echoed the war whoops and the cracking of the rifles of the 
pursuers of the savages. 

A war meeting was called b}'' the people of this section as early as 
1774, and as this was then known as Westmoreland county, Conn., 
it was divided into eight military districts, and immediately thereafter 
it was publicly resolved that the people form themselves into military 
companies. In August, 1775, the A¥yoming people of Westmoreland 
Town declared in a public meeting that " we consent to and acquiesce 
in the late proceedings, and advice of the Continental Congress, and do 
rejoice that those measures are adopted." And a committee was ap- 
pointed " to attentively observe the conduct of all persons within this 
town touching the rules and regulations prescribed by the honorable 
Continental Congress, and will unanimously join our brethren in 
America in the common cause of defending our liberty." This was 
heroically responsive to ever}'^ sentiment of the Declaration — indeed, 
it was a second Declaration, coming from the then remote borders of 
American civilization. The meeting of these earnest old jiatriots (but 
rebels then) unanimously resolved "that Mr. John Jenkins, Joseph 
Sluman, Nathan Dennison, Obadiah Gore, Jr., and Lieut. William Buck 
be chosen a committee of correspondence for the town of Westmore- 
land." It was further resolved that Jonathan Fitch. Anderson Dana, 



82 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

Capt. McKarraciian, Caleb Spencer, Capt. Samuel Ransom, Lieut. 
George Dorrance, Asahel Buck, Stephen Hardino-, John Jenkins, Jr., 
Barrilla Tyler, Elijah Witer, Nathan Kingsley, John Secord and Rob- 
ert Carr " be chosen a committee of inspection for ye town of West- 
moreland." Miner says (page 189) : " The proceedings of this meet- 
ing cast the die for Wyoming. Her people girded u[) their loins for 
the contest against British oppression, and immediately commenced 
putting themselves in condition to meet the shock of battle." 

The news of the battle of Concord and Lexington roused the mili- 
tary ardor of the people, and instantly Lieut. Obadiah Gore, with 
about thirty others, hastened to join the command of Capt. Weisner, 
of the New York line ; and, August 23, 1776, at a meeting at Wilkes- 
Barre, it was resolved that Westmoreland would immediately raise 
two companies and place them in position for defense of the people 
until they received orders from Congress. They left it to Congress 
to appoint the commissioned officers. There was a hearty response 
from those eminent men to this call from in what is now Bradford 
county. Among the first to respond were Simon Spalding, then liv- 
ing at Standing Stone ; the Welleses, father and son, of AVyalusing, 
and Ambrose Gay lord, Justus Gay lord, Jr., Ludd Gay lord, Stephen 
Skiff and others. Congress appointed as officers of the two companies 
of Wyoming: Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom, captains; James 
Welles and Peri n Ross, first lieutenants; Asahel Buck and Simon 
Spalding, second lieutenants; Herman Swift and Mathias HoUenback, 
ensigns; and the two companies were mustered into service Septem- 
ber 17, 1776, under the name of the First and Second Independent 
Companies of Wyoming. 

October following Connecticut passed an act for the raising in the 
town of Westmoreland of another company, of which Solomon Strong 
was captain, and Obadiah Gore, Jr., and John Jenkins, Jr., lieutenants, 
and to be a partof the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Connecticut Militia. 
Immediately thereafter John Jamison recruited twenty men and 
marched out and joined the Connecticut line. These were in addition 
to the eight " train bands" that had been provided for in 1774, which 
had been united and formed the Twenty -fourth Connecticut, com- 
manded by Col. Nathan Dennison; George Dorrance, lieutenant-colonel, 
and John Garrett, major. 

I^ecember 12, following, the two companies joined Washington's 
command, then retreating from New York City. 

The people in this valley were busily erecting forts, and Old Forty 
Fort was enlarged and strengthened, and others built to the south of it. 

Stone's history of Wj^oming, referring to the critical moment of 
the war, estimates that in what is now Bradford county there were 
probably twenty families tliat should be classed as in sympathy with 
the Tories, and through their influence appeared again the old feud 
between the Yankees and Penns, and Miner discovered an old docu- 
ment bearing this label: "A list of Tories who joined the Indians." 
It was said to have been made bv Col. Zebulon Butler; most of these 
were transient ])ersons who had come to the Wyoming as birds of 
passage— hunters, trappers or laborers, and that among the Connecti- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 83 

cut people in the valley there were not more than three families thus 
aflfected. In the list are mentioned "four Secords, three Pawlings, 
three Larraways and four Van Alstynes." The Tawlings were of 
Wyalusing the"^Van Alstynes of Standing Stone, the Larraways of 
Wysox, and the Secords of Athens. 

For some time there was nothing more serious on the Susquehanna 
than rumors and charges and counter accusations between the Pensyl- 
vania and Connecticut people, and the secret contriving of the few 
Tories remaining. But in the spring of 1777, the Tories from the 
lower Wyoming to Tioga Point (Athens), began to give signs of 
activity and uneasiness; first noticeable in the impudence, and arrogance 
of the Indians, who had at the commencement treated to keep the 
peace and remain neutral. The Indians witiidrew from among the 
white settlements. P>urgoyne was marching with a strong force from 
Canada to effect a junction with Gen. Clinton at New York, and this 
was designed to cut the Colonies in twain. Jjritish emissaries had tam- 
pered with the Indians, and offered them gold and scalps and loot if 
they would join them. Soon the Indians committed act after act of 
open hostility. Col. John Jenkins, with James Sutton, visited Queen 
Esther's village, near Tioga Point, in the hope of procuring the release 
oflngersoll, who had been carried into captivity. They were received 
cordially, but the Queen finally told them that the bucks had resolved 
to wavlay and murder them, when they started to return. By the loyal 
aid of the Queen they escaped in the darkness to* the river, and jumped 
into her canoe, and softly paddled down the river. Now several 
deserters from the American army came to Tioga Point and Sheshe- 
quin, and their presence was unfortunate. 

It is probable that designing parties, on both sides in the right to 
the territory question, unfortunately now seized upon this as a pretext, 
and each was ready to charge their opposers indiscriminately with 
treason. The British were not idle, and the Indians made themselves 
not only intolerable, but began systematic plundering and murdering 
upon exposed, helpless families. 

The people (Yankees, to more particularly designate them) resolved 
on active measures to rid themselves of the spies and enemies in their 
midst. Samuel Gordon, a surveyor, was sent on a tour of observation 
to locate the dangerous men, return to Wyalusing and there to meet 
Lieut. Jenkins w4th a force and by rapid movements capture the lead- 
ers. Jenkins' expedition miscarried from some cause, and the Tories 
assembled and captured Gordon with other prisoners. Open hostili- 
ties swiftly followed. Rudolph Fox, the first settler at the mouth of 
the Towanda creek, was carried off into captivity in the month of March, 
1777. He was taken to Quebec and kept nine months, his fam- 
ily all this time being in total ignorance of even his life or whereabouts. 
In the meantime the savages had stolen, and by open robbery had 
carried off even the last morsel of food of the family. Mr. Fox 
escaped, and on the night of December 17th following he reached the 
opposite side of the river and called to his family, and his voice was 
recognized by his wife. The Indians had stolen tlie canoe, and the ice 
was running in the river and a raft could not be pushed across, so 



84 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

the poor man was obliged to bivouack on the bank in that black and 
stormy night, and the next morning the river was frozen over; but 
he reached his family alive. 

Mr. Fox was agam captured when the Indians captured the 
Strope family, and they carried him along for fear he would give 
the alarm. He soon made his escape, and again returned to his family. 
The dangers thickening, he undertook to gather his kine together, and 
with these make his way overland, while he placed his family in a 
bateau and started them down the river. 

When in the vicinity of Dodgers island, Mr. Fox discovered a band 
of Indians crossing the hill in front of him. He motioned his family 
to come ashore, when he abandoned his stock and got into the canoe 
with them. They secreted themselves behind the island until the 
hostile party had passed, when they again resumed tlieir journe3^ It 
was about the time of the Wyoming battle, and the river was swarm- 
ing with parties of hostile Indians. It seems almost miraculous that 
they could have escaped. At one time, as they were passing along, 
they heard firing and cries on the shore. A band of Indians had sur- 
prised a party of whites; and what also added to their danger, the babe, 
Rudol})h,- commenced screaming. The mother tried to hush him, 
crammed leaves into his mouth, and still being unable to quiet him, 
thrice took him up to throvv him overboard — a desperate, but appar- 
ently only means of escaping detection. But the mother's heart 
could not consent to the sacrifice. They succeeded in passing the In- 
dians, and reached Sunbur}' in safety. 

After the Wyoming battle Mr. Fox came up the river with Hart- 
ley's expedition to look after his interests. Upon the return of the 
detachment, he went back to his family. He remained at Sunbury 
till the close of the war, when, in 1873, he moved his family to Wilkes- 
Barre, whence he and four of his children proceeded to their old home 
at Towanda. A short time after this he returned to bring uj) their 
efi'ects and family, and left a young daughter all alone to take care of 
the cabin. 

"A young girl, on the spot where their buildings had been burned, 
surrounded by savage beasts and liable to be disturbed by savage men, 
consents to be the sole occupant of the premises for ten days, the time 
su]iposed to be necessary for the trip. But unexpected trials awaited 
her. The mother was found to be too ill to be removed, and a delay 
of more than a month was unavaidable. Provisions ran short with 
tiie little girl. * * * The Forsythes returned and called to see 
her, and tried to persuade her to go back with them. This she stoutlv 
refused to do, and they left her some food, while siie awaited the com- 
ing of the family. The shrill scream of the panther and howls of the 
wolf at night, added horror to her dreary situation in the wilds. 
Both these savage beasts had been heard upon her bark-covered 
cabin, hoping to gain admission. One night as she was lying upon 
her bed of hemlock boughs asleep, a panther unceremoniously came in 
througli her blanket-door, tooked the jerked venison from over her head 
and then left again without doing her any harm. The animal was 
detected bv his tracks the next mornin":. When a short distance from 




^ 




'-<<ss:<Jfi^>i¥#«%;;^^s 



History of Bradford county. 81' 

her cabin one day, the sound of footsteps suddenly fell upon her ears. 
She was much alarmed at first, thinking- that hulians were coming. 
Peering out from behind a tree she saw an enormous pack of wolves 
advancing, and, as she remarked, her fears were gone. Picking up a 
pine knot, she struck it against a tree, making a sharp, ringing noise, 
which frightened the grey denizens quite as much as she had been, and 
thev turned and ran off as fast as their legs would carry them. She 
kept her post for about three wrecks, when, after eating the last of her 
])rovisions, and seeing no prospect of relief, she set out to meet the 
t'amil3% or find a hut where she might procure some food. She had 
proceeded but a few miles, when at Gordon's Island, she discovered 
the boat with her family slowdy ascending tiie river. The moment of 
deliverance from peril w^as not only a moment of pleasure, but of pleas- 
antrv. The father inquired, 'Where are you going^' 'To Wilkes- 
Pai-re, to get something to eat,' replied the daughter. She was taken 
on board, and they reached home after an absence of live years.'' 

The sequel of the story of this bold first settler of Bradford county 
may be properly here given in a few sentences. He w^as drowned in the 
river at a place since known as " The Fox Hole," breaking through the 
ice, March 4, 1806 ; he was by birth a German, born March 29, ITaO. and 
was thirty-one years old w^hen he first came. His wife was Catliarine 
Elizabeth Miller ; she was born in Germany, "jVlay 4, 174S, and died 
April 10, 1810. The brave old pioneers sleep side by side in Cole's 
cemetery. Their daughter, Elizabeth Fox, w^as the first white child 
born in Bradford county, September 1, 1770. In this famih^ were 
children as follows ; Catharine, Mary, Philip, Elizabeth, Dorothy, 
Daniel, Rudolph, John, Anna, Eleanor, Susanna, Abraham, Marga- 
ret and Christiana. Many descendants are now living in the county, 
and have maintained the good name of the family — worthy sons 
and daughters, and noble parentage. 

About the time of the first capture of Pudolph Fox a part}^ of 
Indians plundered Mr. Fitzgerald's house and drove all his stock, and 
took him prisoner; he lived at Standing Stone. 

Lieut.-Col. Dorrance, with about 100 men of the Twenty-fourth 
Connecticut, made an expedition up the river as far as Sheshequin. 
They went to the wigwam of an Indian who was known to be in the 
English service to hunt for suspects whom he was suj^jiosed to be har- 
boring. They did not propose to molest Indians, but arrested him 
while searching his premises. He attempted to break away from his 
guard, Rufus Baldwin, who shot him through tlie body ; he recovered, 
however, and was at the battle of Wyoming. This was said to be the 
first bloodshed in this county in the Revolution. Dorrance captured 
and carried off several Tor-ies, and pacified the Indians, but they soon 
broke out again more violently than previously. Thereupon was pub- 
lished an order, holding the following as prisoners of war, all from 
Bradford county : Richmond Berry, Edw^ard Hicks, Jr., Jacob Bow- 
man, Adam Bowman, Jr., Jacob Bruner, Henry Hoover, Jacob 
Anguish and George Keutner. There were other prisoners from the 
valley, but the list given is confined to this county. 

The year 1777 closed in uncertainty and gloom for the patriots of 



88 HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY. 

this locality. All their surroundings were dark and foreboding. Tioga 
and Sheshequin were filled with fiei'ce and arrogant foes, while the 
able-bodied whites were away in tlie Continental army. In January 
following, Lemuel Fitch, of Standing Stone, the first settler in the 
township, was captured and carried otf to Canada, where he died. A 
party of Indians led by Terry and Green went to Wyalusing — a severe 
snow storm raging at the moment of their arrival. They secreted 
themselves in the old Indian town until tlie next morning, when they 
made a sally and captured Amos York as he came into the village on 
horseback ; his house was plundered and stock driven off. A short 
time after this, in the same place, they c:iptured Nathan Kingsley and 
carried him and York to Quebec. Wyalusing was now abandoned by 
every white person — captured or fled the country. In March follow- 
ing, as soon as the ice was clear of the river, Lieut-Col. Dorrance again 
came up with 150 men for the purpose of aiding the remaining whites 
to get out of the country. A rait was made of the old Moravian 
church, and the people and some of their effects loaded thereon ; 
among others, the families of York, Kingsley, Benjamin Eaton, Fitz- 
gerald, Jonathan Terry and Christopher Hurl but. 

Old man Van Valkenberg and three daughters, and his two sons-in- 
law families and the Stxope family, had not been molested, but had 
been assured by the Indians of their continued friendship and protec- 
tion. fBut in time, they became alarmed, and Strope set out for A¥yom- 
ing for aid to take his family down the river. Hardly had he left 
his family. May 20, when thirteen Indians rushed in and captured the 
inmates, burned the house and drove off the stock. The men captured 
at this time were sent to Niagara, but the women and children were 
kept until the war ended. Thus, piecemeal, the entire settlement was 
swept away. It is estimated that in the beginning of 1777, there were 
thirty-eight Whig families in Bradford county; seven of these had en- 
listed in the two companies, and two had joined the militia company ; 
seven in the Van Valkenberg family were captured ; seven were killed 
by the enemy ; one died in captivity, and another soon after his release ; 
the total property of these people was destroyed, the cabins all burned, 
and the gloom and desolation brooded over the fair and once happy 
land, as if the angel of destruction had spread its wnngs and covered it 
in the shadow of death and utter ruin. 

Of all these people the last to attempt to fiee was Rudolph Fox, 
at the mouth of Towanda creek, and as soon as ])ossible he gathered 
his effects and family and fled down the river. 

Wyoming Battle. — The enemy now had undisputed possession of 
all that is Bradford county. The few people here, brave and patriotic 
men and women as ever lived, had stood as a barrier and shield to the 
older settlements against the mongrel enemies — the Indians, Tories 
and deserters and spies, wiio wanted this key to the great Susquehanna 
valley for the free going and coming of their marauding parties. 

Maj. John Butler, of the English army, actively set about gather- 
ing and organizing a force at Tioga Point (Athens), and in June, 1778, 
had about 400 assembled there. He was soon joined by Joseph Brandt, 
and a descent was made on Cherry Valley, and a force under an 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. • 89 

Indian chief made a foray on the West branch, and in the meantime 
a laro-e force at Newtown (Ehnira) and Tioga Point were making- 
boats with which to descend the river. They gathered in all about 
1 100 men, under Butler, 500 rangers and the others, Indians and 
deserters. A great dog feast was indulgetl in at Tioga, preparatory 
to starting, and then, daubing themselves with paint and singing their 
war song, they floated out on their bloody mission to Wyoming. 
Butler concealed his movements with great cunning, and sent out 
small parties in different directions for the purpose of misleading the 
people along the v/ay. The fortunate return of Mr. Jenkins from 
captivity at this moment was the first warning to tiie people of the 
coming attack. This was the second of June. Tiie people assembled 
rapidlv and sent a statement to Congress by carriers, and asked for 
miUtarv aid. The air was now filled with alarms, and every hour the 
o-loom and sadness deepened. William Crooks and Asa Budd, both 
formerly of this county, were sent out as scouts, and were fii'ed upon, 
and Crooks was killed and Budd narrowly escaped. Crooks was the 
first man killed in the Susquehanna valley in the war. Blood was 
now tasted and the dogs of war unleashed. Butler was capturing, 
killing or driving all before him. 

Col. Nathan Dennison, commanding the militia, saw the impending 
danger, and sent out word for all to si)eedily assemble at Forty Fort. 
About 300 were thus called together, according to Col. Franklin's es- 
timate. Col. Zel)ulon Butler was put in commantl, and Cols. Dennison, 
Dorrance, and Maj. John Garrett were his aides. The commands 
were two companies from Wilkes-Barre, under Capt. James Bidlach, 
Jr.,andRezin Geer ; Capt. Asaph Whittesy's company from Plymouth; 
a company from Hanover under Capt. Lazarus Stewart. 

Maj. Butler invested the fort, and demanded a surrender, which 
was promptly refused. A council of war was held in the fort, and 
there was a divided opinion as to whether to go out and light, or 
await the enemy's attack. It was expected that Col. John Franklin 
and his company would arrive during the night. Lieut. Timothy 
Pierce had just arrived from Spalding's company, and reported that 
that command could reach the fort in two days. Capt. Stewart favored 
an immediate attack on the enem}^ — vowed he could whip the whole 
of them with his one company and finally threatened to take his com- 
pany and return to Llanover if the attack was delayed, and unfortu- 
nateh'^ Butler yielded. The little army marched out to Abraham's 
creek, where it*^ halted to await the attack. The enemy being con- 
cealed just in front of them, our forces marched into the trap. 
When within three hundred yards they deplo^^ed and opened fire ; the 
Americans poured a galling fire into the enemy and continued advanc- 
ing, when the enemy's line began to waver. At this moment the sav- 
ages rushed from their concealment in the fiank and rear and attacked 
furiously,and now an order to fall back was mistaken for one to retreat. 
The whole valley was now in a panic of terror, and the people fled 
down the river and across the country to places of safety; and in after 
years the women and children told the ])atheticstoriesof their sufferings 
in their hurried exodus from the dark and bloody ground, where they 



90 . HISTORY 01" BRADFOED COUNTY. 

left here unburied some one of nearly ev^ery fleeing family. When the 
dreadful story spread through tlie country, it created a profound sensa- 
tion all over the civilized world. 

The militia were called out and ordered to Sunbury. These were 
to be joined by Capt. Spalding's company. A detachment from New 
York was given them, and under Col. Thomas Hartley, of Pennsyl- 
vania, an expedition was set on foot up the Susquehanna. Much delay 
in getting the expedition ready, followed. Only in September had 200 
men assembled at Muncy, of these 130 were from Wyoming under 
Capt. Spalding, sixty of whom were from the Eleventh Penns^dvania 
Regiment. With this little band Col. Plartley set out for Tioga Point, 
September 21. The I'oad was a terrible one; the fall rains had raised 
the streams, and of the route Col. Hartley said : '• I cannot help 
observing that I imagine the difficulties in crossing the Alps or passing 
up the Kennipeck could not have been greater than those our men 
experienced for the time." Four days was this journey, through the 
cold rains and wading streams frequently, and on the cold ground at 
night without fire, for fear of the enemy, and yet these men never so 
much as murmured. The first of the enemy they discovered was near 
where is now Canton, in the southwest corner of the count}^ Sept. 26, 
Hartley's advance met a part}' of Indians, fired upon them, killed and 
scalped their chief and the others fled. In the neighborhood 
of LeRoy they came upon a fresh camp where about seventy 
had spent the night previous, but had fled on Hartley's ap- 
proach. The command pressed on as fast as possible to Shes- 
hequin; here they rescued fifteen prisoners from the Indians, and 
recaptured quite a number of cattle. Col. Morgan was to have joined 
Col. Hartley at this point, but failing to do so, a small detachment 
was sent to Tioga, and Queen Esther's village was destroyed. No more 
daring military movement was ever made with impunity, than this of 
Col. Hartley's. He returned rapidly, the first day reaching Wyalusing, 
where they halted and cooked the little beef they had as all the food 
left. The powerful enemy was rapidly collecting to swoop down on 
his little band and exterminate them, and Hartley realized that he 
must move fast enough to keep ahead of any pursuers. They had 
hardly formed in the march out of' Wyalusing when they met the 
enemy, — these they soon dispersed, and m a short time again were 
attacked in front but again beat off their assailants. As they reached 
Indian Hill on the lower edge of Bradford county, a heavy attack was 
made on their left flank and rear, — the rear guard gave away when 
Capt. Spalding went to its support. Col. Hartley skillfully handled 
his men, while those in the boats landed and came up in the rear of 
the enemy, when they supposing they were about to be surrounded 
precipitately fled. Hartley's loss was four killed and ten wounded. Col. 
John Franklin was in this expedition as captain of the Wyoming mili- 
tia. In his diary is this entry : " The troops retook a great number of 
the Wyoming cattle, horses and other propert}^, and returned with 
their booty October 1 ; they met many hazardous skirmishes, with the 
loss of several lives. Several Indians were killed. Col. Hartlev and 



> niSTORT OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 91 

his men were warmly tlumked on their return by the executive coun- 
cil of Pennsylvania/' 

The battle and massacre of Wyoming occurred July 3 and 5, 17 < 8, 
now one hundred and twelve years ago, and yet the barest recitals are 
enough to chill one's blood in horror. The people had fled to Forty 
Fortrwhen they heard of the devastation that roving band of Indians, 
in wiiich were white men often directing the bloody work, were making 
along the Susquehanna valley. The Indians in strong force bore 
down upon them and the men in the forts, instead of waiting and 
standing upon the defensive within the inclosure, marched out and 
o-ave battle. A heavy fight was kept up in front, and the Indians sent 
out a force on the flanks, and then closed in on their rear and killed or 
captured all. This battle occuried on July 3, and on that and the next 
two davs they amused themselves killing every one they had captured. 
Here the savage Queen Esther shocked the civilized world by her 
brutal ferocity. A number of captives were arranged in lino near the 
foot of the hill and near the Susquehanna river at the base of Bloody 
Rock, tied and held by the Indians while this female monster walked 
in front of the line braining them, one by one, with a heavy tomahawk. 
Only two men escaped. One of these it is said was Joseph Elliott, 
who settled in Merryvale township, and wdiose descendants are still 
living there. They 'broke away from those holding them and sprang 
into the river, and by diving under drift wood finally got aw^ay antl from 
their pursuers, wdio'^sent a shower of bullets and arrows after them, 
wounding each one several times, but fortunately only slightly ; and 
after crossing the stream they were soon hid in the mountains, and 
after many days and much danger they made their way separately to 
civilization and safety. Tiiis crowning act of infamy on the part of the 
Indians closed the doors to all further attempts at ])eaceful arbitrament, 
at least until the heavy hand of punishment should fall upon the mon- 
sters. The historians of that evil day say that in the force that at- 
tacked the whites at Wyoming or Forty Fort, were 800 Seneca Indians, 
and 400 British, or Tories. 

The Continental Congress now tieterniined upon the vigorous 
measures to punish the Indians who had been practicing the most 
cunning deception on the frontier settlers, protesting entire neutrality 
between the Americans and the British. Tiiey now had the correct 
insight into the Indian character. The Congress advised with Gen. 
Washington, and it was determined to send a strong force up the Sus- 
quehanna, and from thence through the Genesee valley, the heart of 
the powerful Iroquois nation, and lay waste and kill to their utmost 
power— kill the men and lay waste " the lodges, villages, as well as 
take cattle, ponies, and destroy all their growing crops. In the rich 
Genesee valley the Iroquois had advanced in the cultivation of the 
soil beyond anything known of any other Indians at that day, and 
here the British could find abundant supplies for invading armies, as 
well as great assistance from the braves in these extended and pitiless 
inroads upon the frontier settlers. Gen. Washington advised this move- 
ment as the only way to strike effectively this dangerous enemy in the 
rear — more threatenmg than the armies in front. The result was Gen. 



93 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

John Sullivan's expedition up the Susquehanna. Washington's instruc- 
tions for the commander bear date May 31, 1779. He tendered the 
command to Gen. Gates, who, on account of age, declined, and it was 
given to Gen. John Sullivan, who was directed to rendezvous a force of 
about five thousand men at Easton, Pa., and march up the Susquehanna. 
At the same time, Gen. Clinton was ordered to move with his bri- 
gade of New York troops and pass down the upper Susquehanna and 
join Sullivan's forces at Tioga (now Athens), Bradford county. This 
was one of the important military movements of the Revolutionary 
war — in results, perha])s, far exceeding any or all others. It was 
forced reluctantly upon Washington, who had forgiven one act of 
treachery after another on the pai't of the red men. After he and the 
American people had exhausted every means to keep terms of amity 
witli the Indians, or at least to remain neutral in the rebellion against 
the Mother Country. There was nothing in the question between the 
two countries that should have caused the Indians to take sides. In 
their dense ignorance they knew not that they were by their foll}^ 
not only forfeiting their rich possessions, but were periling their very 
existence as a tribe. Washington's military genius indicated to him 
tiie immediate results that must follow tiie success of Sullivan's expe- 
dition, but to greater and ulterior results, it is highly probable, 
neither entered his minil nor that of the Continental Congress. A 
panic ensued, and in a few minutes the field was covered with flying 
fugitives, pursued by yelling, murderous savages, and more than one- 
half of the entire force soon lay dead on the field. Of all the prisoners 
taken, but five escaped alive. Maj. Butler reported 227 scalps, and he 
adds : " The Indians were so exasperated with their loss last year, near 
Fort Stanwix, that it was with the greatest difiiculty tliat I could save 
the lives of these few." He congratulates his superiors in his report 
that the women and children were spared. Three of the Gore bo3^s and 
their two brothers-in-law lay dead on the battlefield, side by side. The 
poor mother in the fort heard the firing and saw our men in confusion 
and being tomahawked, and stood in the door of the fort awaiting the 
awful news so soon to break upon her. and when it did come, '' What! 
have I one son leftf^ was all that escaped her quivering lips. 

The expedition was directed against the Six Nations, the most 
powerful body of savages this continent ever knew. Their seat of 
empire Avas along the Genesee valley by the lakes. They had trod- 
den like the grass the other tribes of America, extending their con- 
quests to Florida and west to the Mississijipi river. The lands in New 
York were as rich and beautiful as any on the continent. They had 
progressed in agriculture until broad, siniling fields of grain, corn and 
various vegetables, were on every hand. They had comfortable huts, 
and in some cases rude chimneys to them. They struck the cruel blow 
upon the helpless frontier people, and thereby forfeited all their rich 
inheritance. In Gen. Washington's instructions to Sullivan and in his 
report to Congress he says: " I congratulate Congress on his (Gen. 
Sullivan's) having completed so efl'ectually the destruction of the whole 
of the towns and settlements of the hostile Indians in so short a time 
and with so inconsiderable a loss of men." In his letter of instruction 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 93 

to the commander before starting he said : " It is proposed to carry 
the war into the heart of the country of the Six Nations, to cut off 
their settlements, destroy their next year's crop, and do them every 
other mischief which time and circumstances will permit." And at^ain, 
that there might be no misapprehension, he adds: "The immediate 
objects are the total destruction of the hostile tribes of the Six Na- 
tions and the devastation of their settlements and the capture of as 
many prisoners of every age and sex as possible." There could be no 
mistake here on the part of Gen. Sullivan. Not only the commander, 
but the civilized world, understood that here was the teri-ible answer 
back to the Wyoming massacre. This was war, not strictly in kind, 
but swift and terrible, and gave us empire from ocean to ocean. Strict 
neutrality would have left tlie Indians in peace, the possession of their 
homes, crops, ponies and cattle, but far greater than these their rich 
and boundless land possessions. 

Gen. Sullivan's expedition was at the same time supplemented — 
rather duplicated — by a similar expedition simultaneously carried on 
by Gen. George Rogers Clark, down the Ohio river and into the Illi- 
nois against the British forts at Kaskaskia and Yincennes. The first 
was under the Continental Congress and Gen. Washington, while the 
other was under Virginia (Gov. Patrick Henry) and the " Hannibal of 
the Northwest"— Gen. George Rogers Clark. 

These military expeditions, conceived and executed at the same 
time, one by Washington and Congress, the other by Gov. Patrick 
Plenry and Gen. Clark, the movements of each unknown to the other, 
are two of the most stupendous episodes in the annals of mankind. 

The question of the success of the American Revolution, little as 
it was known by our great forefathers, was the very soul and being of 
the advance of the human race in liberty, in thought, and the higher 
civilization. We can now know the liberty gained by the Ameri- 
cans in its reflected influence spread over the world, even to the re- 
motest corner of the British Empire itself, after its long seven years of 
cruel war of attempted subjugation. The American Tories — even 
these mistaken men, so fierce in opposing their own neighbors, and 
sometimes members of their own families — were among the beneficia- 
ries of the heroic strug'Ofles of the noble sons of liberty. Until the hour 
of the conception of the Sullivan and the Clark expeditions, there w^as no 
thought among the fathers other than that of independence for the 
little fringe of territory that ran along our Atlantic shore. It was 
hardly more than individual libert}^ in their ideas, but these two expe- 
ditions were the secret of our present wide emjiire : these numerous 
stars set in azure blue, now glinting upon sixty-two millions of free- 
men, marching ever onward. These then were vastly more than local 
events. In results they were not only continental, but world-wide and 
as enduring as the hills. They have touched the whole human race, 
and made millions of freemen where otherwise would yet have been 
bred only galley slaves — men and women yoked to the cruellest ser- 
vitude. 

Here the chief interest in Sullivan's expedition, as a part of the 
local history, is, that his army passed through Bradford county, follow- 



94 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ing the river to where is now Athens, where a fort was built, and 
where Gen. Clinton joined Sullivan b}'' coming down the stream that 
he had ascended, and thus strengthened Gen. Sullivan marched out and 
fought the battle of Newton (near Elmira), and overwhelmingly 
defeated the Mohawk warriors under their greatest commanders, 
Joseph Brandt and Col. Butler, and their English allies, with their 
science of war, added to their savage cunning, braver}^ and fortitude. 

The array passed up on the east side of the river, nearly the same 
as is the bed of the railroad. From the many diaries of men in the 
expedition is extracted the following, ver'hatim, from thatof Maj. James 
Norris, commencing: with their arrival at the battle ground of Wvominof: 

June, 18, 1779. The New Jersey and New Hampshire brigades, with Proctor's reg- 
iment of artillery, under the command of Major-General Sullivan, began to march 
from Easton on an expedition to the western frontiers against the savages. [Omitting 
the next few days the extracts are taken up again on the arrival at the battle ground.] 
33. Our next place of halting is Wyoming. * * About 4 miles from this town we 
saw two Monuments set up by the wayside in memory of Capt. Davis and Lieut. 
Jones, of the 11th Pennsylvania Keg't, with the following inscription "The place 
where Capt. Davis was murdered by Savages. April 23d, 1779," & "The blood of Lt. 

Jones " About 12 o'clock we entered the Town of Wyoming which exhibits a 

melancholy scene of desolation, in ruined Houses, wasted fields ct Fatherless Children 
& widows. These unhappy people after living in continual alarms & disputing 
for many Years their possessions with the Pennsylvaniaus, at length were attacked by 
a merciless band of savages, led on by a more savage Tory, the unnatural monster, 
Butler; their houses were plundered and burnt, their cattle and effects carried away 
after they had capitulated; and the poor helpless Women & children obliged to 
Sculk in the Mountains and perish or travel down to the Inhabitants, hungry, 
naked and unsupported; in a word Language is too weak to paint & 
Humanity unable to bear the history of their sufferings. The Refugees who 
joined the Indians to cut off this settlement are said to have given proofs of more wan- 
ton and unnatural Barbarity than even the Savages themselves. The following is a 
deeper Tragedy than has been acted since the Days of Cain. A Young man by the 
name of Henry Pensil, who had escaped the Fate of most of his Countrymen, «& in 
the Evening after the battle had taken refuge in a small Island in the River, was dis- 
covered by Tory who fiercely accosted him with the Appellation of a Damned Rebel ; 
the poor fellow being unarmed began to implore his pity, fell down upon his knees and 
entreated him not to stain his hands with his Brother's blood. "John, I am your 
brother, spare my Life and I will serve you :" "I know you are my Brother," replied 
the Villain, " but you are a damned Rebel, Henry, and we are of oppo-site sides and 
Sentiments:" in the meantime was loading his gun with great coolness, which after 
the most moving appeal to his humanity & Justice, with all deliberation he levelled 
at his breast and shot him ! Then Tomahawked & Scalped him! Another yeung man 
who lay concealed in the bushes a little way off & afterwards made his Escape heard 
all that passed, and saw the Murderer, who stood up upon a log while he loaded his Gun 
and Knew him to be the Brother of his unfortunate Companion. He also adds thatthe 
Savages came up soon after he had finished the bloody deed ; and cursed his cruelty in 
the bitterness of their hearts & said they had a great mind to put him to death the same 
way 

24 This Evening one of the Gentries fired upon a Savage, who had crept up 
within 2 or 3 Rods of him to take him by Surprise but the fellow made his escape — 
* * * * 

28. Genl Sullivan reed, a Letter from Genl. Clinton, dated Schoharra, advising that 
he was furnished with 3 Months Provissions,1700 effective men with him present & 300 
more at another post readv to join him & was waiting his Commands. — Same letter 
adds that he had taken and hanged a British Oflicer, a Spy, who was going from But- 
ler's Armv to N. York — by theSame Express we learn from Genl. Clinton that the 
Oneida tribe of Indians had reed, a letter from Genl. Haldiman, Governor of Quebeck, 
Charging them with a breach of faith & breathing out threatening against them, if 
they did not declare in favor of Britain. 

2d Rode out this morning with Genl. Poor and Leut. Col. Dearborn about four 
miles from Camp to view the ground where the battle was fought between the Savages 



HISTORY OF r.RADFOUD (JOIJNTY. 97 

and the people of Wyoming under Col. Butler, he saw a Stockade fort with a Covert 
Way to a fountain which our guide told us was built for a shew by some of the disaf- 
fected Inhabitants & given up to Uie Enemy immediately upon their Approach; we 
examined the Trees where the line of Battle was formed, but found very few marks 
of an Obstinate Engagement ; it appears indeed that the Enemy were superior in num- 
bers to the MilitiaandsoonaftertheCommencementof the Action turned their left Flank, 
this brought on a retreat, in which the savages masacred upwards of 200 Men — AVe 
saw more or less bones scattered over the ground for near two miles & several Sculls 
brought in at different times, that had been Scalped and inhumanly nuingled with the 
Hatchet. A captain's commission with 17 Continental Dollars was found in the pocket 
of the Skeleton of a man, who had laid above ground 12 months — Our guide shewed 
us wliere 73 Bodies had been buried in one hoie, this place may with propriety be called 
Golgotha — xVll the houses along this river have been burnt ; and the Gardens and 
fields, the most fertile I ever beheld, grown over with weeds and Bushes, exhibit a 
melancholy picture of Savage rage and Desolation. 

" o [August] Our next place of Encampment is Wyalusing, distant ten miles the 
Ground rocky and mountainous, particularly one tremendous ridge over which our 
right Flank was Obliged lo pass, that seemed to over look the World & threaten An- 
nihilation to our prostrate Troops — After leaving this place the Scene Opened into a 
line, clear, extensive piece of Woodland; here the Genl. apprehending an attack, the 
Signal was beaten for the Army to Close Column this order of March was observed till 
we left this forest and gained the Summit of a very lofty Mountain; when another Sig- 
nal was given for marching in files — From the Top of this height we had a grand pros- 
pective view of our little Fleet coming up the river about three Miles distance — The 
green hills as far as the eye could reach rising like the seats of an Amphitheatre and the 
distance of the prospect gave the River and the boats the beautiful Resemblance of 
Miniature painting — After marching abt. 2 Miles we descended into the low grounds of 
Wyalusing where every one was amazed at the luxuriant growth of Timber, chiefly 
Sycamore — few of the trees being less than 6 ft in Diameter; and to close this days 
march the more agreeably after passing half a mile of piny barren, the plains of Wya- 
lusing opened to our sight covered with english grass, the greatest and richest Carpet 
that Nature ever Spread — There was once an Indian Town at this place consisting of 
about 80 Houses, or hutts built in two parallel right lines forming a Street of 00 <n- 70 
feet wide; with a Church or Chapel in the Center, the place of the town is still to be 
seen in the old Ruins that remain on the Ground — The natives it seems had actually 
embraced the Christian Religion which was taught them by a Moravian Missionary 
from Bethlehem for that purpose in the year 1770, the Connecticut Company having 
purchased the lands on this River, the Indians Retired farther Westward and left this 
place in the possession of a few Americans who have joined the Enemy since the Com- 
mencement of the War — notwithstanding the Settlement has been over run by the Sav- 
ages and the Town burnt — the Susquehanna at this place makes nearly a right Ansrle, 
and forms a point on which the Town stood and where Genl. Sullivans Army lay Two 
days encamped — " 

8th. Sunday morning, 7 o'clock, moved on towards Tioga, and Encamped on a 
low piece of ground by the River, where there has been a settlement, & four families 
dwelt in the year 1775. This place is called Stand/iu/ Stone Bottom — Capt. Spalding 
who commands the Independent Company in Genl. Hood's light Troops, lived at this 
place — distance ten miles. 

9. Marched at 6 this morning and halted to breath near a cold stream called 
Wesawking [Wysox], about three and one-half miles from last encampment — Then 
pursued our route without rest or refreshment twelve miles farther, the Weather hot 
and the men much fatigued, this brings us to Sheshukonuck Bottom, a large meadow 
of 150 Acres, lyina; on the Susquehanna, covered witli a vast burthen of wild grass. 
We rested here this evening. — [This is opposite Ulster ] 

In explanation of tlie route of the army it may be well enough to 
here explain the a])parent fact from these diaries and journals of those 
who were with the expedition that there is no mention of Towanda 
creek, or any other point in or about where is now the borougli. It 
seems there was no "journal" of the trip kept by anyone who was on the 
fleet. There were 120 boats laden with stores, and carrying the 
cannon, etc. In order to protect the boats there was a detachment 
of the army that was kept on the west side of the river. And there 

6 



98 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

was no diary kept or that was published in the Government report 
by any one who was in that portion of the army that w^as on the westside 
of tlie river. It seeems tliat tlie main ai-my shortened their route to 
Sheshequin by striking straight from the bend of the river below 
Towanda in a northwest course to that place, that is from the mouth 
of Wysox creek. In this w^ay they passed east of Towanda nearly four 
miles! The army rested two days at Sheshequin, no doubt chiefly 
awaiting the arrival of the boats and the detachment that had 
followed the bends of the river on the west side. 

On their way from Wysox to Sheshequin the army passed the Nar- 
rows above Towanda — called "Breakneck mountain." On this narrow 
path some of the cattle fell (n^er the side and were killed. 

On the 11th of August they struck tents on the wa}^ to Tioga 
Point. The diary speaks of the splendid rich valley they found two 
miles above Sheshequin. The main army crossed the river to the west 
side two miles above Sheshequin. All passed over in safety — oneman 
was w^ashed downsti-eam, but he was rescued. They would stem the 
swift current in safety by firmly locking hands, and thus supporting 
each other. The cattle and pack-horses forded also in safety. Maj. 
Norris then proceeds to say : '• A fter advancing about one mile through 
a rich bottom covered with strong and statel}^ timber which shut out 
the sun and shed a cool agreeable twilight, we unexpectedly w^ere in- 
troduced into a plain as large as that of Sheshequonunck that Ksther, 
Queen of the Seneca tribe dwelt in retirement and sullen majest3% de- 
tached from all the subjects of her nation. The ruins of her palace are 
still to be seen ; surrounded with fruit trees of various kinds. At the 
east end of the plain, the Tioga (Chemung) forms a junction with the 
Susquehanna river. At this place the army forded the Tioga river about 
half a mile above the junction where it encamped. We now find our- 
selves happily arrived at Tioga witli our army and fleet." 

Gen. SulHvan at once set about building a fort and preparing the 
place for military occupation, and as a base for his army in his move- 
ments north into the Indian country. Maj. Morris describes the ph ce 
as presenting evidences of recent occupation by large numbers of 
Indians — many hides being strewn over the ground, and the place of 
burial for their dead, but he adds, " There were no Yestiges of Hutts or 
Wigwams." The commander had built Fort Sullivan and four block- 
houses, and near these the boats wei-e sheltered. A strong-enough 
garrison for defense was left, and Gen. Clinton and his force had 
arrived. In the meantime, before Clinton's arrival, Sullivan had hur- 
ridly marched out fifteen miles to an Indian town, Chemung, and, 
finding it deserted, burned the place — about forty Indian huts. The 
place had been deserted on the approach of the army, and the Indians 
Avere seen on a hill watching the sohliers. Gen. Hand pursued them, 
and they waited until he was in range, when they delivered a fire and 
fled. They were hotly pursued about a mile. The Are of the Indians 
w^as effective, as they wounded three offlcers, killed six men, and 
wounded seven others. This has the strong appearance of having 
been an ambush in which the crafty savages drew Gen. Hand, and then 
fled, receiving no injury in return. The soldiers were then put to des- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 99 

troying a field of corn, about forty acres; while thus engaged they were 
fired upon from across the river, killing one man and wounding five. 

August 26. Army about 5,000 strong moved out of Tioga, leav- 
ing three hundred men to guard the fort, under command of Gol. 
Shreve. On the 29th the army reached Newtown, and fought the de- 
cisive battle of that name. This is situated about seven miles south- 
east of where is now Elmira. The Indians vrere commanded by Col. 
John Butler and Joseph Brandt. The Americans had three men 
killed and twenty-nine wounded. The town of forty huts w^as des- 
troyed, and the growing gi-ain in the fields. The army then proceeded 
without further interruption up to and through the great Genesee 
valley, laying waste on exGvy hand, literally overrun and destroyed 
it, and then returned to Tioga Point. In this expedition it was esti- 
mated the army burned forty Indian villages, destroyed 200,000 bush- 
els of corn, besides thousands of fruit trees, etc. "The land was the 
Garden of Eden before them, and behind a desolate wilderness. " 

October 3. Fort Sullivan was demolished, and the next day the 
army set out for A\j^oming, passing down through Bradford county 
over tlie route they had come up. On the 15th tlie army reached its 
starting point, Easton, where a thanksgiving service was held. On the 
lYth, Gen. Washington congratulated the army on Gen. Sullivan's suc- 
cess, and that "The whole of the soldiery engaged in the expedition 
merit, and have, the Commander-in-chief's warmest acknowledgements 
for their imj)ortant services." 

This blow", more lasting and terril)le than was supposed at the time, 
destroyed the power of tlie Iroquois forever. The greatest Indian con 
federation ever formed. Gen Sullivan had ci'ushed. .While the war 
lasted they kept up their forages, but it was in insignificant bands of 
four or five. There were no more Wyoming or Cherry A'alley nuissa- 
cres from these savag-es. 

Particulars of this important movement of the C-olonial authorities, 
while one of the most important in our history, has been a neglected 
cjiapter by our historians. Simply to mention it as an incident, with 
but little regard to the tremendous effects following, has been too much 
the rule of writers on the subject of the war for Independence. Under 
the auspices of the State of New York a Centennial Celebration of the 
battle of Newtown was held in the year 1879, August 29, and under a 
resolution of Congress of 1870, asking for the publication of the his- 
tory of the several counties in the Union, the historian of that locality 
brought public attention to Sullivan's expedition. It was then deter- 
mined to fitly celebrate the centennial day of the battle of Newtown, 
and to construct on the ground a monument dedicated with appropriate 
ceremonies. This resulted in the grandest celebration of that period. 
And the activit}^ of the managers of that occasion, the liberal assis- 
tance from the State of New York and the elaborate memorial 
addresses, particularly that of the Rev. David Craft, of Wyalusing, all 
contributed to give this important event its proper place in American 
history. The 29th of August was hot and dry, but the people assem- 
bled in vast multitudes, by organized military and civic societies, singly 
and in long and numerous processions. The monument standing on 



100 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Sullivan Hill, on the battlefield, comraandinof a ^vide view of the sur- 
rounding country, was unveiled with imposing ceremonies, and 
addresses delivered from two stands by man}' of the most eminent 
men of the country. The governors and staffs of New York and 
Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, as well as Gen. Sherman and staff, 
and many other officials, were present. It is estimated that there were 
assembled on the battlefield 50,000 people on that eventful day. 

This expedition forever destroyed the powers of the Iroquois, and 
drove Butler and his forces from this portion of the country, and com- 
parative peace and safety were once more established on the Susque- 
hanna. 

March, 1780, a party of fifty or more Indians came down the river 
and when near W^'oming they divided into bands for the purpose of 
striking the isolated settlers. One of these parties captured Thomas 
Bennett and his son, near Kingston, and added Libbeus Hammond to 
their capture, and started to Tioga and camped near Meshoppen. Dur- 
ing the night the prisoners rose upon their captors, killed four, wounded 
another, and one Hed,an(l seizing all the rifies of the slain returned home 
March 27; another of these bands suddenly appeared at Hanover and 
shot and killed Asa U))son. Two days at'tei- they captured a boy, 
Jonah Ilogers, and the next day Moses Yan Campen ; they killed and 
scalped Yan Campen's father, brother and uncle; the same day they 
captured a lad named Pence. They then passed to Huntington and 
fell in with Col. Franklin and four of his men, two of whom were 
wounded but all escaped. They found in Lehman township, Luzerne 
county, Abraham Pike and his wife making sugar. They stayed all 
night with them and took the man and wife prisoners the next 
morning, having bundled the baby and thrown it on the cabin roof; 
during the day they released the woman, and she returned in all 
haste to her baby which she found, and with it in her arms fled to 
the settlement. Pike was a deserter from the British army — a gallant 
Irishman, and made up his mind that it would be decidedly unpleas- 
ant to be carried into the British lines. The party with their captives 
on the night of April 3 camped on the Strope place, at the mouth 
of Wysox creek. Supposing they were now out of danger, they 
relaxed somewhat their vigilance. Jonah Rogers, the boy mentioned 
above, afterward told this narrative: 

" In the afternoon of the day before we reached the place of 
encampment we came to a stream. I was tired and fatigued with the 
journey; my feet were sore and I was just able to proceed. Pike told 
the chief of the gang that he would carry me over on his shoulders. 
The old chief, in a gruff voice, said : ' Well.' Pike whispered in my 
ear as we were crossing the stream: 'Jonah, don't close your eyes 
to-night. When the}^ sleep take the knife from the chief and cut the 
cords with which I am bound.' I was the only one of the prisoners 
who was not bound every night — the old chief took me under his 
blanket. The nights were raw and cold, and though protected in this 
way I thought I should perish. This much of the project was com- 
municated by Pike to the other prisoners. Toward nightfall they 
baited, kindled a fire, partook of their evening meal, and were soon 



HISTORY OF BRADFOJtD COUNTY. lOl 

stretched on the ground. In a few minutes the old chief was asleep, 
and in the course of half an hour the savages were all snoring; but he 
knew his friends wei'e awake, from the occasional half-suppressed cough. 

'' Pike was the nearest to me, and not over two feet in distance. It 
was a terrific effort for me to make up my mind to perform my part 
of the business, for I knew that instant death would be the penalty in 
case of failure. But, as time passed on, and the snoring of the sav- 
ages grew louder and louder, my courage seemed to gather new 
strength. I had noticed where the okl chief lay down ; the knife in 
the belt was on the side next to me. I peered out from under the 
blanket, and 1 saw the embers of the fire still aglow, and a partial 
light of the moon. I also saw the hands of Pike elevated ; I thought 
the time had come, and these two houi's of suspense 1 had passed were 
more terrible than all the rest of my life put together. I cautiously 
drew the knife from the scabbard jn the chiefs belt, and, creeping 
noiselessly out from under the blanket, I passed over to Pike and sev- 
ered the cords from his hands. 

"All was the silence of death save the gurgling noise made by the 
savages in their sleep. Pike cut the cords that bound the other pris- 
oners. We were all now upon our feet. The first thing was to 
remove the guns of the Indians — the work for us to do was to be done 
with tomahawks and knives. The guns were carefully removed out 
of sight, and each of us had a tomahawk. Van Campen placed him- 
self over the chief, and Pike over another. I was too young for the 
encounter, and stood aloof. I saw the tomahawks of Pike and Van 
Campen flash in the dim light of the half-smoldering flames ; the next 
moment the crash of two terrible blovvs followed in quick succession, 
when seven of the ten arose in a state of momentary stupefaction and 
bewilderment, and then came the hand-to-hand conflict in the contest 
for life. Though our enemj' were without arms, they were not dis- 
posed to yield. Pence now seized one of the guns, fired and brought 
one down ; four wei'e now killed and two dangerously wounded, when 
the others, with terrific yells, fled at the report of the gun. As they 
ran, Van Campen threw his tomahawk and buried it in the shoulder 
of one of them. This Indian, with a terrible scar on his shoulder- 
blade, I saw years after, when he acknowledged how it came there." 

Mrs. Jane (Strope) Whitaker told that Pike had visited her father 
often after the vv-ar, and she had heard liim relate over and over again 
every detail of the e|)isode. 

In June, 17S0, Col. Fianklin, Sergt. Baldwin with four men had 
trailed a party from near Tunkhannock to Wysox, near where is the 
Panning farm. They discovered the camp smoke, and crept upon them 
and captured four white men, bearers of dispatches to the British 
forces. One of them got away, the others were taken to headquarters ; 
they were Jacob and his son, Adam and Henry Hoover. Among other 
trophies found on the prisoners was a beautiful spy-glass, now the prop- 
ert}^ of Maj. W. II. II. Goi-e, of Sheshequin ; it had been purchased by 
his father. Judge Gore. And Burr Ridgeway when a very old man 
said that he had heard Col. Franklin say, on pulling out a silver watch, 
" I took that from one of the prisoners." 



102 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Stubborn Fight— A battle with the red skins on Bradford soil took 
place at the Frenchtown mountain, opposite Asylum, April 10, 1782. 
A band of marauders had captured Koswell Franklin's family, of Han- 
over. For some unknown cause this family Avas the especial object of 
attack by the Indians. A year before they had captured Franklin's 
son, Koswell, and his nephew, Arnold Franklin, whose father had 
been killed in the Wyoming battle, and they had burned his grain and 
drove off his stock. '^ On April 7, while Roswell Franklin was away, 
a baml of eight savages rushed into the cabin and captured Mrs. 
Franklin and her children, Olive, aged thirteen, Susanna, Stephen, aged 
four, and Ichabod, aged eighteen months, and hurried away with them, 
going north toward Tioga. The second day they were joined by live 
other Indians, making thirteen. In a few hours after they had gone, 
Franklin returned, and divining the affair hastened to Wilkes-Barre and 
the alarm guns were lired. The captives heard the guns and knew what 
it meant. Soon a party was in pursuit under Sergt. Thomas Baldwin, 
seconded by Joseph Elliott. Tlie others of this party were: John 
Swift (afterward a general, and killed on the Niagara frontier in 1S12), 
Oliver Bennett, Watson Baldwin, Gideon Dudley, Mr. Cook and a 
Mr. Taylor — eight men. The pursuers struck straight across the 
country to WyaJusing and reached that point ahead of the In- 
dians, but, for"^ the purpose of a more eligible ])Iace for a stand, 
they passed on to the Frenchtown mountain, and erected a kind 
of defense works by felling some trees and placing brush in front 
of them. The Indians had proceeded so slowly that they awaited 
them two days, and wdien on the point of concluding that they had 
gone by some other route they finally appeared and halted, and began 
to peer about with great caution. Mrs. Franklin thought they were 
looking for deer, as they were out of provisions. As soon as one of the 
bucks came in range he was fired upon, and then a regular battle com- 
menced. The women and children were compelled to lie flat on the 
ground, as thev were between the combatants and the bullets whistling 
close above them. A savage fell at Dudley's first shot, but when load- 
ing Dudley w^as wounded in the arm. A desperate fight now raged— 
each party behind trees. The next execution was Taylor's shot that 
killed their medicine man; he rushed up to scalp him, but broke his 
knife, when two Indians started for him, but he cut off the Indian's 
head and ran with it and escaped. The fight raged several hours. 
Mrs. Franklin, anxious to know whether her husband was in the rescu- 
ing party, raised on her elbow to look; her daughter, Susanna, seeing 
an Indian approach urged her to lie down; the next moment the 
Indian fired and killed Mrs. Franklin. Josejih Elliott saw the murder 
of the woman from his place, and creeping along the trunk of 
a fallen tree got an opportunity, and shot the Indian dead. The chil- 
dren now supposing all were to be murdered, jumped up and 
ran. They heard some one shout to them, and thought at first 
it was an Indian pursuing to murder them. Again they heard the 
voice, saying: " Run, you dear souls, run ! " And the poor, frightened 
children rushed into the arms of Elliott. The Indians now fled m 
terror. The whites remained behind their ambush until near sunset 



HISTURV Ob' liUADFORD COUNTY. 103 

lest it was a trap to get them out and murder them all, Mr. Swift, 
had joined the party about tlie close of the fight, and was hardly on 
the ground when he was favored by the opportunity and shot an 
Indian dead. Mrs. Franklin was buried near where killed, and years 
after the daughter, Olive, wrote the following : " Our friends having 
found the tomahawks of the Indians along with their packs, cut dry 
poles to make a raft on which to float, and we dropped silently down 
the river, and at the dawn came to Wyalusing island. It was just a 
week since we were taken j^risoners. Here we lay a Avhole day, fear- 
ing to go forward lest we should be discovered by the enemy, prob- 
ably lurking near the shore, and could single us out and shoot us 
down at their leisure. We Avere sixty miles from safety, and starving; 
and our friends gave the one remaining biscuit to the children, and 
fears were entertained that the little ones would die of hunger." The 
party reached Wilkes-Barre the Wednesday following. The young- 
est child of Mrs. Franklin was caught up by an Indian at the moment 
they Hed, and carried off, and was never again heard of. 

No spot in America suffered more in the great cause in proportion 
to population than this, and the river was strew^n with remains of the 
times, some of which are still being found. 

Indian Belie. — Judge C. S. Russell has an old match-lock gun that 
it is supposed was left on the ground near Towanda by some "good 
Indian." Some years ago one of our citizens was passing over the 
country with his wagon, when he found the road obstructed, and in 
attempting to make a w^ay around the obstruction removed an old 
rotted log; in doing so he struck liis leg against something stubborn 
and sharp enough to penetrate his boot-leg, and after passing on a 
little distance he discovered the wound was bleeding. This excited 
his curiosity, and he returned and found sticking up the end of a gun- 
barrel, and it was the sharp point of the breech-pin that had wounded 
his leg. He carefully resurrected it, and it was found to be loaded ; 
the breech-end was cut off, and now it has a stock and new lock, and 
is quite an old-fashioned long gun. Its owner was at Gettysburg, 
and after the battle he found a gun lock and also a part of the stock of 
agun, and these were put on the old barrel. The supposition is that 
the old gun originally belonged to an Indian. When the\' camedown 
for their second attack on Wyoming, the authorities heard of their 
approach, when word was sent to the people of the north part of 
Northumberland, and they gathered a force and swooped down, striking 
the Susquehanna at about this i)oint, falling upon the Indian maraud- 
ers in the rear. There was much skirmishing and running lighting as 
the Indians, when they discovered the trap they were in, turned and 
trietl to break through the lines and get away to the point where they 
had started from. In this way there were (lead Indians scattered for 
miles along the river. 

Samuel Gore was one of the notable men of the Revolutionary war. 
In January, 1832, he penned his own petition to Congress, giving 
something of his service in the war and asking for a pension. It 
is a condensed, pathetic story of the dreadful days in this beautiful 
valley; after a respectable introductory address to the Congress then 



104 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in session he proceeds in his appeal for a pension, every word of which 
is pregnant with history. 

"Your petitioner's request is of a singular nature, differing from the 
common case of those who served in the War of the Kevolution ; he was 
not engaged for any limited time; that he resided at AVyoming 
settlement at the commencement of the late Revolutionary War ; that 
in the year 1777, in the month of May, he was enrolled in the militia 
of Capt. Aholiab Buck's company, and took the oath of allegiance to be 
true and faithful to the cause then at issue; that in December, the same 
year, he was draughted on a tour of duty up the river as far as Wysox 
and Towanda; the command he was attached to took twenty -eight 
prisoners, men that had served under Gen. Burgoyne the preceding 
cam])aign ; that in the year 1778 the Settlement was in ahnost 
continu'al alarm the afore part of the season; and what added mostly 
to their fears was that three companies of soldiers had been enlisted in 
the Settlement and had joined the main army of Washington. 

"The militia that was left was on duty the principal part of the 
time, in fortifying, scouting and learning the military discipline till 
the month of*^ July, when the settlement was invaded by the British 
and Indians, under the command of Col. John Butler, and Brandt, the 
Indian chief. 

" Your petitioner was in the memorable battle and massacre of 
Wyoming, and narrowly escaped the fate of five brethren and officers, 
and the principal part of the company to which he belonged. 

" In addition to his misfortune, in running across a bav or morass, 
the Indians in close pursuit, every step over knee-deep in mud and 
mire, by over-exertion, caused a breach in his body, which has been a 
painful and troublesome disorder ever since. 

" It is unnecessary to describe the entire destruction of the settle- 
ment by the enemy, dispersion and hardships of the fugitives, old 
men, women and children, fleeing through the wilderness, carrying 
with them scarcely enough to support nature by the way. 

"The place was retaken in August or September following, by Col. 
Zebulon Butler, and Capt. Simon Spalding, and a garrison replaced 
there. Your petitioner returned soon after and served as a volunteer 
during the years 1779, 1780 and 1781, and was subject to be called on 
in everv case of emergency. 

"The expedition of Gen. Sullivan to the Genesee country did 
not prevent wholly the depredations of the enemy being frequently 
harrassed by small parties. In the year 1782, Capt. Spalding's com- 
pany was called to join the main army at headquarters, and a company 
of invalids was stationed at the post, commanded by Capt. Mitchell, 
soldiers that were not calculated for the woods, scoutings, etc. Col. 
Dennison gave orders to have the militia organized and classed, which 
took place." 

Afterward, April 3, 1832, Sergt. Gore wrote a private letter to Phil- 
ander Stephens, member of Congress, and from which is taken the fol- 
lowing extracts : " I would take it as a favor if you would inform me 
what is the prospect of a bill for the general compensation of old sol- 
diers and volunteers of the Revolution. ^ * Some cheering inforraa- 





^^yv-c/t^{^-^ 



HISTORY OF J5RADF0RD COUNTY. 10^/ 

tion on this subject would revive my spirits, vvhicli liave been almost 
exhausted dui-ing the severit}^ of the past winter. * * * * On 
reflecting back in these trying times, 1 would state some particulars 
respecting our family at the commencement of the Eevolution. My 
father had seven sons, all zealously engaged in the cause of hl)ertv. 
Himself an acting magistrate and a committee of safety, watching the 
disaffected and encouraging the loyal part of the community. * * 
* * Three of his sons and two*^ sons-in-law fell in the Wyoming 
massacre. Himself died the winter following. One son served during 
the war, the others served in the Continental Army for shorter periods." 
Then he draws a picture of some of the things "he saw in that war, 
and says : " Let any person at this time of general prosperity of our 
country, reflect back on the troubles, trials and suffering of a con- 
quered country by a savage enemy. Men scalped and mangled in the 
most savage manner. Some dead bodies floating down the river in 
sight of the gari-ison. Women collecting together in groups, scream in o- 
and Avringing their hands in the greatest agony; some swooning and 
deprived of their senses. Property of every description plundered and 
destroyed, buildings burned, the surviving inhabitants dispersed and 
driven tlirough the wilderness to seek subsistence wherever they could 
find it." "This," he says, and its truth is on its face, "is but a faint 
description of the beautiful valley of 1778," and it should be remem- 
bered the savages continued their depredations until 1782. 

"John Franklin was chosen captain. Your petitioner was appointed 
to sergeant and had the command of a class which was ordered to be 
ready at the shortest notice to scout the woods and to follow any part 
of the enemy that should be sent on their murderous excursions", that 
he performed four tours of scouting that season of about eight days 
each. 

"Your })etitioner never drew any pay, clothing or rations during the 
contest for Independence, but ammunition he was supplied with from 
the Continental store. 

"He had the charge of a family at the time (his father being 
dead); had to support himself as well as he could by laboring between 
spells, and frequently plowing with his musket slung at his back." 

He concludes with this pathetic sentence, after stating that he had 
been informed by the newspapers of the great spirit of libei-ality 
manifested by Congress toward old soldiers: "I take the liberty to 
request of your Honorable Body to take my case into consideration; 
and if you, in your wisdom and justice, should think that your 
petitioner is entitled to any remuneration to do what vou may think 
right and just ; and your petitioner will ever pray." 

Such was the language of the old Eevolutionary soldier who had 
served his country " without any pay or rations," and had to support 
himself and his dead father's family, bv "working between spells ; 
often with his gun strapped on his back." It is much of the story of 
the war in Bradford countv. 

The story of the wives and mothers of those times is condensed 
and typified in that of Samuel Gore's mother. When the battle was 
raging she was watching at the door of the fort to catch the first news 



108 UISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

where were her four sons and two sons-in-law ; the first panting 
courier told her the horrid story that her three sons, Ralph, Silas and 
George, and her two sons-in-law, John Murphy and Timothy Pierce, 
were dead, and their scalped and mangled corpses lay side by side; 
the brave woman's heart was broken, and her stricken soul cried : 
" Have I one son left 'i " The fort was pillaged the next dav, and the 
Indians carried all the feather beds to the river's bank, and scattered 
the feathers to the winds. They burned Mi*. Gore's house, and the 
children, while the Indians were sacking the fort, gathered enough 
feathers to make the noted " Wyoming Bed, " and hid them. Mrs. 
Gore procured a horse, threw this "bed" across it and started on the 
long journey across the '• Shades of Death," as the seventy miles of 
wilderness was called, that lay before them on their way to the Dela- 
ware. The old people and the children rode alternately and in 
hushed silence, not knowing what moment the red devils would 
spring upon them. The small children endured agony in silence and 
trudged on and on. That exodus from the Susquhanna is the unpar- 
alleled story of suffering and woe. One poor woman's infant died 
in her arms on the way ; the}' could not stop to bury it on the way, 
and she carried the corpse over twenty miles in her arms. An old 
lady resident of the county, who died a few years ago, was born on that 
awful voyage. Frances Slocumb, a little girl aged five, was taken 
captive by the Indians, and never recovered. She was never heard of 
until she had become old, and then refused to return to her friends and 
civilization. She died Queen of the Miamis, near Fort Wayne, 
Ind., in 1847. 

Maj. Zephan Flower'' s memory merits a paragra|)h among the heroes 
of the Kevolution. The son of Ithuriel Flower, a genuine specimen of the 
Old-World Puritans that came of the stormy times of 1620, in the very 
beginnings of this continent, a generation praying and fighting and 
reading their old bhick-letter Bibles in order, we boys used to think, 
to find old scriptural names for their many children. The name 
Zephan, it is said, occurs but once in the Bible, but it could not 
escape the devotional readings of Father Ithuriel, and the bearer of 
that name was born November 30, 1765, and died April 16, 1855, on 
his farm across the river from Athens, now the property of his rela- 
tive and adopted son, Z. F. Walker, and is buried near the old family 
residence on the roadside in the Franklin cemetery. He enlisted in 
the Continental army in 1778, when not yet quite thirteen years old, and 
served seven years, and at the age, therefore, of twenty-one, when the 
modern young man tears himself away from his mama's apron, he was 
an old Revolutionary soldier, who could tell of the war and battles 
and sieges and marches with bare feet over frozen ground ; of how he 
was captured and re-captured ; how he captured a Tory, and the Tory 
turned and captured him, wiien his overcoat caught in crossing a fence, 
and his prisoner took his gun and about-faced him, and finally tooktlie 
flint from his gun and returned it to him with the injunction : '' Go 
your way in peace and I will go mine. " How he too quickly found a 
secret flint, and put it in his gun and ordered the retiring man to halt 
or he would fire, but the fellow only quickened his pace, and although 



HI8T0KY OF P.llADFOKl) COUNTY. 100 

he could have shot him dead, yet he had not the heart to do it, and the 
man went in safety. Or how, when a sentinel, lie challenged Gen. 
Washing-ton, whom he knew very well, but refused to let him pass 
until he gave the countersign ; this was given, and the great soldier 
threw the lad a silver half dollar to show his ap])reciation ot" the act. 
Or how, in storming a fort, he was at the head of the storming party, 
and on the impulse jumped to the port-hole to crawl in, when the can- 
noneer attem|)ted to lire the gun with the boy right at its mouth, when 
he was killed almost in the act of applying the torch. In 1791, he 
came toSheshequin, and then to Spalding's creek, and built a distillery. 
Then, though with very scant book education, he became a surveyor, 
and to this day his notes and surveys are among the most reliable rec- 
ords of the early times on the Susquehanna. In April, 1795, he sur- 
veyed for the Susquehanna Company the old town of Flowersburg, 
antl in 1798 the township of Litchfield, as it is now, and Windsor, now 
Sheshequin. 

While a resident of Sheshequin he was made a major of the militia. 
In 1803 he went to Athens and located on the present Michael Cole- 
man farm, and was here when the great flood came, and his family 
was taken from the house in boats and landed at the foot of the hill 
of Col. Franklin's residence, and from there by boats or rafts across 
the flats to the door of Col. Satterlee's house ; the w^omen holding 
their skirts for sails as propelling power. Jlis next move was to the 
Julius Tozer farm; then to the borough of Athens in the house now 
Widow Seward's. In 1834 he moved into the Col. Franklin house, and 
occupied this with his son Nathaniel, who had purchased the place. 

An incident in the life of this old soldier and surveyor was the ill- 
will he encountered among the settlers because he was surveying the 
land. They shaved his horse's mane and tail, and threatened him with 
violence time and again. He was ambushed and fired at several times, 
but fortunately was never hurt. 

Among his reminiscences was the "starving summer " of 1791, in 
this locality, when the people were brought to the verge of starvation 
by a frost that had ruined the previous year's crops ; breadstuff had 
all gone and none obtainable, and only such meat as could be captured 
in the forests. The only market was Wilkes-Barre. The suffering 
people wandered through the woods, digging roots and devouring the 
scant eatable herbs the}^ could find, and one who was there has said : 
" The best meal I ever ate \tas when finally we gathered rye that was 
just out of the milk, kiln-dried, and pounded it out with a flail, dried 
it again in kettles and then ])ounded it Indian fashion with a stone, and 
made Graham short-cake, and with our invited neighbors partook of 
the royal feast." Thus the hungry-eyed children were brought back 
to plenty and happiness, and the whole population were rejoiced, and 
the dreadful ordeal passed away. 

Zephan Flower and Mary Patrick were married March 28, 1785; 
she was a native of Hartford, born December 25, 1765 — a princely 
"Christmas gift," indeed. Her brothers, Shepard and Jacob, were 
among the early prominent pioneers of Wysox. 

The children of Maj. Flower were, Ileloisa, Mar}^, Nathaniel, 



llO HISTOIIY OF BRADFOKl) COUNTY. 

Ithuriel, Iluldah, Philomela, Zulimnia (mother of Z. F. Walker, of 
Athens), George, Alfred, Albert, Almore and Zephan. Mrs. Flower 
died March 5, 1848, and is buried in the Col. Franklin burying-ground, 
now on the farm of her grandson, Z. F. Walker. 

Mrs. John Cole, nte Catharine Letts, mother of Dr. C. II. Cole, of 
Sheshequin, who died in 1840, aged seventy-live, has often related her 
experiences at the battle of Wyoming. She was then but six or seven 
years old, and her father swam the river with his three small children 
clinging to his clothes, and made his escape and fled through, then 
called, the "Wilderness of Death," to the Delaware river, subsisting, on 
the terrible journey, uj)on roots and berries. 

But few of the families of the Revolution on this border but had 
some such experiences as this old lady could tell of her young girlhood, 
and now to look back and hear it told as it came in later j^ears from 
their lips, we wonder how it was possible that any survived to put in 
words the dreadful tale. We speak of our brave Revolutionary sires ; 
and honor them above all men, and are liable to forget that the women 
and weak children were by their side in ever}^ ordeal — in the fiercest 
battles, the bloodiest massacres and in the flights through the wilder- 
ness, in the storms and hunger, when the very air was latlen with death, 
and often with horrors far worse than death. One is now sometimes 
incredulous in trying to realize that one of our modern bug-squealing, 
corsetted girls could ever come of such a stock as the race of women 
and children that helped plant our civilization, and maintained it against 
every foe. Sureh^, the Lord tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb. 

Soon after the establishment of the Union occurred the episode in 
history of the attempt b}' Col. John Franklin and others to establish a 
new State here. "Wirt Arland" (A. S. Hooken) in the Athens News 
March 5, 1889, communicated the following: 

In the latter years of tbe last century this was the great unorganized territory of north- 
ern Pennsylvania. Atthesame time Col. Franklin and his followers were organizing 
to form a new State. .John Sevier was carving a new State out of Tennessee, Carolina 
and Georgia. The move was to drive off the Connecticut settlers. Ethan Allen came 
and joinedFranklin, and they resolved to make a new Slate with Tioga Point, now 
Atheas, the capital. Gen. Allen said he had made one State and could make another. 

The new State was to extend into the unorganized portions of Southern N.Y. 
Hhe Independent Gazetteer of October 5, 1787, says: "A few days since Capts. Craig, 
Brady, Stephenson, Begs, Pim and Erb went to the camp of Luzerne and tliere, by or- 
der of the Supreme Executive Council, apprehended John Franklin, and yesterday 
brought him to this city. This man has been very active in fomenting disturbances 
in the camp, has great address and resolution, as was shown by the gentlemen em- 
I)loyed in conducting tliis business; they were all ofticers of the Continental Army, who 
distinguished themselves by their bravery during the late war — it is to be hoped they 
will receive sufficient compensation for their servicts." 

Gen. Franklin's long imprisonment without trial — he was refused any, even enor- 
mous, bail that was offered, the trial postponed and he was kept in chains in a dfsmal 
fetid cell, is a most sickening chapter in Pennsylvania history. Pricktring fled after 
Franklin's arrest. He returned, however, in 1788 to Bradford county. June 28. 1778, 
Pickering was seized and carried to the woods and kept secreted twenty day?, but 
was linally set at liberty. 

Ashburn Towner's novel, Ghendayiie of Kotono. gives an interesting description of 
this event. The real hero of those daj^s was Col. Franklin. Franklin, the wilderness 
hero, lay in jail while the National Constitutional Convention assembled to form our 
wonderful constitution. When after in prison a year or more Franklin was brought 
before the court, the court said: "There was evidence tbat he and the people had 
assembled for the purpose of opposing the authority and law of the Commonwealth, 
and that a paper subscribed by him had been posted inviting the people to throw off 
allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania and to erect themselves into an independent 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD (JOUNTY. Ill 

State, also it appeared that the insurgents had appointed a court of three judges, vested 
with jurisdiction in all cases criminal and civil." 

This was sufficient treason, but the Commonwealth in its abundance of mercy had 
concliide'l to charge it to misprison of treason." Then bail was asked when the Chief 
Justice said that "yesterday we might have allowed it, but to day's news of the arrest 
of Pickeriagshut out all such idci, aod the charge was reverted back to 'treason.' " 

The new State project lingered after the arrest of Franklin, November 5, 1787, Dr. 
Ben Franklin then Secretary of the Commonwealth sent the following to the council. 

"Gentlemen : Since the last session, there has been a renewal of the disturbances at 
Wyoming, some restless spirits there having imagined a prospect of withdrawing the 
inhabitants of that part of the Slate and some of the State of New York from their 
allegiance, and of forming them into a new State, to be carried into effect bj^ an armed 
force in detiaQce of the laws of the two States. Having intelligence of this, we caused 
one of the principal conspirators to be apprehended and secured in the goal of this city 
— and another, who resides in the State of New York, at our request has been taken up 
by the authorities of that Government. The papers found on this occasion fully dis- 
covers the designs of these turbulent people, and some of their letters are herewith laid 
before you. . . . To protect the civil officers of our new Court of Luzerne in the 
e.vercise of their respective fuictions, we have ordered a body of Militia to hold them- 
selves in readiness to march thither, which will be done unless some future circum- 
stances and information from those points may make it appear unnecessary." 
[Signed] B. FiiAKKUN, 

President Supreme Ex. Coiuicil. 

Session of Gen assembly, October 31, 1787, mostly taken up with the Luzerne 
troubles, a resolution was pissed to raise troops. Benj. Franklin sent another mes- 
sage to the assembly recommending the adoption of effectual measures to suppress 
rebellion and enforce the laws. 

The p3ople drove tlie Commissioners from Luzerne Court, and at the November 
election following, Timothy Pickering was elected to the Legislatui'e from Luzerne. 
He was afterward Washington's Secretary of State. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SEYENTEEIsj TOWNSHIPS. 

John Winthrop, Under Whom Was the Beginning of Great 
Things — The First and the Second Pennamite and Yankee 
Wars — An Attempt to Form a New State. 

NO local subject in the histoiy, not only of Pennsylvania, but also 
of Connecticut, has excited a more general interest than the one 
commonly known as the "Connecticut Claims." or the " Pennamite and 
Yankee Wars." Bradford county lies within that disputed land, and 
the statement of the facts in the long dispute is the history of the 
early settlement of this portion of the State along the Susquehanna 
river — a contention that was bitter as it was long, and concerning 
which there were reprisals and bloodshed and flagrant wrongs on all 
sides ; the innocent often the greatest sufferers. It is now more than 
one hundred years since its inception, and if, unfortunely, there are yet 
heart-burnings and evil feelings over these old questions that have been 
transmitted from sire to son, it is to be regretted. The bearing of 
this question and its final results have had a national influence ; had 
it been settled differently from what it was, one more State would 



112 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

have added its star to the original cluster of thirteen that typified the 
orio-inal Union of States. Pennsylvania wonld have presented a very 
ditferent face on the maps to what it now does. The boundaries of 
that possible State would have been : - Beginning ten miles east of 
the east branch of the Susquehanna river, on the one-and-fortieth 
degree of north, thence with a northward line ten miles distant from 
the said river to the end of the forty-second degree and to extend 
westward throughout the whole breadth thereof, through two degrees 
of longitude, one hundred and twenty miles." This mcludes all of 
Bradford county except a little wedge of the northeast corner, as the 
east line bows to conform to the general bend of the river. The other 
three boundarv lines are straight, the north line being the State line, 
and the south line being the south line of 41 ==^ . The other entire 
counties and parts of counties, as now formed, included in this described 
boundarv. are as follows: Part of Susquehanna. Wyoming, Luzerne, 
Columbia, Montour, Xorthumberland, Union. Centre. Clinton, Cleartield, 
Elk. Cameron and McKean, and the whole of Potter, Tioga, Lycoming 
and Sullivan. What a solid little State this would have made— about 
thesizeof Connecticut! This would have been Connecticut's first-born 
Territory, and eventualh" a State. 

What we mav now regard as a close of this tremendous contro- 
versy is the address of "Ex-Gov. Henry M. Hoyt, tlelivered before 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Xovember 10, 1879. Gov. 
Hoyt was then in olfice ; he had been a citizen of Towanda, and in his 
law practice had been drawn into a careful study of the legal ques- 
tions involved, and fortunately the society requested him to make an 
address on the subject. To the datn he' had professionally accumu- 
lated, he added such materials as the records and history gave, and 
delivered his able and eloquent address, and it may be now accepted 
as a full, complete and final summing up of the points involved, and 
dramatic as was that chapter in our country's history, the Governor's 
•" Brief" or " Syllabus,'* as he terms it. of the '•' Seventeen Townships," 
reads hke the learned and impartial decision of the upright judge. 

The English discovered and possessed Xorth America from laiitiule 
34^ to 48 ^ . and called tiie Provinces South Virginia, and North Vir- 
ginia, or Xew England. James L. April 10, 160f), granted the London 
Company the right to plant a colon}' anywhere between 34 ^ and 41 - 
north latitude. Out of this grant came Virginia and the Southern 
States. The same vear the king granted similar right to Thomas 
Hanhaw, et ah. between 38 - and 45 - . All these rights or grants 
extended entirely across the continent. America at that time was a 
kind of king's grao-bag. 

On Xovember 3, 1620, the King incorporated the counci] of Ply- 
mouth '■ for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing of Xew Eng- 
land." and giving to their care from 40^ to 48^. — ''Provided any 
portion herein named be not actually possessed or inhabited by any other 
Christian Prince, or State." 

On March 19. 1028. the Council of Plvmouth granted to Sir Henry 
Pvoswell. d ad., all that part of Xew England between the Merrimac 
river and Charles river on Massachusetts Bay. The southern boundary 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 113 

of this grant, as all of them in that day was, "' from ocean to ocean.'' 
and it ran along the 42 ^ 2' latitude. [The north line of Pennsylvania 
runs on 12 ^ .J This was conferred by King Charles, March 4. 1629. 

March 19. l^^Sl, the Council of Plymouth granted to Lord Say, tt al., 
" All that part of Xew England wjjich lies and extends, itself, from 
the Xarragansett river, the space of forty leagues upon a straight line 
near the shore, toward the southwest, west and by south or west, as 
the coast lieth, toward Virginia, accounting three English miles to the 
league.'' As usual it ran west to the sea. 

Upon the wording of this grant arose the most of the controvers}'. 
President Clap describes it thus: "All that part of Xew England 
which lies west from Xarragansett river 120 miles on the sea coast, and 
from thence in latitude and breadth aforesaid to the South Sea. This 
grant extends from Point Judith to Xew York, and from thence west 
to the South Sea: and if we take Xarragansett river in its whole length 
this tract will extend as far north as Worcester. It comprehends the 
whole colony of Connecticut and much more.'' The grantees appointed 
John AVinthrop their agent, who planted a colony at the mouth of the 
Connecticut river, and named it ••Saybrook." 

On April 20. ir)62, Charles II. incorporated the Connecticut Colony, 
and by letters patent made practically a new grant, the material or 
descriptive part of which is as follows: East by Xarragansett river, 
commonly called Xarragansett Bay where the said river falleth into the 
sea ; and on the north by the line of Massachusetts as usual running 
"from sea to sea." In 1635. the Plymouth Colony came to an end. 

The import of this charter has not escaped the great American his- 
torian, Bancroft, who says, Vol. II., pp. 51, 54, 55 : 

" It would be a serious blunder to belittle this charter by viewing it simply as a link 
in this chain of title. Under John Winthrop it became " the beginning of the great 
things" on this continent. "They had purchased their lands of the assigns of the Earl 
of Warwick, and from Uncas they had bought the territory of the Mohegans ; and the 
news of the restoration awakened a desire for a patent. But the little colony proceeded 
warily ; they draughted among themselves the instruments which they desired the King 
to ratify : and they could plead for their possessions their rights bv purchase, by con- 
quest from the Pt quods, and by their own labor ichicJi had redeemed the irilderne.^. 

''The courtiers of King Charles, who themselves had an eye to possessions in Amer- 
ica, suggested no limitations :and perhaps it was believed, that Connecticut would serve 
to balance the power of Massachusetts. 

•' The charter, di-re^^arding the hesitancy of Xew Haven, the rights of the colony 
of New Belgium, and the claims of Spain on the Pacific, connected New Haven with 
Hartford in one colony, of which the limits were extended from the Xarragansett rivei 
to the Pacific ocean. How strange is the connection of events I Winthrop not only 
secured to his State a peaceful century of colonial existence, but prepared the claim for 
"western lands. 

" With regard to pawers of government, the charter was still more extraordinary. It 
conferred on the colonists unqualified power to govern themselves. 

■'Connecticut was independent, except in name. Charles II. and Clarendon 
thought they had created a close corporation, and they had really sanctioned a democ- 
racy.' 

On July 11. 1754, an interval of nearly one hundred years, the next 
line in the Connecticut chain of title, was the purchase of the eighteen 
chiefs, or sachems, of the Five Xations. for £'2.000. by the Susquehanna 
Company, of the^ands described above as the " Seventeen Townships.'' 
In May. 1755. the Assembly of Connecticut, after stating that these 
lands were within the limits of their charter, resolved, that •• we are of 



114 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the opinion that tlie peaceable and orderly erecting and carrying on some 
new and well regulated colony or plantation on the lands above men- 
tioned would greatly tend to fix and secure said Indian nations in alle- 
giance to ais Majesty, and accordingly hereby manifest their ready 
acquiescence therein." 

Miss Larned in her valuable history of Windham county, Conn., says : 

"The marvellous richness and beauty of the Susquehanna valley 
were already celebrated, and now it was proposed to plant a colonv in 
this beautiful region, and thus incorj)orate it into the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut." 

In the Colonial records is found a petition to the Assembly of Con- 
necticut, dated March 29, 1753, describing these lands, and "as we 
suppose lying within the charter of Connecticut," and among other 
matters they say that thev desire permission to possess "a quantity 
sixteen miles square to lie on both sides of the Susquehanna river," to 
which they woukl purchase the Indian right " honorably," etc. 

This constitutes the Connecticut chain of title to the " Seventeen 
Sections." 

llie Penns' Side.—\^\\\\'c\m. Penn's charter from Charles II., bears 
date March 4, 1681, the metes and bounds as are nearly now the 
boundary lines of Pennsylvania, except one degree south on the north 
line; Avhereupon, in taking possession of his domain, he issued the 
following proclamation : 

My Friends: I wish you all happine&s here and hereafter. These are to lett 
you know that it hath pleased God in his Providence to cast you within my Lott and 
Care. It is a business, that though I never undertook before, yet God has given me 
an understanding of my duty, and an honest minde to doe it uprightly. I hope you 
will not be troubled at your chainge and the King's choice; for you are now lixt, at 
the mercy of no Governour that comes to make his fortune. Yoti Hhall be governed by 
luirs of 1/our own making, and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious 
People. I shall not usurp the rights of any or oppress his person. God has furnished 
me with a better resolution, and has given me His grace to keep it. In short, whatever 
sober and free men can reasonably desire for the security and improvement of their 
own happiness, I shall heartily comply with. I beseech God to direct you in the way 
of righteousness, etc. I am your true Friend, 

[signed] Wm. Pknn. 

On October 11 and October 25,1736, the Six Kations sold to William 
Penn the "entire country of Pennsylvania." Additional deeds were 
made to the Penns July 6 and July 9, 1754, and finally November 5, 
1768, a deed to the Penns by the Six Nations conve3^s "all that part of 
the Province of Pennsylvania not heretofore purchased of the Indians." 

Up to 1768, there is no evidence that an}^ settler under Pennsylva- 
nia had set foot in the disputed territory. In 1768. as we have seen, 
the Penns had completed their purchase of these lands at Fort Stan- 
wix. The Geneial Council, held then, had made treaties which prom- 
ised relief from Indian troubles. We have now come to the miserable 
contest, known in the common parlance of the country as — 

The Fir.'^t Peniiamite and YnnJiee War. — It was a fair, and 
beautiful, and valuable prize, this valley of W3^oming, and all the 
valley of the upper Susquehanna. Both sides prepared for the fray. 

In 1768, at Hartford, the Susquehanna Company resolved^ " that 
five townships, five miles square, should be surveyed and ii'ranted,each 
to forty settlers, being proprietors, on condition that those settlers 








yx ty 




HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 117 

should remain upon the ground; ncian their rights, and defend them- 
selves and each other, from the intrusion of all rival claimants." 
Five townships in the heart of the vallev were assigned to these first 
adventurers: Willces-Barre, Hanover, Kingston, Plymouth, and Pitts- 
ton. Kingston, the first township occupied, was allotted to ''Forty" 
settlers. The lands were divided into rights of 400 acres each, "re- 
serving- and ai)portioning three whole rights, or shares, in each town- 
ship for the public use of a gospel ministry and schools in each of 
said towns." A stockade was erected on the river bank in Kingston, 
called " Forty Fort." It became the central point of much of the his- 
tory of the I'egion. With these settlers came Capts. Butler, Ransom 
and Durkee, some of whom had seen honorable service in the French 
war, and had shared in the campaign at Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point. They were not without the aid of bold adherents obtained in 
Pennsylvania — the Shoemakers and McDowells, from the settlements 
on the Delaware, above the Blue Hills; and Lazarus Stewart and 
others, from Hanover, in Lancaster (now Dau})hin) county, reinforced 
by some excellent Quakers from Rhode Island. 

The designated leaders of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania w^ere 
Charles Stewart, Capt. Amos Ogden and Sheriff Jennings, of North- 
ampton county. They had able assistants in Capts. Clayton, Francis 
and Craig. 

The Penns had leased to Stewart, Ogden and Jennings one hun- 
dred acres for seven years, on condition of "defending the lands from 
the Connecticut claimants." This lease was the flag they hoisted as the 
badge of title and possession. They arrived first upon the ground. 
This was in January, 1769. They took possession of the block-house 
and huts at Mill creek (about one mile above the present city of 
Wilkes-Barre) winch had been left by the massacred settlers of 1763. 
They laid out for the Pro))rietaries two extensive manors : " Stoke," 
on the east bank, and "Sunbur\%" on the west bank of the Susque- 
hanna, embracing the heart of the Wyoming valley. 

In February, 1769, the first forty Connecticut settlers arrived. 
Finding the block-house in possession of Ogden, they sat down, mid- 
winter as it was, to besiege it and starve out the garrison. Ogden 
proposed a conference. " Propose to a Yankee to talk over a matter, 
especially which he has studied and believes to be right, and you 
touch the most susceptible chord which vibrates in his heart." It was 
so here. Three of their chief men Avent to the block-house to " argue 
the matter." Once within, Sheriff Jennings arrested them on a writ, 
" in the name of Pennsylvania." They were taken to the jail at Easton. 
Friends there bailed them, and they returned to Wyoming. Ogden 
then raised the jHjsse of Northampton county, stonued the Yankee 
fort and carried the whole forty to Easton. They were all immediately 
liberated, on bail, and all immediately returned to AY3'oming. 

In April, the quotas of four townships, two hundred men, arrived. 
These with the others constituted a force of nearly three hundred 
now on the ground. They erected " Fort Durkee" on the river bank, 
and thirty huts. (The fort stood at the lower end of the "river com- 
mon" in Wilkes-Barre ; the town itself being laid out by Maj. Dur- 

7 



118 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

kee, and named after Cols. Wilkes and Barre, two members of Parlia- 
ment friendly to the colonies). They had full possession no^v, and 
Avent vigorously at felling forests and planting fields. As the Colony 
of Connecticut was as yet taking no part in this struggle, the Susque- 
hanna Company undertook to gain time and get delay by opening 
neofotiations with the government of Pennsvlvania. Pennsvlvania 

O O -■■■ •■' 

listened, but kept right on with the more rigorous preparations to 
recover the disputed ground. 

In September, the indefatigable Ogden appeared before Fort 
Durkee with two hundi-ed men, the j)osse of Northampton, for so far 
all was done under civil process. A four-pound iron cannon had been 
brought up from Fort Augusta (Sunbury). Capt. Durkee was captured 
by the adroit Ogden, and under the persuasion of the dreadful four- 
pounder, the whole garrison surrendered, and the Connecticut people 
were compelled to leave. This closed the year 1709, Wyoming re- 
maining in possession of Pennsylvania. 

Ogden, believing he had made thorough work, disbanded his troops, 
and leaving a small garris(m in his fort at Mill Creek, went to 
Philadelphia to enjoy liis honors. In February, Capt. Lazarus 
Stewart, of Hanover, Lancaster county, and his '^^forty''^ settlers (mostly 
Pennsylvanians these, who had purchased the township which he 
named for his own home, Hanover), appeared in the valley. They 
ousted Ogden's men from his fort, and captured the "four pounder," 
This brought Ogden rapidly back from Philadelphia with tifty men, 
and he re-possessed his Mill creek fortress. In a sally made uj)on him 
here, the Connecticut people were repulsed, and lost one man, killed — 
the first bloodshed as yet. Ogden was obliged to surrender in April, 
and retired from the valley. 

Planting time had come, peace reigned, and confidence began to 
prevail. Spring and summer came, and the harvests were ripening, and 
no foe. 

Pennsylvania, for some reason, had not crushed this dispute. In 
point of fact, the Proprietaries having appropriated the best part of 
the valley to themselves, the people very generally sympathized with 
the settlers, and wished them success. However, with a new force, 
Ogden appeared once more in September, and by stratagem, most of 
the inhabitants being in their fields, without arms, once more captured 
the fort, dispersed the settlers and destroyed their crops. For the 
fourth time he retired to Philadelphia, in the full belief that the con- 
test was at an end. At the very close of the year, on the 18th of 
December, Capt. Lazarus Stewart, with thirty men, again swooped 
down upon Ogden's garrison, and the year closed with the valley in 
possession of the Yankees. 

Promptly with the opening of 1771, Pennsylvania again sent her 
forces to the recapture of Fort Durkee and the fields of Wyoming. 
Capt. Ogden abandoned his fortress at Mill creek, and defiantly 
erected a new one, Fort Wyoming, within sixty rods of his adversary. 
Capt. Stewart commanded at Fort Durkee. ' It was Greek against 
Greek now. Ogden demanded the surrender of Fort Durkee. Stewart 
replied; ''That he had taken possession, in the name and behalf of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 119 

the Colom' of Connecticut, in whose jurisdiction they were, and by 
that autliority he w^ould defend it." Ogden assaulted, but failed, a 
number being killed and wounded in this affair. In turn he was be- 
sieged. Escaping himself by a ruse, his garrison surrendered under 
formal articles of capitulation on the 14th of August, 1771. 

The government of Pennsylvania, finding that the Connecticut 
forces had strongly fortified themselves — that their numbers Avere 
rapidly increasing, and believing, from the boldness and confidence of 
the intruding Yankees, that the government of Connecticut was sus- 
taining them, gave orders for the withdrawing of their troops, and left 
the Connecticut party in cjuiet possession of the valley. 

In answer to a letter from Mr. Hamilton, president of the council, 
to Gov. Trumbull, of Connecticut, inquiring under whose authority 
"these violent and hostile measures" were prosecuted. Gov. Trum- 
bull thus cautiously replies, October 14, 1771: "The persons con- 
cerned in those transactions have no order and direction from me. or 
from the General Assembly of the Colony, for their proceeding upon 
this occasion, and I am very confident that the General Assembly, 
friends as they ever have been to peace and good order, will never 
countenance any violent, much less hostile, measures in vindicating 
the rights which the Susquehanna Company suppose they have to 
lamU ill that I) art of the country within, tlie liniiti< of the charter 
of this cotony. 

Connecticut had not yet " asserted its title" to the country. The 
inhabitants of Wyoming established a government for themselves. 
They laid out townships, formed settlements, erected fortifications, 
levied and collected taxes, passed laws for the direction of civil suits, 
and for tiie punishment of crimes, established a militia, and provided 
for the common defense and general welfare of the " plantation." 
" Neither the Grecian nor Roman States, in their proudest days of re- 
publicanism, coukl boast of a government more purely democratic than 
was now established at Wyoming." 

For the two years, 1772-1778, peace and prosperity reigned. The 
"settlers" showed themselves competent to defend themselves, and 
their footing seemed securely established. In October, 1773, the 
General Assembly of Connecticut " Mc.^olrcd, That this Assembly, at 
this time, will assert and, in some proper way, support their claim to 
those lands contained within the limits and boundaries of their charter, 
which are westAvard of the Province of New York." 

Commissioners were appointed, who went to Philadelphia, in De- 
cember, to bring the controversy to an amicable conclusion. The case 
was there fully gone over on both sides; but the negotiation failed of 
results. It was conducted with the most stately courtesy and ability. 
A strong Pennsylvania advocate says of his adversary : "I should 
have been glad to have seen the excellent temper and abilities of their 
penman engaged in another cause." 

In January, 1774, an act was passed by the General Assemblv of 
Connecticut, erecting all the territory within her charter limits, from 
the river Delaware to a line fifteen' miles west of the Susquehanna, 
into a town, with all the corporate power of other towns in the 



120 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

colony, to be called Westmoreland, attaching it to the county of 
Litchfield. As might have been expected, this greatly strengthened 
the settlers, and was hailed with much satisfaction. They were now 
under the law and protection of the ancient and high-standing Colony 
of Connecticut. "A sense of security existed, a feeling of confidence 
ensued, which gave force to contracts, encouraged industry, and stim- 
ulated enterprise." 

The Wyoming region was in Northampton county, until the year 
1772, when it went into Northumberland, according to the municipal 
division of Pennsylvania. 

On July 3-7, 1772, Col. Plunkett, of Northumberland county, under 
orders of the Government, destroyed the settlements of Charleston and 
Judea (Milton), on the west branch, which had been made under the 
auspices of the Susquehanna Company, in which affair some lives were 
lost. With about five hundred armed men, in December, 1775, Col. 
Plunkett, with his train of boats and stores of ammunition, moved up 
the north branch to drive off tlie ('onnecticut settlers from the 
Wyoming country. About three hundred of tiiese settlers met him at 
Nanticolce and repulsed him, with some loss of life on both sides. At 
this point. Congress interfered and "- Resolved, ^ * * * that the 
contending parties immediately cease all hostilities, and avoid any 
appearance of force until the dispute can be legally settled." It is 
evident that the dispute had widened into national importance. After 
Col. Plunkett's failure, all "appearance of force " did cease until after 
the decree of Trenton, in 1782. 

In 1775, the number of inhabitants of Wyoming was something 
more than three thousand. 

In November, 1776, the town of Westmoreland was erected into a 
county of Connecticut, to be called Westmoreland, and thereupon its 
civil and military organization was complete. 

Three companies of troops were raised there for the Continental 
establishment, and were part of the Twenty-fourth Kegiment of the 
Connecticut line. 

The Decree of Trenton.— After the failure of Col. Plunkett's 
expedition, in 1775, we left the Yankees in possession. It required 
some considerable self-control and more patriotism in Pennsylvania to 
drop the controversy at that stage. But, under the request of Con- 
gress, she did so. Promptlv on the appearance of peace, after the 
surrender of Cornwallis at'Yorktown, the State, by petition of her 
president and supreme executive council, prayed Congress to appomt 
commissioners "to constitute a court for hearing and determining the 
matter in question, agreeablv to the ninth article of the Confedera- 
tion." Connecticut asked for delay, " because that sundry papers of 
importance in the case are in the hands of council in England, and 
can not be procured during the war." Congress overruled the motion, 
and on the 28th day of August, 1782, issued commissions to William 
Whipple, of New Hampshire; Welcome Arnold, of Rhode Island; 
David Brearlyand William Churchill Houston, of New Jersey ; Cyrus 
Griffin, Joseph Jones and Thomas Nelson, of Virginia, or any five 
or more of them, to be a court of commissioners, with all powers, 



insTOKY OF IJKADFORD COUNTi'. l2l 

prerooutives and privileges, incident or belonging to a court ''to 
meet at Trenton, in the State of New Jersey, on Tuesday, the' 12th 
day of November next, to liear and finally determine the controversy 
between the said State of Pennsylvania and State of Connecticut, so 
always as a major part of said commisssoners, who shall hear the 
cause, shall agree in the determination." 

The Commissioners, except Joseph Jones and Thomas Nelson met 
and formed the court November 19, 1782. Messrs. William Bradford 
Joseph Reed, James Wilson and Jonathan D. Sergeant, appeared as 
counsel for Pennsylvania ; and Messrs. Elii)halet Dyer, William S 
Johnson and Jesse Root, as counsel for Connecticut. 

Upon the assembling of the Court, the agents for Connecticut, after 
reciting the possession and improvements of large numbers of persons 
holding under the Susquehanna Company, moved that "the tenants in 
possession, holding as aforesaid, be duly cited to appear and defend." 

Tlie Court rightly overruled the motion "that the same can not be 
admitted according to the construction of the ninth article of the 
Confederation." 

The Commission under which tliev acted was founded on the second 
clause of the ninth article. The determination of the claims of private 
property, or right in the soil, would have been coram non judice, that 
jurisdiction being derived from the third clause of the article, the two 
jurisdictions could not be blended. 

Connecticut then moved an adjournment to procure evidence, 
especially "a certain original i\QQ(\ from the Indians of a large parcel 
of the land in dispute obtained from their chiefs and sachems, at their 
councd in Onondaga, in A. D. 1703, and now in England." 
The Court did not grant the postponement. 
The agents of Pennsylvania set forth their claims as follows : 

1. The charter of Ivins^ Charles II. to Sir William Penn, dated March 4, 1681 

i. 1 hat said Penn and the succeeding proprietaries purchased from the naUve 

Indians the nght of soil in some parts of the territory ; and that the Indians had 

?.'^7^^^'?,^ V^T^'f ^"'^. I^'c'i^rd Penn, particularly on the 25th day of October, 1736, 

Ihetu) and absolute right of preemption of and in all the lands not before sold bv 

them to the said proprietaries, within the limits aforesaid " 

8. They stated the limit of the said charti r. 

4 That by virtue of the Declaration of Independence the articles of Confederation 
and the act ot the Legislature of 27th November, 1779, the right of soil and estate of 
the late proprietaries was vested in the State, and that -'Pennsylvania was entitled to 
the right ofjunschchon and right of soil within all the limits aforesaid " 

5. The claims of certain settlers under title derived under Connecticut, and the 
assertion of title by the State of Connecticut. 

The agents for Connecticut exhibited a statement of the claim of 
that State, m which they deduced the title from the Crown, throuo-h 
the Plymouth Council, and the charter of Charles II., dated April 23, 
1662, described the limits of that charter; set forth the exception of 
New Netherlands, afterwards New York ; alleged that in 1753, the 
State having located and settled their lands on the east side of New 
lork, and being in a condition to extend their settlements in the 
western part of their patent, for that purpose permitted certain 
companies of adventurers to purchase large tracts of land of the native 
Indians, on the Susquehanna and Delaware, within the limits of their 



122 IIISTOUY OF BKADFORI) COUNTY. 

charter, "and in A. D. 1754, said companies proceeded and made 
settlements on said lands, so purchased, as aforesaid, and ever since 
have, though with various interruptions, continued to hold and possess 
the same, under the title of the Colony of Connecticut, and the Legis- 
lature have approved of the purchases and settlements of the advent- 
urers aforesaid, and have actually erected and exercised jurisdiction in 
and over said territory, as part and parcel of said colony.'' 

The Court was in session forty-one judicial days. On Monday, 
December 30, 17S2, they pronounced the following judgment : 

We are of the opirion that the State of Connecticut has no right to the lands in con- 
troversy. 

We are also unanimously of the opinion that the jansdictinn and pre-emption or all 
the territory lying within the charter boundary of Pennsylvania, and novr claimed by 
the State of Connecticut, do of right belong to the /State of Pcnni^ylvania. 

All the public, corporate rights of Connecticui, as to jurisdiction 
and property in the land, were embraced Avithin the jurisdiction of 
this court, and this decree was final and conclusive Between the 
States which were parties to the cause. 

That this determination did not touch tlie private rights of property 
not only appears by the record, but is placed beyond doubt by the 
written opinions ot the members of the court that liad decided the 
case. The individual claims of those who had purchased of the Con- 
necticut company, it was understood by the unanimous court, were not 
effected by the decree. However, these facts were not given the pub- 
lic for a long time. 

After the decree at Trenton, a petition was })resented to Congress 
by Zebulon Butler and others, claiming the private right of soil under 
Connecticut, and praying for a court of commission to determine their 
claims. On the 23d day of January, 1784, Congress resolved to 
institute a court for the purpose. At length, however, the resolution 
was repealed, because the petition "doth not describe, with sufficient 
certainty, the tract of land claimed by the said Zebulon Butler and 
others, nor particularly name the private adverse claims under grants 
from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." Congress seeiTied to have 
acted on the theory that each clainiant should bring forward a separate 
petition, the land claimed, and name the adverse claimants with 
certainty. They do not seem to have entertained any doubt of the 
right to'^such special trials, independent of the decision at Trenton, 

° But the settlers were poor, oppressed, and wasted by war ; and 
by this time, 178(3, the heavy hand of civil and military powder was 
raised to crush them. Before another petition could be brought for- 
ward the new constitution was ado]ited, and as a matter of course 
the Federal Courts succeeded to all jurisdiction vesting in the special 
courts of commissioners. 

It has generally been considered that the decree of Trenton was 
made rather out of consideration of policy than right ; that Connecticut 
had pre-arranged the case with Pennsylvania and Congress; and that, out 
of the arrangement, she was to get the "Western Pteserve." The 
theory is based on a report on finances made in Congress on the 31st 
of January, 1783, a month after the decree, in which it is said, incident- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD ('OUNTY, 123 

ally, " Virginia and Connectictd have also made cessions, the acceptance 
of which, for particular reasons, have been delayed." These cessions 
came tlius : 

At the close of the American Revolution, the circumscribed States 
contended that all unlocated lands of the States which ran to the 
"South Sea" should, beyond some reasonable bounds, belong to the 
United States in common, as a prize equally contended for by all. 
Congress recommended that this be done. Massachusetts, New York, 
Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia severally passed 
such cessions. In 1786, it was '' Resolved, That Congress, in behalf 
of the United States, are ready to accept all the right, title, interest 
and claim of tlie State of Connecticut to certain western lands," etc. 
When the cession was offered, the absolute acceptance of it was 
opposed by Pennsylvania, whose inembers in Congress moved a proviso 
tliat it should not be construed or understood to affect the decree of 
Trenton. This proviso was rejected. They then moved that Congress 
should not accept the cession, because it might virtually imply a sanction 
of what was not ceded ; but if Connecticut would first relinquish to New 
York, Pennsylvania, and the United States, respectively ,iall her claims of 
jurisdiction and property west of the eastern boundary of New York, the 
"United States would then release to Connecticut the property, but not the 
jurisdiction of a tract of land, of one hundred and twenty miles in ex- 
tent, west of Pennsvlvania. This resolution was negatived. A proviso 
was then moved, " that the acceptance of any cession of western 
territory from any State which had been or might be made, should 
not be "construed or understood, as confirming or in any way 
strengthening the claim of such State to any such territory not ceded," 
which also received a negative. Again it was moved, to be accepted 
on this condition, that it should in no degree affect the claims of any 
State to anv territory, ascertained by the decree of the Federal Court, 
to be within the terntory or jurisdiction of such State, or to injure the 
claims of the United States, under acts of cession from any individual 
State. This was also negatived. At last tiie acceptance was passed 
in these unqualified terms : " Resolved, That Congress accept the said 
deed of cession, and that the same be recorded and enrolled among the 
acts of the United States in Congress assembled." 

This has been regarded as a substantial recognition of the Con- 
necticut charter by the United States. 

By the deed, Connecticut grants •' all right, title, interest, juris- 
diction, and claim to certain western lands, beginning at the com- 
pletion of the forty-first degree of north latitude, one hundred and 
twenty miles west of the western boundary line of the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, as now claimed by the said Commonwealth, and from 
thence bv a line drawn north parallel to, and one hundred and twenty 
miles west of said west line of Pennsylvania, and to continue north 
until it comes to forty-two degrees and two minutes of north latitude." 

This reservation, or rather tract not ceded, is (bounding it easterly 
by the west fine of Pennsylvania) one hundred and twenty miles 
east and west, and one degre^e and two minutes wide, north and south, 



124: HISTORY OF BKADFOIII) COUNTY. 

containing several millions of acres. This was called NeAv Connecticut, 
or the Western Reserve — a goodly ]iart of northeastern Ohio. 

"Whatever the motive, Connecticut prompth' acquiesced in this 
decision at Trenton. Not so, however, the claimants under her. They 
held their case as still undecided. They admitted the retrospective 
operation of the decree as to the public rights of the immediate parties, 
that is, the two States, but contended that "the principle of relations 
does not retrospect so as to affect third persons." They cited the long- 
line of precedents as to settlements between colonies contending about 
the lines of jurisdiction ; that the grants of colonies made to subjects 
had been held sacred, whether within the line as it was after settled 
or not. Such had been the case between Tthode Island and Connecti- 
cut, between Massachusetts and Connecticut, Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire, between New York and Connecticut. That had been the 
case between Pennsylvania and Mar3'land, and between Pennsylvania 
and Virginia. New York, indeed, attempted to infringe the rule in 
the case of New Hampshire grants in Vermont, but finally conformed 
to the justice of the general rule. And it is perfectly analogous to the 
doctrine respecting officers defaeto, whose acts, so far as relates to the 
rights and interests of third persons, are effectual in law, notwithstand- 
ing the offices are found to belong of right to other persons. 

The vote of a sitting member in a legislative assembh' is legal, 
though it may afterward be decided that he was not elected. The 
decision in such cases never operates retrospectively. 

Bv the former Constitution of Pennsylvania, a year's residence 
was a requisite qualification to vote at elections. Within a year after 
the Trenton decree, twenty-four AV\"oming settlers, who had lived a 
number of years on the contested land, attended in the county of 
Northumberland, and gave their votes for two members of the Legis- 
lature and one of the Executive Council. The votes were received by 
the returning officer, and decided the election in all the three cases. 
But the elections were contested, these votes set aside, and the elections 
declared in favor of the other candidates by the Legislature and the 
Council respectively, hecanae the twenty-four persons had not resided a 
year in Pennsylvania^ for that territory was Connecticut nntil the 
Trenton decree. This legislative and executive determination proceeded 
upon the same great principle that the jurisdiction, decided by the 
Trenton comm issioners,does not go back and affect the pre-existing rights 
or condition of private persons. 

In this view, the settlers determined to acquiesce cheerfully in the 
decree, accept their citizenship in Pennsylvania, but to listen to no 
terms which involved ''abandonment of their possessions." 

From this time on, matters are to be conducted under the govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania, and we are to go through the " Second Penna- 
mite War," but the happy outcome is to be under Penns3dvania 
statutes, and the decisions of Pennsylvania courts. 

The Con-firming Act: — "The Second Pennamite "War." A bird's- 
eye view of Pennsylvania in 1783 will show : The ^>^V7^6?.<?, possessed of 
a prosperous and thrifty metropolis, and rich fields in Philadelphia and 
the adjoining counties. 




lA(^Lc^^U^ay^^ 



HISTORY Ol^' BllAlJlOKl) COUJSTV. I2t 

The German^ profitably and industriously settled alono- the eastern 
base of the Kittochtinny, or "Bhie hills," from the Delaware to the 
Susquehanna, holding that rich agricultural territory, as he holds it 
yet. 

Tke Scotch- hn><] I ^ in the Cumberland Valley, and pushing up the 
Juniata, and winding around the spurs of the Alleghanies, into the then 
counties of Bedford and Westmoreland. 

TheYanJxce, seated in the valleys of the North branch of the Susque- 
hanna. 

The rest of the State, except some valleys of the West branch, 
was an unbroken wilderness. The total population did not exceed 
three hundred and thirty thousand. 

Of the Yankee settlers, there were probably about six thousand. 
These w'ere scattered, mainly, in seventeen townships in the county of 
Luzerne, then including the territory of Wyoming, Susquehanna, and 
Bradford. Their townships were five miles square, and extended, in 
blocks, from Berwick to Tioga Point, embracing the bottom lands along 
the river — Providence, the present site of Scranton, being on the 
Lackawanna. These townships were Huntington, Salem, Plymouth, 
Kingston, Newport, Hanover, AVilkes-Barre, Pittston, Providence, 
Exeter, Bedford, Northmoreland, Putnam, Braintrim, Springfield, 
Claverack and Ulster. They contain a ])resent pojudation of one hun- 
dred and eighty thousand people. 

The inhabitants at once set about meeting the adverse effects of the 
proceedings at Trenton. A petition was drawn to the Assembly of 
Pennsylvania, in which, after reciting at length the facts, they touch- 
ingly and jmtlietically close thus : '' We have settled a country (in its 
original state), but of little value ; but now cultivated by your mem- 
orialists, is to them of the greatest importance, being their all. We 
are yet alive, but the richest blood of our neighbors and friends, 
children, husband and fathers, has been spilt in the general cause of 
their country. "" "■'" ■- * We supplied the Continental 
army with many valuable officers and soldiers, and left ourselves weak 
and unguarded against the attack of the savages and others of a more 
savage nature. Our houses are desolate — many mothers chiklless — 
widows and orphans multiplied — our habitations destroyed, and many 
families reduced to beggary, which exhibits a scene most pitiful and 
deserving of mercy. * * - We care not under what State we live. 
We will serve you — we will promote vour interests — will fight your 
battles; but in mercy, goodness, wisdom, justice, and every great and 
generous principle, leave us our possessions, the dearest pledge of our 
brothers, children, and fathers, which their hands have cultivated, and 
their blood, spilt in the cause of their country, has enriched. We 
further pray that a general act of oblivion and indemnity may be 
passed, * '- * and that all judicial proceedings of the common law 
courts held by and under the authority of the State of Connecticut 
be ratified and fully confirmed." 

Acting on this ])etition, the Assembly, inter alia, " resolved that 
commissioners be appointed to make full inquiries into the cases, and 
report to the House ; * * that an act be passed for con- 



138 HISTORY OF BKADFO^D COUNTY. 

signing' to oblivion all tumults and breaches of the peace which have 
arisen out of the controversy." 

On March 13, 1783, an act was passed by the Assembly. 

The garrison of Continental troops had been previously withdrawn. 
Their places were now supplied with two companies of State troops, 
under Capts. Robinson and Shrji wder. The presence of these troops 
was a cause of great anxiety to the settlers. 

On the 15th of April the commissioners arrived. In their first 
communication to the "Committee of Settlers," 19th April, 1783, they 
made the ominous declaration : " Although it can not he supposed that 
Pennsylvania will, nor can she, consistent with her Constitution, by any 
ex post facto laio, deprive her citizens of any part of their property legal- 
ly obtained, yet^'' etc. 

This was pretty fair notice of expulsion. Judge John Jenkins re- 
plied in behalf of the settlers, by a dignified but passionless recital of 
their rights and claims much more worthy of the sturdy settlers than 
the petition referred to. The " Committee of Pennsylvania Landhold- 
ers," Alexander Patterson, chairman, now came forward with their 
terms of what they called " the conditions of compromise." That the 
commissioners should have endorsed them is beyond belief. They 
were: "We propose to give leases with covenants of warranty for 
holding their possessions one year from the first day of April instant 
(22d April, 1783), at the end of which time they shall deliver up full 
possession of the whole, '" * and if they have any oppor- 
tunities of disposing of their hiitts, barns, or other buildings, they shall 
have liberty to do it. * * The widows of all those whose hus- 

bands were hilled by the savages, to have a further indidgence of a year, 
after the first of April, 178Jt,,for half their possessions^'' 

Patterson was determined "' to feed fat the ancient grudge he bore 
them." 

Judge Jenkins replied the same day : " As we conceive that the pro- 
posals of the committee, which they offer as a compromise, will not tend 
to peace, as they are so far from what we deem reasonable, we can not 
comply with them without doing the greatest injustice to ourselves and 
our associates, to widows and fatherless children ; and, although toe 7n€an 
to p>ay due obedience to the constitutional laws of Pennsylvania, we do 
not mean to become abject slaves, as the Committee of Landholders sug- 
gest in their address to your honors." 

The commissioners divided Wyoming into three townships, the new 
ones being named Stokes and Shawanese. Justices of the peace were 
elected by Patterson and his associates without notice to or participa- 
tion by the inhabitants, they not yet being freeholders and voters in 
Pennsylvania. 

The commissioners reported to the Assembly which convened in 
August, 1783. They recommended to the families of those who had 
fallen in arms against the common enemy, reasonable compensation in 
land in western Pennsylvania, and to the other holders of Connecticut 
titles who " did acttially reside on the land at the time of the decree at 
Trenton, provided they delivered possession by the 1st day of April 
following.''^ 



HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 1^9 

Now, Pennsylvania began to vacillate in herjmlicy. The Assembly 
approved all their suggestions. The division of Wyoming into three 
townships was also approved. The "act to prevent and stay suits" 
was repealed 9th September, 1TS3. 

Two full companies of soldiers, " who have served in the Pennsyl- 
vania line," were enlisted. Capt. Patterson, now a justice of the 
peace, returned full of zeal. He changed the name of AVilkes-Barre to 
Londonderry. For protesting against the lewdness and licentiousness 
of the soldiery, he arrested Col. Zebulon Butler, then just returned 
from service in the Revolutionary army. Him he sent to Sunburv, 
charged with high treason. In Plymouth he arrested man}^ respecta- 
ble citizens; feeble old men whose sons had fallen in the massacre — 
Prince Alden, Capt. Bidlack, Benjamin Harvey, Samuel liansom, Capt. 
Bates and others — greatly beloved by their neighbors. They were 
kept in loathsome prisons, starved and insulted. They were dispos- 
sessed, and Patterson's tenants put into their places. The unhappy 
husbandman saw his cattle driven away, his barns on tire, and his wife 
and daughters a prey to licentious soldiery. 

The people, outraged, petitioned the Assem])lv. It sent a commit- 
tee to take testimony. Daniel Clymer, of Berks, one of the committee, 
rose in his place, and said, "there Avas evidence enough to show that 
Alexander Patterson ought to be removed." 

Gen. Brown, another member of the committee, said he " was 
certain no member of the House could imagine him in the interests of 
the people of Wyoming, beyond the bounds of truth and the desire to 
do justice. He had visited Wyoming as one of the committee on the 
subject, and had heard all the evidence on both sides. The wrongs 
and sufferings of the people of Wyoming he was constrained to declare 
were intolerable. If there ever was on earth a people deserving 
redress, it was those people." But Patterson was sustained by the 
Assembly. 

At the opening of 1784, matters reached a crisis. I quote Chapman, 
writing in 1818, a trustworthy chronicler: "The inhabitants finding, 
at length, that the burden of their calamities was too great to be borne, 
began to resist the illegal proceedings of their new masters, and refused 
to comply with the decisions of the mock tribunals which had been 
established. Their resistance enraged the magistrates, and on the 12th 
of May, the soldiers of the garrison were sent to disarm them, and, 
under this pretense, one hundred and fifty families were turned out of 
their dwellings, man}' of which were burned, and all ages and sexes 
reduced to the same destitute condition. After being plundered of 
their little remaining ]n'operty, they were driven from the valley, and 
compelled to proceed on foot through the wilderness b}" way of the 
Lackawaxen to the Delaware, a distance of eighty miles. During the 
journey the unhappy fugitives suffered all the miseries which human 
nature seemed capable of enduring. Old men, whose children wei'e 
slain in battle, widows with their infant children, and children without 
parents to protect them, were here companions in exile and sorrow, 
and wandering in a wilderness where famine and ravenous beasts con- 
tinued daily to lessen the number of sufferers." 



130 IIISTOJIY OF JiKAJ)FORU COUNTY. 

In March, of that year, a flood in the Susquehanna had swept the 
lowlands, carrying houses and fences all away. Patterson seized the 
opportunity, with land lines thus obliterated, to dispossess the occu- 
piers, restore the lines of Pennsylvania surveys, and thus bring about 
the cruel and pitiful exodus just referred to. 

He shall tell his own story : " The settlements upon the river have 
suffered much by an inundation of ice, which has swept away the 
^greatest part of the grain and stock of all kinds, so that the inliahit- 
ants are generally very poor. Upon my arrival at this place (Wyom- 
ing), the 15th instant (April, 1784), I found the people for the most 
part disposed to give up their pretentions to the land claimed under 
Connecticut. Having a pretty general agency from the landholders of 
Pennsylvania, I have availed myself of this periods, and have possessed, 
in hehalf of my constituents, the cliief ])art of all the lands occupied 
by the above claimants, numbers of tlieni going up the river to settle, 
and filling up their vacancy with well-disposed Pennsylvanians, * 

* yet I am not out of apprehension of trouble and danger arising 
from the ringleaders of the old offenders,"' etc. (By "ringleaders" he 
means such men as Butler, Ross, Dennison, Dorrance, Shoemaker, Jen- 
kins, Franklin, Slocum, Harvey, etc). By the 1st of June, he had 
made pretty clean work of it, and this without trial or verdict or 
other process of law. 

Wherever news of this outrage reached, indignation was aroused, 
and nowhere more generally than in Pennsylvania. The troops were 
ordered to be dismissed. Sheriff Antis, of Northumberland county, 
which then included Wyoming, went to restore ordei-. Messengers 
were dispatched to recall the fugitives. But they found Justice 
Patterson still flaming with wrath, and went into garrison near Forty 
Fort. Two young men, Elisha Garrett and Chester Pierce, having 
been slain by Patterson's men, while proceeding to gather the crops, 
the settlers rallied for serious hostilites. John Franklin organized what 
effective men he could find. He swept down the west side of the 
Susquehanna and up the east side, dispossessing every Pennsylvania 
familv he found. He attacked the fort to which they fled, was 
repulsed with loss of several lives on each side, and returned to the 
Kingston fort. Civil war now openly prevailed. ( Forty of the Penn- 
sylvania party were indicted at Sunbur}', and subsequently convicted 
for their participation in expelling the inhabitants). Other magistrates, 
Hewitt, Mead and Martin, had been sent to open negotiations. They 
demanded a surrender of arms from both sides. In their report to the 
president and members of the Supreme Council, under date of August 
6, 1784, they say: "In obedience to instructions of council of the 
24th of July, we repaired to this place (Wyoming), and found the 
Pennsylvania and Connecticut parties in actual hostilities, and yester- 
day made a demand of the Connecticut party of a surrender of their 
arms, and submission to the laws of the State, which they complied with. 
We also made a demand of the same nature of the party in the garri- 
son, but have received no direct, but an evasive, answer. * * As to 
the pretended titles of the Connecticut party we have nothing to fear, 
and are convinced that had it not heen through the cruel and irregidar 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 131 

condiict of our i)eo])le, the 'peace might have heen established long since, 
and the dignity of the Government supportedr 

Again, under date of August 7 : "We have dispersed the Con- 
necticut people, hut our oion people we cannot^ 

Tlie " party in the garrison " consisted of Patterson and such 
troops as had enhsted under him in tiie interests of the Landliolders, 
without any warrant of law. When Patterson refused to surrender, 
the Connecticut people were permitted to resume their arms. At this 
stage, Cols. Armstrong and Boyd appeared with a force of four 
hundred militia from Northampton county. By a piece of the most 
absolute treachery, he procured the surrender of the Yankees, and 
marched them, sixty-six in all, bound with cords, and under circum- 
stances of great cruelty, to jail at Easton and Sunbury. The con- 
quest was complete. "The only difficulty that remained was how to 
get rid of the wives and children of those in jail, and of the widows 
and orphans whose husbands and fathers slept beneath the sod." 

Col. Armstrong was now confronted, to his surprise, by the 
censure of the State authorities. The " council of censors " looked 
into the case, and took action. Frederick A. Muhlenberg was presi- 
dent. This body had just been chosen under the Constitution of 
1776, and it was their duty " to inquire whether the Constitution has 
been preserved inviolate in Q^[(ivy part, and whether the legislative 
and executive branches of the Government have performed their duty 
as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exercised, 
other or greater powers tnan they are entitled to by the Constitution." 

In September, 1781, they delivered a decision which was a solemn 
denunciation of the measures pursued against the W\^oming settlers. 

The Executive Council paid no heed to the censure nor to the advice 
of Pi-esident Dickinson. A fresh levy of troops was ordered. The 
militia of Bucks, Berks and Northampton, refused to march. Arm- 
strong hastened to Wyoming with less than a hundred men, in Octo- 
ber! He promptly attacked the settlers in their fort, at Kingston, 
without success. William Jackson, a Yankee, had been wounded. 
Capt. John Franklin seized Jackson's rifle, bloody from his wound, 
and swore a solemn oath " that he would never lay down his arms 
until death should arrest his hand, or Patterson and Armstrong be 
expelled from Wyoming, and the people be restored to their rights of 
possession, and a legal trial guaranteed to every citizen by the Consti- 
tution, by justice and by law." 

Gen. Armstrong went on to dispossess the families who had returned 
to their several farms. All these proceedings led up to the passage 
of the Act of Assembly of September 15, 1784, entitled "An Act for 
the more speedy restoring the possession of certain messuages, lands, 
and tenements in Northumberland county, to the persons who lately 
held tne same," under which the settlers were once more let into some 
assurance. 

Armstrong and Patterson were recalled. "Thus ended the last 
expedition fitted out by the government of Pennsylvania to operate 
against her own peaceful citizens," and "the second Pennamite war." 

Tiie few real Pennsylvania inq-)rovers had a sufficiently unhappy 



132 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

life of it. They \A'ere subjected to great hardships, and, if you please, 
outrages, not forgetting the unfortunate encounter in Plymouth, in 
July — the lamentable affair at Locust Hill, with Maj. Moore's com- 
mand, in August — the indignity offered to Col. Boyd, a Pennsylvania 
commissioner, in September — nor the attack on 26th September on the 
commissioners (disclaimed by Franklin and his party) — nor the final 
attack on " the garrison," in which Henderson and Reed were shot. 

By the 1st October, 1T84, the condition of affairs was dej)lorable, 
but "the thing was settled," and the agony over. 

'"Two years have now elapsed since the transfer of jurisdiction by 
the Trenton decree. Peace, which waved its cheering olive over every 
other part of the Union, healing the wounds inflicted b}' ruthless war, 
soothing the sorrows of innumerable children of affliction and kindling 
the lamp of hope in the dark chamber of despair, came not to the 
broken hearted people of Wyoming. The veteran soldier returned, 
but found no resting jilace. Instead of a joyous welcome to his hearth 
and home, he found his cottage in ruins or in possession of a stranger, 
and his wife and little ones shelterless in the open fields or in the caves 
of the mountains ; like the sea-tossed mariner approaching the wished- 
for harbor, driven by adverse winds far, far from shore, to buffet again 
the billows and the storm. It is true, and honorable to those wiio 
effected it, that the New England people were repossessed of their 
farms, but a summer of exile and war had left them no harvest to reap 
and they returned to their empt}' granaries and desolate homes' 
crushed by the miseries of the Indian invasion ; mourners over fields of 
more recent slaughter, destitute of food, with scarce clothing to cover 
them through tlie rigors of a northern winter, while clouds and dark- 
ness shrouded all the future. Assuredly, the people of Wyoming Avere 
objects of deepest commiseration, and the heart must be harder and 
colder than marble that could look upon these sufferings and not drop 
a tear of tenderest pity." — [Mi/ner.'] 

We have had occasion to notice the failure of the claimants under 
the Susquehanna Companv to get a new tribunal ajipointed by Con- 
gress to try their case under the Articles of Confederation. Col. 
Franklin had been active and untiring in liis efforts to that end. Upon 
their failure he went to Connecticut to see iiis old friends and to stir 
them to some new and dangerous enterprise. He pointed out the 
richness and beauty of the valley of Wyoming ; the wrongs of her 
people; the failure of Pennsylvania, with all her machinery, to oust a 
handful of settlers. "A chord was struck that vibrated through all 
New England. Franklin, in the spirit of his oath, infused his own 
soul, glowing with resentment and ambition, into the ])eople with 
whom he conversed ; and had not his schemes been counteracted by a 
timely and prudent change of policx^ on the part of her authorities, 
Pennsylvania had lost her fair northern possessions, or, b}'^ a new civil 
war. extinguished the Connecticut claim in blood." 

Mischief was in the wind. Justice David Meade was about the 
last Pennsylvania claimant left in possession, although he was one of 
the earliest Connecticut settlers. He was one of Patterson's justices, 
looked upon as a traitor from tlie Yankee ranks, and a spy on the 



HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 133 

people. Rising one morning, he found a dozen men mowing his 
meadows. 

Said one : " Squire Meade, it is you or us. Pennamites andYankees 
can't live together in Wyoming. Our lines don't agree. We give you 
fair notice to quit, and that shortly." It illustrated the situation. He 
was the last Pennsylvania claimant on the WN^oming lands. 

The Susquehanna Company was re-convened at Hartford, on July 
13, 1785. Its proceedings were significant, and embraced a substan- 
tial declaration of war. Pennsylvania had been a vigilant observer 
of events. On December 24, 1785, she passed " An Act for quieting 
disturbances at Wyoming, for pardoning certain offenders, and for 
other purposes therein mentioned." 

A general pardon and indemnity was offered for offences committed 
in the counties of Northumberland and Northampton, in consequence 
of the controversies between the Connecticut claimants and other 
citizens of the State, before the 1st of November, 1785, provided the 
persons having so offended surrendered themselves before 15th April, 
1786, and entered into bonds to keep the ])eace. It also repealed the 
act confii'ming the division of the townships of Shawanese, Stokes, and 
Wyoming into two districts for the election of justices of the peace, 
and annulled the commissions granted. 

No great number of these settlers were in any humor thus to sue 
for pardon, and the la^v fell — a dead letter. 

The Susquehanna Company met again in Mav. 1786. This time 
it rather chivalrously resolved to " effectually justify and S'n.j)2)ort the 
settlers." In fact, the latter, while nominally under the laws of Penn- 
sylvania, governed themselves. Sheriff Antis, of Northumberland 
county, had wiseh" " pocketed " most of the writs he held against 
them, unexecuted. 

On the 25th of September, 1786, the county of Luzerne was erected. 
It embraced the lands settled by the New England emigrants. It 
gave them representation in the Council and the Assembly, and 
proved to be a wise measure. But, step by step, as Penns3dvania 
moved to close up the trouble, the Susquehanna Company w^ent for- 
ward with its scheme of revolution. 

On the 26th December, 1786, at its meeting in Hartford, it 
appointed the following ominous list of ''Commissioners:" Maj. 
Judd, Samuel Gray, Joel Barlow, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Al. Wolcott, 
Jr., Gad Stanley, Joseph Hamilton, Timothy Hosmore, Zebiilon 
Butler, Nathan Dennison, Obadiah Gore, John Franklin, Zerah Beach, 
Simon Spalding, John Jenkins. Paul Schott, Abel Pierce, John Bartle, 
Peter Loop, Jr., John Bay, and Ebenezer Gray. These were well 
known names, and it was quite certain that what they responsibly 
undertook, would be done. Tiiey or any five of said commissioners 
''shall be a court with power, etc., * * this potver to determine vjhenever 
a form of internal government shall be estahUshed in that oountryP 

Gen. Ethan Allen was in the scheme, and actually appeared at 
Wyoming, in regimentals and cocked-hat, with the Green Mountain 
boys, fresh from their victory over New York, in reserve, and in his 
honor was laid off Allensburg township, along the upper Wyalusing 



134 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

creek. This was a large grant to Ethan Allen. The purpose was to 
erect the Connecticut claim in Pennsylvania into a new State, and the 
action was as public and as bold as that of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, by brave and desperate men who stood at bay. 

They issued "• half-share" rights in great numbers, and new faces — 
strangers to the '*old settlers " — began swarming into the vallev. The 
old-time residents had no sympathy with all this. They knew" it pro- 
longed the unhappy situation, and deprecated its effects. Asa witness 
in Van home vs. Dorrance expressed it : " The half-share men and the 
old settlers were a distinct people, and as much opposed to each other 
as to Pennsylvanians." On the 27th of December, 1786, an act was 
passed providing for the election of representatives, justices of the 
peace, etc., in Luzerne county. Timothy Pickering, Zebulon Butler 
and John Franklin were appointed in the act to notify the electors, take 
oaths of allegiance, etc. Franklin, as we have seen, had other views, 
and refused to act. Pickering had come as the special representative 
of the government of Pennsylvania. He was politic, and held to his 
definite purpose, wisely. Col. Butler wished repose for his neigh- 
bors and himself. Col. Pickering, as the result of a previous 
visit ((unofficial) to this region, had reported to the State authorities 
"that the inhabitants expressed a willingness to submit to the govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania, provided they could have their lands confirmed 
to them." 

He then consulted eminent legal authority as to the 7'ight of the 
State to cede the lands to the Connecticut people, and, thereupon, " he 
undertook the laborious, the difficult, and, in the minds of many, the 
hopeless task of conciliating the minds of the Wyoming people. With 
his utmost efforts, during a whole month's diligent application, he 
barely succeeded, and solely by the expectations he persuaded them to 
entertain that they loould he confirmed in their possessions.'''' 

With these assurances, the great majority of the people were for 
submission. Three classes were opposed. A few, thoroughly imbued 
with the absolute rights of their case — filled with the glowing tradi- 
tions of their struggles — wanted their possessions confirmed first, and 
submission afterward. Pennsylvania claimants, of course, resisted : 
such of the Susquehanna Company's grantees as were outside the lines 
of "the seventeen township," and the new influx of "half-share 
men." 

Says Miner : " And now, for the first time, was presented the spec- 
tacle, equally gratifying to foes and painful to friends, of open and 
decided hostility among the Wyoming people. Whatever difference of 
opinion may exist in respect to the justice of their claims, no liberal 
mind could have traced their arduous course through toil and priva- 
tion, through suffering and oppression, through civil and foreign war, 
and observed the fortitude, fellowship and harmony among them- 
selves that had prevailed, without a feeling of admiration for rare and 
generous virtues so signally displayed. In an equal degree was the 
mortification at the s])ectacle now presented. It Avas no longer ' Pen- 
nymiteand Yankee,' but the 'old settlers' against ' the wild Yankees' 
or ' half-share men.' " 



1» 



V-s; 




^.r^^a^K 



^ 





HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUNTY. 137 

The election went forward. John Franklin was chosen the mem- 
ber of Assembly; Nathan Dennison, member of the supreme executive 
council, and Lord Butler, high sheriff. Thus the county of Luzerne 
was fully organized. 

Forthwith, a long petition was sent to the Legislature then in ses- 
sion, setting forth that "seventeen townships, five miles square, had 
been located by the Connecticut settlers before the decree of Trenton," 
etc., and praying that " they might be confirmed in them." 

On the 27th of March, 1787, "an act for ascertaining and confirm- 
ing to certain persons, called Connecticut claimants, the lands by them 
claimed within the county of Luzerne, and for other purposes therein 
mentioned," was passed. 

The preamble is in the words: "Whereas, before the determin- 
ation of the claim of Connecticut, a number of its inhabitants, with 
their associates, settled upon and improved divers tracts of land, lying 
on and near the northeast branch of the river Susquehanna, and the 
waters thereof, and now within the county of Luzerne; and whereas 
})arts of the same lands have been claimed under titles derived from 
the late Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and those interfering claims 
}i<fvc occasioned mach content'ion, ccpense, and hloodshed, and this 
Assembly being desirous of putting an end to those evils by confirming 
such of the Connecticut claims as were acquired hy actual settlers 2)r lor 
to the determination of said disqynte, agreeably to a petition of a num- 
ber of the said settlers, and by grantmg a just compensation to the 
PennsylranJa cluhnants^^ etc. It enacted : 

That all the said rights or lots now lying within the county of Luzerne which were 
occupied or acquired by Connecticui clainiants wlio icen actually settlers there, at or 
before the determiiiation of ilie claims of the State (f ConncUcut by the decree aforemid, 
(" the decree of Trenton,") and which rights or lots were particularly assigned to the 
said settlers prior to the said decree, agreeably to the regulations then in force among 
them, be and they are hereby confirnied to them and their heirs and assigrs. 

A great town meeting of the settlers was at once called to accept 
or reject this act. John Franklin prepared for a final rally against 
it. He literally preached against it from settlement to settlement, 
and from house to house. The assembly was held at Forty Fort — 
the first place the organized Connecticut settlers touched on their 
arrival, and, as it i)roved, the place where the last word was said. As 
plight be supposed, the meeting was an excited one, and frientl fell 
into wretched antagonism to friend. The act was accepted. Col. 
Jenkins asked, " what security have we, that if we comply, and ]iut 
oui^selves in your power, the State wouldn't repeal the law, and deal 
as treacherously as in the case of Armstrong T' His question proved 
to be a bitter prophecy. 

It was at this juncture that Gen. Ethan Allen appeared on the 
scene. Pickering well knew his object. Pickering and' Franklin, each 
permitted no movement of the other to escape notice. The time for 
decisive action had come. Kegarded as the head of the conspirac}^, 
John Franklin was. on the 2il of October, 1787, arrested for high 
treason, under a warrant issued by Chief Justice McKean. 

As Col. Pickering had personally assisted in the arrest of Col. 
Franklin, he deemed it prudent to flee to Philadelphia. While there, 



138 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the people chose him as a delegate of Luzerne county to the Convention 
called to ratify the Constitution of the United States. This was a 
cordial testimon}^ to their belief in ultimate justice at the hands of the 
State. Havmg discharged that duty, he returned to Luzerne county, of 
which he was prothonotary, clerk of the peace, clerk of the orphans' 
court, register of wills, and recorder of deeds. 

Franklin was cruelly treated, being ironed down in a cold, miser- 
able dungeon, with insufficient food, no clothing except the light suit 
he had on when arrested, j^rohibited all communication with friends 
and all use of pen, ink and paper. Here he was kept nearly two 
years. His friends were desperately willing to do anything in their 
power to secure his release. June 2G, 1788, they kidnapped Pickering, 
and proposed holding him as a hostage, or secure his influence for the 
release of Franklin. The kidnappers were pursued by Pickering's 
adherents, and were fired upon and serious wounds inflicted, when the 
]Hirsuit was given over. This was the last time that blood was shed 
m the long and cruel contention. Pickering resolutely refused to 
yield to the demands of his captors, and was, after three weeks, 
released. 

The arrest of Franklin, and the acceptance by the people of the 
"Confirming Law," no doubt arrested the movement for the 7ietv State, 
which had already gone to the extent of completing its frame of gov- 
ernment, and Oliver Wolcott had drafted its Constitution and arranged 
that Maj. William Judd, of Farmington, Conn., should be governor, 
and Col. Franklin, lieutenant governor. 

The followino; brief sketch of the g-reatest leader of his time in the 
settlement of northern Penns3dvania, was written by Edward Herrick, 
Esq., of Athens, in this count}'^ : 

Col John Frankliu was born at Canaan, Litchfield Co., Conn., September 26, 1749 ; 
removed to Wyoming in the spring of 1774 : was many years an acting magi.strate 
under Connecticut; captain of an independent company during the Revolutionarj' 
war, and, while attached to Sullivan's expedition again&t the Indians, was wounded in 
the attack on Chemung ; member of the Assembly of Connecticut in 1781; in October, 
1787, he was arrested on a charge of treason against the State of Pennsylvania, for 
" endeavoring to subvert the government, and to erect a new and independent State in 
the room and stead thereof ; " was confined in Philadelphia nearly two years, a great 
part of the time heavily ironed, released on bail, and never brniight to tiial ; in 1792, 
he was elected high sheriff of Luzerne county, while an indictment for treason was, 
still hanging over him, was commissioned and served ; in 1795, 1796, 1799, 1800, 1801 

1803, he was a member of Assemblj' from Luzerne count}' ; by the act of April 2, 

1804, a small portion of Luzerne county, including his farm, was set oil to Lycoming 
county ; this act was avowedly for the purpose of keeping him out of the Legislature, 
but in 1805 he again appeared in that body as a member from Lycoming ; in 1789 he 
removed to his farm in Athens (then Luzerne, now Bradfoid county), which was laid 
out to him under Connecticut title, and there resided until his death, March 1, 1831. 
Ke never accepted nor recognized a Pennsylvania title, but after his death, his heirs 
were required to purchase that title to his farm. 

In the settlement of northern Pennsylvania he was the recognized leader, making 
annual pilgrimages to New England, and bringing back hosts of industrious settlers, 
whose descendants, to this day, preserve the virtuous character of their Puritan ances- 
try ; the people whom he brought thither, he never forsook. Their battles he fought in 
the courts, tlie Assembly, in newspapers and pamphlets, and, if necessary, with his 
strong right arm, with a zeal, pcr.sistency and fidelity which deserved for the cause he 
thought to be right, a better fate. 

The "Confirmins: Act" failed of execution. The reasons therefor 



HISTORY OF i$RADFORD COUNTY. 139 

are best given in Col. Pickering's own words: "The conditions ex- 
pressed in the contract (he refers to the act), were compUed with on 
the part of the Connecticut claimants, as far as it was j)racticaNe, and 
they were not bound to ])erform impossibilities : that eight months 
from the time of passing the act were allowed tiiem to get informa- 
tion of it, and to present their claims : that the commissioners appointed 
to receive and examine those claims were required to meet, for that 
purpose, in Luzerne county, in tw^o months next after the passing of 
the act : that owing to successive resignations of General Muhlenberg, 
General Heister and Jose])h Montgomery, Esquire, those examinations 
did not commence till some time in August: that tiie seizure of John 
Franklin, on the 2d of October, for his treasonable practices and 
designs, occasioned a sudden insurrection of his adherents, of whom a 
very small number had any pretentions to land under the confirming 
law : that a few da3^s before this arrest, Col. Balliot, one of the 
commissioners, had gone home to his family : that the subscriber, 
another of the commissioners, having personally, in sight of the ])eo- 
])le, and with arms in his hands, assisted in securing Franklin and \ne- 
venting any attem])t to rescue him, and thus rendered himself obnox- 
ious to the resentment and sudden vengeance of his partisans, was 
advised to retire to some secure place until their heat should subside : 
* * that Col. William Montgomery, the other commissioner, seeing 
the storm gathering, immediately after Franklin was taken, had left 
the country to go home : * " that, the commissioners having thus 
separated, never again assembled, the time limited for the presenta- 
tion of the Connecticut claims expiring so soon after as the 28th of 
November following ; * * that, since this event (referring to his 
own abduction), the county has remained in perfect quiet, the laws 
having as free and complete operation as in any other county." Then, 
arguing against the repeal of the act (his paper is written 2Tth Febru- 
ary, 1790): "That the people rely on the magnanimity and good faitii 
of the State, for the execution of the grants made to them by the con 
firming law: that in this expectation their industry is manifestiv 
increased, they have begun to build more comfortable houses, to erect 
barns, and to extend the improvements on their lands : that a repeal 
of the law Avould check this rising industry, stop further improve- 
ments, revive ancient jealousies and animosities, and, perhaps, destroy 
the peace of the country. But, to say nothing of the attempt, as a 
breach of public faith, it may be worth while to inquire, ' whether 
such repeal be in its nature possible?'" He goes on to treat the act 
as a ^^ contract ^'' or '•^treaty of peace r 

The Landholders, however, were not without power in the Assem- 
bly. Using the conduct of the people as a cause or pretext, the act 
was suspended on the 29th of March, 1788. 

Act Repealed. — The seal to this final act was prepared by the sus- 
pension act, through no fault, be it remembered, on the part of the 
Connecticut claimants The cross purposes that had arisen among the 
people themselves and the clamor of the landholders, brought the 
pressure that resulted in its repeal, April 1, 1790. This act of crown- 
ing bad faith was strongly resisted by many leading men of Pennsyl- 



140 HISTORY OF BRADFOKJ) COU^'TY. 

vania, and among others some of the most noted lawyers of Philadel- 
])hia. Col. Jenkins" anxious, prophetic question had, indeed, at last been 
answered. Still the people went on quietly and hopefully. Although 
the law was repealed, by it Pennsylvania had distinctly recognized 
their rights in the case, and they settled in the conviction that some- 
how, at some time, their titles would be secured, and justice be done. 
The Susquehanna Company proceeded actively with their operations. 
What is now Bradford county was at once laid out in townships — not 
continuous with any municipal subdivision of the State. B}^ the year 
1795, it is said that what is now the entire territory of the county was 
covered with the "claims" of these grantees, and at the same time by 
"warrants" from Pennsylvania on top of them. 

Tlie Tntrusiou Law. — April 17, 1795, a statute was passed enact- 
ing penalties and punishment against any person taking possession, or 
intruding upon lands within the limits of Northampton, Northumber- 
land or Luzerne counties, except by right obtained from the Common- 
wealth. 

Section excepts any claims of persons claiming under " the con- 
tirming act" of 28th March, 1787, etc. The exception took " the seven- 
teen townships" out of the effect of the act. 

Under this act John Franklin and John Jenkins, et al., Avere indict- 
ed at August sessions, ISOl, in Luzerne county, and a special verdict 
found against them. It was removed by certiorari into the Supreme 
Court. There the act was held constitutional, but the defendants 
were discharged on other grounds. Cominon wealth vs. Franklin et 
al., Jl Dallas, ^55, 316. (The arguments of counsel as reported here 
are worthy of attention). 

It was held under this act "that the contract in this case (for the 
sale of lands) is illegal, being founded on a breach of the law, and, of 
consequence, a void contract." Mitchell vs. Smith, 1 Binney, 110. 

This act is known as the " Intrusion Law," and has been subjected 
to much harsh criticism. 

At length on the 21st April, 1795, the case of Yanhorn&s lessee vs. 
Dorrance, 2 Dallas, 30Jf, came on to be tried in the Circuit Court of 
Pennsylvania District. It was ejectment for a little tract of about 
twelve acres. Selected as a test, the plaintiff naturally brought it on the 
best title which could be produced. Jared Ingersoll, Jona. D. Sergeant 
and William Tilghman a]")peared for the plaintiffs. AVilliam liawle, 
William Lewis and Joseph Thomas appeared for the defendants. 

There was the fullest latitude in the testimony. All the charters 
and deeds, hereinbefore referred to, were put in evidence. The sur- 
veys and possessions of the tract in controversy were given. Col. 
Dennison, for the defendent, detailed his entrv upon the lot in 1770, 
and the incidents of the first Pennamite war. William Galloj) gave in 
evidence an account of " the massacre." Col. Pickering narrated the 
events of the second Pennamite war, and of the reception of the Con- 
firming Act. Robert Morris stated how, while a member of the 
Assembly in 1786 — 87, he, at first, was in favor of calling]: out the 
militia to expel the Yankees, but became an advocate for the act. 
The resolves of Connecticut — the records of the Susquehanna Com- 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) (^OUKTV. 141 

pany — Smollett's History— acts of Congress — the conduct of Patter- 
son's and Armstrong's troops — Col. John Henry Lydius' deposition as 
to the execution of the famous Indian deed of 11th July, ITSi (Mr. 
Tilghraan hands this deed to court and jury, to show its suspicious 
face), were all put in evidence. 

It was such a case as had never been tried in Europe or America. 

It sufficiently appeared that the defendant had the earliest and a 
continued possession. The plaintiff claimed under a '' warrant of sur- 
vey," executed 15th March, 1771 

Judge Patterson gave the jury binding instructions, and made short 
work of the Connecticut title. 

I. "The title under Connecticut is of no avail, because the land in 
controversy is ex-territorial ; it does not lie within the charter bounds 
of Connecticut, but within the charter bounds of Pennsylvania. The 
charter of Connecticut does not cover or spread over' the lands in 
question. Of course, no title can be derived from Connecticut.'" 

The declaration that the land " does not lie within the charter bounds of Connecti- 
cut " is here, for the first time in the history of the controversy, judicially made. This 
was not decided by the court at Trenton— their decree was only that, at the date of it, 
the "jurisdiction" and "pre-emption" was in Pennsylvania asagainst Connecticut. This 
conclusion may have grown out of acts of " dereliction " or " eltopel,' since the ikite of 
charter, as well as out of a question of original " charter bounds." 

Nor did it follow that " of co'/rs<\ no title could be derived from Connecticut." The 
judge does not advert to the facts from which the court at Trenton made the distinction 
between "jurisdiction" and " private right of soil" — that the defendant'stitle had been 
created under another sovereign actually exercising jurisdiction — that the jurisdiction had 
been recognized by the United States in various ways, notably by accepting the troops 
from Wyoming, the Twenty-fourth Connecticut Regiment, as part of the Continental 
Hue -by accepting, absolutely, the cession of western territory from Connecticut under 
the same title the defendant held— that ( by sufferance or otherwise) Pennsylvania had 
permitted the de facto government of Connecticut to be maintained at the 'sittis of the 
land in dispute— and that in the origin and progress of the whole business there were 
such circumstances as /m/5'/<i! ,7/^'e the defendant title, independent of the will of Penn- 
sylvania, previous to the 30th December, 1782. 

2. The "Indian deed" was summarilv dismissed as one "under 
which the Connecticut settlers derive no tftle." 

8. As to the title under the Confirming Act of 1787. 

An act calling upon an individual to surrender or sacrifice his whole property for 
the good of community, without receiving a recompense in value, would be "a monster 
in legislation, and shock all mankind. The Legislature, therefore, had no authority to 
make an act divesting one citizen of his freehold, and vesting it in another, withovt a 
just compensation." * * 

" The next step in the line of progression is whether the Legislature had authority 
to make ai act divesting one citizen of his freehold and vesting it in another, even with 
compensation. 

"The existence of such power is necessary; * * and if this be the case, it can not 
be lodged anywhere with so much safety as with the Legislature." 

Siich a case of necessity, and judging too of the compensation, can never occur in 
any nation; * * even upon full indemnification, \m\e&s {.hhi indemnification he ascer- 
tained in the manner which I shall mention. * * Here the legislation must stop; * * 
they can not constitutionally determine upon the amount of compensation, or the 
value of the land." 

That can only be done — "by the parties "— " by commissioners mutually chosen 
by the parties "—or, " by the intervention of a jury." 

By the act, the Pennsylvania claimants are to present their claims to the " Board 
of Property," who are — 

1. To judge of the validity of their claims. 

2. To ascertain, by the aid of commissioners, appointed by the Legislatvre, the 
quality and value of the land. 



142 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

3. To judge of the quantity of vacant land to be granted as an equivalent. 

" This is not the constitutional line of procedure. * * By the act, the equivalent 
is to be land. No just compensation can be made, except in money. 

" It is contended that the Legislature must judge of the necessity of interposing 
their despotic authority. Be it so. Did there exist also a State necessity that the Legis- 
lature, or person solely appointed by them, must admeasure the compensation, or value 
of the lands seized and taken, and the validity of the title thereto ? Did a third State 
necessity exist, that the proprietor must take land by way of equivalent, for his land ? 
And did a fourth State necessity exist that the value of this land-equivalent must ])e 
adjusted by the Board of Property, without the consent of the party, or the interference 
of a jury V Alas ! how necessity begets necessity. * * ' Omnipotence in legislation 
is despotism.' In short, gentlemen, the Confirming Act is void; it never had constitu- 
tional existence; it is a dead letter, and of no more virtue or avail than if it had never 
been made." 

In its application to the exact facts of the case of Vanhorne vs. Dorrance, thi.s expo- 
sition is undoubtedly correct. The act applied to this state of facts was unconstitutional 
for the reason stated. But at the time the confirming law was passed, the State was 
proprietor of a large portion of the lands which the settlers held. The State had the 
power and right to giveaway her vacant lands (vacant as to her titles), and it is the bet- 
ter opinion tha^ this law was binding on the Legislature in favor of an " actual settler, 
before the decree of Trenton," for whose land, at the date of the act, there had been 
issued no Pennsylvania title. In that respect, the confirming law was not " of no more 
avail than if it had never been made." Mr. Rawle, in his dissentient, goes furtl^er, ami 
says ; " But in no instance can the power of repealing laws affect their obligations while 
in force, and, consequently, if the effect of the (aw while in force is permanent and per. 
petual upon the suhjectx to which it relates, a repeal, although it may dentroy the law, can 
not diminish the effect it has already produced." 

Judoe Patterson proceeds to the mode of executing the law : " The 
estate of the Pennsylvania claimants was not divested on the passing 
of the act; it was not divested on presenting the claim on the part of 
the Connecticut settlers. 

" The intentioii of the Legislature was to vest in Connecticut claim- 
ants, of a particular description, a perfect estate to certain lands in the 
county of Luzerne; but then it was upon condition,'''' which, of course, 
must be complied with. 

" If the Legislature had authority to make the confirming act, they 
had also the authority to suspend it^ -' * Of course, there is an end 
of the business. The parties are placed on their original ground— they 
are restored to their pristine situation." 

This would not be accurate as to the class of Connecticut, settlers 
just referred to. As to them, the grant by the act was a good one — 
for a sufficient consideration recited in the act — they had a right of 
title, which a subsequent Legislature could not defeat. " The ijiten- 
tion"" the judge refers to had been executed, irrepealably, as to them. 

Judge Patterson did not regard the repealing act of April 1, 1790, 
bad, either as "an ex jpost facto law." or as "a law impairing the obli- 
gation of a contract." Yet he says, himself: " If the property to the 
lands in question had been vested in the State of Pennsylvania, then 
the Legislature would have had the liberty and right of disposing of or 
granting them to whom they pleased, at any time, and in any manner. 

There were large quantities of such lands held by Connecticut set- 
tlers. Surely, as to such, the repealing \2iW \\Si^ '' ex post facto, '^ Km\ 
" impaired the obligation of a contract," and as such, Avas contrary to 
the Constitution of the United States. 

Judge Patterson closes pungently : 

1. The confirming act is unconstitutional and void. It was invalid from the begin- 



HrSTORY OF BRADFORD OOITXTY. ^■io 

niag, had no life or operation, and is in precisely the same state as if it had not been 
made. If so, the plaintiff's title remains in full force. 

3. If the confirming act is constitutional, the conditions of it have not been per- 
formed, and, tlierefore, the estate continues in the plaintiff. 

;}. The contirming act has been suspended; and 

4. Repealed. 

All of which was perfectly true in its application to the facts of 
the case, and the verdict was properly for the plaintiffs. 

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, 
and stricken from the dockets without trial. 

It was said Vanhorue fled the country, and ])rocess could not be 
served on him, and that Dorrance's attorney, Thomas, disappeared 
mysteriously with the papers in the case. Hence, but little or no 
results came of the case. It opened the courts whose records were soon 
burdened wiih cases where the Pennsylvania claimants hoped to gain 
possession of the disputed lands and rid the State of the burden of 
compensation; and while many actions were brought in eight years, 
there was tlie barren results of this one being partly tried. 

Compromise Act of 1799. — This was the beginning of the end. 
The law was passed April 4, 1799, " offering compensation to the 
Pennsylvania claimants of certain lands within the seventeen toivnshi2)s 
in the county of Luzerne.'' The law fixes the status of the conflicting 
claimants, and appoints Isaac Wheelan, of Chester county; Thomas 
Boude, of Lancaster county, and Gen. William Irvine, 6i Cumberland 
county, commissioners to examine all questions concerning claims to 
land in the seventeen townships, and divide the claims into four classes 
to be known as, first, second, third and fourth class, and for paying- 
damages according to the respective classes. The act is long and 
directory, and was intended as one of mediation on the part of the State 
between the conflicting claimants. 

The Pennsylvania claimants,refusing or neglectingtoexecute releases, 
were to be paid in land or money. The Connecticut claimants, with 
the memory of the repeal of the '" Confirming Act " fresh in their minds, 
were little disposed to act or take the benefit of this law. 

April 6, 1802, an act was passed requiring the commissioners to 
survey, value and certify the whole of each tract claimed by Connecti- 
cut people, and turned the Pennsylvania claimant, who had not released, 
over to the mercy of a jury to award his compensation. 

In 1805, the Westmoreland county records were authorized to be 
deposited with the recorder of deeds in Luzerne county, and certified 
copies made evidence. 

April 9, 1807, Pennsylvania claimants, under title previous to the 
*' Confirming Act," were permitted to release, and the commissioner in 
examining Connecticut claims " shall not require the same lands to have 
been occu|ned prior to the decree of Trenton, but the same lands to 
the several api:)licants certify, if under the rules and regulations of the 
Susquehanna Company, at any time they should otherwise thereto be 
entitled." This commission was abolished March 28, 1808. 

These laws were executed with intelligence and fidelity. By October 
20, 1802, about one thousand Connecticut claimants had exhibited their 
titles. All the lines in the seventeen townships had been again 



144 HrSTOEY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 

surveyed, and certificates issued to the holders. These certificates were 
conclusive between Connecticut claimants, but did not conclude a 
Pennsylvania claimant. 

Of the compromise act of 1799, in the case of Barney vs. Sutton, ^ 
Watts, 36 Scott, President Judge of the Luzerne Common Pleas Court, 
sums up the whole thus : " At last tlie Legislature adopted the ex- 
pedient of acting as mediators between the Connecticut and the Penn- 
S3^1vania claimants, for the purpose of putting a final end to the contro- 
versy. The act was strictly the act of mediation. It proposed terms 
of settlement and compromise to the parties, and the controversy was 
finally happily settled. The judge then gives the following as per- 
tinent history of the long-drawn-out contention : 

At the corumencement of the Revolution, settlemeDts had been cflfi eted iu most, if 
not all, of the seventeen townships, and, iu many of them, extensive improvements had 
been made. The settlers were a hardy, intelligent, brave, and patriotic people. Dur- 
ing the revolutionary struggle, neither the sufferings and privations which they en- 
dured, nor the menace of the executive authority of Pennsylvania, could drive them 
from their settlements; nor could the offers of British gold tempt them to abandon 
their country, or the common cause of liberty and independence in which they were 
engaged. They hud become so numerous that they furnished nearly one thousand 
men for the regular service. They did still more. They sustained, single handed, for 
more than three years, a frontier war, during the most gloomy period of the Kevoluiion, 
and successfully repelled an enemy, " whose known mode of warfare spared neither 
age, nor sex, nor condition." On the 3d of July, 1778, they wereattacked by a numer- 
ous body of Indians, British, and Tories, and in ore disastrous battle, neaily the 
whole settlement were reduced to widowhood and orphanage. 

The feeble remains which escaped soon mustered, and returned to the settlement, 
and, until the close of the war, presented a barrier to the incursions of the savage foe. 

This is a mere skeleton of the early history of this settlement. It would require a. 
volume to fill it up. But enough has been noticed to satisfy any one, not blinded bj' 
interest or prejudice, of the equitable claims of these people. They came into posses- 
sion under color of title — such a title, too, as they honestly believed to be gocd, and in 
which they were induced to confide, by a government claiming jurisdiction over the 
territory. Was this circumstance nothing as a ground of equity ? Were the improve- 
ments and possession of the country nothing ? Were the sacrifices, and sufferings, 
and privations of the people, in defense of the country, and in the common cause, 
nothing ? Are such a people to be considered outlaws ? To this last question, I adopt 
the answer of the late chief justice, in the case of Satterlee vs. Matthetrson : " God 
forbid! they are not to be so considered." Considerations like these have unifoimly 
been regarded as sufficient in Pennsylvania to ground an equity. The principle has 
been carried further. Our statute books, and the decisions of our courts, furnish 
numerous instances where like consideratiors have beendeemfd sufficient grounds of 
equity in favor of those who had taken possession of lands, without title or color of 
title, and in favor of those who had taken possession in violation of the positive enact- 
ments of the Legislature; as in the case of lands not purchased of the Indians. 

'' Half -Share Men r—Kxi act of the Assembly, March 11, 1800, re- 
pealed the general act for the limitation of actions to be brought under 
the act of March 26, 1785, within the seventeen townships, or in any 
case where title is claimed under the Susquehanna Company. 

April 6, 1802, an act was passed by the Legislature which the court 
in the case of Irish m. Scovel, 6 Binn, 57, fully explains, when it says: 
"the manifest object of this act appears to have been to continue the 
kindness which had been extended to the seventeen townships, i^?.';! ?'6» 
cut up by the roots the title of Connecticut in all other j^arts!''' 

And it thoroughly accomplished its purpose, but was attended with 
some unfortunate circumstances, but of these it is necessary here to 
notice onlv such as were enacted within Bradford countv. The " half- 




H*lAr.^«/Wv\^(ie^r Mo,t). 



HISTORY OF BEADFORD COUNTY. 147 

share" men were often called the ''Wild Yankees" — they realized 
that they were being- ruthlessly outlawed, and Col. John Franklin, the 
Satterlees, Kingshurys and Spaldings were their friends, and in some 
respects their leaders. Acts of bloody violence were committed. Col. 
Arthur Erwin, an extensive land owner in the north part of the county, 
was shot dead while sitting in the door of Mr. McDuffie, of Athens ; 
the Rev. Thomas Smiley, at that time living eight or ten miles up the 
Towanda creek, while acting as an assistant agent under the "Intrusion 
Law," was tarred and feathered. Col. Abraham Horn had been 
appointed by the Pennsylvania landholders to put the " Intrusion 
Law" in force, and at once entered upon his duties. In June, 1801, he 
came into Bradford county, but, apprehending danger from the violent 
oppression of the people, he stopped at Asylum. Eev. Thomas Smiley 
had written to the agent that nearly all the forty settlers on Towanda 
creek would renounce their Connecticut titles, and purchase of the 
Pennsylvania claimants. A conference was held at Asylum. Mr. 
Smiley was commissioned a de]mty agent, and furnished with the nec- 
cessary papers. July 7th, he obtained the signature of nearly forty to 
their relinquishments and submissions, and started for Asylum." A 
meeting was held, and the -'Wild Yankees" determined that the busi- 
ness must be stopped. About twenty men from Sugar Creek, Ulster 
and Sheshequin, armed and disguised, started in ])ursujt. Mr. Smiley, 
hearing the arrangements of tlie conspirators, went down to Joshua 
Wythe's, near Monroeton, where he remained until dark, and then 
stopped for the night at Jacob Granteer's. The parties followed him 
and broke into the room where he was sleeping, captured his papers, 
burned them, and led him down to the creek, tarred and feathered him, 
and the leader giving him a kick told him to "go." John Murphy, 
David Campbell, Jacob Irvine, Ebenezer Shaw, Stephen Ballard ami 
Benjamin Griffin were presented to the grand jury for this, butnol)ill 
was found. 

Gov. Hoyt concludes with the following propositions : 

1. In the form of Law, Connecticut, with a title regular on its face, failed justly. 

2. In the form of Equity the Connecticut settlers, without other title than the 
pnnfiesxio pedis, prevailed rightly. 

This is the condensed story of the " Seventeen Townships, " the 
" Connecticut Claims" — the " First and Second Pennamite and Yan- 
kee Wars," as well as the story of the settlement of northern Pennsyl- 
vania and the unequaled bravery, patience and endurance of our distin- 
guished forefathers. A chapter of deep interest to every student of 
American history; the central individual figure in it all was Col. 
John Franklin, the representative of Connecticut. To this day men, 
in considering it, are liable to confuse the two and only questions in it 
all into one question, and thereby bias their own otherwise better 
judgments. These questions should have been kept distinct, namely 
right of jar isdietioii Sin(\ ihe right of .vo^Y, and in this light would, 
have been easily settled. The actual settlers cared nothing as to the 
jurisdiction over them, and it must be conceded that on both sides pur- 
chasers bought good titles, that is, the individual acted in good faith, 
and the authorities on each side had good color of authority to dispose 



148 HISTOKY OF nKAnFOUIl COUNTY. 

of the soil. Ill this view the judicial question for the courts should 
have been simply one of priority of claim, regardless of which faction 
either party belontred to or claimed under. When the Trenton decree 
was promulgated, it was the plain duty of Pennsylvania to have 
promptly accepted that as a settlement of all questions in her favor of 
jurisdiction, and at once recognized every title of the Connecticut claim- 
ants, and this would have incorporated the Colony as good and loyal 
citizens of the State, and have ended forever all dispute or bad blood. 
The State erred in making itself a partisan in the question of soil, a 
mere agent or attorney, intent upon land-grabbing in behalf of its 
clients, regardless of all questions of equity or even justice, audit pro- 
ceeded in a long course of evictions that were not only unjust, but 
utterly cruel. As seen above, in the end the State had to become 
mediator; the very thing it should have done at first. It did this only 
when Conneciicut ceased to trifle with the question, and set about in 
earnest a bold defense of its long-suffering people. After the thing- 
had ran on a hundred years or more, and the people had suffered an 
unbroken stream of wrongs to which they had been led by the prom- 
ises of Connecticut, then it roused up and boldly said to its colonists, 
if you can get justice in no other way than by forming yourselves into 
a new and separate State, we will back you even to the bloody issue. 
This action of Connecticut brought here Ethan Allen and his followers, 
flushed with his successes in Vermont, and it is estimated that by the 
time of the mediatory act of Pennsylvania, 1799, was passed, there were 
ten thousand people in the valley, ready to carve out with their sharp 
swords the new State, that these men, made desperate, could have de- 
fended against the world. Many of the ablest and jiurest men of the 
State were now taking sides with the Connecticut claiiiiants,and happily 
the authorities saw the gathering cloud and jiromptly, though now 
impossible of fairness and equity, took the only step it could take, and 
the end came. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GLEANINGS OF THE EAELY TIMES. 

What the First Newspaper Tells Us — The Bradford Gazette — 
Much Real Early History' Gleaned — Sparse in Editorials, but 
Rich in History — Every Item Interesting — Etc. 

THE Bradford Gazette was the first paper published in the county, 
by Thomas Simpson. Vol. 1, No. 5 of that paper, is the first 
whole paper that I found. Small parts of the other preceding num- 
bers were in the bound volume, but so little remained that nothing- 
could be gleaned from them. I examined the old volume through the 
kindness of Dallas J. Sweet, of Towanda. It is dated Towanda, 



HISTOKY OF BRADFOHT) COUNTY. 149 

Tuesday, September 7, 1S13. A foui'-coluinn folio, and rates $2 a 
year. In the " proposal" of publication, the proprietor, among other 
things, says : 

The necessity of a weekly publication in this county being sufficiently obvious, it 
is presumed there will be no impediment to the general patronage of this paper, when 
the public are fully assured that its object is not discussion and domestic animosity, 
but the acceleration of loca,l business; diffusion of national intelligence, and all those 
extra matters which are generally comprehended within the limited view of a newspa- 
per — the amusement and benefit of our subscribers. Situated as the United States are, 
it is impossible that any man who interests himself in the affairs of his country should 
be impartial between its two great political sects. He who pretends to be impartial is 
no more than a pretender. The Editor is a republican, and his paper will bear that charac 
ter in the editorial department, but its pages will be free at all times to well-written 
communications of whatever political nature. 

It may be well enough to exclaim that when the editor announces 
that he is "a republican," that he means he was what we now call a 
Jeffersonian Democrat. The two parties then were Republican and 
Federalist, then came Democrat and Whig, and now Democrat and 
Republican is the order of designation. These are the changes in 
name of the two leading parties of the country. A prominent notice 
in the (hizette is that " all letters to the editor must be post-paid to 
be attended to." The first ])age is made up of three columns of 
" foreign news," dated May 6. From May to September would be a 
long time to wait for news now-a-days. Advertisements on this l)age 
are two by the editor — ^" All Kinds of Printing," and "Blanks of 
Every Description." Andrew Irwm offers for sale a quantity of 
"Soal and Upi)er Leather," and also *' Fresh Goods," by Spalding & 
Comp; and all indebted to Harry Spalding & Co., to ])ay up or 
be sued ; the last one is by William Means, " Oats Wanted." The 
second page is made of extracts, and among others is a long biography 
of Capt. James Lawrence. This was, it seems, cut in two and marked 
" to be continued." The third page contains other long extracts, 
but in the way of original matter, under date of Tuesday, August 31, 
gives the proceedings of a "Republican meeting held at the house of 
Mr. Means, in Towanda, August IS, 1813 ; Guy Wells, Esq., was 
apjiointed chairman, and A. C. Stuart, Esq., secretary. liesolded, 
that delegates from each township, of that part of Bradford county 
which formerl}^ belonged to Luzerne, be appointed to meet the delegates 
from Luzerne and Susquehanna counties, at the house of Cyrus Avery, 
at Tunkhannock, on Monday, the 20th of September: Jesse Ross, of 
Rush ; Guy Wells, of Wyalusing ; George Scott, of Wysox ; Burr 
Ridgway, of Towanda ; Seeley Crofut, of Canton, and Chester Gridley, 
of Orwell, were appointed. Two from each township in the county 
were appointed as a "Committee of Vigilance and Corres- 
pondence," as follows: Chester Gridley, Lemuel Streeter, for 
Orwell ; Jesse Ross, Jesse Hancock, for Rush ; Guy Wells, Jonathan 
Terry, for Wyalusing ; George Scott, Moses Coolbaugh, for Wysox ; 
Burr Ridgway, William Means, for Towanda; Seeley Crofut, .Noah 
Wilson, for Canton; Samuel Satterlee, Ephraim Gerould, for Smith- 
field; John McKean, Howard Spalding, for Burlington; Henry 
Wells, John Saltmarsh, for Athens; John Cummings, Samuel Edsell, 
for Wells; William Furman, David Haswell, for Columbia; James 



150 HISTORY OF BRAIJFOKD COL^XTY. 

Hai'kness, Isaac Cooley, for Murraysfield ; and SamueJ Gore and 
Abraham Menier, for Ulster. A vote was then taken, and Burr 
Ridgway nominated for county commissioner, and Jonathan Stevens, 
Henry Welles and Moses Coolbaugh, for auditors. In another column 
is a "Proclamation'' of Abner C. Rockwell, sheriff, dated September 
2, 1813, giving- notice of the approaching election, and the places of 
voting, as the law required; for two members from Lvcoming county, 
and that part of Bradford formerly belonging to Lycoming, in the Legis- 
lature ; one for county commissioner; three tor auditor; two to 
represent Luzerne, Susquehanna, and that part of Bradford formerly 
belonging to Luzerne, in the Legislature, and one inspector of elections 
in each township. The places of voting were : At the house of Erastus 
Lomis, Athens, for Athens and LTlster; Sinithfield, at the house of 
John Cummings ; Burlington, at the house of Mary Goddard ; Canton, 
at the house of Henry Mercur ; Towanda, at the house of William 
Means; Wysox, at the house of William Keeler; Orwell, at the house 
formerly occupied by Capt. Josiah Grant ; Wyalusing, at the house 
of Justus Gay lord. Then follow^s the professional card of Dr. 
James Grant. The fourth page opens with the spring and fall 
poets' corner, giving two short effusions, one on " To-morroio^'' and 
the other. " llie Sahhath • " some correspondence betAveen the British 
General, Proctor, and Gen. Harrison, referring to the tlien recent 
battle of " Raisin," and it is stated " before Gen, Harrison knew of 
the massacre of the Americans." Then come the other advertise- 
ments of this issue: "A Set of Blacksmith Tools," by William 
Keeler, Towanda ; '' Tincher Wanted," Samuel C. Hall, Cecil, Md. ; 
" Notice," by Obadiah Gore and Simon Kinney, adms. of the estate of 
Isaac Cash, late of Ulster township; •']Nrotice," bv Charles F. Welles, 
prothonatory ; "To debtors and creditors," by Obadiah Gore and 
Simon Kinney, administrators; "Wanted at this office, an appren- 
tice," by the editor; "Wanted — good butter," by William Means; 
" For sale a new and Fashionable Riding Chair," by Ebenezer R. 
Gregory ; "Wanted," at the printing office, "twenty or thirt}^ weight 
of tallow ; " " Boot & Shoemaking, w^anted a good man to open a 
shop in Towanda," by several leading citizens; "Tailor," Jesse 
Woodruff. Then folloVs a long " Notice to Millers," by Oliver 
Evans, in which he notifies all using his mill patents to come forward 
and pay for the said use. 

This is a bird's eye view of the Bradfoj'd Gazette, as well as a 
similar sight of the county in business and politics. True, it is only 
one side ("Republican") of politics, and no doubt in looking at the 
next succeeding numbers there will be found accounts of the meetings 
and nominations of the other side — the Federalists. Men were quite 
as much interested in politics then as now. 

The next issue of the Gazette has on the first page three columns 
more of the biography of Capt. James Lawrence, and at the foot is 
this: "Concluded next week." Page 2 is filled with foreign news, of 
date, June 10; clippings from foreign papers. This issue gives the 
proceedings of a county convention of the "Federal Republicans." 
It was a delegate convention, and met at the house of Harry Spalding, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 151 

in Towanda township, AVednesclay, September 8, 1813, ''to take into 
consideration and agree on the most suitable characters for Commis- 
sioner and Auditors to be supported at the next General Election." 
Ralph Martain, chairman, and J. F. Satterlee, secretary. " It was 
voted that Col. Joseph Kingsbury be a suitable candidate for County 
Commissioner." And Col. Aden Stephens, Russell Fowler and Perly 
Coburn were nominated for auditors. A corresponding committee of 
two from each township was selected, as follows : Dr. Thomas Huston 
and. John F. Satterlee, Athens; Samuel Campbell and John Harkness, 
Smithlield: Ezra Long and Levi Soper, Burlington ; Jared Holcomb, 
Esi]., and George Kinney, Ulster; Abner C. Rockwell and Noah 
Spalding, Towanda; Hugh Holcomb and William P. Spalding, Canton ; 
William F. Dinniger and William Allen, Wysox ; Ebenezer Lewis and 
Daniel Brown, Wyakising; Josiah Bosworth' and Col. Theron Darling, 
Orwell; and Benajah Bostwick and William Bradshaw, Rush. In 
this paper appears the rather flowing advertisement of the ''Boot c^r 
Shoe Factory" of Henry Harris. This was the quick response to the 
call for a shoemaker in the preceding week's paper. It ]mid in those 
days to advertise, it seems. But on reading the "ad.," it is discovered 
that the bold Henry Harris is not of Towanda, or Bradford county, 
but of Williamsport; and he gives elaborate directions how to seiid 
your measure for footgear. As it may sound a little curious to this 
generation, his instructions are given : '^ Take a strip of paper one 
inch broad, the length you want tlie boot — then measure round tiie 
calf, over pantaloons and stocking — then round the heel and instep, 
the thickness of the foot round the instep — then the exact length of 
the foot; cutting a notch for calf, heel and instep and length of the 
foot — also, mark each notch and take the exact size,'' etc. In the next 
column is a notice of a meeting of '"Democratic Republicans" to 
nominate a candidate for auditor in the stead of Henry Welles, who 
had been placed on the ticket for member of the assenibly. The old 
style / makes a person inclined to read the paper as though he were 
tongue-tied every time it occurs. This issue contains the flrst 
announcement of a marriage— Thomas Overton, Esq., of Sheshequin, 
to Miss Mary Tracy, ''of this town." Ceremony by Burr Ridgwav. 
Another notice is by Theron Darling, lieutenant colonel, One Hundred 
and Forty-fourth Regiment, P. M., to the officers and men to meet at 
the house of Joshua Moger, " Wysoc." This is followed by a notice 
by Richard Benjamin, executor of the estate of Amos Bennett. Then 
comes a list of letters, Ebenezer B. Gregory, postmaster, Towanda, as 
follows : County of Bradford — Isaac Allen, Absalom Carr ; Toioanda 
— Ethan Baldwin, Samuel Cranmer, Isaac Ellsworth, William French, 
Sally Kent, Eliphalet Mason, Esq., Silas Scovel ; Canton^-T>ii\'K\^Y?^N\ 
(h'weU—l^-cmcy Darling ; IFysAT— Jacob Strickland. It will be under- 
stood from this notice that the mail for the entire county came to 
Towanda. When we reflect on the number of postoffices now in the 
count}^, the change will be strongly marked indeed. 

The next issue of the Gazette is dated September 21, and contains 
the conclusion of Lawrence's biography. On the third page is a notice 
of the '' Celebration of the National Fast^'^hy "the friends ^of American 



152 HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUNTY. 

Liberty and Independence," in the township of Burlington, September 
9, "in the meeting-house contiguous to Nathaniel Ballard's." The 
account says: '' An appropriate and patriotic discourse Avas delivered 
bv Kev. John M'Keen." In this paper is a notice by Eli Parsons, 
"Adm'r of William Johnson's estate.'' Then follows a notice dated, " Jail 
at Towanda," by Constant Williams, stating that he has applied to the 
judges "for the benefit of the laws for the relief of insolvent debtors." 
The poor man was imprisoned for debt. Abner C. Rockwell, sheriff, 
offers " $30 reward " for John Shrader, Jr., " of dark complexion, black 
curly hair, dark eyes, speaks broad English, and the German tongue, 
about six feet high, who made his escape from the jail of Bradford on 
the evening of the 13th inst." He does not inform us what the man 
was in jail for. The next issue has a notice of a farm for sale, by Orr 
Scovell'. It is described as lying on Towanda creek, 190 acres, within 
a mile and a half of Towanda. Another notice, by the same man, of a 
"paire of 2 yr. old steers, that broke into the inclosure of the subscri- 
ber.'' The next is by Joel Stevens and Elisha Rich, administrators of 
Gustavus Ellsworth, deceased. The issue, dated October 5, has a notice 
bv A. \\ Mathews. " Wanted, a good steady laborer." Ebenezer 
Gregory ''forbids any person cutting timber" on the land in Towanda, 
he had contracted for with the town proprietors, John Shepherd and 
Benjamin Durrance ; Lieut. Col. Samuel Satterlee gives notice to the 
officers and men of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, that the battalion 
commanded by Samuel McKean will meet at the house of William 
Furman, in Columbia township, and the second battalion, commanded 
by Maj. Abraham Snell. are to meet at the house of Abner Murry, 
Athens; Justus Gaylord and William Myer, commissioners, give to 
all persons who have subscribed toward the public buildings of the 
county notice to pay up, and that they will receive proposals for 300 
perches of stone for building the jail The paper of October 12th, 
publishes on the first page the "official account of the capture of the 
British fleet on Lake Erie, by the American fleet under Commodore 
Perrv." This celebrated naval battle was fought September 10, 1813. 
In the Gazette of October 12, api)ears an advertisement by Commis- 
sioners Justus Gaylord and A¥illiam Myer, calling for coijtracts for 
materials to be used in constructing " a court house and gaol, as 
follows: 6,763 ft. square timber; 7,184 ft. scantling; 8,860 ft. 
white oak plank: 200 ft. cherrv plank; 500, clear white pine; 
5,000 ft. 1^ inch white pine boards; 50.000 ft. boards for ceiling; 
4,500 ft. H vellow pine flooring ; 6,500, siding; 13,000 shingles; 
10,000 brick, "'and 200 bu. lime." And again, they notify all who 
have subscribed toward public buildings to pay up. tlien comes David 
Pratt with " Look Here," notifying those who owe him for "cloth- 
dressing" to promptly settle for the same. The next issue, October 
17, contains the official returns of the election in the county. Burr 
Ridgwav, Democrat, was elected over J. Kingsbury, Federal, county 
commissioner, bv a majority of 108, in a total vote in the county of 
t)22 ; 365 for Ridgway. 'and '257 for his opponent. The lowest majority 
given the Democratic candidates for auditors over their Federal 
opponents was 105. The vote in the respective townships between 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 153 

the two parties was as follows — tne tirst numl^er being Deiriocratic : 
Athens, 61—73; Cliffsburg, 73—10; Burlington, 49— 8 ;'Canton, 35— 
2i; To\vanda, 47— 37 ; Wysox, 34— L8; Orwell, 27— 27; Wyalusing, 
39 — 40. The three auditors elected were Clement Paine, Moses Cool- 
baugh and Jonathan Stevens. The elected assemblymen for the Lycom- 
ing section of Bradford county were John Forster and Henry Welles, 
Democrats ; to the assembly from the Luzerne section of Bradford 
county, Jabez Hyde, Jr., and Joseph Pruner, Democrats. As a foot 
note to the election returns, the editor says: 

It is presumed it will uot be amiss to say there has not been a single word of slander 
or abuse on either side in the county. 

The importance attaching to this (juoted paragraph comes from 
three sources: First, it indicates a decent circums}>ection on the part 
of the respective candidates and voters ; second, the only paper in the 
county was Democratic, and had no organ to reply to it ; third, it was 
the first line or paragraph of editorial that ever appeared in the paper, 
either* general or local. The style of papers in that day differed much 
from those of the present. Then the first page had a few '"ads.," and 
was all "foreign news,'' about a month old, the remainder of the paper 
being clippings from other papers — -long articles on religious, war or 
)>olitical subjects. The issue now under consideration has a " Com- 
municated" of over two columns, — a circular letter of the Chemung 
Baptist Association. 

The editor of the first ]iaper, or of any country paper for that 
matter, hardly reflects on the very important position he fills, especi^ 
ally with reference to the rising generation — the children in the farm- 
houses, where the county paper is an institution. As a farmer boy, 
the writer of these lines has fastened on his mind distinctly the num- 
bers of the paper that he first read. He had been going to the country 
log school-house and .the Sunday-school; had been supplied with some 
of the moral fictions about good children, and had surreptitiously read 
'' Alonzoand Melissa," but rather liked better '• Daniel and the Lions," 
oi", " Jonah and the Whale ; " and from these would turn with some 
interest to the weekly arrival of the paper from the county town The 
"'cuts" and "ads." were first read, and as implicitly believed as 
" Alonzo and Melissa," and the other stories he had been devouring. 
He was forcibly struck with tiie character enigmas attached to the 
advertisements, as 7 — tf. 9 — 3t, or 10 — 3, 9tf, and other puzzles of this 
kind. What did tliey mean (^ He made inquiry of all the family, but 
was none the wiser therefor. After reading the big type " ads.," he 
would turn to the " Poets' Corner "^ — first column on the fourth page 
always. He hardly ever understood what it was saying, but the short 
lines made it easy reading, comparatively. From here he would scan 
over the paper for very short articles, leaded articles, with very short 
paragraphs, but it was a long time before he iiad the courage to read 
a long article, set solid, with few paragraph breaks in it. A boy, 
though possessed of telescopic eyes, like the eagle, will almost jab his 
nose against anything he is much interested in looking at. Therefore very 
large (h'splay t3^pe does not make so good an im]')ression on his mind as 
the medium-sized letter. But in time the bov will come to read the pa])er 



154 HISTORY OF BI{A1)F0RD COUNTY. 

carefully all through, and implicitly believe every word. A child's 
capacity to believe is very large, and is only gradually worn away to a 
respectable degree of doubting by repeated experiences. In time, the 
boy, who had finally become so deeply imbued with the excellencies 
and greatness of the county paper, reached the acme of his ambition, 
and owned a country paper, and was called upon to do at times about 
everything in the office. He plunged in with all the faith, hope and 
wild ambition of earliest manhood, to set the world aright — settle all 
these questions that the earth's great men had so criminally neglected. 
He read over and over the proofs of his own articles; re-read them 
when the damp first impression was struck off, and held his breath to 
witness the shock that would now come to our little universe. His 
amazement that people did not stop him on the street, rush up in 
crowds to his sanctuni sancloruni (one corner of the imposing-stone), 
to talk about his editorials, was mitigated somewhat by a visit from 
the fellow who wanted to whip the editor. He rapidly ran the 
rounds of a new country, editor's experiences ; Avould lose faith in 
mankind, but eventually lost much of his own faith in himself. 
AVhether he was a success in teaching mankind or not, was a question ; 
but one thing remains a fact — the world taught the young man a 
great deal. He had been to the log school, the academy and to 
college, but at last realized that the days of education commenced 
\vhen he entered the printing office. The country newspaper is the 
best school in the world, at least for the youth who performs the 
rounds in it from roller-boy to editor-in-chief, and all the intermediates 
of compositor, job man. pressman, mailman, general business manager, 
writing '• ads.," and then setting them up ; solicitor, paymaster, purchas- 
ing agent, fighting editor, his own lawyer in damage suits ; clean the 
office, keep the files, read the exchanges, and placate a howling mob 
occasionally at the front door. If I had a boy and there was any 
promise in him, and I was given the free choice of the rounds in a 
country printing-office and a course through Oxford for him, I would 
by far ])refer the former. The ])rinting-office turns out no learned 
ignorance— never. The schools and colleges do — a swollen stream 
that runs on forever. I have heard many a " tramp printer" (that is 
the title he gives himself) criticise a " take" of some man's manuscr-ipt, 
perhaps a man noted for his learning, until it would make his cheeks 
tingle, could he hear this rough and unpretentious man's just I'emarks 
in reference to it. The war-times printer, especially, was a character 
— reckless and dissipated often— making short stays at each place, 
tramping hundreds of miles in the course of the year, and at all times 
either "broke" or drunk; his more stead3'-going brother always 
giving him a chance to "sub" on his case, and make a "stake," as he 
called it. But this is now all changed. The printer is beginning to 
have his home, and as a rule he is looking forward to someday having 
his own office. 

The Bradford Gazette, of October 4, 1813, opens the first page 
with a five-line editorial, which is placed at the head of a long article 
l)y John Dickinson, an address to "the free electors and all candid 
citizens of Pennsylvania." A new advertisement is in this paper: a 





W W /(^i2/{Wt&/-C 




HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 157 

notice by John Ballard, "not to trust my wife, Polly,'" because she 
'" has left my bed and board." The inference is that John and Polly 
found marriage a failure. In the next column is a notice in the 
divorce case of Mary Pitcher versus Jonathan Pitcher. It seems that 
Mary and Jonathan were not as Jonathan and David. Phineas C. 
Morgan and John McClelland, of Columbia, as administrators of the 
estate of Nathaniel C. Morgan, give notice of settlement. October 
26, David Ridgway gives notice that "his indentured bov named Henrv 
Shoemaker," has run away. The lad was sixteen years old. John 
Robinson, Stephen C. King and Harry Spalding, of Towanda, publish 
notice of dissolution of partnership. John Northrup gives notice of 
mill-stones to sell. John M'Kean, administrator of the estate of 
Widow Jane M'Kean, gives notice of settlement. The paper dated No- 
vember 16, 1813, appears with a new head. So momentous is this fact 
that Editor Simpson ventures upon the only real long editorial he had 
yet printed. The opening sentence says: '^"The unexpectedly liberal 
support bestowed on this paper, so early in its establishment, has in- 
duced the editor to present to his subscribers the new head which 
ornaments his fourteenth number. * * * While our 
readers are admiring the taste and skill of the artist, let them not fail 
to remember that the emblems with which he has surrounded the 
American Eagle are not now as they have been for twenty years 
past— vain, gasconading and ridiculous '^fancies— The American Eagle 
is no longer 'a web-footed fowl plucked by every passer by '—but, as 
the artist indicates, his wing is indeed above the'clouds, the lightning 
that he grasps his enemies have felt, and the radiance of his crest will 
at length be real." As editorial eagle-soaring, that is verv fair indeed. 
The editor gives notice that he wants a quantitv of '^" square tim- 
ber," and also that he has ''blanks" at his office. In the next issue, 
23d, Harry Spalding, treasurer, gives notice that he is required by the 
commissioners to make immediate collections on "all obligations and 
subscriptions." Walter AVheeler says a stray steer broke into his inclo- 
sure m Wysox; John Smith, of New Sheshequin, states that a three- 
year-old black and white bull had strayed to his place; Eli Par- 
sons, of Sniithfield. gives notice, as administrator of William Johnson's 
estate ; H. Spalding wants to buy rags. The issue of December 7th, is 
tilled with war news from France and Austria, and new " ads." as fol- 
loAvs: William Means issues a short notice for customers to "pav up 
or give notes at once." Thomas Beebe gives notice that he has a 
supply of saddles, harness, portmanteaus, bridles, lines, shoes, etc.: 
George Scott wants a journeyman blacksmith ; J. W. Alder, of Lewis- 
I)urg Glass Works, wants wood— offers 67 cents for chopping; Ezra 
Putty, of Towanda, gives notice as executor of Ezra Rutty, deceased ; 
Samuel C. Hall, of Cecil, gives notice, " Timber Wanted." In the 
issue of December 21st, appears an elaborate advertisement by Benia- 
min Coolbaugh, of a valuable farm in Towanda township, for sale, six 
miles from Towanda. on the bank of the Susquehanna, adjoining the 
lands of William Coolbaugh on the nortli, Solomon Coal on the west, 
and Aaron Morris on the south— one hundred and twentv acres. A 
good hewed-log house, with four rooms " on a floor," and" thirtv-five 



158 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

acres under fence and about fifty acres planted, inquire of Mr. Cool-_ 
baugii, "on Towanda creek, and near Mr. Jolin Mints, innkeeper.'' 
Samuel E. Grier, collector of 21st District, gives notice to retailers 
of liquors. William Ivnapp has on hand, for sale, "good sole and upper 
leather shoes, boot-legs and harness leatlier." George Scott wants a 
journeyman blacksmith for a term of six months ; Walter Whellar, of 
Wysox, says a stray steer came to his place. The paper of December 
23th, gives President Madison's message in full. It had been delivered 
December 7th. These, too, were stirring times of war — sometimes 
called our second war for Independence from Great Britain. The new 
"ads." in this paper: Dawner Woodworth, of Tioga, warns the pub- 
lic against a note given by him to Ebenezer Bacon. He says : " I am 
determined not to pay it, unless compelled by law." Henry Wells, of 
Athens, offers for sale a quantity of clover seed ; Lieut. Col. Samuel 
Satterlee gives notice to the Fifty-seventh Regiment to meet at the 
house of Capt. Ebenezer Kendall, in Burlington. 

On Januarv 4th — he forgot to mark up the new year, and so it is 
"January 4, 1813," — is given Gov. Simon Snyder's message in full. 
The opening sentence is replete with history' : "Since the last session 
of the Legislature, events the most interesting have followed one 
another in rapid succession. Our sister States on the lakes and on the 
Atlantic have been invaded, and the Capitol of the Union menaced by 
hostile fleets and armies. I am happy and grateful to say that under 
Divine Providence the savage invaders liave been repelled. A terri- 
tory has been restored to the Union ; our western fellow-citizens now 
sleep in safety and pursue without fear their lawful occupations. The 
hands dyed in innocent blood, which were uplifted to slay and scalp 
our fellow-citizens, are now raised to supplicate for mercy." 

A second letter list is published, and this time the postmaster is 
Thomas Simpson, A. P. M. The following letters are advertised : 
Scovel Bailey, Sally Kent, Eliphalet Mason, 2 Hugh Johnson, Dr. 
Stephen Ballard, Nathaniel Allen, Esq., Octavius A. Holden, David 
Pratt, Hous Bentley, Jacob Strickland, Silas Barton, Esq., Ebenezer 
Bixby, Stephen Flower, Charles Thompson, Jeremiah Smith, Peter 
Bright, Elijah Sturdevant. Samuel Rockwell, Elias Vaughan. A post- 
script is addetl, as follows: "Persons wishing to forward letters by 
mail, must send them to the postoffice every Tuesday before 12 
o'clock." Then comes a "$10 Reward," by William Allen, constable, 
of Wysox, for John Strope, who had made his escape; a sheriff's sale, 
by Abner C. Rockwell; a notice, by S. T. Barstow, librarian of the 
Wysox and Orwell Library, of the purchase of books, etc. This issue 
has two editorials. The first is set in display job type, and informs 
the patrons of the paper that they must pay up. "The editor 
flatters himself that there wn'll be no necessity of his resorting to 
coercive measures to obtain just dues," etc. Then follows an account 
of a fracas near Terrytown. * * " We have only learnt the names 
Crocker and Turner; the quarrel ended thus unfortunately for them 
both — Crocker had or procured a loaded gun, which he discharged at 
the latter, who survived but a few days— not being acquainted with 
the facts, think it proper not to make any further statements." Suppose 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 159 

a modern reporter should bring m that style of a report of a homicide 
to the managing editor! A notice is given "to purchasers of land of 
Charles Pleasants, through the agency of Thomas Overton," notifying 
them that their bonds and mortgages are now in the hands of John 
Morris, of Wellsburg. 

The issue of January 18, 1814, is filled with war news, clipped from 
exchanges ; long communications on the conduct of the war, and com- 
plaints of the failures of the commanders of the army. An article 
from the Albany Argus is headed, " Disastrous and Shocking." It 
goes on to say that " We stop the press to say that an express has just 
arrived, who left Baltimore on Tuesda}', a. m., with the horrid intelli- 
gence that, on Sunday morning last, about three thousand British regu- 
lars, militia and Indians, crossed the Niagara river, carried the fort by 
storm, and murdered the whole garrison, except three who made their 
escape over the pickeis ; that they had also burnt the villages of Lew- 
istown and Manchester, and every building between the latter place and 
Niagara; "'■' * * it was expected that they were now proceeding to Buf- 
falo." This is followed by a notice to all the world by Isaac Hole- 
stead, that "my wife, elemima, hath eloped from my bed and board." 
Next is a notice by Peter Latimer, concerning the estate of Stephen 
Latimer. A notice is inserted by Josiah Crocker, that he wants " pay 
for cording." 

The issue of February 1, 1814, is also filled with war news. Among 
other papers is a message from President Madison, informingCongress 
that he has received from Great Britain overtures for negotiation of 
terms of peace. On page 3, is a report from Commissioners Justus 
Gaylord, William Myer and Burr Ridgway, giving receijitsand expen- 
ditures of the county. Total receipts of the county, $2,646.27 ; total 
expenditures, $2,7-l:'3.96. The most interesting items in the expendi- 
tures are the following: To county commissioners, $319.94; clerk 
hire, $120.75; panther certificates, $40; wolf certificates, $231; fox 
certificates, $1.87; temporary jail, $26.90; commissioners' and pro- 
thonotary's office, $342 ; treasurers' commissions, $76.09. The report 
is attested by Joseph Kingsbury, clerk. Then follows the notice of a 
public vendue, of the personal property of the late Isaac Cash. In the 
paper of the next week is an estray notice. " taken up on the Susque- 
hanna river, a large ferry boat," by James Anderson, of Wyalusing ; 
Jacob Bell, of Wysox, gives notice to "pay up;" William Means, of 
Towanda, wanted a quantity of " Bair and Deer skins." The only 
editorial in the Gazette of February 15, is a notice in brackets that, 
" being under the necessity of moving the office, there will be no paper 
next week." William Means offers to lease for a term of three years 
his store and tavern in Towanda. The premises consist of "a large 
and commodious dwellinf)'-house, with a store annexed, a well and 
pump likewise, and aqueduct w^ater from an unfailing spring, an ice- 
house, smoke-house, cai-riage-house and stables, barn with cellar stables, 
distillery with overhead water, a ferry, and about 100 acres of best 
mowing pasturage, an excellent garden, and good bearing orchard, all 
conveniently situated and in order." He explains that the place is 
widely known, " as the Courts of Common Pleas, etc., are now held 



160 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in an apartment of the house, and the public buildings are to be erected 
near it." This advertisement is quite a graphic pen-picture of Towanda 
at that time. The buildings were near what is now the corner of Main 
and Franklin streets, and the " 100 acres of best mowing and pasture 
land "is now the heart of the business part of the borough, and where 
are now splendid stores, gas and electric lights, with their decorated 
plate-glass windows. These were once the grazing grounds of William 
Means' cows and calves. In this issue is a proclamation by A. C. Rock- 
well, sheriff, for the approaching session of the court. The document 
is so pompous, and full of the lordly ways of doing these things by our 
fathers, that some of it is here given : " Whereas, the Hon. John B. 
Gibson, President Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas, and Courts 
of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and President Judge of the 
Courts of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery, for the trial 
of Capital and other offenders for the Eleventh Judicial JDistrict, in the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania * * * George Scott and John 
McKean, Esqrs., Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas and General 
Quarter Sessions of the Peace and associate Justices of the Courts of 
Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery," etc., etc. The court 
was to convene on the 18th day of April. The whole concludes with 
the usual "God save the Commonwealth." Then follow two new 
sheriff sales; a notice of the death of Moses Cool baugh, aged sixty- 
three years, leaving "a wife and eight children." Then follows: "By 
Yesterday's Mails," rumors of peace negotiations with England. It 
says that '' Hon. J. Q. Adams had written ■■ "- * that peace 
woukl speedily take place between England and America." We can 
hardly imagine what a thrill of joy this brief and modest announce- 
ment must have carried to our people. Jeduthen Withey forewarns 
all persons from taking an assignment of a note "given to the widow 
Tamson Ballord," for 3,000 shingles, " said note being fraudulently 
obtained." " Bevare of the vidders," unsophisticated Jeduthen. That 
name ought to have been your complete protection — it wasn't, it 
seems. 

The Gazette of March 8th, notwithstanding the ])receding rumors 
of peace, has this advertisement by the Government. Quoting the 
line: "A soldier is the noblest name," it proceeds to offer a bounty 
of " $124 and 160 acres of land to all patriotic, able-bodied young men 
who are desirous of shouldering a musket to defend the rights of our 
injured country against a tyrannical and barbarous enemy." This is 
signed by John Baldy, captain 16th Reg. U. S. Infantry. The next is a 
notice by Samuel Cooljbaugh and Burr Ridgway, Exrs. of ]\[oses Cool- 
baugh, deceased. John D. Saunders, of Towanda, offers "a valuable farm 
for sale, containing 440 acres, 37 acres cleared and under fence; also, 
the possession of 400 acres of improved land, on which is a first-rate 
saw-mill." The next week is a " caution to the public," by George 
Gerould, not to take a note given by him to John Wilson, for $10. 
Charles F. Welles, register, gives notice that John D. Saunders, 
administrator of John Cranmer. has presented full accounts, etc., etc. 
Then follows a column "ad." from H. Buckingham, drugs, medicines 
and paints, at Kingsbury. In his items are gentian, ginseng, juniper, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. KU 

sassafras, ivory, and pewter syringes, tooth instruments, thumb lancets, 
durable ink, dragons' blood, etc., etc. In the paper dated March 22, 
the editor again gives notice to "pay up," and he authorized Charles 
Keyes to collect bills and receipt therefor. March 29, appears onlv a 
half-sheet. The editor indulges in another editorial, in which he 
explains that his assistant, a 3'oung man, is sick. He further explains 
such action, under such circumstances, "is customary," and says, in 
conclusion, " tlie foregoing statement will be satisfactorv to every 
person of candoure." Ghost of Thomas Simpson, we metaphorically 
pat you on the back and say, " Yes-sir-ee ! " After all, there is a good 
deal of history in this half-sheet. It tells how the President, in a curt 
note of four lines, dismissed Gideon Granger, postmaster-general, from 
office. Then follows a short paragraph, giving an account of Cumber- 
land county that day sending from Cai-lisle its quota of troops, 500 
volunteers. The particulars of the death of Tecumseh, shot and killed 
by Col. Dick Johnson. March 19, Gov. Simon Snyder vetoed the 
bill creating forty -one new banks. At the same time the Democrats 
in the Legislature held a meeting, and again nominated Gov. Snvder 
to be his own successor. 

The issue of April 12 appears with all advertisements out. It is 
supposed the old ones had run out, and no new ones came in. It has 
another marked feature : there are as many as four short editorials. 
The first announces that Mr. Simpson is away, "procuring the means 
to improve the Gazette, and, during the interim, it is conducted by a 
man long detached from the society of the press ; this announcement 
will make the critic himself forgive the errour it may contain." [Too 
bad he withheld his name.] Then comes an editorial eulogistic of 
Gov. Snyder; the writer evidently was in favor of his re-election. 
There is a ten-line editorial on general glorification of the American 
character, and predicting many prosperous da3^s for our Republic. This 
is followed by a savage attack, editorially, on Caleb Strong, of Massa- 
chusetts. We can not fully learn just what Caleb had been doing to 
incite the writer's wrath. 

A paragraph marked with a %^^ informs us that "no mail had 
arrived when this paper went to press. The uncommon swell of the 
river, etc., cut off the regular communication. Great news is expected 
from Europe." Two or three numbers of the paper appear with no 
advertisements, except those of the editor. Then John D. Saunders 
again offers for sale his farm. The absence of advertisements is some- 
what made up by an editorial on the Merino sheep. The article 
explains that Bradford county is a favored place for raising these 
animals; recommends every farmer to raise this very superior breed ; 
appeals to their patriotism, and hopes to see every true American 
dressed in the superior goods from this wool, and concludes with the 
information thit Mr. Austin Leonard has '■^ Bom Pedro, a ram full of 
the blood." William Means and Andrew Irwin give notice that they 
have "taken up a raft of small logs on the Susquehanna river." The 
important ncAvs in this issue is stated : " Since Friday noon there have 
been various rumors in this city respecting the probabilities of an 
Armistice." 



162 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

One feature of tiie paper that would appear curious now to our nation 
of newspaper readers, is that the files of which we are now giving 
some account of were published in the days of bloody and cruel war; 
stirring times, indeed, when every wind came laden with victories and 
defeats, dreadful marches, storming forts and bloody massacres, with 
many and many a deceptive rumor of peace, or at least an armistice; 
and yet the people bided their time in patience for the news from 
fathers, husbands, brothers and sons in the army, as it was doled out 
to them often a month old, and at best so meager as to be, it would 
seem, little better than simply prolonged torture. As a sample, the 
following is culled from the Gazette, of April 26, 1814:. It is a reprint 
from the Middleburg Golumhia Patriot, of April 6 — twenty days 
old. The account proceeds to say, substantially, that, " at a late hour 
last evening, we were politely favored with the perusal of a letter from 
a gentleman in Plattsburg to his friend in this town, dated Friday 
morning, April 1," etc. It then proceeds to give important accounts of 
the movement of our army, containing an account of a fight at La- 
Cole Mill, Canada. Our loss was twenty killed and wounded. Among 
the killed was Ensign Parker. Others rumored killed and wounded. 
It will be noticed the date of the action is not given. How could our 
people survive, after their modern habits, such slow and uncertain 
news from the front? A letter received then did not mean simply so 
many hours from starting point to destination, as it does now. They 
had no mails except the pony riders, who would pass a given point, like 
Towanda, once a week. Thus the most important news might be de- 
layed two weeks before it could start by letter. Now, people in San 
Francisco, measuring time Iw the sun, read all about what has trans- 
pired in TsTew York three hours or more before the people of the latter 
cit}^ themselves can hear of it. Remember, Fulton's steamboat was 
five years old — steam navigation was a demonstrated fact; and did our 
forefathers, just as we now are doing, look back toward their ancestors 
and marvel how they endured life deprived of all the advantages with 
which they were blessed ? In this paper is a notice so unique that 
we give it verbatim : 

"Oh, god of love, be true to my enamor'd breast, 
Be kind to the flame, if dead to all the rest." 

Married. — A.t Burlington, by the Rev. Mr. Ripley, Mr. Jehiel Farres, aged 75, to 
Miss Elizabeth Prouty, aged 19. After a courtship of fifteen minutes. 

Cephas and William Campbell, administrators of James Campbell, 
deceased, give notice. Jacob I. A. Johnson, of Athens, furnishes the 
paper with the first cut that seems to have been printed in the county 
— a horse standing on tw^o legs'; the other two he holds up as though 
he had inflamed corns. He describes him as the beautiful horse, 
" Young Yorkshire"- — eight years old "next grass." Augustus Fierce 
gives notice that he will sell " factory cloth shirting forty cents a 
yard, gingham fifty cents a yard, silk, twist, and hair combs of all 
descriptions" — all at Wysox. 

The issue of May 3, has three pages filled with the speech in 
Congress of Mr. Findley, '* on the loan bill." The next item is a notice 
that the accounts of Enoch and David Paine, of Athens, have been 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 168 

placed in the hands of Edward Herrick, Esq., for collection. "The 
Silver Lake Bank" has a notice, dated from Wysox, bv the bank commis- 
sioners, that subscription books will be opened in the county for 
receiving stock subscriptions to the bank, etc. On different days, the 
notice informs the public, the books will be opened at the house of 
William Means, Towanda ; at the house of Dr. Stephen Watkins, 
Athens; at William Myers, Wysox; Jesse Ross, Pike; John Ilollen- 
beck,Wyalusing. Tiie commissioners' names to the notice are Benjamin 
Lathroj), Daniel Ross, Reuben Hale, George Scott, Samuel Stanton 
and Abisha Woodward. This is followed by a library notice of 
Eliphalet Mason and Samuel Cranmer, of Towanda. This was called 
the "Orient Library." A meeting was called at the house of Elisha 
Cole, m Towanda. The following item is from the Gazette's exchanges : 

Mmm>es--'l\\& Spanish and Portuguese governments have made the exportation of 
Merino bheep acapital crime, and, although great influence has been used, permission 
can not be obtained to export from Lisbon a flock now there, belonging to a house in 
this city. 

The paper of May 10 opens, as usual, with the first page filled with 
foreign news, such as a long proclamation by Napoleon to his soldiers. 
This news is three and four months old. On the next page is a three- 
column communication from Secretary of State James'' Monroe to 
Congress. Then is given, without headlines, an account of Gen. Jack- 
son's great victory over the Creek Indians at the "bend of the Tala- 
posa," near Milledgeville. There is another editorial in this issue. It 
refers to Madison's State paper, and darkly hints that many of the 
"federal papers'' will not publish it— concluding that, if Paul were 
living, he might, with propriety, say : " Blindness in part has hap- 
pened to Israel!" Another editorial item states that many of the 
raftsmen on the Susquehanna have died of sickness; manv more are 
sick, and many other deaths are expected. Deaths are announced of 
Simon Spalding, aged twenty-one, brother of Harry Spaldino-, near 
Columbia. Near the same place, the death of William Gate's, aged 
twenty-two, is also announced ; and also at Washington City, the'death 
of Samuel A. Otis, for many years Secretarv of the Senate. Then 
follows a notice of the Lycoming mail stage, giving a schedule of weekly 
trips to Williamsport— fare, seven cents per mile. William Midauo'h 
gives notice of the elopement of his wife. Clarissa, of Tioga. Again 
there are rumors in the air of peace with England. Then follows some 
desultory election news from parts of New York, in which is claimed 
Republican gains. This item closes Avith the word " celum ! " This 
must be a condensed Latin form of editorial exultation. They had 
not invented then the rural rooster, it seems, now kept on tap in the 
average country office about election times. 

June 7, 1814, notes an important change in the affairs of the 
Gazette. In display type, in the first column, appears the " proposal " 
of W. Brindle for publishing a weekly political and literary journal in 
Towanda. Mr. Thomas Simpson had sold to Mr. Brindle, who says he 
will take charge of the paper, September following— same name and 
terms, and to continue Republican (Democratic) in politics. Althouo-h 
the new proprietor was not to take control until the followino- SeJ)- 



164 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

teraber, the paper continued to be issued each week by Thomas Simp- 
son. In the issue of June 14th, is the notice of Wiliiam Myers and 
Asahel Jarvis, of Wysox, of their carding machines " where wool will 
be carded by careful hands on short notice." June 21st a])pears a 
communication addressed to the Gazette, signed ''R.," which is a pat- 
riotic appeal for the people to stand together. The writer asks the 
people to be united as against the Old World, etc. He says he would 
risk his life on the proposition that if the " glorious news," now cur- 
rent in the East, that " Wellington is overthrown, and now Napoleon 
is on his way to America with a 100,000 men," that then party fac- 
tions would "^quickly disappear. He contends further that, while we 
have two political parties in this country, they " are only temporary." 
Charles F. Welles, register, gives notice that Abraham Minier and 
Henry Welles will apply for letters of administration on the estate of 
John Shippy, Married, June 19th, by Harry Morgan, Esq., Daniel 
Coolbaugh to Miss Sarah Post, of Wysox. Same day, by Burr Ridg- 
way, David Kenyon to Miss Sarah Post, of Wysox. Maj. John Tay- 
lor gives notice for all persons having claims against the One-Hundred 
and Forty-fourth Regiment Militia, to meet at Harry Morgan's, 
Wysox; there will be a board composed of Capts. John Mints and 
William Allen. Jacob Bell, of Wysox, gives notice to debtors for 
immediate payment. 

With Thomas Brindle's name at the masthead, and W. Brindle's 
" proposal" still running in the paper, the distinguishing mark of the 
change of proprietors is in the fact that now at least once and a while 
ashon editorial would appear. Under date of July 12, 1814, there is 
a whole column of editorial, giving an account of a Fourth of July 
celebration, at the house of James Gerould, at Smithfield. The officer 
of the day was Lieut. Hayes ; prayer, by Elder Ripley ; Declaration of 
Independence, by Col. Samuel Satterlee ; oration, by Charles Wood- 
worth. A general feast w^as served, and, " after the cloth was removed," 
toasts were given and responded to as follows : 

^' The day we celebrateP " American Soil'^ 

" The late Gen. G. Washington.'' " The Delegated Assemblage of the 

" James Ifadison.'' People of the Earth at Paris.'" 

" Elbridge Gerry T " Agriculture, Commerce and. 

" Thomas Jefferson." Manufactures." 

" Simon Snyder." " The American Flag." 

" The State of Pennsylvania." ''The American Fair." (Not the 

" Ainerican Blood." Chicago Fair, but the ladies.) 

There were voluntary toasts by Col. Satterlee, Mr. Ripley, S. 
Wood, Esq., and Col. Tozer. This was one of the first celebrations 
of the glorious Fourth by the patriots of Bradford county. The 
editor informs us that it was a great success — many people present, 
" attended by music and the firing of musketry, and the American 
flag waved seventy feet above the patriots." Charles Woodworth's 
oration on the occasion is published in part in this issue. Then follows 
a brief account of a late election in Vermont, where and when "an 
overwhelming majority of Republicans [Democrats] were elected." 




Silas E.Shepard 






■m^ 









HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1G7 

In the Gazette of JiiW 10 is an account of the proposed change of 
Thomas Simpson from Towanda to Williamsport, and he advertises 
his proposal to publish at that place the ^' Lij coming Advertiser'- 
We learn from it that he was a native of that county. 

July 26, announces the marriage of Jesse Woodruff and Mrs. Pollv 
Ballard, of Tovvanda, by Rev. York. Also ap])ears a notice bV 
Andrew Coburn, concerning- the estate of Ebenezer Coburn, deceased ; 
Elisha Cole advertises Benjamin Coolbaugh, '^ a runaway apprentice ; " 
Elizabeth and John Knapp give notice concerning the estate of 
William Cole; another proclamation from Sheriff A. C. Rockwell, con- 
vening the courts; John Wilson, of Plainffeld, N. J., advertises for 
"information concerning Jeremiah Gach, son of the late Elizabeth 
Dunham." He was a lost heir to a considerable legacy. We refer to 
it, but not in the hope it will yet restore the lost to tlieirjust inheritance. 

August 9 is a notice to the Democratic-Republicans to meet at the 
house of William Means, Towanda, " to make arrangements prepara- 
tory to the general election." 

The editor had a cut of a small eagle, with its wings outstretched 
and claws full of arrows, with the American colors on its breast, the 
whole nearly an inch, from tip to tip, and has a good deal of the 
young goslingair in its tout ensemble, und this he puts occasionally over 
the very latest war news '' by ' yel'terday's' mail" — that is, the old- 
fashioned s looked like f so mucli that modern readers would think 
the printer was sureh^ tongue-tied. In his issue of August 16, he 
brings out his poultrv — the aforesaid eagle — and under it, in very 
large display type, is the word " VICTORY." Then follows the 
account of the " battle at Bridgewater, near Niagara Falls," on the 
25th of the preceding month. This stirring news is credited to the I^u/- 
falo Gazette — Extra. In the next column is a notice bv William Allen 
that lie had purchased the Wysox fulling mill, formerly run by Jacob 
Bell. In the same number, Walter Wheeler, of Wysox,' gives notice to 
delinquents to pay up; Rhoda Gridley, administratrix of the estate of 
Chester Gridley, of Orwell, gives notice. 

The Gazette of August 23 is only a half sheet. The editor, in a 
stick-full of italics, but under the head of "yefterday's mail," pro- 
ceeds to explain as follows: "In consequence of the multiplicity of 
business, settlement, etc., and the foreign papers almost entirely bar- 
ren, at least, of anything interesting, or concerning our land or 
naval engagements — the Editor has thought proper to issue a half- 
sheet, etc." The importance attaching to this half-sheet is that it was 
the last that appeared in the name of Thomas Simpson, although it is 
evident W. Brindle had been running the paper for some time. Also 
with this half-sheet the })aper stopped publication. No mention of 
this fact, however, is made in the half-sheet. William Brindle had 
sold the office, and it was taken to Newtown (Elmira, N. ^ .), and Brad- 
ford county was without a newspaper. 

April 18, 1815, appeared the revived Bradford Gazette, and is indi- 
cated as Yol. M, No. 1, published by B. Ridg^way. The type and 
make-up are different from the first pa])er. It has the old engraved 
head, and is the same size. There is not a line or word of editorial. 



1(38 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTy. 

and, except the very few advertisements, is all reprints, and is mostly 
under the* head of '"'^ foreign news." No reference to the war except 
the doings of the navy. The total of the advertisements are a notice 
by Charles F. Welles, register ; a proclamation by A. C. Rockwell, 
sheriff; militia notices by Edward Herrick and Col. Samuel McKean ; 
S. T. Barstow, of Wysox, offers for sale whisky from his Wysox distil- 
lerv ; and concludes with a list of letters, Burr Ridgway, P. M., as 
follows : Wilham BuflBngton, Churchill Barnes, Absalom Carr, James 
Campbell, Solomon Cole, Selah Crofut, Elisha Foster, Isaiah Grover, 
Elijah Horton, George Head, Alvin Humphrey, William Hitchcock, 
Matthew Russell, Martin Stratton, Isaac Swain, Ezra Spalding and 
James Smith. 

April 25 issue announces [the eagle not appearing] another great 
naval victory, by the frigate "Constitution." A fourJine editorial an- 
nounces that " returns of votes from 238 towns in Massachusetts, there is 
a Republican net gain of 2,000 ; the First Battalion, Fifteenth Regiment, 
commanded by Maj. Gould Seymour, is ordered to meet at the house 
of Jacob Meyer, Wysox, and "^ the Second Battalion, commanded by 
Maj. David Olds, is ^commanded to meet at the bouse of John Spald- 
ingj Ulster township; Martha Benjamin and Jonathan Stevens publish 
a notice concerning the estate of Richard Benjamin ; William Keeler, 
of Wysox, offers " for sale 950 ready-made horseshoes, and also a lot of 
factory cloth for cash or approved credit." 

May 2, 1815, contains a sheriff's sale of numerous tracts of land " on 
the waters of Towanda creek, and the property of the late Walter 
Stuart." We Sfive the warrantees' names, as indicating who were once 
property owners in that section : D. H. Cunningham, 438 acres ; 
James Smith, 410 acres; Thomas Hawthorn, 320 acres; Andrew 
Beckhart, 420 acres ; Alexander Boyd, 450 acres ; Jacob Bennett, 435 
acres; George Lowman, 418 acres; Jonas Simons, 406 acres ; William 
Ray, 435 acres; Robert Hopkins, 434 acres ; David Rose, 466 acres; 
Samuel Wallace, 428 acres; George Hoffer, 416 acres ; Peter Bedford, 
404 acres; Aaron Levy, 400 acres ; Isaac Miinor, 419 acres ; Deborah 
Stuart, 304 acres ; William Stuart, 280 acres ; Jacob Bemus, 437 
acres ; Walter Stuart, 100 acres. Then follows a notice by Col. Harry 
Spalding and Lieut.-Col. William Allen, for the men to meet at the 
house of David Olds, Wysox. 

Mav 9 publishes as the most " Extraordinary News ! " the return 
of Napoleon to Paris, on the 20th of March preceding. Russell Fowler 
o-ives notice of the estate of Roger Fowler, deceased. 

The paper of May 16 contains some important items in the history 
of the borough of Towanda. The notice is lieaded " Naming the 
Town," and then savs that, at a meeting of the Court of Quarter Ses- 
sions in the township of Towanda, on May 8, 1815, Hon. John B. 
Gibson presiding, upon the petition of the inhabitants of the town- 
plot, laid out for the seat of justice, to wit : Simon Kinney, Charles F. 
Welles, Harry Spalding, Obadiah Spalding, Ebenezer B. Gregory, Jesse 
Woodruff, A. C. Stuart, Adam Conly, John E. Kent, Andrew Irwin, 
Burr Ridgwav and O. H. Holden, being all the said inhabitants— and 
John Franklin, Julius Tozer, Joseph Kinney, John Saltmarsh, Joseph 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 169 

Kingsbury, David Paine, Michael R. Ttioi-p, Ezra Spalding, Natiianiel 
Allen, Salmon Bosworth, Edward Herrick, Ethan Baldwin and others, 
citizens of Bradford count}', setting forth that the inhabitants of the 
town-plot have unanimously selected Monmouth for the designation of 
said town, and all agreed to use that name for the county town. Per- 
mission was asked of the court, and given, to spread this proceeding 
on the court's record. 

Then for the next year the paper is dated " Monmouth ( Towanda 
township)." The final naming of Towanda is of itself quite a history. 
Col. Means was one of those positive men, and a political leader in the 
county; a Democrat (then called Republican), and he had been the 
chief influence in locating the town where it stands. The issue of the 
Gazette^ March 4, 1816, is dated '' Williamston," and Burr Ridgway 
explains : 

" The name of this village having become the source of considerable 
impetuosity and unreasonable strife, the editor, willing to accommodate 
all, announces a new name this da}^ — may it give satisfaction and 
become permanent.'' This prefix of " William" was as much intended 
for William Means as had the name of " Meansville." The place now 
bad advocates who called it all the various names of Williamston, 
Monmouth, Towanda anil Meansville, Pine Grove, etc. For so small 
a place it was already much named, and each name had its advocates 
as well as its opponents. To all these were added "Vauxhall" and 
" Claverack," the original name of the Connecticut purchase. In 1822 
the name was still a subject of contention. The Gazette was now 
dated Meansville. This finally became, when the subject had fully 
entered into the county's politics, the Democratic favorite, and Towanda 
was the favorite of the opposition. This went on unabated until 1828 ; 
at that time Judge Ryan was senator from this district. It is said 
that, through the influence of James P. Bull and William Patton, 
Democrats, he opposed the incorjjoration of the village for some time on 
the ground that the incorporators had selected the name " Towanda." 
But after some time he consented, and it was finally settled officially and 
permanently in the incorporation act. It had enjoyed enough baptis- 
mal names to have been a Pi'ince Regent of some ro\'al house. The 
tradition yet remains that there was a private meeting of the citizens, 
and those of the meeting petitioned the Legislature for the incorpora- 
tion under the name of Towanda, and that before they were detected 
by the other side the bill had passed and become a law. The conten- 
tion had become quite earnest as it had grown and spread with the 
years. 

The incident, as insignificant as it now appears, is full of historical 
meaning. Man is a contentious animal. If he can not find one thing 
to disagree with his neighbor about, then he will hunt up another thing ; 
if there is nothing of any importance, then he will seize something- 
unimportant. He naturally feeds upon contention — controversy. Thus, 
it is to be seen, he rubs off his rough points, polishes the rough diamond, 
— advances himself in the scale of being. An over-contentious man in 
a neighborhood is apt not to be much loved, and is often positively dis- 



170 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUKTY. 

liked, but after all he is the fish that keeps the waters stirred — and 
motion is existence throu<^hout the universe, it is life, and all there is. 

In the paper of May 23, following, is an offer of Ebenezer B. 
Gregory to sell at public auction ''at Monmouth," on a credit of three 
months, the contents of his store, and two cows, one chaise and two 
horses ; Sterling Holcomb, of Canton, warns the public against "a note 
of hand given to Michael Griffin ; " William Myer, Burr Ridgway and 
Samuel McKean, commissioners, give notice that in future their regular 
meetings will be on the first Tuesday of each month. 

In the number, May 30, is an account of what we would now call a 
party county convention. It is worded so as to best show the mode 
of conducting affairs political at that time, and commences by reciting 
that at the May term of the court of Bradford county a number of 
liepublicans were convened at the tavern of William Means, " with a 
view of exerting all their energies to support the institutions of their 
government," etc. The meeting appointed what was called " a com- 
mittee of vigilance," as follows: Athens, Col. Julius Tozer and Edward 
Herrick ; Ulster, Capt. Joseph Powell, Elijah Saltnuirsh ; Smithfield, 
Col. Samuel Satterlee, Capt. Ebenezer B. Gerould ; Wells, Capt. 
George Hyde, John Cummings ; Springfield, Reuben Wilber, Noah 
Murray ; Columbia, Isaac Wheeler, David R. Haswell ; Burlington, 
Col. Samuel McKean, Samuel Conant ; Canton, Isaac Chappel, John 
Knapp; Towanda, Eliphalet Mason, Capt. John Mints; Asylum, Bar- 
tholomew Laporte, Maj. John Horton ; Windham, Edward Russell, 
Jonathan Pease; Warren, James Bowen, Benjamin T. Case; Orwell, 
Maj. David Olds, Joel Barnes ; Pike, Jesse Ross, Rathel Stone ; 
Wyalusing, John Hollenbeck, Joseph Elliott; Wysox, Jonathan 
Stevens, George Scott. Each towmship committee was instructed to 
call a township meeting and send delegates to a county meeting. Then 
Samuel Satterlee and Samuel McKean were appointed to confer with 
the Republicans of Tioga county, and endeavor to "promote a reci- 
procity of action." 

In the paper of June 6 is a notice of David Ridgway, Wysox, of 
" fancy Windsor chairs, common chairs, great spinning wheels, bureaus 
and tables," manufactured at his shops, for sale. J. M. PioUett, of 
Wysox, advertises a " platform of boards " as going adrift from the 
mouth of Wysox creek; David Paine, secretary of the Cayuga & 
Susquehanna Turnpike Company, notifies the stockholders of a meeting; 
William Myer and Asahel Jarvis give notice that their carding 
maciiine is about ready to commence operations; Nehemiah Tracy, 
administrator, gives notice concerning the estate of Joshua Eames, of 
Smithfield township. In the next paper, A. C. Rockwell, Towanda, 
gives notice that he has a number of grass scythes for sale. The 
militia of Bradford county, commanded by Captains Brookins, Powell, 
Kinney, Gerould and Stuart, are notified to meet for the purpose of 
electing a major, to supply the vacancy caused by the resignation of 
David Olds. Harr}^ Spalding says he has found a stray ferry boat , 
Jacob Strickland says he has found a " ticket in the New Baltimore 
Lottery." 

In turning over the leaves of this volume of the Gazette — this 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 171 

faithful mirror of its times— what would strike any one at this day is, 
first, the absence of editorials, general or local; second, the promi- 
nence given to " European news," especially the movements of Napoleon 
and the armies of Europe; third, the little attention apparently to the 
home news of the war that our country was engaged in with the 
mother country. The compiler had traveled along m this old file 
carefully, page by page and column by column, but he found no 
announcement of the end of the war and the happy return of peace 
to America. This great fact, however, does finally appear in type, 
but only as an inference in this way : "July 4th, 1815. the national 
day celebrated at Haslet's Tavern.'" An oration was delivered by E. 
Baldwin, and the paper published it in full; there was feasting, 
parades, music and regular toasts, and one of these patriotic ebullitions 
reads as follows: "The late war — the best diplomatic remonstrance 
of an injured people, made from the mouths of cannon." Mr. 
Baldwin in his oration refers to the late war and its end b}^ simply 
saying that " but lately at New Orleans did we cease, at the mouth of 
the cannon, to give lessons of instruction, lasting lessons to all 
Europe, the moral of which was, eultivate our friendship) in peace, 
hut dread our jjower in war.^^ This is all very curious now to news- 
])aper readers. It was as th.ough the Bradford county papers hail 
passed over in silence the surrender of Lee and the end of tlie War of 
the Rebellion. As a chapter in the history of our local newspapei's. if 
nothing more, it is real historv. The editors of tliose times were 
feeling for and supplying the public demands much as the editors of 
to-day are doing. It is reallv very remarkable. 

In this issue apjiears a wedding notice: Samuel Landrus to Miss 
Mercy Smith, by Burr Eidgw\ay; followed by the announcement of 
the death of Anna Taylor, consort of Aziel Taylor, of Canton, June 
24. The funeral sermon was ])reached by Elder N. H. Ripley. S. T. 
Barstow " offers for sale at his residence at Fenceler Castle (Wysox) a 
very handsome assortment of goods." We learn that Samuel Griffin had 
been to the Fourth of July celebration, and that he lost or was robbed 
of his pocket-book, "containing $5 in cash, an order on Isaac Chapol, 
supervisor of Canton township, a note against Ezra Bradley, a recei])t 
from Garrick Mallerv, '^ - two certificates for wolf scalps, a county 
order in the name of Daniel Stone, another in the name of Daniel In- 
gram, one in fayor of Hugh Ilolcomb and one to Julius Tozer." Then 
Harry Morgan, J. P., publishes a legal notice of an attachment in favor 
of Theron Darling and Robert Sutton. The next is a publication, 
by Polly Tuttle against Henry Tuttle, of a proceeding for divorce. 

The Republicans of Burlington township held a meeting at the house 
of Maj. Ebenezer Kendall, Capt. Ballard, chairman, and John Dobbins 
secretary, and unanimously resolved to su]i]iort Col. Samuel McKean for 
the Legislature. Married in Wysox, by Harry Morgan, Esq., William 
Hart and Mary Stro))e. Amasa Withey gives notice of divorce jiro- 
ceedings against Lucy Withey. Same notice, Lydia P. Smith against 
Samuel Smith. Joim Norris, clerk Orphans' Court of Tioga county, 
gives notice of land sale, to settle estate. Sheriff Rockwell gives 
notice to the children and representatives of Stephen Latimer, late of 



172 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Canton, of a petition for partition of real estate. Columbia township 
Republicans held a meeting at the house of Capt. David Watson; Sam- 
uel Strait, chairman, and David R. Haswell, secretary, and rec- 
ommended Samuel McKean for the Legislature, and pledge each to 
stand by the nominees of their party. Burr Ridgway, A. P. M., pub- 
lishes another letter-list : Sarah Alger, Jonathan Beebe, Churchill 
Barnes, David Carter, Moses Carter, David Campbell, William Gough, 
Richard Gough, William Means, Levi Preston, Jonathan Scott, Elias 
Vaughan, Abel Wheeler, Amasa Withey. 

August 8th, the "Free Republican Electors" are called to meet in 
Towanda, Saturday 19th, at Haslet's Inn, to choose delegates to the 
count}^ meeting. The editor has an editorial announcement somewhat 
as follows: " A number of subscribers to this paper, who have a great 
affection for Englishmen, request the publication of extracts from 
well-known English writers." He says he will devote a column to 
that purpose occasionally. In the same connection he informs his 
readers that the oration delivered at Smithfield last Fourth of July had 
been received, and would appear next week. 

A Federal-Republican meeting of Wysox and Towanda w^as held at 
the house of Col. Harry Spalding, August 10, 1815 ; Ebenezer B. 
Gregory, chairman, and Hiram Mix, secretary. A committee was 
appointed to call a delegate meeting of the townships, at the house of 
Col. Harry Spalding, to select candidates, etc. Following constituted 
the committee: Wysox, Col. William Allen, Ralph Martin; Wyalus- 
ing, Justus Gaylord, Justus Lewis : Pike, Salmon Bosworth, Allen 
Stevens ; Warren, Andrew Coburn, Amos Coburn ; Windham, Levi 
Brainard, Daniel Hill; Orwell, Col. Theron Darling, Asahel Johnson; 
Ulster, Ebenezer Shaw, Jared Holcomb; Athens, John F. Satterlee, 
Dr. Thomas Huston; Wells, Capt. Vine Baldwin; Springfield, 
Samuel Campbell, John Harkness ; Smithfield, Capt. Solomon Morse, 
Samuel Kellogg; Burlington, Nathaniel Allen, Capt. Ezra Long; Can- 
ton, Daniel Ingram, Horace Spalding; Towanda, Abner C. Rockwell, 
Jesse Woodruff. AbquX the same time a meeting was held at the 
house of John M. Hicks, Wysox, George Hicks, chairman, and John 
M. Hicks, secretary, and it was unanimously resolved to recommend 
Col. William Allen as a suitable candidate for sheriff. 

The paper of August 22, 1815, has a notice signed by Joseph 
Kingsbury, W. M., and Thomas Huston, secretary of t^e Athens Lodge 
of Mascms, informing the world that the lodge liad expelled Dr. David 
Sherwood Rice "for crimes of the darkest hue," and requesting 
printers friendly to Masons, throughout the United States, to insert 
the notice. Polly Grant, executrix, gives notice of the estate of Gyp 
Grant, of Wysox. Charles F. Welles, protlionotary, gives notice to 
witnesses and jurymen of their discharge from attendance upon the 
next court "on account of an error in the venires.''^ S. T. Barstow lias 
a new advertisement, stating that he has received a very general 
assortment of goods at his "store, Fenceler Castle," Wysox; among 
other things, " nails of different sizes ; " all is offered for sale for cash, 
grain or lumber. As an instance of how things were done at that 
t'ime, appears a notice addressed: "To the officers of the army and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 173 

navy of the United States; the executives of the different States and 
all citizens,'" and signed by "A citizen of Hanover county, Va.,'" in 
which he states he is collecting the materials to write a history of the 
War of 1812 with the causes that led to it; he solicits everyone hav- 
ing documents, orders or papers throwing light on the subject to for- 
ward them, not by mail, as that would incur too much expense, but by 
Senators and Congressmen traveling to Washington City. lie 
expected to complete the first volume by ISIH. and concludes with a 
request to all Republican papers to copy, and he will give in return a 
copy of the book. 

September 12, 1815, both the political parties held conventions and 
nominated candidates. The Republican (Democratic) convention met 
at To wan da ; Gurdon Hewitt, chairman, and Henry Welles, secretary, 
and made the following ticket : For senator, Henry AVelles; assembly- 
man, Samuel M'Kean; sheriff, Julius Tozer ; commissioners, John 
Ilollenbeck and Samuel Satterlee; coroner, Reuben Wilber; auditor, 
(lurdon Hewitt. Following this was a card from Eliphalet Mason to 
the public, in which he stated that he had been strongly solicited to be 
a candidate for sheriff. He says ; " As it was not m}^ fortune to be 
])laced on the ticket, my friends will show their best respects to me by 
supporting the ticket nominated." 

The Federal-Republicans made the following nominations : Senator, 
.lohn Franklin ; assemblyman, Joseph Kingsbury; coroner, Ebenezer 
E. Gregory; sheriff, John Spalding, 2nd.; commissioners, Salmon 
Bosworth, JSTathaniel Allen ; auditor, Theron Darling. 

The next day it seems there was a meeting, at the house of Andrew 
Haslett. Towanda, "of a number of respectable inhabitants of the 
townships of Canton, Burlington, Ulster, Wysox and Towanda, for the 
])urpose of nominating the sev^eral persons to fill the different offices." 
The meeting put in nomination : For representative, Samuel M'Kean ; 
for representative for Bradford and Tioga counties, William Allen ; 
sheriff, John Mints; commissioners, Charles Brown and Jonathan 
Stevens; coroner, Reuben Hall; auditor, John Hancock. Of this 
meeting Charles Brown was chairman, and Thomas H. White, secre- 
tary. There is nothing to indicate the complexion of the politics of 
this meeting. They, it seems, were content to simply sa}^ they were 
'' respectable citizens," and endorsed M'Kean, and took other men for 
the remainder of the ticket. They might possibly be called "Inde- 
pendents " — or " Kickers," but they are not. 

Died, at Canton, at the house of her son-in-law, Jesse Morse, Widow 
Susannah Stone, "a few years since from Sturbridge, Conn.," aged 8G. 
Uriel Woodruff, Towanda. gives notice that a yoke of oxen had "broke 
into his enclosure;" Ezra Long, Burlington, offers for sale "the stand 
formerly occupied by Jeremiad Decker, on Sugar creek, near Rich's 
Mills, as a store— four acres of land, dwelling house and barn;" Ed- 
ward Herrick, inspector, enrolled militia. Fifteenth Regiment, Second 
Brigade, Ninth Division, P. M., called a meeting of the members of 
that command, at the house of William Myers, Wysox, for the ]nn'- 
pose of electing a major ; Col. Samuel M'Kean gives notice to the 
Twenty-first Regiment to meet at the house of Capt. James Gray, 



174 ITISTOUY OF BHADrOHD ( OUNTY. 

Tioga, for three days drill and discipline; Harry Spalding gives "the 
last notice but one '' to delinquents; Moses B. Canfield gives notice 
that his wife Deborah had left his bed and board; William Allen, 
Wysox, wants two journeyman boot and shoe makers. 

The paper of October 2d following, however, is for the first time full 
of political life. It opens with a long " address to the Democratic 
Republicans of Bradford county.-' Which proceeds to counsel standing- 
together, and every member to vote the whole ticket from top to bot- 
tom. This is followed by a "communication,*' which the editor says 
was received "too late for last week's paper." This communication 
proceeds to explain all about the third convention "of respectable 
citizens" mentioned above. It opens by warning the electors of Brad- 
ford county against " a certain third or Merino Ticket, made up by a 
few disappointed persons of both parties," and proceeds to score the 
whole outfit. The writer grows fierce as he proceeds, and winds up 
with the following outburst: "It is shameful^ it is infamous !^^ 
Thomas Overton, of Ulster, gives notice that he has placed all notes 
and accounts in the hands of Thomas H. White for collection. The 
editor indulges in an article. It must have been something extra- 
ordinary to cause him to break the record. He prints, modestly, in a 
corner of his paper a parable, and tells how once upon a time "a gang 
of knaves, swindlers and horse-jockeys assembled at their rendezvous, 
the residence of one of the crew. * * A violent dispute 
arose as to who had the most honesty. After much wrano-lino- one of 
them became a candidate for the title of honest man,-- etc., etc. The 
writer says the application can be made to " a similar gang of the 
present day," and "the gang must not think themselves the whole 
world." The Gazette now is getting lo be quite lively. 

William Keeler, of Wysox, has a new advertisement of his store 
"a few doors below Fenceler Castle, and on the south of Pond Lane, 
and west side of S(juabble-Hill street, where I have just received, by 
the fast sailing boat, liose-in-Bloom, Capt. Griffin, in a short piissage 
of seven days from Wilkes-Barre, a big assortment,'' etc. These 
things fill the first page of the paper, and it must have disconcerted 
the weekly patrons when they looked for the regular "foreign news," 
always from two to three months old, and found fresh home affairs so 
extensively discussed. The average newspaper r-eader always prefers 
to read his own paper — one in which he knows just where to look for 
things. Looking further, it is apparent the editor is getting rather 
reckless. For instance : " The Gazette in future will be issued on Mon- 
day evening." Then the following: " The news from the westward 
is such that it appears an Indian war is inevitable." We can now. 
after seventy-five years have come and gone, and all these men of 
affairs at that time are now in the "silent city," hardly realize what a 
senation this issue of the paper caused the whole county. The sober- 
est sires, no doubt, read their paper, went to bed and dreamed dreams 
of Indian wars, bolting tickets and an advance one day forward in 
the week of the next paper. Think, even now, of that dreadful 
Merino Ticket, that a writer had said of the whole proceeding that it 
was " a shame, it was infamous'^ The war was all over, and now came 





ai^^^C4^^u.<^ 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 177 

stirring times to old Bradford county. The two regular tickets are 
published each week in the paper, and there is not a word of comment 
as to either. This certainly will enable the editor to say, after the 
election is over, •' nothing unpleasant was said by either of the other." 
It was the " bolter, " or what we now sometimes call the " third party, 
feller," the " kicker," etc., that called forth the wrath and indignation 
of the editor. It is a fine specimen of the old-time political ethics. 
In the next paper appears an editorial in which it is stated that Mr. 
M'Meens has declined being considered a candidate for Senator, and 
determined to throw his support to Gen. Welles, " as a measure most 
conducive to the success of the Repubhcan cause." This left the contest 
between Welles and Mr. Stewart, and of the latter the paper proceeds 
to say he is "one whom every sense of propriety would prompt the 
exclusion, being a man of neither political party, and equally to be 
shunned bv both." Burr Ridgway publishes another " list of letters" 
in the Towanda postoffice, although the paper is still dated Monmouth. 
This list is curious because it designates the places in the county 
where the parties reside, and where there were not postoffices, as fol- 
lows : Burlington, Canton, Columbia, Orwell, Pike, Smithfield, Sugar 
Creek and Ulster. A notice is given to the enrolled militia by Lemuel 
Streator, major. John £. Kent, it seems, was then in business in 
Towanda, and he gives notice to delinquent debtors. 

The paper of October 16, 1815, publishes the election returns for 
Bradford county. A footnote says, "have not received correct returns 
for Representative from Tioga county, but believe Samuel Mclvean to 
have a majority of about 115. Those elected in the county are 
sheriff, John Spalding, 2d, majority 22; coroner, Reuben Wilber, 
majority 113 ; commissioners, Solomon Bos worth, three years, and 
Nathaniel Allen, two yeaus ; auditor, Ethan Baldwin, majority 33. 
Then this explanatory paragraph is given : " It appears b}^ the above 
that, had it not been for the reduction which they suffered by the 
'Merino Ticket,' the Democratic Republicans would Lave carried every 
candidate by consitlerable majority." The highest total vote polled 
was a representative, 891 in the county, Gregory leading McKean 
three votes, but as Tioga county was in the district that elected 
McKean. The vote on senator by townships was as follows: Ulster, 
and Athens township— AVelles. li2, Stewart, 79 ; Cliffsburg— Welles, 
104, Stewart, 11; Burlington— Welles, 46, Stewart, 20; Canton- 
Welles, 36, Stewart, 31 ; Towanda— Welles, Q9, Stewart, 39 ; Wysox— 
Welles, 27. Stewart, 69; Orwell— Welles, 60, Stewart, 7; Pike- 
Welles, 38, Stewart, 10; Wyalusing— Welles, 80. Total, Welles, 572, 
Stewart, 266. This vote would indicate a population of about 4,400. 

It may be proper to explain at this point that, when the returns 
from Tioga county were in, Welles' majority in that county was 588, 
The total vote of Tioga county was: Welles,'2,231 ; Stewart, 1,643. 

Aaron Chubbuck, of Orwell, indulges in a somewhat facetious 
notice of his new goods, wagons, etc.: "Just received from old 
Connecticut, by the fast running carriage (wagon), and for sale at my 
house in Orwell, about seven miles north of Squabble Hill street, a 
handsome assortment of cotton goods, etc." 

10 



178 UISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

The GazetU of October 30, 1815, has the first, second and third pages 
tilled almost exclusively with news of the surrender of ISTapoleon and 
his banishment to St. Helena. The editor deems this so important that 
he indulges in another editorial calling attention to it. It is plainly 
evident that American sympathy all runs to Napoleon. This was the 
great plebian, and the allies were the born emperors and inheritors of 
the divine right to rule and oppress. Then, too, that most thoroughly 
hated England was one of the chief forces of the allied nations. The 
question had in some way shaped itself that the universal coalition of 
the crown heads of Europe were against Napoleon, in order to main- 
tain the legitimacy of lyrinces. This issue of the Gazette, if reprinted, in 
the hands of a skillful teacher would bring to the pupils many valu- 
able hints concerning one of the greatest events of European history. 
Legitimacy in all the ro3'al families despised Napoleon ; he was a bold 
and rash intruder who came of the common herd, and they combined 
to crush him. Napoleon was a Democrat-king, but was no more a 
Republican or Democrat than were those of the oldest strain or the 
most regal houses. He not only had himself crowned emperor, but 
conferred crowns and dynasties on his family and friends. To marry 
one of his sisters was the eas}^ road to a crown. He was a soldier- 
usurper, and would inflict upon the world his iron despotism, even to 
the sacrifice of his Josephine. His boundless ambition was checked by 
no shadow of a scruple — worse, because of his genius, than the enfee- 
bled legitimates in the royal nurseries. His military genius flamed 
across the sky in blinding splendor; he had destroved more men on 
the battle-field than had any man in all histoiT, and was the teacher of 
his race in the arts of modern wai'fare, and was the dangerous enemy 
of his people, because a man to him was nothing but a soldier, and he 
Avas the friend of royalty — a moral outlaw, supreme in the yenius of 
war. If he was of any permanent good to his fellow-man, it was not 
intentional on his part. He ruthlessly struck down royalty, and 
trampled upon the nation's idols. With equal contempt he spat upon 
the world's ignorant and deep-seated superstitions, but was careful in 
all cases, when he toppled either, to replace it with ])erhaps a far worse 
one. If consistent in anything, it was onlv one thing— his boundless 
and overwhelming ambition ; to this there was nothing that he was 
not eager to sacrifice. 

The Americans of that time saw only the Corsican contending single- 
handed in a death-struo^o^le against the combined crowned heads of the 
Old World, and their deepest sympathies went out to the man who 
had risen from their own ranks. Soon a hundred years will have come 
and gone since his day and time. The partakers of the tremendous 
events of which he was the central figure have all joined the great 
majority and are with the silent multitude. We may now soon pause 
and properly estimate the advantages or the disadvantages to the race 
of the life and career of this man. The philosophy of his life, the 
permanent good or evil it left in tlie effects tiiat have come, intentional 
or incidental, are all questions for the true historian to hunt out and 
give to the world. Extravagant eulogy or unreasoning condemnation 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 179 

have now had their day so far as the history of Napoleon is concerned. 
The philosophy of history should now give us its true lesson. 

When Napoleon was sent to St. Helena there w^as but one thing that 
was most painfully apparent. The immediate outcome of this ambitious, 
turbulent man's career was that sunny, beautiful France was in the 
very dust, and the people were menaced with annihilation or the most 
degraded slavery and suffering. The French have been designated the 
" volcanic people." They have called down upon their own heads 
unparalleled calamities ; single-handed, in war or in peace, for many 
centuries they had no equal ; in literature, science, law, war, finance, 
polite culture and luxurious wealth, France was for centuries the 
central figure in the world's greatest eras. She has been overrun and 
despoiled by foreign enemies more than has any other people. Her 
invaders have despoiled her territory and levied tribute without limit, 
and when Napoleon became a prisoner the allies proclaimed that 
''Europe can never be safe while one particle of freedom is left in 
France; while anything but misery and slavery are left in tliat 
populous and extensive country." This sentiment should have shocked 
all manivind ; it was not only barbarous, but was brutal in the extreme. 
Infernal as it was, it came of a healthy fear that the French people 
would again rally and endanger the crowns of the other nations. The 
people of other nations had little to fear from France, it was simply 
the crowned heads. This was the shocking conditions of Europe less 
than a century ago, within the memory of many now living. To the 
good people of J3radford county, it is evident from the files of the 
GazeUe Napoleon was France. Americans were not then so close to 
the idea that the people are everything, the rulers nothing, as we are 
now; they had far more faith in the idea that "there is a divinity that 
(loth hedge about a King" than are now entertained; in that day 
more than now there was a blind worship of rulers, and government 
paternalism was but little questioned. Our fathers were too fresh 
from the thrall of the King's yoke to realize as fully as we can that a 
ruler is human and full of frailty; that none are either all-wise or 
perfect, and that many are so far from being wise that they are vile 
and utterly bad through and through. The progress of this idea, that 
the people are always wiser and better than the ruler or rulers, has 
made the slowest ])rogress in the world ; yet, when we compare 
centuries, then it can be seen that it is progressive. Teach your children, 
that they may teach their children, to s])eed the day when this idea of 
freedom will be a practical reality to all men, the humblest equally 
with the highest. 

November 0, 1815, Joseph D. Woodworth, of Athens, announces 
that he has opened an "axe factory" at the shop of John Redington, 
" where people wishing can be furnished with axes equal, if not 
superior, to any of the Hyde stamp, as the subscriber got his informa- 
tion from Mr. Hyde." 

In the next week's issue the |)aper opens with a four-column 
extract from CorheWs Register^ concerning the a.ctions, doings and 
sayings of the Hartford Conrenthm. The article attacks the Federal- 
ists, that is, some of the leaders, with much intensity of feeling. He 



180 IirSTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

refers to a paper then published called " The Times,'''' and explains that 
a quotation is taken from that paper, published immediately after the 
adjournment of the Plartford Convention, and among other things 
is the following : " What ! " said the Times newspaper, " is THAT 
ALL ! We expected a division of the Union to he declared at once, or 
at least the impeachment of Madison and his associates." The 
Gazette coniexvX^ itself with the extract, and does not indulge in a word 
of editorial, either about politics or anything else. But, after all, the 
issue is an instructive lesson for our young men who are on the 
threshhold of their political lives. 

The next week's issue, following, is also suggestive of some of the 
ideas of that time on political economy. The paper opens on the first 
page with a long extract from the N'eio Yoi^h National Advocate, 
under the caption of " Specie." It proceeds to tell how a million 
dollars had just been sent from New York, and it is darkly hinted 
that it is to go to Canada. The writer says it was shipped by * * 
and '^ [he puts the names thus, he says, because, not having complete 
personal knowledge, he declines the risk of becoming responsible for 
the ])ublication of names], and then he proceeds to say that it is 
surmised that this money is to be used " for the purpose of building 
fortifications on Lake Champlain, and building men-of-war on Lake 
Ontario. * * The sum wanted for Canada, for which sterling bills 
on London have been sold, is perhaps but a part ; three or four 
millions more may yet remain to be purchased. Guard well your 
hard dollars — watch the enemy, and hetvare of the ford, fiend!'''' 

This was a serious matter, evidently, at that time. Our fathers then, 
like all the world, supposed it a most vital matter of government to 
watch the going and coming of '' your hard dollars." But little more 
than a century ago, a nation thought it quite the proper thing to declare 
war against its neighbor in order to bring back the gold of the country; 
the government thought it w^as responsible for keeping '' the hard 
dollars " in its own country. All w^ealth was the miser's idea of " the 
hard dollars." The}' could not understand that money is not wealth ; 
that it is but a measure of wealth, that there is no more wealth in the 
coin itself than in the yard sticks or the surveyors chains. The yard 
stick neither adds to nor takes from the value of the cloth ; no more 
does the surveyor's chain add to the acres of land it measures off. This 
instance of alarm of our fathers is a double lesson to us: first, it is 
plain that they were mistaken as to the purview of government ; 
second, that the going and coming of money among peoples is simply 
like that of water flowing down hill, or the wind blowing always 
toward the point of least obstruction, or the vacuum. - * Then 
follows another extract quite as interesting : " We have been put in 
possession of a copy of the petition of the cotton manufacturers of 
Providence to Congress, for the prohibition, by law, of the importation 
of all cotton goods (nankeens;, excepted), the product of places beyond 
the Cape of Good Hope, and for additional duties on other coarse 
cottons. They state that in a circle of thirty miles from Providence, 
there are no less than one hundred and forty manufactories, containing 
130,000 spindles ; that the}^ consume 29,000 bales of cotton annually, 



HISTORY OF P.RADFORD COUNTY. 181 

which produce 27,840,000 yards of cloth. * * The persqns em- 
ployed, are compted at 26,000.'' The intelligent student of American 
political history can perhaps trace the footsteps of that petition of the 
good people of Providence, in 1815, to the celebrated McKinley tarift' 
bill of 1890 — seventy-five years intervenmg — and yet the little leaven 
leavened the whole lump, and after all this time it is a problem as to 
whether the tjuestion is approaching final settlement or receding 
from it. 

The issue of November 27, 1815, gives an account of a dreadful 
accident at Towanda, which occurred on Saturday at the ferry. Mrs. 
Minthorne, wife of Walter S. Minthorne, and two of her children, aged 
one and two years, were drowned while crossing in the ferry boat. The 
boat sprung a leak and quickly sunk. Mr. Minthorne and three passen- 
gers, it is said, escaped — one carried ashore by a horse and cart, another 
on a horse, and another by having a paddle that enabled him to reach 
the shore. The woman and one of the children were soon recovered, 
but the other child was not found till the next morning. This paper 
also announces the marriage of William Means, Jr., with Miss Eunice 
Hewitt, by Burr Ridgway. It also gives the "state of parties in the 
Pennsylvania Legislature, as follows : Senate— Republicans, 20 ; Feder- 
alists, 11 ; Representatives— Republicans, 74; Federalists, 23 (one seat 
in dispute)." 

The w^eek following, it gives an account of a fatal accident, causing 
the death of Benjamin Martin, of Wysox. He had fallen from his 
horse, and after lingering 21 hours, died. He left a widow and four 
small children. . . . William Means, treasurer, gives notice to delin- 
quent collectors. Walter Wheeler publishes the " Third and Last 
iJaW' to all those wiio are in debt for blacksmithing. He says, "all 
work and no pay makes the purse light and empties the meal barrel." 
The rhythm is lost, but the truth is strictly preserved. 

December 25 (Christmas), 1815, the paper opens with the message 
of Gov^. Simon Snyder to the Legislature — filling seven columns. 
This is followed by part first ("continued next week") of the Presi- 
dent's message. Both announce an " honorable peace w-ith England." 
[Peace was concluded in February precetling.] The Governor gives 
a brief resume of affairs in France, from the triumphant return of 
Napoleon from Elba, and then the invasion, and the overthrow of this 
remarkable man by the allied powers, and pictures the horror and 
sufferings of France, and gives expression to the profoundest sympa- 
thies for the people of that country. He attributes much of its calami- 
ties to the division among her people, and from this draws a lesson 
for Americans. "Shall those awful dispensations of Providence pass 
before us without our being deeply impressed with the baleful conse- 
quences of being a divided people? We must unite upon national 
grounds — we must cherish a national spirit and become a united peo- 
ple, or the day may come when we, like the people of France, in sack- 
cloth and ashes, may weep over the ruins of our unhappy and dismem- 
bered country. * * * Let us be wise, and profit by the experi- 
ence of ages." This was very timely and good doctrine from the 
wise and good Governor of the State. It was pregnant with the 



182 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

broadest statesmanship, and the Gazette did well in publishing it, 
laying it before the Bradford county readers in significant contrast 
with the Times newspaper's discordant utterings about the Hartford 
Convention. . . . The same paper has a proclamation signed by 
John B.Gibson, President Judge, addressed to the public, reciting that 
Joseph Tyler, of Athens township, had made complaint to tiie court 
that he had been disturbed in the lawful enjoyment of his estate, etc.; 
and commanding all trespassers to desist untler pain of severe punish- 
ment from the court. ... In the next column is a remarkable 
editorial in large job type, and is under the head : 

''Projyerty — two thousand six hundred and twenty-nine bales of 
cotton, says the Savannah] Bepvhlican, arrived by water yesterday 
from Augusta, the value of which, allowing 26^ cents a pound (current 
price to-day) and 270 pounds to the bale, amounts to $188,lo4:.95." 
Then, in brackets, '' [Imported into England this cotton would contrib- 
ute to the English revenue 8s. per 100 lbs., or 2501. 12s. — While the 
nation, that ])roduced it would not profit one cent.'] " 

The paper of January 1, 1810, has this very interesting scrap of 
history, which parties contemplating a visit to Washington City soon 
would do well to copy and take along, and b}^ reading it on the spot and 
examining our capitol, it would give one a bird's-eye view of the growth 
of America since that time: " The house on Capitol Hill, commonly 
called the New Capitol, which was built by a company for the use of 
Congress, if the honorable body should think proper to accept it, until 
the capitol is finished (and it appears they have) stands at the corner 
of First street and Maryland avenue. The chamber for the Senate is 
on the first floor; it is fifteen feet high, twenty-five feet six inches 
wide, and forty-five feet long. A gallery is attached to this chamber 
which takes up no room. On the second floor is the chamber intended 
for the House of Representatives; it is seventy-seven feet long, forty- 
five feet wide and twenty feet high, and also has a galleiy. '^ * * 
The spot on which this spacious building stands Avas a cabbage garden 
on the morning of the 4th of July — in the afternoon of that day the 
digging was commenced. At that time the stone employed in the 
structure was not quarried ; the clay of which the bricks are made was 
in its native state, and all the principal timbers were then standing in 
the woods." . . . Then is found a communication addressed 
" To Mr. Printer, " and signed " T." It fills about half a column, and 
purports to be from some man who was "passing through your vil- 
lage, traveling for amusement," and in tiie bar-room of the hotel heard 
the natives talking over affairs, particularly some " strange animals 
that had recently made their appearance in the county." These old 
fellows were " laying bates" to catch some of these animals, if possible. 
The traveler gathered something like the following description of these 
"animals," mentioned as "being either from Ireland or Irish extract, 
some Dutch and some mongrel. * * * Some of them had no 
mouth, and some were all mouth, some without a head, and others 
were all head, and what is most remarkable they are said to have the 
power of eraiting something having the appearance of jxi/per cur- 
rency., 'tis said they burrough in the ground or live in the cliffs of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 183 

rocks." Was this sarcasm ? . . . The announcement is made that 
the Governor has appointed Lemuel Streator Justice of the Peace for 
the district of Orwell. . . . Burr Eidgway opens the new year 
Avith another "letter-list'' in which are named six parties inTowanda, 
two in Canton, one in Windham, one in Sugar creek, one in Smithtield, 
and one in Bradford county, to whom letters are addressed. . . . 
Darius Bullock, of Smithffeld, administrator of Nehemiah Tracy, 
gives notice concerning the estate. 

The issue of January 15, 1816, has this one editorial : " No mail 
was received from the southward last week, in consequence of which it 
is out of our ]jower to present to the readers of the Gazette any of the 
recent proceedings of Congress or the State Legislature." 

Simon Kinney, treasurer, gives notice to those collectors who have 
not settled up their duplicates, etc. . . Paul Beck, Jr., E. A. Cald- 
cleuh and William Poyntell, executors of the estate of William Poyn- 
tell, deceased, of Philadelphia, give notice. . . Jacob Bowman 
advertises about a "red heifer." . . Burr Eidgway, Nathaniel Allen, 
Salmon Bosworth, commissioners, give notice of "days of appeal:" 
In Ulster, at the house of Obadiah Gore ; Athens, at the house of 
D'Alanson Saltmarsh ; Smithtield, at the house of James Gerould ; 
Springfield, at the house of Samuel Campbell; Wells, at the house of 
Yine Baldwin; Columbia, at the house of Charles Taylor; Burling- 
ton, at the house of Ebenezer Kendall; Canton, at "the house of 
Benjamin Stone; Wyalusing. at Justus Gaylord's; Pike, at Josiah Bos- 
worth's ; Warren, at James Brown's; Windham, at Jeptha Brainard's; 
Orwell, at Lemuel Streator's ; Wysox, at William Myers' ; Asylum, at 
I>artholomew Laporte's. . . Thomas B. Beebe & Co., of Orwell, 
advertise saddles and bridles for sale. . . . S. & B. McKean, of 
Burlington, give notice to pay up. . . So does Augustus Pearce, of 
Wysox. . . John Sjialding 2d, has a proclamation as sheriff, 
calling a session of the court, that of course winds up with " God mm 
the Commonwealtli . ' ' 

The next issue of the paper gives notice that Simon Kinney has 
been appointed treasurer by the commissioners. . . Col. Harry 
Spalding gives notice of a contested election in the seventh company, 
militia, concerning the election of Samuel Gilbert, as captain. . " . 
Ehoda Saltmarsh, administrator, gives notice concerning the estate of 
John Saltmarsh, deceased, of Athens. . . Darius Bullock gives notice 
concerning estate of Stephen Titus. . . The collector of revenue, 
of the Twentieth District, gives notice that he will attend at the 
prothonotary's office, Towanda, for the purpose of "receiving the 
entry of carriages, etc., agreeably to an act of Congress." 

One of the political questions of that day was gold and silver vs. 
paper currency. In time, Benton was called " Old Bullion," and men 
talked about "Mint Droj^s," meaning the hard money that came from 
the Mint. This will explain a notice in the Gazette at this time, taken 
from the United States Gazette, commencing, " Tivo Whole Families 
Zostf— Mr. Eagle and Mr. Dollar, who, a few years ago, were much 
seen in the United States, supposed to be native Americans. A 
generous rew^ard is offered, payable at Treasury Department, Wash- 



184 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ington, or at any of the Forty Banks," etc. More sarcasm, it is 
supposed. Tliis, too, sounds a little like the modern political discussion 
in the papers about demonetizing silver. 

After the issue of Februar}^ 12, 1816, there is no other paper until 
March 4, following. In fact there were frequent irregularities in 
getting out the weekly issues about this time. The explanation of 
this is made in the paper of the latter date ; " owing to the young 
man tliat I had in the office having left me very unexpectedly, at a 
time when it was necessary I should be absent from home, I have not 
been able to issue the paper regularly." The editor dates this paper, 
" Wilhamston," liaving now dropped "Monmouth." . . . Then 
follows an extract referring to Virginia's House of Delegates formu- 
lating a plan to establish free schools in that State, and punches up 
the Pennsylvania Assembly for its neglect on this subject. 

The issue of March 4, 1816, is an unusually lively one. It has an 
editorial, a very short one, some catching communications, as well as 
interesting advertisements. For instance: 

" Nuj^tials — The affluent leap year 
Vincent quick without tears." 

Then follows the announcement of the marriage at Asylum, by 
Charles Brown, of James P. Quick to the accomplished Miss Maria 
Vincent. . . . And then is given the marriage at Warren, by Burr 
Ridgway, of Arunah Case and Mrs. Sally Wate. . . . The Balti- 
more Gazette addresses Col. Samuel Satterlee, through its col- 
umns, which is copied in the Gazette of Towanda, a communica- 
tion containing some curious subjects. It opens with the sentence 
that when great men die much is said about it; in Virginia they 
are talking of building a Pyramid., but the writer suggests these 
are of no use since the arts and sciences have been cultivated. He then 
proceeds to inform Col. Satterlee that many of the Virginia revolution- 
ary volunteers could not read nor write, and concludes that he wants 
the Colonel to give him information " of the exact number of Republi- 
cans and their names our [the] county lost in the various battles and 
skirmishes in which the brave army of the North were engaged." 

An article is copied from a Washington paper which contains the 
information that the Legislature of Virginia had proposed to request 
permission to remove the remains of Gen. Washington to Richmond, 
and the State, by private subscription, would erect a suitable monu- 
ment. ... "a three-line item announces that " we learn that 
postage on letters and newspapers will be reduced to the old standard, 
from and after the 31st. . . . Adam Conly addresses all printers in the 
United States, making anxious inquiries for Joseph Conly, a young man 
two years since departed from this place" (Towanda). " He had some 
knowledge of the printing business. Theparentsof the aforesaid Joseph 
have a keen sensation for their son." Then any person having any 
knowledge of the youth is implored to furnish it to the afflicted family. 

Andrew Irwin, of Towanda, advertises for an ap])rentice " to the 
tanning and currying business." . . . Billings Clerk notifies the world 
that " my wife, Charlotte, without any provocation," has left the ranch. 

Alphonso C. Stuart has a notice that the accounts of Andrew 



niSTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 187 

Haslett are in his hands for collection, . . August Fearce, of Wysox, 
has a like n.otice to all persons indebted to him. . . . Then follows 
a statement of the balances due from collectors, January 1, 1815, of 
the different townships in the county. The list of collectors is given 
as follows: Wyalusing, Simeon Marsh, Uriah Terry, John Ilollenback; 
Pike, Josiah Bosworth, Salmon Bradshaw ; Orwell, Orcut Grant, 
Lemuel Streator; Wysox, Hiram Mix, W. F. Dinninger ; Ulster, 
George Kinney, Samuel Marshall, Elisha Satterlee; Athens, John 
Spalding (2d), Stephen Hopkins, Conklin Baker; Smithfleld, James 
GeroukI, Darius Bullock; Burlington, Nathaniel Ballard, James Col- 
kins ; Canton, Isaac Wooster, Samuel Griffin, William Means; To- 
wanda, John Mints, Jacob Bowman ; Warren, Farley Coburn, James 
Bower; Windham, Darius Brainard, Levi Brainard ; Columbia, Rufus 
Fratt, Samuel Ballard ; Murrayslield, Joseph Grace ; Springfield, John 
Barber; Wells, Jonathan Kent, Joseph Parker. [It should be stated 
that these included those collectors who owed a balance for either 
of the years 1813- 14-15. — Ed.] There is an extract from a New 
^ ork paper, stating that the Legislature of that State had incor- 
porated a company ''to open water communication between 
Seneca lake and the Chemung brancii of the Susquehanna river by 
means of a canal." The article is headed, "Seneca and Susquehanna 
lock navigation." Thus opening " water communication from Lake 
Ontario to the Chesapeake, through the heart of Pennsylvania." This 
must have been a stupendous piece of news to the good people of 
Bradford, but the editor is content to make the simple extract from 
his exchange without a display headJine or a word of comment. 

In the news coming from Ilarrisburg is given an account of the 
proceedings in reference to the building of the Susquehanna and Tioga 
turnpike road. This was merely a petition to incorporate the com- 
pany, and asking the State to subscribe for $10,000 of the stock thereof. 

In the Legislature one very important move was made by Mr. 
McKean of Bradford county. The resolution recited that "great 
inconveniences has [have] arisen in consequence of individuals holding 
large tracts of unimproved lands within this commonwealth, and the 
titles thereto been kept so secret as to render it very difficult to ascer- 
tain correctly what lands were vacant or what were not." It proceeded 
to recite that in many cases people were deceived into making valu- 
able improvements on such lands, supposing they were public lands, 
etc. It concluded with a resolve asking that a committee be appointed 
to investigate and ascertain to what indemnification such people were 
entitled. . . . Another act introduced was " to authorize the Gov- 
ernor to incorporate a company for making an artificial road from 
Henry Hews', in Lycoming county, to Aaron Bloss\ in the county of 
Tioga." . . . From Washington there is a report that " the ques- 
tion is at length settled in the popular branch of the National Legisla- 
ture that the Direct Tax shall be continued for one year at least; at the 
end of which time the question will again return to them." 

This paper concludes on the fourth page with some interesting 
items from unhappy and dismembered France. Among others is a 
letter from Murat to his wife and children on the dav he was executed 



188 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

It is dated Fizzo, October 15, 1815. This is followed by along letter 
from Marshal Moncey to Louis XVIII. , pleading eloquently for a court- 
martial to try Ney, and not simply to execute him without trial, at the 
request of the allies. Moncey wrote in the face of danger of death 
that his act might bring himself, but he spoke bravely, and concludes 
with the statement that if his plea for justice to a great soldier brings 
disgrace and death upon himself, he will go to his grave content, and 
he says to his King : " I may say, sire, with one of your ancestors — 
'all is lost, except honorr'' 

The next issue of the paper has a communication from a "New 
England " correspondent addressed to a Boston paper, in w^hich the 
writer calls upon the Congressional caucus of the Republicans to put 
in nomination James Monroe for President, and Simon Snyder for 
Vice-president. 

The issue of March 25th following has the first and second pages 
filled with news from France. The opening article is a communica- 
tion from a Bradfordite of five and a quarter columns, signed 
"B * *,,n" [Who could the writer have been? — Ed.], devoted entirely 
to the execution of Marshal Ney. The writer calls it " Ney's solilo- 
quy before death, with his farewell to his family." This is followed 
by five more columns all about the doings of the allies in France. 

Then is given the new postage law passed by Congress, February 
1, 1816 : Single letters composed of one piece of paper, not exceeding 
40 miles, 8 cents; over 90 miles, 10 cents; over 150 miles, 12^ cents ; 
over 300 miles, 20 cents ; over 500 miles, 25 cents. Double letters, 
that is, two sheets, double rates. . . . Elias ISTeedham, Jr., of 
Smithfield, offers his farm of Y8 acres of valuable lajid for sale; has a 
good orchard with hewed-log house, etc. It is on the public road 
from Tioga Point to Tioga river. . . James Arnold, administrator 
of the estate of William Arnold, deceased, gives notice. . . The 
editor says: '"Maple sugar wanted." . . A communication saj's 
that "there are now living in Ulster township, Mr. Eligh Horton, and 
Jemima, his wife, who have living 12 children, 74 grandchildren, 23 
great-grandchildren — total, 109. Mr. and Mrs. Horton are in good 
health — he takes care of his stock of horses and cattle, breaks his own 
colts, cuts his own wood ; while Mrs. Horton performs the household 
duties without assistance. Their eldest child has 9 children and 12 
grandchildren. The article is signed "K." . . The death of 
" Electy " Newell is announced. . . Burr Ridgway and Nathaniel 
Allen, commissioners,publish their annual financial statement of county 
affairs. Total expenditures for the county for the year 1815, $7,365.28. 

March 11. 1816, a meeting was convened m Harrisburg of the 
members of the Assembly, for the purpose of nominating a ticket of 
Democratic Republicans of the State as electors in the then approach- 
ing National election. Two of the candidates chosen were from Brad- 
ford county, namely : Col. Samuel Satterlee and Charles F. Welles. 
And a committee of correspondence was chosen, and the members for 
Bradford were Satterleeand Welles, and also John Hollenback. Instead 
of this now being done by the members of the Legislature, there is 
called a State Convention ; delegates are sent from each county, and 



HTSTORY OF URADFORD COUNTY. 189 

this State Convention, after putting electors in the field, sends its dele- 
gates to the National Convention. Political machinery has grown to 
be vast, complicated and expensive, and it is not certain that this has 
materially bettered it. 



CHAPTER X. 

PROGRESS IN CIVIL ORGANIZATION. 

When this was Montgomery County, Connecticut — A Part of the 
Seventeen Townships — The Two Original Townships Along the 
River Made Three, Four, Etc. — Bradford County Formed as 
Ontario County — Changed to Bradford — Its Organization and 
Civil Progress — Contestants for County Seat — Original Town- 
ships AND Election Districts — Petitions for New County — To be 
Called Hiram — Others Wanted it Called Loraine — Nonsense 
OF Hunting for Indian Names for Places — A Possible Vision, 
Standing on Table Rock — Amusing Gerrymander — Etc 

THE careful reader of a preceding chapter, entitled " The Seventeen 
Townships," will there see that all the proper steps were once 
taken, to make this part of Pennsylvania, including not only what is 
now Bradford county, but a large j)ortion of several surrounding coun- 
ties, a part of the civil government of Connecticut under the name of 
Wcstiitoreland county. While, in fact, this was a war measure on the 
part of the Connecticut settlers, in the wars of the " Pennamites and 
Yankees," precipitated by that trouble and intended mainly to 
strengthen the cause of the Connecticut claimants to the soil, it would 
have resulted, had there been no terms of conciliation offered by Penn- 
sylvania, in making very different history of tliis locality from that 
w^e are now called u[)on to record. 

Within what is now Bradford county was originally four town- 
ships laid oft' and surveyed as Connecticut claims, to wit: Athens, 
commencing at the north line of the State and extending on both sides 
of the river to a point below the river junction, nearly an exact square 
lying due north and south. 

Ulster joined this on the south, the river running near its center. 

Claverack was below this, a vacant space between the two, and 
while nearly square did not run with the cardinal points of the com- 
pass; it lay slightly to the northeast and southwest. 

Springfield was below this, a vacant space of nearly ten miles 
existing; was a square, but this reversed the lay of Claverack, being 
slightly northwest and southeast. The northwest corner of Wyom- 
ing county enters just over what was the .south line of this township — 
a very small point of land. 

The river ran through all these townships, intended to take in 
nearly an equal portion of the fertile bottom-lands on each side. 



190 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

All the original pioneers followed the Indian idea of securing, as 
the best farming lands, the valleys along the river. In time the high 
waters in the river drove many to the hills. There were selected the 
places for their farms and judged the wealth of the soil by the places 
where they found the heaviest timber. And now it is easy to tell 
where were once the heaviest forest growths, by the age of the farm 
improvements. It was on the streams the savages had burned away 
the forests, and had their small truck patches. It is difficult now to 
conceive hosv scant these evidences of civilization were, yet they were 
the meager footprints to the restless, hardy pioneers that caused 
Rudolph Fox, the first white settler in what is now Bradford county, 
to settle in the rich and beautiful valley at the mouth of Towanda 
creek. The first were along the Susquehanna river of course, and then 
the hunters would follow up the creeks to their source, that were 
nature's surveys to guide them back to their cabins after chasing the 
long day the game in the dark and trackless forests, and in this way 
soon the lone settlers were building their log huts on the banks of these 
small streams. In the early occupation of these straggling pioneers, 
the older settlements along the seashore swarmed something after the 
fashion of the bee-hive, and men started AVest to settle, live and strug- 
gle and breed new swarms to '' go West, young man, and grow up 
with the country." There is no great movement of mankind, there is 
no peaceful movement with the honest, single purpose of making 
homes and winning farm lands, that is or may be comparable to that 
of the landing of the people on our Atlantic shores, and in less than 
the one hundred years spanning the continent from ocean to ocean 
with a cordon of civilization tiiat in all that is grand, noble and good 
may challenge all history. Without finger-boards in the limitless 
forests, without precepts and examples on civilization's long and often 
dark and gloomy highway, they came, bankrupt in all save courageous 
hope; conquerors and conquering, and as picket-guards of the forlorn 
hope of the human race, lived and died. A great and brave people, 
unwashed and uncombed, in rawhide moccasins,leather jerkins and coon- 
skin caps, anti the old match-lock cast iron guns ; in courage grand and 
in faith sublime, and, with never a quiver of fear, they left their bones 
to bleach on the hill-sides and in the mountain gorges, or to bear the 
marks of the sharp teeth of the wild animals that gathered them for 
their cubs in the caves and rock-ribbed dens. Here may be found the 
great, real men of modern history — men, the effect of whose lives will 
live forever, growing, ever growing, broadening and expanding over 
the whole earth. The student of history may ever turn here for valu- 
able lessons, and while the true heroes may be nameless and their bones 
unshriven, their great work remains, the one eternal monument that 
time can not corrode, the elements dim nor the concensus of human 
intelligence forget. 

The "Seventeen Townships" (there were in fact eighteen) contin- 
ued on down the river to what is now the eastern line of Columbia 
county, and, wlien their skeleton outlines are drawn on the map, look 
something like a class' work in geometry on the blackboard. Nearly 
all of them are pervaded by the river, or have a frontage thereon, but 



HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 191 

not every one. The names of the townships somewhat in their order 
as you proceed south from Bradford county are as follows : Braintram, 
Putnam, Northumberland, Exeter, Kingstown, Bedford, Providence, 
Pittstown, Plymouth, Wilkes-Barre, Hanover, Newport, Salem and 
Huntington. 

Bucks county was one of the original counties of the province, and 
all this part of Pennsylvania was a part thereof. 

Northampton county was formed March 11, 1752, out of part of 
Bucks county, including all this portion of the State. 

Northumberland county was formed March 27, 1772, and then this 
w^as a part of that county's territory. 

Luzerne county was formed September 25, 1780, when all of the 
territory of Bradford county was a part thereof. 

Lycoming county was formed April 13, 1796, and this took a por- 
tion of what is Bradford county. 

Bradford county was formed of parts of Luzerne and Lycoming 
counties, February 21, 1810— named in the act creating \C Ontario 
county. It seems there were no immediate steps toward its civil organ- 
ization until the early part of the year 1812. 

March 24, 1812, by act of the Legislature, the name of the county 
was changed from Ontario to Bradford — simultaneous with the move- 
ment to vitalize or perfect the original act creating it. 

Section 1 of the act of the Legislature of 1810 provides as follows : 

That the parts of the counties of Luzerne and Lycoming which are included 
within the following lines, to wit : Beginning at the fortieth mile stone standing on the 
north line of the State and running south to a point due east of the head of Wyalus- 
ing falls, in the river Susquehanna: thence soiithw eslerly to the nearest point oi the 
Lycoming county line : thence in a direct line to the southwest corner of Tioga county, 
atthe Beaver dam, on Towanda creek ; thence northerly along the east line of Tioga 
county to the eighteenth mile stone standing on the north line of the State ; thence 
east along the said line of the State to the fortieth mile-stone, or the place of beginning, 
be and is hereby erected into a separate county, to be henceforth called Oiitarioco\\\iiy\ 
And the place of holding courts of justice in and for said county shall l)e fixed by three 
commissioners to be appointed by the Governor at any place at a distance not exceed- 
ing seven miles from the center of the county, which may be most convenient and ben- 
eficial to the same. 

Section 3 makes the usual provision for the jurisdiction of the 
courts and provides that, ''until the enumeration of the taxable inhabit- 
ants thereof, and until it shall be otherwise directed bv law,'' the 
county was annexed to tiie counties of Luzerne and Lvcoming, and the 
authority of judges shall extend over and shall operate and be effect- 
ual, and the electors of said counties shall continue to elect at the 
same places and with the counties of Luzerne and Lycoming. 

The Governor was required to appoint three trustees for the new 
county, who were to receive proposals in writing for the grant or con- 
veyance of any land for fixing the i)lace of holding courts. The 
trustees were to report the offers they might receive to the commission- 
ers from time to time, and it was the\luty of the latter to fix the place. 

The name Bradford was in honor of"" William Jh-adford, Jr., who 
was attorney -general of Pennsylvania, commissioned, the first in that 
office, June 9, 1791. The change of name was more of a concession on 
tiie part of the Connecticut settlers, who, however, it seems, were well 
j)leased with tiie fair treatment they believed they had received from 



192 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Attorney-General Bradford. This man was iu a position where he could 
have struck severe blo^vs had his nature been overbearing or tyrannical 
towards the claimants, or in the settlement of disputes in the seventeen 
townships. He was afterward Attorney-General of the United States. 

Returning a little in the chronological order, it is well enough to 
here explain that in 1783 what was the settlers' portion of Bradford 
county became known as Stokes District. That year the State had 
appointed Joseph Montgomerv, William Montgomery and Moses 
McLean commissioners to proceed to the Wyoming valley, establish 
peace, if ])ossible, among the inhabitants, and organize some kind of 
civil government. In the discharge of this duty they laid off in April, 
1783, the Wyoming settlements into three townships, called Wyoming, 
Shawanese and Stokes ; the latter included what is now Bradford 
county. A report by AVilliam Gray, surveyor, in that year describes 
a tract of land surveyed for John Lawson on the 10th day of October, 
1783, as " situate joining land surveyed for Job Chilloway and others 
at Wyalusing in Stokes ?;6'?o/i.yA//?, Northumberland county.'' From this 
new civil district it was more than sixty miles to the nearest justice of 
the peace, so if any of Rudolph Fox's fam.ily had desired to marry, even 
after all the usual awful trouble of courtship, getting ma's and pa's 
consent, and going perhaps to Philadelphia to get the license, there 
would have still remained the matter of a week or more journe}' to find 
a squire to bind the knot. Anything like such obstructions to marriage 
in these days would no doubt have a most serious effect on the marriage 
returns in the census repoi-ts. 

The first civil government really established in what is now Brad- 
ford county was December 27, 1787,when by act of the Legislature an 
election was provided for for this part of Luzerne county. Col. Nathan 
Dennison waschosento the Supreme Executive Council; John Franklin, 
member of Assembly ; and Lord Butler, high sheriff. Col. Timothy 
Pickering Avas appointed prothonotary, and William Hooker Smith, 
Benjamin Carpenter, James Nesbit, Timothy Pickering, Mathias Hol- 
lenback, Nathan Kingsley and Obadiah Gore, justices of the peace and 
of the court of common pleas of the county. This was really the first 
time the people along the north branch of the Susquehanna river ever 
had representation in the State Legislature, and had courts of their own 
choosing. 

At the June session, 1788, the court proceeded to divide Luzerne 
county into districts for the election of justices of the peace. Those 
lying within what is Bradford county were as follows: 

I. From the upper line of the county to the place at which the 
road crosses Roswell Franklin's mill-creek, near Mr. Lanning's, in 
Wysox, b}' an east and west line, comprehending both sides of the 
river, to be called the First District — one justice. 

II. From the last-mentioned line to the mouth of Wysox creek,by 
an east and west line, comprehending both sides of the river, to be 
called the Second District — one justice. 

III. From the last-mentioned line to the mouth of Teague's creek, 
by an east and west line, comprehending both sides of the river, to be 
called the Third District — one justice. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD BOUNTY. 193 

The justices commissioned in these three districts, respectively (the 
ones within Bradford county), were Noah Murray, Obadiah Gore and 
Nathan Kingsley. 

At the Wilkes-Barre Court, March, 1790, it was ordered that 
Luzerne county be divided into eleven townships: 

1. Tioga, commencing at tbe north line of the State and extending from the east 
line to the west line of the county, and on the south by an east and west line which 
shall strike the Standing Stone. 

2. Wyahmiig, bounded north by the south line of Tioga, and on the south by an 
east and west line passing through the mouth of Meshoppen creek, and extending east 
and west through the county. 

Thus Tioga included all of Bradford county from the north line, a 
distance a little more than eighteen miles south. And Wyalusing was 
the same east and west, and extended south a little more than ten 
miles. This was all of Bradford county, except a small point that was 
south of the south line of Wyalusing, and was inTunkhannock. 

Wysox. — In April, 1795, Tioga was divided on the prayer of the 
people to that efi'ect, and the part taken off became Wysox. The divis- 
ion was on an east and west line passing through a small stream on the 
east side of the Susquehanna, southwesterly of Breakneck; the north 
part remained Tioga and the south part Wysox. 

At the November session, 179G, a petition signed by Simon Spalding 
and others, pra3^ed the court for another division of Tioga. Thereupon, 
Elisha Satterlee, Moses Coolbaugh and Simon Spalding were a))pointed 
to examine the subject and report at t he next term of the court. January 
17, 1797, they reported, unanimoush^ agreeing to the division "on the 
line dividing between Athens and Ulster [the old Connecticut survey], 
then extending on an east and west line as the line of Ulster and 
Athens doth extend." The north township was now called Athens, 
and the south one Ulster. A.nd thus the old historic " Tioga " was 
dropped — Tioga seems yet the natural name of the point of confluence 
of the two rivers. 

Thus the century closed. AVhat is Bradford county had four town- 
ships: Athens, Ulster, Wysox and Wyalusing — very long east and west, 
and about six miles wide each. 

The First Gerrymander. — The art of gerrymandering is a peculiar 
American institution. As is well known, it is a trick by which 
territory is sometimes divided up after tlie manner of a craz>' quilt; or, 
a '• shoe-string district " is formed that the party in control may gain 
great advantages over the enemy. A Democratic State or a Repub- 
licctn State, or any other fellow who may happen to be in control when 
the whole is to be again re-districted, figures out the minority with a 
skill that is amusing, on the principle that all is fair in war, horse- 
racing or politics. For instance, in one of the Southern States, after 
"reconstruction" times, and the Democrats were again in power, they 
found that the negroes could outvote the whites on a fair vote, so they 
made a " shoe-string district " and put the blacks nearly all together, 
and allowed them to have that one district, unanimously as it were, and 
the whites took all the balance. Thus a district might winil around 
over the State, and be two or three hundred miles long, as crooked as a 
crooked dog's crooked hind leg, and it might in some })laces be not 



194 HISTORY OF BinDFORD COUNTY. 

much wider than a race track. Thus a candidate for Congress in such 
a gerrymandered district, in order to visit all parts of his district, would 
require an able corps of engineers to keep on the correct trail. This is 
." smart " politics, so accounted in this country by the fellow that is 
" in," but is considered downright political rascality always by the 
fellow " out." All parties have invariably practiced it, whenever the 
opportunity offered. 

" Shake not thy gory locks at me — thou cans't not say I did it." 
Upon the principle of " you're another" — or the kettle must not upbraid 
the pot for being black,"^ this rather disreputable practice, really swind- 
ling the honest voters, has been and will continue to be difficult to rid 
ourselves of — the outgrowth of the everlasting struggle for office from 
dog-catcher to President. 

This original gerrymander was one against an individual, and not a 
numerous class of voters, and it occurred April 3, 1804, and was a 
legislative thunderbolt directed at Col. John Franklin. This man was 
the leader of the " Connecticut claimants," and in that bitter and long 
controversy he was no common or diminutive figure, but was literally 
" a thorn in the side " of what was, in those days, termed the " Penn- 
sylvania land-jobbers." The voters of Luzerne county would elect 
Franklin to the Legislature year after year, and the " Pennamites " 
could make no combination for his overthrow; so on the day above 
named they determined by act of the Legislature to gerrymander him 
out of office. He had been persecuted, thrown in prison, chained and 
brutally treated, and impeached for high crimes and treason, but his 
neighbors only the more and more honored and respected him. So the 
act provided that that part of Luzerne county, including Franklin's 
residence, be struck off of Luzerne and attached to Lycoming county. 
Col. Franklin was a member, and present when the original bill was 
introduced. There was no secret made of the purpose of the bill, and 
something of the nature and daring of the man is seen in the fact 
that, as drawn, the bill had made a mistake and drew the line so as not 
to change Franklin into the other count}^ He immediately arose and 
notified them of the mistake, and told them how they could change 
the same so as to include his residence. It was so amended, and 
became a law, and the Legislature congratulated itself that it had 
''killed Cock Eobin." But, Avithout a break in the record, he appeared 
fresh and smiling at the very next session of the Legislature. The 
sifter in that case wouldn't carry water, and the world was given an 
illustrious instance of poetic justice. 

Election Districts. — As early as 1785, September 13, an act was 
passed dividing the several counties into election districts. The county 
of Northumberland was divided into four districts, and the townships 
of Turbet, Mahoning, Wyoming, Shawanee and Stokes became the sec- 
ond, and these people were required to all vote at the town of Nor- 
thumberland. This was doing the "high sovereign act " by the good 
people of P)radford under great difficulties. Miner's history relates 
the fact that Capt. Simon Spalding and twenty others repaired to 
Northumberland, some of them traveling one hundred miles or more, 
and none of them less than sixty miles, to reach the nearest place of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD C0L:NTY. 197 

voting. After taking the oath of allegiance, their ballots were depos- 
ited in separate boxes, lest they should be deemed irregular; this caused 
it to be known for whom they voted. It so happened that parties 
were so evenly divided that these twenty-four votes decided the elec- 
tion of a member of the Supreme Executive Council, two representatives 
to the Assembly and the sheriff. 

September 7, 1789, by an act making new election districts for 
Luzerne county, "all that part beginning at the north line of the State 
and extending down and including both sides of the Susquehanna 
river, to a line east and west across the county at Wyalusing falls, 
shall be an election district '" — called Tioga ; the voters to meet at the, 
house of Simon Spalding, and hold elections. This election district 
included all of now T3raclford and Susquehanna counties — to meet at 
Simon Spalding's. Elections, though now improved, were still not as 
convenient as the fellow's pocket in his shirt. 

Three years after this convenient arrangement, March 29, 1792, 
Wyalusing district was struck off from Tioga and Tunkhannock dis- 
trict. Its boundary was as follows: Beginning at the mouth of Wv- 
sox creek, following down and including both sides of the river 
Susquehanna, to the mouth of Meshoppen creek. The freemen were, 
in this new district, to hold their elections at the house of Isaac Han- 
cock. This was changed to the house of Justus Gavlord, Jr., March 
17, 1802. 

The Wyalusing district was again changed April 10, 1799, by a 
dividing line east and west, crossing at Breakneck, thence followfng 
down the river to Rummerfield creek, to an east and west line through 
the county at that point. The electors in the new- district to meet lit 
the house of William Means, in AVysox township. 

The election law of 1800 directed that all that part of the county 
included in AVyalusing, Wysox, Tioga and Willingborough, begin- 
ning at a point due east from Standing Stone; thence north to the 
forty -first milestone on the north line of the State; thence east to the 
boundary line, the twenty-eighth milestone; thence south until it 
intersects a line due east from the place of beginning, was made an 
election district, called Rindaw; electors to meet at the house of Eze- 
kiel Hyde. 

April 3, 1801, Tioga, in Luzerne, was made a separate election dis- 
trict ; to meet at the house of Thomas Berry. 

In 1805, Burlington election district was formed, and so called; 
electors to meet at the house occupied by Nathaniel Allen. 

Orwell district was formed April ll", 1807; meetings at the house 
of Josiah Grant. 

Cleftsburg district was formed March 28, 1808, out of that portion 
of Lycoming county now Bradford; meetings at the house of John 
Cum mi ngs— changed to the house of William Furman, March 20, 1810. 

Wysox was formed into a separate election district, March, 1808, 
at the house of Amos Mix. 

Canton township l)ecame an election district, meeting at the house 
of Joseph Wallace, March, 1810. 

With the beginning of the century the people began to agitate the 
11 



198 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

subject of a new county. The road to the then county -seat was not only 
long, but horrid, and there was no fun in going to law by the good people 
toward the northern State line. Then there were the old disputes over 
the land claims, and the Connecticut settlers instinctivel}^ felt that 
the farther south they went in matters of land disputes, the worse they 
fared. These "half-share men," poor fellows, as they were, were between 
the devil and the deep sea. The " compromise " and '' intrusion " laws 
passed by the State had satisfied the old settlers or claimants, who now 
favored these laws, and that divided the Connecticut people, and there- 
fore the " half-share men " found themselves being attacked in front and 
rear, or, in other words, the Connecticut people were now "a house 
divided against itself." As these laws went into effect, friends became 
more and more arrayed against each other, and soon there were in 
many places neighbor against neighbor in open hostility. In a lucky 
moment the happy inspiration came to some one, and upon the mere 
suggestion there arose the cry " a new county." After much talking 
among themselves, the movement began to take form, and in 1806 it 
had reached such proportions as to be felt in the Legislature at the 
Capital, and the proposition was broached in that body. This was 
evidently resj>onsive to the movement now actively afoot, and headed 
by such men as John Taylor, John Horton, Jacob Strickland, Jonathan 
Terry, William Means, Asa Stevens, Thomas Wheeler, B. LaPorte, 
Amasa Wells, Justus Gaylord, Jr., Josiah Grant, Reuben Hale, Eleazer 
Gaylord and Job Irish. Frequent meetings had been held in every 
neighborhood, and on the eleventh day of JSTovember, 1806, the inhab- 
itants of north Luzerne held a meeting and aj)pointed the above- 
named delegates to meet in wneral convention at the house of William 
Means, and "agree where the dividing county line shall be run.'" While 
this was the first concerted movement of the people, the matter was 
now vigorously pushed. One ])oint that bobbed up on all occasions 
was that of satisfying the " half-share men " by making the south line 
low enough dowm to include all or as nearly all as possible of this class; 
nearly everyone of these wanted to get out of Luzerne county, and, on 
the other hand, the county wanted to spare as little of her territory as 
possible. 

As intimated above, March 24. 1806, an act was introduced to form 
a new county of the northern part of Luzerne; the act was read and 
disposed of by ordering that it be "recommended to the attention of 
the next Legislature." The Legislature was not eager to accommodate 
the Connecticut settlers, and hence this dodging all responsibility by 
referring the whole subject to their successors. Something like the 
sharp practice so frequent now in Congress, where the admission of a 
new State depends more on its voters agreeing with the party in con- 
trol in Congress than on the justice there may be in the case. In 
fact, in many of our Governmental affairs, to an impartial spectator, 
there is frequently too much political bias in political affairs. For 
instance, when the countrv was confronted with the question of negro 
suffrage, at the same time there was a serious movement over the land 
for female suffrage — both were backed by equally strong advocates, 
except, for the latter, there were all the great women of the North, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 109 

who had been organized many years, and had sent out able male and 
female lecturers and missionaries in the cause of woman's voting — the 
"friends of home" and the enemies of a debauched and drunken 
oncoming generation. The women have signally failed in tiieir elo- 
quent appeals to the country's statesmen ; while the negro, indifferent, 
happy, laughing, singing his old plantation roundelays, or in the merry 
hoe-downs and rollicking cake-walks, knowing little and caring less 
about politics, had suffrage fairly thrust upon him, handed out to him 
on silver platters, b}" grand waiters in paper caps and long white aprons. 
In the language of" the immortal "Artemus," ''Why was this thus T' 
At this long-off day we can readily see why Pennsylvania was slow to 
give the Yankees of the upper Susquehanna a new and separate county. 
The lower end, when it was Northumberland county, could hold the 
upper end in check. They had, it is also true, somewhat hocused 
themselves when Luzerne county was struck off in order to gerryman- 
der Col. John Franklin out of the Legislature. The coh)nel had 
laughed at it, and the people had spat upon it, and, when too late, the 
Legislature had found out that, instead of quenching the fire, they had 
only added fuel thereto. 

Can not the student of history as readily see why, when negro suffrage 
prevailed so easily, female suffrage has not only failed temporarily, but 
is about as dead as a dried mackerel ? The great sun-eclipse Senator in 
his place in the Senate — his own re-election depending — proclaims the 
fact that American suffrage, by its universality in this country, is but 
'' feculent sewage " — that our nation is about being smothered by its 
excess, etc., etc. — notifying the dear women that they must " save our 
homes" bv some other potent device than that of the ballot. AVas 
not the fatal mistake the ladies made that of not agreeing to vote as 
a unit with one or the other of tiie two great political pai'ties of the 
country? The answer to that question will, it is believed, help solve 
the problem of why the Yankees finally secured their own county of 
Bradford. As noted above, they had become " a house divided against 
itself — the "old settlers" and " tlie half-share men." Ti)e Legisla- 
ture accurately forecast the future — the outcome of the division and, if 
there must be tnore contention, why simply tie the two cats together, 
throw them across the clothes-line and let them fight it out, always 
fun for the boy, but rather serious for tiie felines. 

Be that as it may, we are not greatly concerned about the details 
now, — sufficient is the fact that, after four years of trifling over the 
question in the Legislature, the peo])le triumphed, and Bradfoixl 
(Ontario) county was created. As an indication of the steps taken at 
the time, it may be proper here to refer to some of the doings of the 
people and the responses by the Legislature. We have seen that a bill 
was introduced in March, 1806, to form a new county. December 
following, the act was reported as "unfinished business." March 11. 
1807. a petition came from 154 inhabitants of Luzerne and Northumber- 
land counties, praving for a new county. December 19 following, four 
petitions of a like nature were presented, signed by many people of 
the north section. These petitions respectfully asked that tlie new 
county be called Hiram, and the seat of justice be fixed at Wysox. 



200 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

In January, 1808, the inhabitants of Burlington township, Lycoming 
county, petitioned for the new county to be called Hiram. All peti- 
tions had been referred to a committee, which reported, January 12, 
1809 : " That your committee have [has] taken the subject committed 
to them [it] into consideration,"and in effect recommended it be granted. 
Thereupon a committee was appointed to draught a bill in accordance 
with the prayer of petitioners. The bill was reported, discussed and 
postponed for further consideration. During the session of 1808-9, 
the county question w^as frequently up for consideration. During the 
session, eight several petitions had been reported to the Assembly, all 
remonstrating against the erection of a new county as per metes and 
bounds of the other petitioners — these were all from Luzerne county; 
but they described a different territory, and insisted, if a new county 
must be formed, that it be made of the territory they described, and 
called Loraiiie. Mr. Miner then introduced a bill for the appointment 
of three commissioners to lay off a new county from Luzerne and 
Lycoming. This bill was read and ordered to a second reading, and 
then dro])ped. In the meantime, petition after petition were pouring 
in on the Legislature. A special committee on the subject was finally 
appointed, as follows : Benjamin Dorrance, of Luzerne ; Isaac Smith 
and Samuel Satterlee, of Lycoming ; John Murray, of Northumberland ; 
Jacob Snyder, of Berks, and James Ralston. Mr. Dorrance soon after 
reported another bill to organize ; this was read, and a day fixed for 
its second reading ; it was then advanced to a second reading, and 
February 10, following, to a third reading, and then sent to the Senate 
for concurrence. The Senate now commenced the delay tactics ; the 
bill was read and " referred to the next session." Finally, January 12, 

1810, Chairman Dorrance reported from his committee, and strongly 
urged the erection of a new county, laying down the boundary lines 
for the same substantially as they are now for Bradford county, 
and February 21, following, it became a law, and the new county 
was called Ontario — changed, as stated above, to Bradford, March 
24, 1812. 

The Governor was rec^uired to appoint three trustees, whose duty it 
was, among other things, to establish the county's Imes. Moses Cool- 
baugh, Samuel Satterlee and Justus Gaylord were appointed trustees, 
and they employed Jonathan Stevens, then deput}" district surveyor, 
to run the lines thereof. 

In the act defining the boundary lines, quoted above, it will be 
remembered there is a slight discrepancy in the lines in the southeast 
corner of the county in the original act, and as now given in the 
county maps. That"^ is explained as follows : The old township of 
Brainlrim was divided by the county line, and the inhabitants peti- 
tioned the next session of the Legislature to alter the line, so that the 
whole of Braintrim might remain in Luzerne, and therefore, March 28, 

1811, the trustees of Ontario county were required to make a new^ line, 
as follows : " To establisli a point east of Slippery Rocks, at the head 
of Wyalusing falls, in the River Susquehanna, for the southeast corner 
of Ontario county; thence a line west to the said Slippery rocks; 
thence a southwesterly course to the nearest point of Lycoming 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 201 

county." This was all the change that has ever been made in the 
original county boundary lines. 

Thus fashioned, Ontario (Bradford) county contained the town- 
ships of Athens, Burlington, Canton, Columbia, Orwell, Towanda, 
Ulster, Wyalusing, Wysox and a part of Rush — ten townships — and 
there were six election districts: Burlington, Canton, Cleftsburg, 
Tioga, W_yal using and a part of Rindaw. The part of Rush township 
was made a distinct township in the new county; while the electors 
of that part of Rindaw were added to Tioga. 

December 20, 1810, the people had petitioned the Legislature for 
the organization of the new county for judicial purposes, but the mat- 
ter was allowed to stand just one year, and in December, 1811, Mr. 
Satterlee favorably reported a bill for that purpose, and March 21:th 
following it became law. This provided for a county election at the 
October election following for county officers, and directed that the 
courts should be held at the house of William Means, of Meansville, 
Towanda township, until suitable buildings should be erected. This 
act also changed the name from Ontario to Bradford, in honor of 
William Bradford. The xcry first important question, of course, in 
the organization of the new county was the point to be selected by the 
commissioners as a site for the county buildings — county -seat. The 
law required it to be within seven miles of the geographical center of 
the county. Every man with a cleared truck patch within that charmed 
boundary began to have day-dreams of its coming to him — the future 
city to be his "clearin','' the convenience of a court-house in his own 
dooryard, a jail to the right, and a handy poor-house on the left. In 
some lines men's ambitions are easily excited to open activity — sweet 
dreams of the golden fleece. But in this case the question soon settled 
to one of neighborhoods; that is, to places along or near to the river 
where were collections of houses or, at least, where there was one 
house. William Means, Wysox and Monroe were all entered for the 
race. Wysox looked with some contempt upon Monroe, and Monroe, 
in turn, laughed at William Means and his hopes of carrying off a 
whole city on his back. Wysox, by a vote of herself, had it unan- 
imously. It even chose a new name for itself equal to the great occa- 
sion, " New Baltimore," without stopping to think it would have been 
just as easy to have spelled Old London, Paris, or Pekin. Her broad 
and sweeping rich valley was her pride and glory — a winning card, 
surely — and, therefore, why not take an afternoon siesta f Monroe felt 
a deep pride in her strong Democratic name ; unlike Wysox, it did not 
have to shed its miserable Indian name — malodorous name, almost as 
well have been " Heavysox " so a Monroe ready wit said; there- 
fore, "hurrah for Monroe!" While all this preliminary skirmish- 
ing was going on between Monroe and Wysox, William Means was 
laying low, and, figuratively speaking, was stuffing both sleeves 
full of aces; he wasted no time laughing in his sleeve, but was 
putting them to a better purpose. Means was strongly backed 
by Thomas Overton, who owned most of the land that is now the 
heart of the city ; and also there was another man, E. B. Gregory, 
also a land owner. When these three men united the other appli- 



202 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

cants should have rose to the emergency tliat forced them. The com- 
missioners were wary and non-committah A day was at last appointed 
to meet at William Means, and hear all about the claims of the rivals, 
when the question would be settled. The day came, and the applicants, 
that is, Monroe and W3'^sox, with friends and backers, were on hand, 
loaded with Fourth-of-Julv arguments in favor of their respective 
places. Thev assembled at the house of William Means — eying each 
other suspiciously: all were finally seated and awaiting the pow-wow 
to commence. In the meantime the host, Means, was so attentive and 
polite, in fact, beaming on both sides and smiling so graciously, that 
both concluded that he had given up the contest, and now it was a 
fight to finish between the two. After solemnly waiting some time, 
some one inquired of Mr. Means where the commissioners were. When, 
in apparent great surprise at the question, amazed at their ignorance 
of the fact that early that morning the stakes of the chosen county- 
seat had been stuck and the commissioners had, being through with 
their job, gone home, he incidentally and calmly informed them, " with 
a mej-ry twinkle in his eye," as the veracious chronicler of that day 
informs us, pointing just out the door — "there are the slakes." 
Wysox had laid off its new town and staked out the county capital. 
Monroe had dreamed of its great future factory chimneys, its proud 
steeples and its tall glittering minarets flashing back the earliest morn- 
ing rays of the sun, and complacently smiling down on Wysox and 
William Means. One of the Wysox constituents had advertised his 
farm for sale in a Wilkes-Barre paper, and, as an inducement to pur- 
chasers, it was stated, in italics, it ^^ had a stilly ^md then in ten-line 
wood type it was added, as a clincher, that it was adjoining the new 
town of New Baltimore, the new county-seat of the new county of 
Bradford. Thus, "the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft aglee." 

The new town was called Overton, in honor of Hon. Edward Over- 
ton, and was properly and well named. But the disgruntled Wysox 
and Monroeites determined upon revenge, as bloody and pitiless as 
that of the boy who, wdien he couldn't whip the other boy, "made 
faces at his sister;" and so the name of Overton was assailed "by 
land and by sea," as the sage remarked when asked how he would 
attack England if another war was ever declared. 

There has been quite an American fad among our local pundits, 
when called at the baptism to name a place, to hunt up some Indian 
monstrosity of a name and plaster it on the poor helpless infant. 
Indian classics, in their grunting purity, are alwa^'s bad enough, but 
when chipped out into pigeon-English they are simply horrid. Think 
of full-grown people living in a town scuttled witli such a name 
as " Tunkhannock," " Meschaschgunk," " Mehoopanyskunk," " Dia- 
hogga" (trimmed down to Tioga, one of the most beautiful names that 
has come from the Indian); "Gohantato" or " Onochoea-goato." 
These are specimens of the best of the lot — the kind to lay on the top 
of the box, as persuaders to timid investors in sacred Indian relics. All 
these places that had to be named should have carried to posterity the 
name of some early pioneer, instead of this gray-matter-destroying 
Indian gibberish that is now disfiguring our maps. 



HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 203 

This was finally Bradford county, created, baptized, re-named, 
organized as a civil body, with a capital town and a place for court 
house and jail, and a first election of the sovereigns to name its full 
complement of county officials. That youngster is now eighty-one years 
old ; has nearly sixty thousand people, mostly robust, manly agricul- 
turists, with schools, churches, preachers, hiwyers, doctors, neVspapers 
and politics, and politicians galore. Beholdlt, and its grand story of 
eighty -one years! Nay, rather its ons weeping story of one hundred and 
fifty years— the auspicious hour when the first-known white man 
explored this portion of Pennsylvania, with a view of permanently 
occupying it. A long one huntlred and fifty years ago, but a single 
tick of the vast clock of God, yet how it fades in the dim blue distance 
to our finite minds comj)ared to that brief space of life, the short fitful 
fever that is man's existence here on earth. Carry the imagination 
back, as well as you can, and what may you see ^ The low, broad 
mountains studded thickly with great gnarled trees, and its winding 
valleys, where murmured the mountain brooks on their wav 
to the rivers and the sea; the primeval forests, in their stillness by 
day, and their dark and desolate nights only broken by the blood- 
curdling cries of beasts of prey, and the hootings of the birds of 
evil omen, flitting from tree to tree in the deep darkness. The 
solitary traveler might have caught the occasional glimpse, from 
peak to peak, of the tallest hills, but in all else, so far as vision was con- 
cerned, he was as thougli enveloped in impenetrable fogs, able to look 
up through the trees to the clear skies, but about his person the most 
limited view. Again, the river winding away to the north and the 
south, with a glimpse here and there at the sparkling stream of molten 
silver, and in the cool mountain waters the shining fish disported them- 
selves, or the schools of shad traveled in countless numbers ; the mild- 
eyed deer nibbled the branches, or bounded a wav on the slightest alarm, 
the very poetry of motion and the quick, ravishing dream of beauty 
and grace. The forest choristers were 'singing their matin songs, and 
building the nests for the prospective brood to wing their wav with 
the older birds to their winter homes of the gulf shore ; nature, how 
still, how beautiful, how inviting, covering with its rich green mantle 
the fanged beasts of prey, birds of evil omen, and the silent gliding 
serpent, spotted with deadly beauty; birds, animals and insects gave 
token that here nature was kintlly towartl life, and to this county 
came the lone Indian hunter, following the streams in his light bark 
canoe, as untamable as the wildest beast. 

At the birth of the new county of Bradford, one standing, say, 
on Table Kock, across the river from the borough of Towanda, 
could have swept his eye over all the then inhabited or 
hardly-at-all-settled portions of the county. In the blue distance 
the winding high land promontories, covered with the massive green 
forests, the tall trees gracefully swaying in the breeze, clothed inshinv 
green in spring and summer, and dra])ed in snowy white shroud in 
winter ; there was not much then to long hold the "interest of the spec- 
tator. But could he at the time have been imbued with the gift of 
piercing the future for the space of a brief eighty years, then, 



204 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

indeed, would he have found much to enchain the attention. At 
the moment, where now is Towanda, a straggling cabin or 
two at the mouth of the creels ; a little longer, and tlie all- 
round log cabins tore, with low clap-board eaves, and its smell of pelts 
and green hides and raw sugar- — ^a few sounds of the saw, ax and ham- 
mer are the first indications to strike his ears as the hour of travail of 
labor-birth. Years speed along, and behold a frame house takes its place 
by the side of the round pole cabin ; the old log tavern in time gives 
way to the more modern "hotel," and brick stores now throw open 
their doors, rigged out with that splendid 12 x 14 glass in their show 
windows. A real puffing steamboat comes slowl^^ and dubiously up the 
river, and the whole population rushes down to the river's bank to 
wonder and marvel. The dark old forests are invaded on every hand, 
and the woodman's ax sounds the merrv roundelay from morn till 
night ; surveyors are abroad, setting stakes and marking lines for farms 
and for streets and lots in the rising village ; then the canal and its 
patient pulling mule arrives; a steam mill has been built, an immense 
tannej'v over there, and then a factory across the way. A church w^ith 
its tall steeple, and its silvery voiced bell, calls the good people on the 
quiet Sabbatii morn; "come let us worship (lod," is clanged out and 
echoes along the hills, and speeds merrily along the valleys. The 
primitive log school house is superseded by a nice two-story building, 
and the graded school is here. A splendid covered bridge has taken 
the place of the old rope and pole ferry boat. Other great factories 
and mills, and the tall smoke-stacks, and the puffing steam and the 
whirr of wheels have filled the world with active, pushing life. And 
as the sounds of this vision fades, there comes to his ears the pulsating 
of the thundering railroad train — the hoarse scream signals and the far- 
off rumbling, and the hum of busy life ; and behold, the farms and farm 
mansions on every hand ; the beautiful city, the pulsing telegraph that 
has girdled the earth with its sensitive and sentient nerve; the 
telephone, the gas-lit cit}^ arid then the great white electric light 
ftares out upon the darkness, and the transformation is complete. This 
is the change of a few j^ears. Persons are still living who might have 
looked on from the birth of Bradford county to the present hour, and 
seen and felt all this splendid panorama. The wild beast and spotted 
snake have gone, the savage red man has departed, sung his death-song, 
and it may he hoped has long been in the fullest enjoyment of his 
" happy hunting ground." 



HISTORY or BRADFORD COUNTY. 207 



CHAPTER XI. 
ROADS. 

Mail Routes and Postofkices — First Mails Carried on Foot as 
There were no Roads for Other Travel. — First Mail Coaches 
BY Conrad Teter — Navigating the Susquehanna — • Present 
PosTOFFicES — The Old Berwick Toll Road — Etc. 

THE first mail rotite through the county was estabhshed in 1803, 
from Wilkes-Barre to Tioga Point (Athens), and ])ostoifices were 
estabhshed at Wyalusing, Sheshequin and Tioga Point. Then every 
two weeks a mail was carried on foot, as there were no roads making 
it possible for any other conveyance to pass. These foot-mails were 
cai-ried by Charles Mowery and Cyril Peck (the first husband of 
Urania Stalford). To make the round trip took two weeks, and for 
seven years these were the limited mail trains that went silently through 
the tangled wild-wood and climbed along the " break-neck" ledges of 
the mountains from Wilkes-Barre to Athens — not cjuite one hundred 
miles, when often the total mail for the whole trip would be a single 
letter. These foot-mails in time were succeeded by the man on horse- 
back who made his appearance once a week. Mrs. Perkins states that 
the first of this kind of mail service was performed by Bart Seeley, 
who rode for several years. 

In 1810 it was supposed that the roads had been sufficiently cut out, 
and the rock ledges on the sides of the precipices sufficiently improved, 
for a wheeled vehicle to be used in carrying the mails. A pony mail 
had been used a short time, and the people were anxious to reach 
the swell-tide of improvement, and have a w^eekly mail established. 
Therefore the year 1810 may be marked as a red-letter year for our 
people. A weekly mail, carried "in a coach" — at all events it Avas a vehi- 
cle on wheels — was commenced, and the tin horn of the driverPeter Con- 
rad, was " music in the air " for all the people. This was the beginning of 
stage-coach travel along the Susquehanna, that increased with the years, 
brought visitors, speculators, land buyers and settlers of all kinds, like 
lawyers, doctors, pedagogues and the tenderer assortment of preachers ; 
the others had come long before, like the justices' suitors, " on foot and 
on horseback," and had, single-handed and without prejudice, sampled 
the fresh hot corn-juice from the farm stills, and fought the devil, hip 
and thigh, wherever they found either him or his fiddle. 

John Hollenbeck was the first postmaster at Wyalusing, and served 
many years. lie v/as succeeded by Maj. Taylor. "" 

The first postmaster at Towanda was Mr. Thomas, the first pub- 
lisher in the county ; he was succeeded both in the paper and postoffice 
by Burr Ridgway. 

The Old Berwick Turnjpihe was chartered in 1817 to run from Ber- 



308 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

wick to Elinira. A charter was obtained, and the road built through 
Bradford county in 1821-2-3; entering the county at the south line 
and passing through Albany township. Monroe, Burlington, Smithlield 
— following the streams — and passing out of the State through Ridge- 
bury township to Elmira. This was the first good road in the county, 
and was a great mail route ; was a toll road until 1847, when it 
became a free public road. The State had donated about 260 acres of 
land to the building. 

In 1818 there was but one mail route through Bradford county. 
That year a new line was started from Towanda to Burlington, Troy, 
and to Sylvania, and thence back through Springfield, Smithlield to 
Towanda. This was a great improvement to the scattered settlers in 
the west part of the county. 

An index of the population is given in the election of 1815, for the 
Cliffsburg district, held at Columbia Cross Road at the house of 
William Froman. The district included the whole of Columbia, Wells, 
South Creek, Ridgebury, Springfield and more than half of Smithfield. 
The vote polled was 116, which, without the saying, was a total sur- 
prise — a revelation that West Bradford was growmg up with the 
country. 

Early Sitsquehanna Navigation. — The attempts to navigate, by 
steamboats, the Susquehanna was a failure, and almost a continuous 
tragedy. Fulton invented and launched his first steamboat on the 
Hudsoiu River in 1809, and the wonderful story of propelling a boat 
against the stream by steam spread over the civilized world, and man- 
kind, that had been toiling and pushing the old keel and Durham boats 
so painfully up all their long journeys, was now rejoiced. People went 
down to the banks of the clear and swift-flowing Susquehanna, and 
looked upon the stream with wholly new sensations; a providence of 
God, truly, and the old time slow and horrid work of carrying on the 
travel and commerce of the country would soon change — the steamboat 
was coming — the great factor and hand-maiden of civilization. Why 
not "sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea?" The good time 
coming is here ; man's ingenuity has overcome the appalling difficulties, 
and the age of fire and steam has arrived. 

First it was canoes, flat boats or rafts, then rudely constructed 
"arks," and finally the" Durham" boats. The latter were about 
sixty feet long, and shaped something like a canal boat, with a " running 
board" on each side the entire length, manned usually by five men — 
two on each side " setting poles," and one steering. The best would 
carry about fifteen tons. With good luck they could ascend the 
stream at the rate of two miles an hour. 

The Provisional Assembly of Pennsylvania, of 1771, declared the 
Susquehanna river a public highwa}^, and appropriated money to 
render it navigable. In 1824 a boat called the " Experiment " was 
built at Nescopec, and intended to be operated by horse-power. On 
her trial trip she arrived at Wilkes-Barre July 4, 1824. A great 
jubilee was held over the arrival. The thing, however, proved a 
failure. 

Necessity was pushing the people along this river. The Delaware 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 209 

river was being navigated successfully with steamboats, then why not 
the Susquehanna^ In 1825 three steamboats were built for the pur- 
pose of navigating this important river. The " Codorus " built at 
York by Davis, Gordon t^: Co., sixty feet long and nine feet beam, 
launched, and with lifty passengers drew only eight inches water, ten 
horse-power engine, and was expected to make, np stream, four miles an 
hour. She started on her tiip in the spring of 1826 from New Haven. 
As she puffed along, the people flocked in hundreds to the banks to see 
her. Arrived at Wilkes-I3arre April 12, when the town had an old 
style jollification day of it. Cai)t. Elger invited the heads of the town 
and many prominent citizens to take an excursion to Foi'ty Fort. 
After a short stay, the boat proceeded on its way, and soon arrived at 
Athens, making frequent stops at way places. The Athenians, indeed 
the people for miles, even away up into New York, now realized their 
fondest dreams. The boat continued on to Binghamton and turned 
back, and, after a trip of four months, reached its starting point. 
Capt. Elger was disappointed, and reported to the company that it was 
a failure for all ])ractical purposes. 

The next boat was the " Susquehanna," built in Baltimore, eighty- 
two feet long, two stern wheels, engine thirty horse-power, intended to 
carry one hundred passengers, loaded, drawing thirty -two inches. The 
State appointed three commissioners to accompany the boat on her 
trial trip ; several merchants and prominent business men were passen- 
gers, and these were continually added to at stopping points. It was 
hard moving against the current. Tlie boat reached Nescopec Falls, 
May 3, 1826. These were considered the most difficult i'aj)ids, and so 
the commissioners and all but about twenty passengers left the boat 
and walked along the shore. As she stemmed the angry current, the 
thousands of people on shore cheered and cheered ; reaching the mid- 
dle of the most difficult part, she seemed to stop, standing a few 
moments, then turned her course towartl shore and struck a rock, and 
instantly followed an awful explosion — and death and horror followed 
the merry cheers of the people. John Turk and Ceber Whitmash were 
instantly killed; William Camp died in an hour or so; Maynard, 
engineer, lived a few days. The fireman, and William Fitch and 
Daniel Rose slowly recovered ; Col. Paxton, C. Brabst and Jeremiah 
Miller were severely scalded ; Woodside, Colt, Foster, Hurley, Benton, 
Benj. Edwards and Isaac Loay were all more or less wounded and 
scalded. William Camp was "the father of Mrs. Joseph M. Ely, of 
Athens, who was on his w^ay home with a fresh stock of goods. 

The third boat was the "Pioneer," which was abandoned after an 
experimental trij) on the western branch of the river. 

In 1834, Henry F. Lamb, G. T. Hollenback and family built at 
Owego "The Susquehanna," a strong, well-built boat, forty-horse 
power. Her trial trip was down the river to Wilkes-Barre, reaching 
that place August 7, 1835, traveling the one hundred miles in eight 
hours, and returned laden with coal. On her second trip she broke her 
shaft at Nanticoke dam, where she sunk and was abandoned. 

In 1849, the " Wyoming" was built at Tunkhannock, 128 feet long, 
22 feet beam, stern wheel 16 feet, to carry 40 tons of coal. This was 



210 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

;i coal boat, and made trips from W"3^oming valley to Athens durign 
the years 1849, '50 and '51. The arrivals of this boat were known all 
along the river, and the people were wont to crowd the landings to 
see the sight, hearty cheers greeting it, as they would lower their 
smoke stacks, and at Athens land at the foot of Ferry street. The 
cargo generally was anthracite coal, and in return they carried grain 
and farm products. 

The last steamboat for commercial purposes was built at Bain- 
bridge, ]S^. y., by a company, under the superintendence of Capt. Gil- 
man Converse, commander of the " Wyoming." She was named 
'" Enterprise," 95 feet long, to carry 40 tons — completed and launched in 
1851. The first season she had a profitable carrymg trade, as the river 
was high through the season : but in the fall she g'rounded and was 
left on the dry shore to rot, and this was the end of attempts to navi- 
gate the Susquehanna. 

Roads. — The oldest gleanings from the records show that in 1T88 
the first petition for roads, in Bradford county, were circulated and 
signed by the people. This was signed by Thomas Wigley, Nathan 
Kingsley and Ambrose Gaylord, all of Springfield township, and sim- 
})ly notified the court that '"divers roads are thought to be necessary 
to be laid out in said town of Springfield." The committee of free- 
holders : Justus Ga^'lord, Oliver Dodge, Thomas Lewis, Isaac Han- 
cock and Gideon Baldwin. This first movement was pressed in the 
following September by Isaac Hancock, Joseph Elliott, Justus Gay- 
lord, Oliver Dodge, Thomas Lewis, in another petition in which they 
said: "For the want of public highwa3"s traveling through said town- 
ship is attended with the utmost difficulty; for remedy whereof, your 
petitioners humbly beg the honorable court to appoint commissioners 
to lay out and alter the roads in said town." * * And appoint 
supervisors." In 1790, the commissioners reported there were "three 
roads in the town:" 1st. From the eastern part of the town to Ben- 
nett's gristmill, on Wyalusing creek ; 2d. From the town plot, between 
Baldwin and Kingsley's lots, to Porter's mill on AVyalusing ; 3d. Start- 
ing on the river near Bennett's, up the main road to Bennett's mill, 
striking the Wyalusing at Porter's sawmill. An attempt to open a 
road along the river had been made before this, but was a failure. 

In 1789, a petition was presented for a road from Sheshequin to 
Tioga Point (Athens). They stated that they had tried in vain to 
make a road over this line, but that the passage at Breakneck was dif- 
ficult and dangerous ; they had, at great expense, they say, opened a 
tolerable road from Wysox to Tioga Point, and asked the court to declare 
the same a public highway. The commissioners made this recom- 
mendation in 1794, and at this time a road was ordered from Ulster to 
Athens. In November, 1794, a road was surveyed from Wyalusing 
Falls to Tioga (Athens), passing Towanda, or Jacob Bowman's tavern, 
and crossing the Tioga river opposite Hollen back's store. About this 
time roads were laid out from Athens to the State line ; from Wysox 
creek to Athens; also up the river to Benjamin Ackley's blacksmith 
shop ; to Jacob Camp's house : up the creek to Isaac Bronsou's, near the 
forks of the creek : in 1795, one up the Towanda creek, and in 1798, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 211 

one up the Sugar creek ; in 1799, one to start at Col. Elisha Satterlee's, 
at Athens, easterly over the high-lands to the forks of the Wyalusing. 
It is easy to say these important roads were authorized, but it was a 
more serious matter to open them and make them real highways. In 
most cases it was years before passable roads were made over those 
routes. 

The "Old Stage Hoad " was a State enterprise — a system of internal 
improvements, that in the early times were really of importance in 
settling and advancing the country. In 1T80, the State surveyed a 
road from Wilkes-Barre, following the river to Athens. The State did 
but little more than make the survey, yet it eventually became the 
stage line. 

The " State Road " passed through the county from northeast to 
southwest. It was provided for by the Legislature in 1807; Henry 
Donnell and George Haines, commissioners. As provided for, it 
passes through Pike and AYysox townships, crossing the river at 
Towanda, following up Sugar creek to East Troy, and on to Covington, 
in Tioga county. 

In 1821 Zephan Flower and W. D. Bacon were appointed to lay 
out a road from Athens, running westerh'. They report, " beginning one 
mile below Athens, on the State road, crossing the northwest part of 
Smithfield, through Springheld and Columbia townships to Tioga 
county line — a distance of twenty-three miles." 

In 1820 a road was laid out from Towanda to Pennsboro. Com- 
missioners : W. Brindle, Edward J. Elder, Eliphalet Mason and 
AVilliam Thomas. The}^ commenced at a point '' fourteen rods from 
the front of the court-house, and thence to the line between Bradfoi'd 
and Lycoming counties— seventeen and one-half miles." 

Turnpike. — The Berwick and Elmira turnpike, passing through 
Monroe on toward Towanda, was projected in 1807, and the work 
was still carried on in 1810. This was an important improvement in 
the unsettled southern portion of tiie county. 

Post-roads in Bradford county were, by act signed by John Adams, 
April 23, 1800, established as follows : From Wilkes-Barre to Wyalu- 
sing and Athens, from Athens via Newtown, Painted Post and Bath 
to Canandaigua. The office nt Wvalusing' had Peter Stevens for 
l)ostmaster, and at Athens was William Prentice. 

While the above were the first government post-routes, yet we 
learn from Miner's histor}^ : " As early as 1777 an ex])ress was estab- 
lished between the Wj^oming settlements and Hartford. An old, 
smoked-dried paper, torn and much mutilated, has, by an accident, 
fallen into our possession, which shows that the people of Wj^oming; 
established a post to Hartford, to go once a fortnight and bring on 
the papers. Prince Bi'vant was a post-rider on tiiis route nine months. 
More than fifty subscribers remain to the paper, which evidently must 
have been more numerous, as it is torn in the center. The sums given 
varied from one to two dollars each. In the list of names are Elijah 
Shoemaker, Elias Church, George Darrance. Nathan Kingsley, Elisha 
Blackman, Nathan Dennison, Seth Marvin, Obadiah Gore, James 



212 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Stark, Anderson Doud, Jeremiah Ross and Zebulon Butler. Some of 
those names were prominent Bradford county men. 

Soon after the occupation of Asylum by the French they established 
a weekly post to Philadelphia. 

In 1810, Conrad Teter contracted to carry the mail once a week, in 
stages, from Sunbury, via Wilkes-Barre, Wyalusing and Athens, to 
Painted Post. 

Post Offices. — We make mention of the following existing and 
discontinued post offices in Bradford county : 

Alva, January 5, 1827, Fred. Wilson. 

Altuft, Columbia township, established 1888, C. E. Gladding. 

Allis, Hollow (Orwell township), August 17, 1868, George N. Norton. 

AspinwaU (Wells township), established May 17, 18B8, named Old Hickory, 
Alfred Ferguson ; changed to Wells, February 28, 1862, Joel Jewell; changed 
back to Old Hickory, July 23, 1868, John O. Randall; changed to Aspinwall, November 
10, 1869, Levi Morse. 

Asylum (see Terrytown); changed to Frenchtown, September 15, 1857, Charles 
Stevens., 

Aurora, in Warren township, established 1883. 

AuHtinrille, Columbia township, established as Havensville, June 2, 1846, Duusmer 
Smith; changed to Austinville. August 13, 1861, Lyman S. Slade. 

Athens, January 1, 1801, William Prentice. 

Barclay, January 10, 1866, George E. Fox. 

BalUbay, rierrick township, October 9, 18T1, John Nesbit. 

Bently Greek, January 7, 1859, Benjamin F. Buck. 

Berrytowti, near Troy. 

Big Pond, Springfield township. May 31, 18T0, Isaac F. Bullock. 

Birmy, May 6, 1872, John Holies. 

Black, in Sheshequin township, established 1887, William Stevens. 

Browntown, December 11, 1839, Ralph Morton. Discontinued. 

Jirinkhill, near Athens, established 1882. 

Burlington, February 24, 1849, John Rose. 

B>tin]>.<<cil/e, Rome township, 1887. 

Brmhtille, Pike township, established as Pike, January 15, 1868, Isaac Ross; 
chanired to Brushville, January 23, 1871, Giles N. DeWolf. 

Cadis, Warren township, 1887. 

Oamptown, December 7, 1841, William Camp. 

Canton, September 23, 1825, Asa Pratt. 

Carbon Run, LeRoy township, July 9, 1874, Robert A. Abbott. Discontinued. 

Gold Greek. Pike township, March 4, 1870. Edward S. Skeel. 

Columbia Gross Roads. December 7, 1826, Elisha S. Goodrich. 

Govert, Smithtield, 1888. 

Kumisky, established 1888. 

Darell, originally Benjaraintowu, November 24, 1840, Selden S. Bradley; changed 
to Durell, March 29, 1843, W. W. Goff; discontinued, January 4, 1844; reinstaled, 
December 11, 1848, Simeon Decker. 

East Canton, April 15, 1862, Warren Landow. 

East Herrick. January 26. 1839, Jeremiah C. B irnes. Discontinued. 

East Smithfleld, October 11, 1825, .Tames Gerould. 

East Troy, April 25, 1851, Andrus Case. 

Edsallcille, Wells township, December 14, 1827, Samuel Edsall. 

Elwell, Wilmot township. May 21, 1857, Warren R. Griffis. 

Evergreen, Albany township, February 9, 1871, William Allen. 

Fassett, June 6. 1867, Joseph M. Young. 

Frankliiulale, January 6, 1826, John Kuapp. 

Floss, Smithfleld townsliip. 

Foot of Plane, Barclay township, March 11,1872, Theodore Streator. 

Ghent, Sheshequin township. June 14, 1848, R. N. Horton. 
Giltett. station on N. C. R. R., 1856. 

Granville Centre, established as North Branch. December 8, 1825, Sylvester Taylor ; 
changed to Granville, February 25, 1831, Sylvester Taylor; changed to Granville Centre, 
.January 30, 1865, Luman D. Taylor. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 213 

Granville Summit, February 9, 1856, William Nichols. 
Greenes Landing, Athens township, October 18, 1875, W. A. Plummer. 
Grover, Canton township, February 13, 1873, H. C. Green. 

Rvrich. established as Wheatlaad, February 28, 1837, Isaac Camp ; changed to 
Herrick, December 28, 1837. 

Ilerrickville, July 22, 1843, Daniel Durand. 

Highland, Burline;ton township, March 27, 1837. George H. Bull. 
Ri'lMini L%k,o., vV.irren township, October 18, 1870, John I. Arnold. Discontinued. 
EobUt, established 1888. 

RimifH Ferrg, Frauditowu station, November 22, 1869. J. V. N. Biles. 
Hollenbaek, in Wilmot township. 

Hornhrook, Sheshequin township, February 35, 1827, William S. AVay. 
Kasota, established 1888. Discontinued. 
Kimberly. 
Eipp, 1886. 

Laddshurgh, May 11, 1850. Peter Sterigere. 

Leona, established as Leonard Hollow, November 13, 1856, Enos Hubbard; 
changed to Leona, August 2, 1865, William T. Daley. 
Le Uaysville, Febuiary 13, 1837, Josiah Benham. 
Le Roy, December 22,1835. William Holcomb. 
Liberty Corners, September 5, 1856, Joseph Bull. 
Lime Hill, Wyalusiug township, Juue 30,1857, John F. Chamberlain. 
Lix, 1886. 

Litelifeld, November 5, 1825, Daniel Bush. 
Long Valley, 1886, McFinney. 

Luther's Mills, Burlington, established as Mercur's Mills, November 24, 1852, Sam- 
el W. Prentice; .^hanged to Grow, January 7, 1863, James Wilcox; changed to 
laither's Mills, November 16, 1865, Koswell Luther. 

Macedonia, Asylum, December 30, 1856. William Coolbaugh. 
Marshvieto, May 17, 1873, Alvin T. Ackla. 
Mercur, August 30, 1873, George A. Stevens. 
Merrickville, July 37, 1853. Discontinued. 
Merryall, December 30, 1849. 

Milan, established as Marshall's Corners, December 31, 1835, Josiah B. Marshall; 
changed to Milan, December 37, 1838, John L. Webb. 

Milltown, December 9, 1836, William P. Rice. Discontinued. 

Mimiequa, September 31, 1869, Richard L. Dodson. 

Monroeton, originally Monroe, October 39, 1833. Changed July 30, 1839. 

Mountain Lake, May 30, 1861, Eirl Nichols. 

Myersburgh, April 9, 1850, Elijah R. Myers. 

Neath, Welsh settlement. Pike township, October 18. 1870, Newton Humphrey. 

New Albany, April 1, 1826, James Moreland. 

New Era, Terry township, October 3, 1857, John Huffman. 

Nareonks, Wilmot township, December 37, 1856, John Ciimmisky. Discontinued. 

North Orwell, March 37, 1833, Roswell Russell. 

North Rome, January 5. 1846, Charles Forbes. 

North Sinithfield (now SmiUifield), March 3, 1829, Davis Bullock. 

North Towanda, June 31, 1853, Stephen A. Mills. 

Oppositioii. 

Orcutt Creek, Athens, June 14, 1848, David Gardner. Discontinued. 

Orwell, July 22, 1818, Edward Benjamin. 

Overton, originally Heverlyville, July t, 1857, Edward McGovern. Changed Feb- 
ruary 28, 1856, George W. Hottenstein. 

Overshot, 1889, D. O. Sullivan. 

Park's Greek, first Seeley, February 28, 1870, Daniel Russell; changed and discon- 
tinued. 

Pike, changed to Brushville. 

Potterville, August 5, 1853. E. C. Potter. 

Powell, first Lindwood, December 3, 1855, Samuel C. Naglee; changed April 1, 
1873. Elhaman W. Neal. 

Prattville. 

Quarry Glen, 1888. 

Ridgebury, Maj^ 6, 1836, James Covell. 

Rienzi. 

Rtggs, 1888. 



214 HISTORY OF BRADFOKU COUNTY. 

Rome, June 11, 1831, Peter Allen. 

Rummerfield Creek, December 17, 1838, Eli Gibbs. 

Saco, 1888. 

Say re, March 11, 1874, Harvey G. Spalding. 

SciotaviUe. 

SheHhequln, January 1, 1819, Avery Gore. 

Silvara, in Tiiscirora, first East Springfield, April 33, 1868, Daniel L. Crawford; 
changed May 11, 1875, Andrew Silvara. 

Sniithiield Summit, December 21, 1860, Joseph L. Jones. Discontinued. 

SiiedekerviUe. August 1, 1867, William H. Snedeker. 

South Brancli, December 11, 1863, Chester Caster. 

South Greek, January 26, 1826, George Hyde. Discontinued. 

South Hill. January 28. 1837, William Warfield. 

South Litchfield, December 18, 1865, .Jerrold B. Wheiton. Discontinued. 

South Warren, January 12, 1827, Benjamin Buffington. 

Springfield, May 24, 1819, William Evans. 

Spring Hill, December 29, 1836, H. Ackley. 

Standing Stone, January 26, 1826, Jonathan Stevens. 

Stevensville, in Pike, January 24, 1837, Cyrus Stevens. 

Sufiar Run. first Blaney, May 4, 1839, Nathaniel N. Gamble; changed February 5, 
1846, Elmore Horton. 

Sylmnia, March 18, 1818. Reuben Nash. 

lerrytoion, July 27, 1826, George Terry; changed to South Asylum, June 23, 1854, 
John M. Horton; changed to Asylum, September 15, 1857, John M. Horton; changed 
to Terrytown. January"l3, 1862, Nathaniel T. Miller. 

Tioga Valley, September 23, 1854, Hiram Rogers. Discontinued. 

Towanda, August 8, 1810, Reuben Hale. 

Trinket. 

Troy, December 29, 1817, James Long. 

Tuscarora Valley, February 2, 1871, Henry L. Rugg. Discontinued. 

Ulster, September 8, 1821, Sidney Bailey. 

Vawter. 
Velarde. 

Virtus. 

Wapaseining. 

Warren Centre, July 27, 1853, Jacob L. Brown. 

Warrenham, January 1, 1835, Andrew Coburn. 

Wells, first French's Mills, December 12, 1825, James S. French; changed, Novem- 
ber 26. 1869, Charles L. Shepard. 

West Burlington, July 19, 1833, Luther Goddard. 

West Franklin, April 25, 1857, N. Smith (2d). 

West LcRoy. 

West Terry. 

West Warren, March 16, 1864, Robert Tyrrell. 

West Windham, originally Windham, January 17, 1818, Benjamin Woodruff; 
chaageid February 8, 1833, Elijah Shoemaker. Discontinued. 
Wetona . 

Wickizer, 1887. 

Wilaicana. 

Wilmot, March 15, 1866. Israel Van Luvanee. 

Windfall. 

WindJntni . 

WindJtam Centre, July 9, 1866, W. C. Peck. 

Wiudhani Summit, December 10, 1868, John Van Est. 

Wyalusing, January 1, 1801, Peter Stevens. 

Wysox, October 1, i804, Burr Ridgway. 

Tliere are more post offices to-day in Bradford county than there 
were annually letters when the county was formed, and for the two 
men, who footed it from Wilkes-Barre to Painted Post, carrying the 
mails at one time, there are now many hundreds of employes connected 
with the postal service in the county. Thus the growth of population 
was great, from a wilderness to nearly 60,000 people, yet the use and 





^^-e-C7 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 217 

distribution of reading matter has grown in a most wonderful ratio, 
during the century. Something of the measure of the growth and 
spread of civilization may be accurately seen in the postal department 
—a mucli better measurement, it would seem, than that of the philos- 
opher who would gauge it by the amount of soaj) tlie people used. 

Canal. — In 1828, the people of Bradford county, seeing the great 
success of the movement in New York to construct the Erie Canal, 
and anticipating the immeasurable advantages of such facilities to 
commerce, began to agitate the subject of a north and south canal, 
following the Susquehanna river, and connecting this portion of the 
State with the outside commercial world. Meetings were held, and 
public sentiment was rapidly instructed, and in 1830 the entire route 
was surveyed by Mr. Kandall, chief engineer. And now the people 
believed that soon would be made amends for the terrible failures to 
navigate the river by steamboats. The State was invoked and gave aid. 
but sparingly. The work was commenced in Bradford county, in 1836, 
with a general hurrah all along the line; contractors and laborers 
swarmed along the river, and, after long waitings, now was coming a 
rapid completion. But in the course of the year funds were exhausted, 
and the works were doomed to lie idle awhile, and fi-om 181:1 to 1849 
work was suspended for the want of funds. Another general rally 
followed, and operations were resumed, then were again suspended and 
again resumed, and finally the work was completed, and it went into 
operation in 1854. An era in this part of the State. Compared 
to our present facilities, it was a wretched make-shift, but in its 
time it was glorious. When the canal was commenced a railroa<l 
was only a dream in the progress of civilization, but when it was 
completed, so swiftly have we moved upon Fulton's great invention, 
that it was at the dawn of an era of railroad building throughout the 
country. Even in the new, wild West, thev were then actually build- 
ing some of the sections that have since become integral parts of some 
of ihe greatest railroads in the world. The great Illinois Central Bail- 
road was in the rapid process of building when the old canal was 
opened for business. These marvels were rapidly educating the people 
—the packet canal-boats carried the newspapers that told of the 
movements elsewhere, and the National songs were little else than of 
the glories of the " age of fire and steam," and Fate was folding its arms 
about the North Branch Canal. The work on the canal had not been 
done in the best manner; from one end to the other it was leaky ; 
viaducts, embankments and reservoirs soon, began, sadly, to need expen- 
sive repairs, and these called for immense outlays, and the tolls were 
not sufficiently encouraging to justify them. It had been operated 
only four years (1858), then public sentiment had undergone such a 
change as to authorize the sale of the canal, the first moment when a 
sale would ])romise them a- i-ailroad to be built along its towpath. 

A pet scheme of Philadelphia's great financier, Nicholas Biddle, 
was to connect Philadelphia and the lalces by a line of railway. In 
1858 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the sale of the North 
Branch Canal to the Sun bury & Erie Railroad Company, which sale 
was at once effected, the consideration being $3,500,000. This was the 

13 



;il8 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

inception of that State problem that in time assumed portent us 
proportions, and came to be known as the " ton age tax" law. That 
was finally repealed when Pennsylvania's great radroader, Tom Scott, 
had succeeded to the place of Nicholas Biddle, both as a financier and 
as a raiirond operator. 

The canal from Wilkes-Barre to the State line had been contracted 
to be built by Welles, Mercur and Hollenbach of this county, and other 
parties of Luzerne county. 

The Pennsylvania & Kew Yorlc Railroad & Canal Company was 
formed, and purchased the canal ; they were little else than successors 
to the Canal Company. Their purchase expressly permitted the 
building of a railroad on the towpath, and putting a new path on the 
brim side of the canal, and this was the end of the canal to all practical 
intents. 

The North Branch Canal had attracted attention, and was a subject 
of great interest to the State; and, from first to last, in its vicissitudes it 
lasted forty years, or nearly so — though its actual useful life was very 
brief. Its defects in construction were apparent to the first trip boats 
ever made over its waters. In 1872 an act was passed allowing its 
abandonment by the company, and now only the dimmest traces of 
where it once was can be pointed out by the old residents over the few 
spots where a vestige is to be seen. 

When the North Branch Canal was building, it was seen that 
some way should be provided to connect it with the canals of New 
York, and this would require sixteen miles constructed in that State. 
Tl)e Junction Canal Company was formed, and of this company w^ere 
Laporte and Mason, of this county. The others were from Wilkes- 
Barre and New York. The canal was l)uilt, and went down with the 
North Brancli Canal. 

Ballroad. — In 1858 a compan}' was formed, as above stated, and 
purchased the canal from Wilkes-Barre to the State line ; the purchase 
was made and soon the company realized that as a canal it woukl 
never be successful. In the face of innumerable obstacles they 
determined to convert it into a railroad, and the old canal company 
was succeeded by the Pennsylvania ct New York Railroad & Canal 
Company, now the Lehigh A^al ley Railroad. 

The railroad was surveyed m the summer of 1866, and the road 
building from Wilkes-Barre up the river was completed, and a train was 
run to Towanda, November 26,1867, and the road opened from Wilkes- 
Barre to Waverly. September 20, 1869 — thus filhng in a connecting 
link from the Lehio^h Vallev Raili'oad at Wilkes-Barre to a connection 
with the Erie road at Waverly. In fact it was but an extension of the 
Lehigh Valley from Wilkes-Barre to Waverly. 

Barclay Railroad. — In order to develop the large coal deposit in 
the southwestern portions of the county, the Barclay road was 
constructed in 1857, starting from Towanda, at the canal basin, and 
running to the Foot ol" Planes, in Barclay township. A junction was 
formed with the railroad when built: built a narrow-gauge road, and 
has been extended in branches at its southern terminus so as to best 



JIISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 219 

reach the diiferent mines. It was leased out for a term of years to 
other roads, but in 1S9U it passed to the control of the owners. 

Sullivan and State Line Mallroad. — In 1865, in consequence of 
the discovery of valuable coal deposits in Sullivan county, a railroad 
was built from Towanda to the coal fields of Lopez, a distance of 
twenty-eight miles. The road runs over the Barclav road track to 
Monroeton. It was opened for business in 1871. 

Soutlieru Central jRa/lroad. — A part of the Lehigh system that 
branches at Sayre and runs to Auburn, N. Y. 

G. I. and 8. — The Geneva, Ithaca & Sayre, built by the Lehigh, 
commences at Sayre, and runs to Geneva. 

The Lehigh Valley Railroad is building from Geneva to Buffalo, 
and they expect to have the work completed this year (1801). This 
will give them their own track to their Western connections, and relieve 
them of using, as now, the Erie track from Waverly. 

The Lehigh is at this time building many other branches and con- 
necting links, extending rapidly in new territory in every direction, 
and is already one of the great railroad systems of the world. Rich 
and powerful, with a keen eye to advantages, as well as to inviting ter- 
ritory. The main line is now double tracked its entire length, and the 
vast trains constantly flying each way begin to point already to the 
necessity of yet another track to accommodate the ever increasing 
traffic and transportation over the line. 

JVorthern Central Railroad. This was the first railroad built in 
Bradford county. It runs from Williamsport toElmira, through the 
western part of the county. Canton and Troy are the chief towns on 
the line in this county. This is a single-track road, but is well con- 
structed and operated liberally, and is the convenient outlet to all the 
western part of the county to the outside world. 

The topography of the county — New York on the north, and the 
lower Susquehanna, Philadelphia and Baltimore on the south — pointed 
out this locality as a natural highway,reachingand connecting the two 
rich sections. In the latter part of the last century, the keen-eyed 
pioneers found a stream heading near Canton, that ran a due 
course to Willianis})ort, and they wanted to trade at the latter place, and 
soon a path was worn, to be followed by a rough wagc»n track. The 
State saw the importance of thishighway and aided in the construction 
of a road, and the work had proceeded north as far as Canton in 1805, 
and was soon pushed on to Troy, and thence to Elmira. At that dav 
this was the most important improvement in the county. 

The railroad idea ^\-q,\\ out of this State road, and one of the first 
roads built in this part of the State is now the Northern Central. It 
taps a rich region of country all along its line, and between the north 
and the south in the State, and the east and west of the Union, is one of 
ouro-reat trunk lines. 



•^'^0 HISTORY OF HKADFOUD COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WARS AND RUMORS. 

The Wak Fever ok i:99— War of 1812-15— Mexican War— Civil 
War 1861-65 — Bradford's Part Therein — Companies and Regi- 
ments — Bounties Given By The County — Militia of 1862 — 
Emergency Men, 1863. 

AS a kind of substitute for grim and bloody war, June 28, 18(»3, 
John Dalton, living near Merryall, on the Wyalusing, met his 
neighbor, Amos Ilurlbut, a son-in-law of Samuel Gordon, near Town's 
Mill : they quarreled, when Dalton struck Hurlbut with a hoe he was 
carrying, and fractured the skull, and he died July 5, following. Dal- 
ton was arrested, and examined by Guy Wells, and sent to AVilkes- 
Barre, and at court was tried and convicted of manslaughter and sen- 
tenced to eighteen years' imprisonment; but in 1808 was pardoned out 
by Gov. McKean, and he soon after died. 

The ^97 War Cloud. — The Americans have been described as every 
man running around with his arms full of fight; much of this fighting 
spirit was toned down by the late war. But in 1797 we had so recently 
whipped Great Britain that we were ready to " knock off the chip "' 
of any fellow who dared to put it on his shoulder. In 1797 the word 
]>assed around that we were going to have a war with France. Gov. 
Miftlin ordered the State militia to be enrolled in June, 1798, to be 
equipped, drilled and put in fighting trim. A great war meeting of 
Luzerne county, in which this then was, wasconvened at Wilkes-Barre 
July 3, 1798. Our general (Simon Spalding) was at the meeting as a 
matter of course, and was made president of it. All made war speeches 
and rung the glories of victory ; resolutions were adopted, and, among 
other things, they declared: " i\o sensations of gratitude, no relics 
of enthusiasm [relics is good] remains to distract us from our duty, as 
Americans citizens, to our countrv, and here proceed to offer our serv- 
ices to the State, whenever the emergency arises in which she needs 
them." That was " the word with the bark on," so far as Luzerne 
county was concerned. A call for volunteers soon followed, and a 
company of seventy-five men, under Capt. Samuel Bowman, was 
recruited and attached to theFleventh U. S. Regiment. John Hollen- 
back, as sergeant, enlisted the company, and his reports contain this 
item : " I enlisted fourteen at Wyalusing, by the Kingsley spring. 
* -;<■ -X- y^Q j^g^ ^Q pig^y \^^\\_ y gg,^^ ^0 Gaylord's for two gallons 

of whisky, and when they had drunk pretty freely of it I paid them 
eight silver dollars apiece. I enlisted Wareham Kingsley, Thomas 
Quick, Hugh Summerlin, Jonah Davis, James Lewis. Asa Harris. At 
Wysox and Tioga Point, I enlisted more. After hunting deserters 
in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas, I went into 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 221 

winter quarters at Eouiul Brook, K. J. We were disbanded in the 
Spring, after Jefferson was elected/' 

The movements of the militia will be found in extracts from the 
tiles of the Bra cl ford GazetU'. 

The War of 1812 came simultaneously with the civil organization of 
Bradford county, and nearly with the establishment of the first news- 
paper in the county — the Bradford Gazette. The good people of the 
county were not, it seems, very deeply interested in that war. The JSTew 
Englanders, so far as there was opposition to the AVar of 1812, led the 
opposition, and as the people of Bradford county were mostly from 
that section, this no doubt had its influence. The first draft for 
soldiers ever enforced here was in the year 1815. Several men were 
drafted from Wyalusing, Wysox and'Canton mostly, but these got 
but little further on the way to tlie war than the place of rendezvous, 
when the treaty of peace released them, and they returned home. 
Looking over the old files of the Bradford Gazette of that time there 
is no other mention of that war, except the expedition of Harrison to 
the lakes, and the naval battles fought on the ocean and on the lakes. 

Mexican War. — 'No organized force went from Bradford county to 
this war. A few individuals may have enlisted at other points. The 
excitement caused by this struggle extended to this part of the 
country in a feeble way, and the recruiting officers did not open an 
office in Bradford county. There was an old Mexican soldier, how- 
ever, who was several years a member of the State Senate, and every 
session he produced his measure for the State to do something for 
these old veterans whose long marches m the cactus country, and 
whose puissant arms on the bloody field had won so vast a territorial 
empire from the Greasers and gave it to the Union. He never could 
get much attention to his bill — it was regularly "hung up" in the 
committee. There were no votes behind it on election day,' and this 
weakness the thrifty politicians took advantage of — how fixed is the 
fact that kissing goes by favors. 

The Oivil War.— The first gun, was fired April 12, 1861; the last, 
April 9, 1365; four years, less three days, from the rising of the cur- 
tain on this bloodiest tragedy in the tide of time' and the ringing it 
down and putting out the lights, and dismissing to their homes the 
two million sun-burned and battle scarred veteran actors. The " boys " 
from the ISTorth had fattened many and many a new-made Southern 
graveyard. I^ever were such angry human passions stirred, never was 
such a mad rush made into the very jaws of death. Exactly what it 
was all about depends upon whom you ask the question. ' A noted 
man wrote a book entitled " The Great Conspiracy," that would seem 
to hold to the idea that American slavery and British free trade had 
joined hands to destroy the Union, and drive home the entering wedge. 
Otliers say it Avas to abolish slavery; and still others say it was a 
struggle for supremacy between the"^ sections, a quarrel that had to 
come, fate; and "if it were done when 'tis done, then it were well it 
were done quickly," etc., etc. This one thing, it seems, is tolerably 
well agreed upon among the Union soldiers: They went to war, after the 
dance of death had opened, to save the Union, to suppress rebellion 



232 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and maintain the supremac}^ of government. That much is clear, but 
in this there is nothing for the historian to put his finger on as to the 
causes that ultimately led up to actual hostilities. The historian, or 
rather present clironiclers, must employ themselves simply aicling pos- 
terity in hunting out the remote causes, and by gathering and system- 
atizing such facts as about which there can be no great differences of 
opinion. 

Bradford county responded promptly and bravely to every call of 
the country during that long and terrible struggle. The merchant 
and clerk jumped over the counters, the mechanics left the bench, the 
plows were standing in the furrows, the lawvers laid aside their briefs 
and the physicians mercifully turned over their patients to "yarb'' tea 
and the good old motherly nurses ; flags fluttered in the breezes and 
the shrill fife and rattling snare-drum vexed the air, and pale and 
earnest men made war speeches, and the little erstwhile cloud, no 
larger than your hand, suddenl}^ lowered from the whole heavens ; 
grim-visaged war was afoot ; the heavy tread of armies began to 
freight the winds, and the bugle charge but preceded the clash of the 
embattled liosts, and the Civil War was a terrible reality, and ladened 
tiie air with death and made it redolent of decay. As family quarrels 
are worse than all other manner of disputes, so is a civil war the most 
horrible of all manner of military strifes. The people of Bi-adford 
county for the first time in the history of this section were solidly 
united on the subject — that is. fighting it out to the bitter end^no 
peace but that of a restored Union. The guns that were fired upon 
Fort Sumter were not only heard around the world, but their dull 
echoes are reverberating yet, and effects will certainly not wholly pass 
away in the next hundred years. It was a sad day for the institutions 
of freedom here and elsewhere ; its effects upon other nations, strug- 
gling toward their liberty and independence, were nearly disastrous, 
and it left upon many American minds that dark and hopeless faith in 
strong (joTemments only ; it made many Americans forget that our 
Revolution was against a government too strong where were a people 
too weak. The self-evident truth that the stronger the government 
always the weaker the people to resist usurpations was forgotten, and 
madmen rushed at their brothers' throats. Beneath the bending heav- 
ens has there been anything, since the birth of Christ in this world, 
w^orth a tithe of the awful woe, the unspeakaible sufferings, the wasted 
young lives, desolated homes and broken hearts that came of it all ? 
Divest yourself of all hysterical sentiment, and j^dr 6'e whkt is there 
that should make reasonable human beings go to Avar? Germany 
is a military encampment, where the men are nothing more than 
mere parts of war machinery, animated muskets with fixed bay- 
onets, and under that military empire the people go to war at the 
beck and nod of their divine emperor — who makes of his children's 
nursery a soldier's camp, but who is murdering German thought and 
civilization by "divine authority" — that fatal curse that came to bar- 
baric man, that "a king is divine." When his Satanic Majesty was 
unchained for a thousand years, he need onlj' have visited the earth 
and invested mankind with the cruel and wicked delusion that it was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. '^i'^o 

o'ood to have a strong- government and a ""divine king'" enthroned, 
and ''Auld Clootie'- might have returned to his Plutonian shores in tiie 
restful faith that he had conquered mankind for thousands of years to 
come; captured their horse, foot and dragoons, by principalities, by 
empires and by nations. I know of nothing else, of all else, but that 
compared in sin to this divinity-of-ruler's idea but that is as tlie grain 
of sand to the mountain range. Usurpers usurping everything under 
such plausible pretexts as ])ronioting the public good. The foulest 
designs that were ever invented against the most sacred rights of 
mankind here come clothed in fairest face and winning smiles, and tlie 
devil surely hypnotized men's very blood when he tilled them with 
faith in the " divine" ruler, and that the sweet and pitiful heaven 
would be deeply grieved to see that idea gibbeted higher than was 
Ilaaman — the awful delusion extirpated from men's hearts. And 
these monsters, measureless criminals against God and man alike, build 
churclies and school-houses, and poor men crawl in their pi-esence and 
worship them — powder food, slaves — soul and bo(l^^ If mankind was 
made for no higher purpose than to set up these fetich-governments ; 
to be governed by either an organized banditti or a miserable insane, 
diseased king, and to slave and suffer and perish, that the rotten 
dynasty might live, then surely life is one stupendous failure. Much 
of the current history of nations is merely elaborated war records, and 
consecpiently columns and whole pages of modern metropolitan nev.'s- 
papers are detailed accounts of the doings of the prize-ring bullies — 
those giants with fists like mauls and heads like tea cups. This trend 
of the public mind is the omnipotent educator of a majorit}^ of the 
average boys of the land, and when among groAvn men one of these 
"two-legged brutes on exhibition can draw houses worth dollars, to 
where, perhaps, the finest intellect in the world would get pennies, it 
is enough to discourage the heroes who build up and extend civilization. 
The first regular battle in the Civd War was Bull Run, and here 
were Bradford county men, and from there to Appomattox, in the 
Army of the East, and in many of the Western battles also, they were 
present, JSTearly every township in the county, not only called war 
meetings, but organized societies for securing recruits; commissioners 
and boards of every municipality, and the county at large, were voting 
money, both as bounties and as assistance to families. The first shock 
of war paralyzed business everywhere, but such was the activity in 
recruiting and supplying the rapidly forming squadrons, that, soon, 
never before was more general business activity. In honor of Ameri- 
cans, it should never be forgotten that we had all prejiarations for war, in 
the way of raising and arming men, to make after actual hostilities had 
begun. Another thing, and a far nobler compliment to American advance 
in the higher walks of thought, is that our war was long, and millions 
of men were in line; yet, compared to the marvelous military genius 
of a Von Moltke, we hiid but most feeble ideas of quick and triumphant 
war. Von Moltke was the mere adjutant of Germany, and he played 
the game of war with the precision of fate. Our field commanders 
were, no doubt, the equals, perhaps the superiors, of any modern people ; 
but this is not the science of war, it was hardly more than a prolonged 



224 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

life-and-death-struggle, where the deciding- factor was a mere question 
of numbers. When Germany overran and conquered France, twenty 
years ago, besieged and captured their beautiful capital, and levied on 
the conquered billions of tribute money to carry back to Berlin, then it 
was that the volcanic French appeared in their best form. France, 
hardly stopping to look around on her desolation, the splendid ruins 
on every hand, when she set about rebuilding her magnificent cities, 
her vine-clad, sunny houses, and in the walks of peace, was soon far in 
advance of her recent conqueror. The South was overrun, devastated, 
and conquered, and the terms of surrender were hardly dry on the 
paper when the soldier became a civilian, and from that hour to this, 
the "New South" is a marvel even in this marvelous land. The haughty 
Normans overran England, conquered it, confiscated its entire public 
and private property, and made slaves of tiie conquered. The Normans 
are but an insignificant line in histor3% while their once slaves have 
pushed their all-conquering civilization around the entire globe. There 
are lessons in history that men should learn " bj' heart." The learning 
of those lessons will teach men to think, reliect and make of them rea- 
soning beings. Such men only will advance, not only themselves, but 
their brothers. In a certain stage of development, emerging from 
naked barbarians, war is no doubt a developer, as Buckle pretty clearly 
shows that the invention of gunpowder was an active and powerful 
civilizer. 

Following immediately on the firing on Fort Sumter came the 
President's call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the Rebellion. Any 
man was a hero then, that would go beating, up and down street, the 
drum, and calling for recruits to his company. Where there were so 
many volunteering in hot haste, so many as to soon fill the call of the 
President, and thousands were turned away, disappointed, it would 
seem foolish to try to name the first man to volunteer from Bradford 
county. There is some strong evidence that Capt. Bradbury, now of 
Athens, was about the first to respond to his country's call. The 
average man was stunned for a little while with the call to arms; he 
didn't exactly know how to go about the first step in joining the army ; 
there was nothing in sight to "join." 

During the four j^ears of war there w^ere forty companies — nearly 
all full companies, went from this county — these were squadrons that 
joined New York commands. Over 4,000 men from one county, 
and that a county of farmei's ; not a city within its borders. The; 
whole number of men enlisted in the Union Army, not including State 
militia, and men enlisted for special emergencies, 2,656,553 men ; 
killed or died of wounds, 96,087; died, 184,331; total w^ho died, 280.- 
418. What a countless army with banners! The "boys" went out 
from friends and home to war, to the long marches and summer's heat 
and dust, and winter's storm and biting cold ; to the muddy trenches, 
the bivouack, the fierce charges and the headlong retreats, the cross 
and clash of bayonets, sickening wounds and the noisome hospitals, to 
disease and deathly home-sickness, to exposures that sapped the 
strongest constitutions, to despair and death. Four vears, less three 



HISTORY OF BRADFOIil) COUNTY. 227 

days, and the outstretched wiii^s of the destroying- aii<>el darkened all 
this beautiful land. 

Nearly three millions of men went out with the cheer of the multi- 
tude, the blare of bugles, the rattle of the drums and the martial 
music of the fife, full of young, lusty life, and health, and hope and 
boundless ambition. Nearly 400,000 perished — seven times the entire 
population of one of our States. At last, " stack arms ! " " home ! " 
and the common soldier returned foot-sore, weary, covered with dust 
and grime ; toiling along the hot road, he approaches his return journey's 
end, his heavy load is laid away, and his army shoes are pulled off, 
and he asks after his neighbors, and tells the gathering acquaintances 
of the " boys " that will never come back. 

Among the eminent sons of Bradford who laid down their lives 
in the line of duty — names not born to die — may be mentioned tliose 
of Watkins, Spalding, Culp, Sturrock, Ingham, Guyer, Swart, 
Kellogg-, llemans, Tears, Case, and there are hundreds of others, whose 
memorial tablets are in the many different cemeteries of the county, 
while many others sleep in unknown Southern graves. 

The Governor of Pennsylvania promptly convened the Legislatui-e 
on the April call for troops, and May 15, 1801, an act was passed 
requiring the Governor (Cui'tin) to organize a militar}^ corps, to be 
called the "Rural Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth," to be com- 
posed of thirteen regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry and 
one of light artillery, to be enlisted for three years. These were 
apportioned among tlie counties, and the ranks soon filled. Three 
more companies than the county was allotted, had, in their eagerness 
to go, organized and started foi- Ilarrisburg, and actually got as fai- 
as Troy, when they had to stop, as the quota was full, and no more 
could be received. 

July 21, 1861, occurred the first fight at Bull Run, and the result 
of that battle was for a moment to send dismay through the North. 
The National army was routed, and the term of the three months' 
75,000 men was near its close ; the capital was exposed, and instead of 
suppressing the Rebellion in the allotted " ninety days," it began to 
look seriously the other wdy. Most fortunately, Pennsylvania was 
ready with its organized force of three years' men to step in the breach, 
and stay the victorious rebel onslaught. 

War Meeting in Towanda. — April 18, only six days after the attack 
on Fort Sumter, a great war meeting was held in Towanda. Small 
spontaneous meetings had pi'eviously been held in nearly every town- 
ship. Judge Mercur presided; Cols. G. F. Mason, John F. Means and 
W. C. Bogart, vice-presidents; P. D. Morrow (judge); W. T. Davies 
(Gov.); D. A. Overton and H. B. McKean, secretaries. Many stirring and 
patriotic speeches were made, and a mass meeting was called for 
the 23d. At this meeting the county's population turned out, and 
recruiting went on briskly, the ladies ])artaking, and they presented 
the volunteers with a beautiful flag, the handiwork of their own 
hands, and Capt. J. W. Mason resjwnded on behalf of the men. 

April 30, three companies had been raised and organized : Capt. 
Mason's. Capt. Gore's and Capt. Bradbury's, of Athens, and they started 



228 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

at once for Ilarrisburg, but on reaching Troy the}" were notiiied that 
the State's quota was full, and were ordered to return. They were 
met at Troy by five companies from Tioga, and instead of disbanding 
or returning, they went into camp tliere. In a short iime they pro- 
ceeded to Harrisburg and were mustered into the State's Reserve 
Corps. Capt. Trout's Company being F, in the Fifth lieserve, and 
Capt. Bradbury's, Company F, and Capt. Gore's, Company I, in the 
Sixth. Capt. Mason was transferred to the regular army, and after 
the war was lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Cavalry. The Fifth was 
hurried to Harper's Ferry, soon after the Bull Run defeat, and from 
there to Washington, where they started 984 strong. In the three 
battles of Mechanicsville on the 2Gth, Gaines' Mills on the 27th, and 
Charles City Cross Roads on June 3()th, the regiment lost 18 killed, 
115 wounded and 103 prisoners. Capt. Robert W. Sturrock was 
killed on the 27th, shot through the head. lie had enlisted in April 
as a private. Lieutenant Riddle, of Company F, and Adjt. Mason 
were wounded. Riddle was taken prisoner. Capt. Trout resigned in 
January, 1862; Sturrock took his place, and when he was killed Capt. 
J. A. McPherran was in command, and he was promoted to major 
May 7, 1864. A. G. Mason, first lieutenant Company F, was pro- 
moted to adjutant. A. Fercival Shaw was promoted to first lieutenant, 
J. W. Means was, in 1862, })romoted to lieutenant in the regular 
army. Lieut. William Riddle resigned in May, 1863, to accept promo- 
tion as majoi" and aid on the staff of (Ten. Reynolds. 

/Sixth Reserve — Thirty-ffth It egiment— April 22, 1861, Capt. W. 
H. H. Gore, with his "Northern Invincibles," and Capt. Daniel 
Bradbury, with his company ,the "Towanda Rifles," left Towanda for 
Harrisburg, reaching that place May 2, and formed the nucleus of the 
Sixth Reserve Regiment. Tliey had failed to get into the three months' 
service. June22 the I'egiment was organized and the field-officers elected : 
W. Wallace Ricketts, colonel ; William M. Penrose, lieutenant-colonel; 
Henry J. Madill, major. Lieut. Henry B. McKean, adjutant; R. II. 
McCoy, quartermaster; Charles Bowers, surgeon, and Z. Ring Jones, 
assistant-sur'geon. A very succinct history of this command was given by 
Maj. Gore at the regimental monument dedication on the field of Gettys- 
burg, September 2, 1890. After stating the formation of the regiment he 
said : "After the disastrous battle of Bull Run, a call was made on 
Governor Curtin for ti'oops, and the Reserves were rushed to Wash- 
ington ; the Sixth was the first regiment to arrive, and was mustered 
into the United States service JuW 27, 1861, and sent to Tenallytown, 
Maryland. While in this camp over one-half of the regiment was 
stricken with typhoid fever, greatly retarding the efficiency of the 
regiment. While in this camp the Reser'ves were formed in three 
brigades; the Sixth with the Ninth, Tenth and Twelfth formed the 
Third Brigade. October 9, 1861, the division was moved across the 
river into Virginia, and went into camp near Langley. 

"December 20th, the Third Brigade and First Rifles fought the 
battle of Drainesville — gained the first victory for the Army of the 
Potomac. 

" Afarch 16, 1862, they broke camp, and marched to the vicinity of 



IIIS'I'ORY OV BRADFORD COUNTY. ^29 

Hunter's Mills, then back to Alexandfia. In the meantime Col. 
liicketts and Lieutenant-Colonel Penrose had resit^ned, and their 
places were tilled by Wm. Sinclair as colonel, and H. B. McKean as 
lieutenant-colonel. Tlie quartermaster also resi<^ned, and A. A. Sender 
was appointed. 

"The division was attached to McDowell's corps, and in April 
marched to Manassas, Collett's Station, thence to Fredericksburg. In 
June they were on transports, and went down the liap])ahannock, up 
the York'and Pamunkey rivers to White IIouse,and were attached to the 
Fifth Army Corps. The Sixth was halted at Tuntall Station to guard 
the road and keep open the communication with the front. While 
here. Col. Sinclair joined us. and assumed command; the left wing of 
the regiment^ was sent to White House to guard the stores; the Seven- 
Day battle opened at Median icsville, and the regiment was cut otf 
from the main army, and, after destroying the vast accumulation of 
stores, was taken by boat via Fortress Monroe and James river to 
Harrison's Landing, where they were joined by the balance of the 
division. The Sixth Regiment was here transferred to the First Brig- 
ade, which now consisted of the First, Second, Sixth, Ninth and Buck- 
tails. 

" The next move was by boat fi'om Ilai'rison's Landing to Acjuia, 
Creek, thence by rail to Fredericksbur-g. thence by way of Kelly's 
Ford to Warrenton, where they joined Pope's army, and took an 
active part in the battle of Second Bull Kun. Falling back with the 
army to Washington, they marched through Maryland to South Moun- 
tain, and in that battle was on the extreme right of the army, and was 
attached to the First Corps; a,t this battle and Antietam the regiment 
met with severe loss, especially in officers. Maj. Madill was now 
promoted to the colonelcy of the One Hundred and Foi-ty-lirst P. V., 
and Capt. Ent was promoted to major. 

" In November the march was again resumed, ending at Fredericks- 
burg, where, on the 13th of December the regiment, in connection 
with the balance of the Reserves, made the most gallant charge of the 
war. 

'' Our losses here were greater than any other battle we ever fought ; 
we were but a handful left for duty, and the Reserves were ordered to 
Washington and vicinity to rest and recruit; the Sixth was sent to 
Fairfax Station, where it remamed until June, 1863, when it again 
joined the army — was attached to the Fifth Corps and marched for 
this historic field; and here, on this ground, where we are dedicating 
this monument, we aided in fighting the battle of Gettysburg. Mov- 
ing with the Army of the Potomac, marching and skirmishing, we 
finally went into winter quarters at Bristoe Station. In tlie meantime 
Col. Sinclair had resigned and field offices were filled by promoting 
Ent to colonel, Dixon to lieutenant-colonel, and Gore to major. 

" In the spring of 1804, they took in all the fighting under Gen. 
Grant, through the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River to 
Bethesda Church, doing their full share of the work in that arduous 
campaign, ending their services with the brilliant victory of 
Bethesda Church. 



230 HTSTORY OF BRADFORD COFXTY. 

" And now, comrades, I have briefly sketched tbe history of your 
regiment, its marches and hardships, its gallant fighting; it never 
disgraced itself; there were other regiments as good as3'ours, but none 
better. We have met here to-day to dedicate this shaft as a monu- 
ment of your valor, but your history will be a monument that will last 
as long as the American nation exists, and until after those stones 
shall have crumbled into dust." 

This page of history is carved in the granite column that stands 
on the field of Gettysburg: 

FRONT, WEST SIDE. 

6th Pennsylvania Reserves, 35th Infantry, 
1st Brigade, 3d Division, 5th Corps. 

SOUTH SIDE. 

July 2d, in the evening, charged from the hill in 
the rear to this position, and held it until the 
afternoon of July 3d, when the Brigade ad- 
vanced through the woods to the front 
and left, driving the enemy and cap- 
turing many prisoners. 

Drainsville, Peninsular Campaign, 

Groveton, 2d Bull Run, 

South Mountain, Antietam, 

Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, 

Bristoe Station, Rappahannock Station, 

Mine Run, Wilderness. 

Spottsylvania, North Anna, 

Totopotamy, Bethesda Church. 

EAST SIDE. 

Recruited in Bradford, Columbia, Dauphin, Tioga, 

Susquehanna, Snyder, Wayne, Franklin, 

and Montour Counties. 



Total enrolment, 1050. 

OFFICERS. MEN. 

Killed and died of wounds, ... 2 107 

Died of disease, 72 

Wounded, 19 286 

C'aptured or missing, .... 2 61 



28 526 



Total casualties, 549. 



NORTH SIDE. 

Mustered in May 28th and June 11th, 1861. 

Mustered out June 11th, 1864. 

Present at Gettysburg 25 officers, 355 men. 

Killed and died of wounds, 3 men. 

Wounded, 1 officer and 30 men. 

The monument stands a short distance to the right of Little Round 
Top, facing toward the enemy's lines, on grounds now owned by Mr. 
Frank Althoff, but at the time of the battle it was owned by Joseph 
Sherfy, the owner of the Peach Orchard. The wheat field in front, 
where the desperate charges were made, is now the property of the 
Eattle-field Memorial Association. At the left, on a giant boulder, on 
the summit of Little Round Top the bronze statue of Gen. Warren 
rises in bold relief as the masterly strategist that plantetl the 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUNTY. 



2l]l 



Maltese Cross in advance of the enemy on the ru<^ged lieights where 
Vincent, O'Rouke, Hazlet and Weed fell, and rescued the key of the 
position from the grasp of the enemy. 

Twdftli Beserve — Forty-first Regiment. — Had one full company 
from this county, Company C, Capt.' Richard Gustin, commissioned, 
June 11, 1861, promoted to lieutenant-colonel, April 6. 186-S; Henry 
S. Lucas became captain, April G, 1863; mustered out with regiment; 
Daniel R. Jewell, promoted to tirst-lieuteoant May 14, 1863 ; Oscar 
Templeton, second lieutenant, resigned August 10, 1861 ; Jacob B. 
Grantier, promoted to second lieutenant September 8, 1861, resigned 
August 11, 1862 ; John G. Rahm, promoted to lieutenant. May 1, 1863. 
The command was mustered in August 10, 1861, and at once started to 
Harper's Ferry, wlien their route was changed to Tenallvtown. Their 
first engagement, their baptism in fire, was at the opening battle 
of Drainsville, where it held the left line, and was exposed to heavy 
tiring. In 1862, when McClellan was calling for troo])s, this command 
joined him and was in his campaign, and in Pope's campaign. July 
12, 1862, ('ol. Hardin was wounded in battle and the command of the 
legiment devolved upon Capt. Gustin and so fought in the battle of 
South Mountain. A]H'il 6, 1863, he was })romoted to lieutenant-col- 
onel of the regiment, and was in command until Col. Hardin was able to 
return. The regiment was mustered out at Harrisl)urg, June 11, 1864. 
Fiftieth Regiinnit, P. F.— Had two companies from Bradford 
county, and Edward Overton. Jr.. of Towanda, major. Organized 
September 25. 1861. and. from Harrisburg. proceeded at once to 
Washington. Following is the record of the two Bradford companies : 

COMPANY 6. 



Wra. 11. Telford. 
Chas. Forbes 

-Michael McMalion 
Frea R. Warner. 

Henry J. Christ. . 
Chas. F. Cross. . . 

John P. Kinney. . 

Kthan B. Powell. 
H. C. Alderson. . 
Henry Scott 

I'iulip Carland. . . 



DATE OF 
MUSTER. 



Captain Aug. 
Sept. 



1st Lt. Se))t. 
Sept. 

Feb. 

" Aug. 

1st Serg Sept. 



" Sept. 
Se'-g'ut. Sept. 

[Sept. 

I 

Sept. 



8, '61 
'fil 



T,l 
6, '61 

29, 64 

8, '61 

'61 

'61 
'61 

■61 

'(il 



REM.MiKS. 



Cap. May 12, 1864— pr. to Lt. Col. Feb. 8, 

1865— mus. out to date, July 30, 1865. 
Pr. from Cor. to Sgt.— to 1st Sgt. to 2d 

Lt., April 29, 1865— to Capt., May 12, 

1865— cap. May 12, 1864- Vet.— mus. 

out with company July 30, 1865. 
Died at Hilton Head, S.'C.Nov. 20, 1861. 
Pr. from l.st St., Co. D, Feb. 15, 1862— 
j mus. out Oct. 3, 1864. 
Pr. from Private, Co. K, Dec. 11, 1864. 
Pr. to 1st Lt., U. S. Signal Corps, Mar. 3, 

1863. 
Pr. to 1st Sgt. , May 1,1865— Vet.— wd. July 

30, 1864— com. 2d Lt., May 1, 1865— not 

mus. — mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 
Discharged on Suig. certilicate, Nov., 

1862 — disability, disease. 
Mustered out with company, July 30, 1865 

—Vet.— captured J\Iay 12, 1864. 
Pr. from Musician — mus. out with CVi., 

July 30, 1865— Vet.— wounded June 7, 

1862— captured May 12, 1864. 
Pr. f rom Private— mus. out with ('o., July 

30, 1865— Vet. 



232 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 





COMPANY ( 


jr 


CONTINUED. 


NAME. 


RANK. 


DATE OF 
MUSTER. 


REMARKS. 


Henry Blend 


Serg'nt 


Sept. 




'61 


Pr. from Private, May 1, 1865— Vet.— 
mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865— wd. 


















May 9, 1864. 


Edgar Roberts 




Sept. 


24, 


'61 


Wounded June 18, 1864— disch. on Surg, 
cert., Dec. 15, 1864— Vet. 


Merwin Higgins 




Sept. 




'61 


Captured May 12, 1864— died Dec. 10, 
1864— Veteran. 


Wm. Spalding 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Died of disease, Kentucky, Covington. 


Simon Russell 




Sept. 




'61 


Transferred to U. S. Cav,, Oct. 28, 1862— 
wounded Sept. 1,1862. 


Henry C. Camp 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Transferred to U. S. Cav., Oct. 28, 1862. 


Chauncy V. Bassett. . . 


" 


Sept. 




•61 


Dis. on Surg. cert. — disabilitv, Nov., 1862. 


A. S. Blackraan 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Died at Beaufort, S. C, Dec!^, 1861. 


James W. Birney 


Corpor'j 


Sept. 




'61 


Mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865— Vet.— 
wd. Sept. 17, 1862, Nov. 19, 1863, June 
3, 1864, AusT- 19, 1864. 


Theodore Lewis 




Sept. 




•61 


Mns. out with Co., July 30. 1865— Vet.— 
captured May 12, 1864. 


George N. Chaffee.. . . 




Sept. 




'61 


Mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865— Vet.— 
captured May 12, 1864. 


Alexander Spalding. , . 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Mus. out to date, July 30, 1865— Vet. 


Jas. Morrison 




Sept. 




'61 


Mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865— Vet.— 
captured Aue. 30, 1862. 


Chas. M. Heilman. . . , 


" 


Feb. 


24, 


'64 


Mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 


Joseph H. Taylor. . . 




Mar. 


3(1, 


64 


Pr. to Cor., May 1. 1865 — mus. out with 
Co., July 30, 1865. 


C. B. Vandermark — 




Mar. 


30, 


'64 


Pr. to Cor., May 1, 1865— mus. out with 
Co., July 30, 1865— cap. May 12, 1864. 


Thomas Gillett 


'■ 


Sept. 




'61 


Killed May 12, 1864— Vet. 


Edgar E. Spalding. . . 




Sept. 




'61 


Disch. on Surg, certificate, Dec. 11, 1862 
— disability. 


James Lewis 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Discharged on Surg, certificate. 


Daniel M. Reed 


" • 


Sept. 




'61 


Killed Sept. 1. 1862. 


Wm. Hurst 


<. 


Sept. 
Sept. 




'61 
•61 


Killed Sept. 17, 1862. 


Joseph H. Atkins 


Disch. on Surg, certificate, Dec. 10, 1862. 


Wm. F. Carey 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Transferred to U. S. Cav., Oct. 28, 1863. 


David Reifsnyder 


Mus'cn . 


Mar. 


15, 


'64 


Mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 


Jas. Giilson 


Private. 


Sept. 
Mar. 


23, 


'61 

•64 




Allen, Chas. H 


Captured May 12, 1864— mustered out with 












company, -July 30, 1865. 


Arnold, Robert 


" 


Sept. 


17, 


•61 


Mus. out, Sept. 29, 1864— exp. of term. 


Ammon, .Tohu 


" 


Mar. 


25, 


'64 


Disch. on Surg, certificate, Nov. 5, 1864. 


Avery, Samuel 


" 


Mar. 


26, 


'64 




Ames, Samuel 


" 


Mar. 


14, 


'65 


Substitute. 


Bennett, Asa B 


* ' 


Sept. 




'61 


Captured May 12. 1864— died at Wilming- 
ton, Del., March 9, 1865. 


Brown, Chas. H 


" 


Mar. 


s, 


'64 


Mus. out with Co . Julv 30, 1865. 


Bare, Benjamin 


" 


Sept. 


21, 


'64 


Drafted— dis. by Gen. Order, June 1,1865. 


Buckingham, G. AV. . . 


" 


Mar. 


16, 


65 


Sub.— mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 


Brown, Chas. T 


" 


Mar. 


11, 


'65 


Sub.— dis. by G. 0., July 10, 1865. 


Babcock, Asa E 


" 


Sept. 


17, 


'61 


Mus. out, Sept. 29, 1864— exp. of term. 


Brink, Leonard M 


" 


Sept. 


24, 


'61 


Mus. out, Sept. 29, 1864— exp. of term. 


Birney, Newton 


" 


Mar. 


8, 


'64 


Cap. May 12, 1264— died Nov. S, 1864. 


Burton, John 


w 


Mar. 
Sept. 


3, 


'65 
'61 


Substitute. 


Boughton, John S. . . . 




Ball, Jacob L 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Disch. on Surg, certificate, Sept., 1862. 


Bennett, James 


" 


Sept. 




'61 


Killed Sept. 17, 1862. 


Bailey, Wm 


" 


Sept. 




'61 




Cook, Joseph 




Mar. 


31, 


'64 





HISTORY OF BRADFORD rOUXTY. 
COMPANY G — CONTINUED. 



233 



Carrigan, Wm 

Cannon, Tbos. K. . . . 

Cowden, John 

Cramer, Cbas 

Carmicliael, Daniel. . 
Comstoek, Alonzo. . . 
Coleman, Richard... 

Duress, Isaac 

Derr, Wm. H 

Dauben speck, G 

Daubenspeck, A 

Duell, Saaiuel 



RANK. 



Private, 



Davis. Isaac 

Develin, Barnard. . 
Delamater, Lewis.. 

Evans, Wm 

Evans, Samuel. , . . 

Eiker, .John 

Farrar, Geo. C. . . . 
Frost, Clayton W. 



Fleming, Tbos. . 
Foster, John C. . 
Forbes, John C. . 
Fox, Silas A. . . . 
Frutcbey, Moses. 
Frazier, John. . 

Frailev, Wm 

Gale, Eli W 

Gannon, Wm. . . 



Greek, Wm 

Gridley, Lewis B. . . 
Goldsboro, Eli J..., 
Gannon, James. . . . , 

Gore, John 

Grippin, Benjamin. 

Harsh, John 

Hawkins, Jas 

Hill. Emery 

Harris, John P 

Hicks, Orville S 

Hutchinson, A 

Heller, Henry 

Hilliard, Tbos. B .. 

Hilliard, Israel I 

llermick. Samuel.. 
Horton, Lemuel. . . . 
Horton, .James 



Hawkins, Jas 

Howard, Almon 

Hiney, Matthew. . . . 
Heckathon , Reuben . 

Johnston, Cbas 

Johnston, Wm. A. . . 

Jones, John 

Kahoe, Michael , 



DATE OF 
MUSTER. 



REMARKS. 




Sept. 



'GSiSub.— mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 
64 Drafted— dis. on Surg, cert., Feb. 14, 1865. 
64|Killed May 12, 1864. 

Mustered out to date, July oO, 1865. 
'65 Substitute. 

Tr. to Eng. Corps, U. S. A., Oct. 28, 1862. 

Mus out with Co., July 30, 1865— Vet. 
9, '65'Substitute— dis. bv G. O., June 23 1865 
20, '64 Drafted— dis. by G. ().. June 1, 1865 
20, '64 Drafted— dis. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
30, '64 Captured May 12, 1864— died at Ander- 

sonville, Ga., Sept. 3, 1864. 
13, '65 Substitute. 
6, '65!Substitute. 

■61|Traus. to U. S. Cav., Oct. 28, 1S62. 
8, '65iSub. — mus. out with Co., July 30, 1805. 
8, '65:Sub.— dis by G. O., July 10, 1S65. 

•6l| 
8, '64iMus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 
17, '61|Mus. out, Sept. 29, 1864— exp. of term— 

I wounded Aug. 30, 1862. 
20, '64 Drafted— dis. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
24, '64i Wounded- died August 7, 1864. 

'61IDi.sch. on Surg, certiticate— disability. 

'61 Disch. on Surg, certiticate, Jan., 1863. 

24, '61 Mustered out, Sept. 29, 1864— exp. of term. 



, '64 Mustered out witli company, July 30, 1865. 
'61 Mus. out to date, July 30, 1865— Veteran— 

I captured May 12, 1864. 
'64, Mustered out with company, July 30, 1865 
;61j Killed May 12, 1864. 
'65|Substitute. 

'61 j Disch. on Surg, certificate. 
'61 Died Sept. 4, 1862, at Hilton Head. S. C. 
'61 Trans, to U. S. Cavalry, Oct. 28, 1863. 
'04iMustered out with company, July 30, 1865. 
'64| Mustered out to date. July 30, 1865. 
'65!Substitute~mus.out with Co., July 30, '65. 
'65!Substitule— disch. by G. O. 

Mustered out Sept. 29, 1864— exp. of term. 

Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 

Drafted— disch. by G. O.. June 1, 1865. 

Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 

Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 

Mustered out to date, July 30, 1865. 



Mar. 

Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Mar. 



15. 



Disch. on Surgeon's certificate — wounded 

Sept. 17, 1862. 
Substitute. 

Disch. on Surg, certiticate. 
Trans, to U. S. Cavalry, Oct. 28, 1862. 
Discharged l)y Geiil. Order, June 7, 1865. 
Substitute. 



11, '65|Subslitue. 
11, '65 Substitute- 



-mus. out with Co., July 30, '65. 



J34 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 
COMPANY G — CONTINUED. 



RANK. 



DATE OF 
MUSTER. 



Kelley, Richards. 
Kelley, Saml. F. . 

King, Wm 

Kelley, Thos. D. . 
Kiiolbs, Wm. F. . 
Leonard, Simon. . 

Lerue, Burtis 

Lewis, Abriel. . . . 



Private. 



Lines, Wm. M 

Lines, John M 

Morrisohn, John D. 

Mapes, Milton C 

Markhatn, Riifus A. 
Martin, Robt. S 



Mace, Harvey H 



Monroe. John 

Morris, Wm. II 

Mack, Daniel 

Middaugh, Avery.. 
Mills, Albert W.... 

Mott, Abraham 

JIacy, Iliram 

McElwain, Wilson. . 
McLeary, Terrence. 

McGee, John 

Naylon, Patrick 

Nay Ion, John 

O'Donnell, Chas.. . . 

O'Neal, James 

Owens, Geo. W 

Powers, John J 



Powers, Elijah C. 



Porter, Samuel H. . . 

Porter, Amos C 

Pease, David 

Place, Jacob 

(Juick. John 

Itussell, Hiram W. . 

]\oss, Albert 

Hyan. Thomas 

Spalding. Nath. L . 

Spate, Chas. A 

Stoner, Christian. . 
Sullenberger. ,Tohn. 

Sloan, Thomas 

Stinson, Chas 

Shira, Wm. H 

Stroud, James 

Spalding, Henry 

Sullivan, .Tohn 

Shepherd, Albert. . 

Scully, John A 

Scriven, Edwin 

Scriven, Albert 



Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Mar. 

Sept. 

Sept. 

June 

Mar. 

Feb. 

Mar. 



20, 
10, 
20, 
20, 
30, 
20, 
10, 
24, 



Mar. 30, '64 



Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar . 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Sept. 
Mar. 



'64 Drafted— disch. by G. C, June 1, 1865. 
'64 Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
'64 Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
'64 Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
'64 Wounded— died July 3. 1864. 
'64 Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
'65 Substitute— mus. out with Co., July 30, '65. 
'64 Wounded June 18, 1864— Trans, to Vet. 

Res. Corps, June 19. 1865. 
'61 Trans, to U. S. Cavalry, Oct. 28, 1862, 
"61 Disch. on Surg, certificate. 
'64 Drafted— mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865. 
'6,5 Substitute — mus.out wiili Co., July 30, '65. 
'62 Mustered out Feb. 20, 1864— exp. of term. 
'64 Disch. by G. O., June 3, 1865— wounded 
May 12, 1864. 

Wounded May 6, 1864 — transferred to Vet. 
Res. Corps, Jan. 7, 1865. 

Substitute. 

Substitute. 

Substitute. 

Trans, to U. S. Cavalry, Oct. 28, 1862. 

Discharged by order Genl. C. M., 1862. 

Disch. on Surg, certificate. 

Died in Mississippi, 1863. 

Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 

Substitute. 

Cap. May 12, 1864— died Aug. 25, 1864. 
Substitute- 



2, "65 
11, '65 
14, '65 

'61 

'61 

'61 

'61 
20, '64 
14, '65 

'61 
29, '64 
26, '64 

13, '65 Substitute— mus.out with Co., July 30, '65. 
8, '65lSubstitute— mus.out with Co., July 30, '65. 

'61 ! Disch. on Sura:, certificate. 



8, '64 



Mar. 8, '64 



Feb. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
]\Iar. 
Sept. 
Sept. 



10. 



Wounded Mav6. 1864 — disch. onSurgeons 

certificate. Feb. 11, 1865. 
Wounded May 9, 1864— disch. by G. O., 

May 16, 1865. 



Disch. on Surg, certificate. 
Disch. on Surg, certificate. 
Mustered out witli company, July 30, '65. 
Mus. out with Co., July 30, 1865— Vet. 
Mus. out with company, July 30, 1865. 
Substitute — mus. out to date, July 30, '65 
Cap. May 12— dis. by G. O., Aug. 18, 1865. 
Substitute — mus.out with Co., July 30, "65 
Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
Disch. by G. O., June 12, 1865— Vet. 
Drafted— disch. by G. O , June 1, 1865. 

Draftf d— disfh. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 

Killed May 12, 1864. 

Killed May 12, 1864. 

Substitute. 

Substitute. 

Substitute. 

Died on Steam'p Ocean Queen, Oct. 28, '61. 

Discliarged on Surgeon's certificate. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 
COMPANY G CONTINUED. 



23? 



Scriven, Edward. . . . 

Strope, Wni 

Shafifer. Alex. H.... 

Smith, Geo 

Slawson, Edward. . . 
Thompson, Tim. S. 
Thompson, John... 
Towner, Philander. 

Tompkins, Ira A. . . 
Towner, Douglas. . 

Uncal, Jacob 

Vanderpool, Simon. 
Vanderpool, Moses. 

Vincent, Wm 

Wellor, Geo 

Wright, Jas 

Wilcox, Freeman.. . 

Waid, Isaac 

Woods, Geo, A 

Warner, Nelson E . 
Warner, Fletcher G 
Williams, Geo. II.. . 

Wilier, Smith 

Wood, John S 

Wood, Danl. B 

Young, Lewis A. . . 



RANK. 



Private. 



DATE OP 


MUSTEr 




Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 
Oct. 


2, 


'61 
"61 
•61 
'61 


Mar. 


1, 


'62 


Sept. 
Sept. 
Sept. 


20, 
20, 


'64 

'64 
'61 


Sept. 
Sept. 
Mar. 


15. 


'61 
•61 
■65 


Mar. 


30, 


'64 


Mar. 


31, 


•64 



Sept. 



'61 



Mar. 


23, 


'64 


Mar. 


8, 


•65 


Mar. 


31. 


'64 


Sept. 


20, 


'64 


Mar. 


15, 


•65 


Sept. 




'61 


Mar. 


20, 


'62 


Sept. 




•61 


Sept. 




•61 


Sept. 




'61 


Scot. 




'61 


Mar. 


31, 


"64 



Died at Annapolis, Md., Oct. 28, 1861. 
Promoted to Hospital Steward, Sept., "61. 



Drafted — dis. on Surg, cert., Feb. 14. ^65. 
Drafted— disch. by G. O., June 1, 1865. 
Disch. on Surg. cert. — wounded June 7, 

1862, Aug. 30, 1862— dis. Jan. 15, 1H63. 
Wounded Aug. 28, 1862, and captured. 
Wounded June 7, 1862— died June 12, '62. 
Substitute— mus out with Co., July 30, •65. 
Killed May 12, 1864. 
Wounded May 6, 1864— trans, to Vet. 

Res. Corps, .Jan 7, 1865. 
Supposed to have been killed while going 

from Vicksburg, Miss., to Covington, 

Ky., afterward returned home. 
Mus. out with company, July 30. 1865. 
Substitute — mu.s.out with Co. , July 30, '65. 
Trans, to Vet. Res. Corps. Jan. 19, 1865. 
Drafted— died Oct. 27, 18<;4. 
Substitute. 

Trans, to U. S. Cavalry, O. t. 28, 1862. 
Disch. on Surg. cert. — wd. ,^ept. 17, iy62. 
Drowned in tlie Potomac about Aug. 1, '62. 
Died in 1862, at Crab Orchard Ky. 
Disch. on Surg, cert.— wd. Ma;> 29, 1862— 

discharged. 
Trans, to U. S. Cavalry, Oct. 28, 1862. 
Wounded May 6, 1864— disch. by G. O., 

July 18, 1865. 



Fifty-second Regiment — This was one of the sixteen regiments of the 
TIeserves organized in July, 1861. The company organizations were in 
July, and the regimental m October. In this command wasa full com- 
])any, Oa])t. Green leaf P. Davis' Company E, and a part of Company 

F, that had been recruited in Bradford county by Treat B. Camp and 
Ivans(»m Luther. Ex-Gov. Henry M. Hoy t succeeded John C. Dodge, 
Jr., as colonel of this regiment, promoted from lieutenant-colonel, 
January 9. 1864. Roster of Company E: Ca))t. Greenleaf P. Davis 
resigned ]Vovember 7, 1863, and Hannibal D. Weed became captain 
December 21, 1863. W. S. Lewis, discharged by special order, Ajiril 
6. 1862; Hiram A. Weed, promoted to first lieutenant and dismissed 
March 24, 1864; Silas A. Bunyan^ first lieutenant by promotion from 
the ranks, died at Ciiarlestoh, July 4, 1864, of wounds received at Fort 
John.son. July 4, 1864 ; Charles R. Kenyon. promoted from sergeant 
to first lieutenant October 1, 1864, commissioned captain Company 

G, June 1, 1865; Harrison Ross, promoted to sergeant and then to 
second lieutenant September 22, 1862, resigned November 11, 1863; 
Edward J. Stratton, jiromoted from sergeant to second lieutenant 
June 3, 1864; Alvin Savles, promoted to second lieutenant June 3, 
1864. 

13 



238 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Company F: James Cook, captain, resigned October 21, 1863 ; 
Treat B. Camp, promoted to captain October 22, 1863 ; Burton K. 
(lustin, promoted to first-lieutenant December 21,1863; Charles E. 
Britton, promoted to first-lieutenant June 3, 1865 ; Hansom W. Luther, 
second-lieutenant, resigned June 21, 1862 ; Nelson Orchard, promoted 
to second-lieutenant September 27,1862, dismissed September 13, 1863; 
Alson Secor, promoted to second-lieutenant March 27, 1864. 

Fifty-seixmtliReglment. — This had two full companies from Brad- 
ford and a portion of another compan}'^ recruited by Jeremiah Culp, 
who became major, and was killed at Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862. Sam- 
uel C. Simonton was promoted from captain of Company B to major 
June 1, 1862; discharged for wounds January 17, 1863. Samuel 
Bryan was promoted from captain to major April 1, 1865. 

Roster of OiScers, Company B: Samuel C. Simonton, first cap- 
tain, promoted to major; John W. Gillispie, promoted from second 
lieutenant to captain, discharged October 23, 1863 ; George W. 
Perkins, promoted from adjutant to captain. May 2, 1864, and to 
lieutenant-colonel, March 19,1865; Israel Garretson promoted to 
quartermaster August 15, 1862; Thomas O. Callamore, promoted to 
first lieutenant October 1, 1862, resigned May 31, 1863; Daniel C. 
Comstock promoted to first lieutenant November 25, 186i; James 
Burns promoted to second lieutenant January 7, 1863. William H. 
Bell, promoted to second lieutenant June 7, 1865. 

Roster of officers, Companx' G: George S. Peck, captain, resigned 
September 22, 1862; Samuel Bryan, captain, promoted to major April 
1, 1865 ; Charles W. Forrester, captain, promoted to captain and 
A. A. G. ; Daniel Mehan, first lieutenant, September 4, 1861, pro- 
moted to captain Company H, May 20, 1862; James M. Darling, pro- 
moted to captain Company H, January 24, 1863 ; David Larrish, first 
lieutenant October 17,1864; Mort B. Owen, second lieutenant Sep- 
tember 4, 1861, resigned October 16, 1862; Joseph II. More, second 
lieutenant November 1, 1864. 

Seventh Qavalry — Eighteenth Regiment. — Comj^any C in the regi- 
ment was recruited in Bradford and Tioga counties. 

One Hundred and Sixtli Regiment. — Capt. Samuel H. Newman's 
Company D was assigned to this regiment — the command mustered in 
August 27, 1861. In this regiment, in Companies C, Hand I were also 
many Bradford county men. Capt. Newman was discharged on sur- 
geon's certificate, July 19, 1862 ; William N. Jones, captain July 26, 
1862; John Irwin, promoted from second to first lieutenant July 26. 
1862. commissioned captain Company B, June 22, 1864, and transferred 
to Companv K; Joshua A. Gage promoted to second lieutenant July 
26, 1862, ki'lled at Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864. 

FAeMntli Cai)aln/--One Jlioidrcd and Ei(/7dhRef/iiiietit. — Orig- 
inally known as " Harlan's Light Cavalry," recruited during August 
and September, 1861. Company F, Capt. Newberry E. Calkins, from 
Bradford county, resigned March 4, 1862; Capt. Benj. B. Mitchell 
succeeded March 13, 1862, continued to end of term. Thornton J. 
p]lliott became captain November 6, 1864. David O. Tears promoted 
from second to first lieutenant March 13, 1862; killed at Ream's Sta- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 339 

tion June 29, 1864. William S. Spalding by promotions from rank 
to first lieutenant November 6, 1864. Philip A. Palmer promoted to 
first lieutenant June 30, 1864. John V. Piclvering promoted to second 
lieutenant November 4, 1864. 

One Hundred and Thirty-second liegiment.—^ine months' men; 
recruited in July and August, 1862, and had two companies from Brad- 
ford county. This regiment lost thirty killed, one hundred and four- 
teen wounded, eight missing; among the killed were Col. Oakford and 
Lieut. Anson C. Cranmer. The regiment greatly distinguished itself 
at the battle of Fredericksburg. The companies from this county were 
Company C, Capt. Herman Townsend, discharged on surgeon's certifi- 
cate January 10, 1863; Capt. Charles M. Dougal succeeded same date; 
James A. Rogers promoted to first lieutenant January 10, 1863; 
Anson C. Cranmer, second lieutenant, killed at Antietam September 
IT, 1862: Company D, Capt. Charles II. Chase, resigned December (>, 
1862; Capt. William H. Carnochan promoted from lieutenant, 
November 29, 1862; Charles E. Gladding, first lieutenant; J. W. 
Brown, second lieutenant, August 11,1862; F. Marion Wells promoted 
to second lieutenant, December 6, 1862, wounded, with loss of leg 
at Chancellorsville. 

(hie Hundred and Thirtij-seventli Regiment. — Nine months' men ; 
had one company from Bratlford county. Company I, Capt. Thomas 
McFarland, commissioned August 26, 1862, resigned January 10, 
1863, succeeded by W. F. Johnson; Joseph G. Isenberg, promoted 
from second to first lieutenant Januar}^ 11, 1863 ; John L. May pro- 
moted to second lieutenant Januaiy 11, 1863. 

(hie Hundred and Forty-^first liee/inient. — More than any other, 
this was a Bradford countv regiment. Recruiting commenced for this 
regiment Avith a view of raising everv man from this countv, and had 
it been possible to give them a little more time, this w^ould have been 
done. Seven full companies were Bradford men, and the other three 
from Susquehanna and Wa3^ne counties. Chaplain David Craft has 
written and published an elaborate history of the regiment, a fitting 
and enduring monument to as brave a band as ever went forth to do 
battle for freedom's cause. Their record covers thirty three battles, 
and on more than one occasion they were sent in front of the army, to 
gain, at the bayonet's point, a footing where they could, and did protect 
the army's advance, as at the celebrated "mud march" of Gen. Ilurn- 
side's; this regiment alone crossed the river, carried the opposite heights 
at the point of the bayonet, ;iiid held the crest of the hill in order that 
the army might cross in safety. They were thus sent again and again 
into the "imminent deadly breach" and never faltered, never serioush' 
wavered, and theirs is the story of decimation and death, paralleled by 
few, excelled by none in the great army, where were millions of 
trained veterans. The regimental colors, all tattered and torn, were 
flaunted always defiantly in the face of the enemy; were never trailed, 
and, as they promised Gov. Curtin when they received them at his 
hands, were protected witii their lives, and aie now in the State De- 
partment, the mute but glorious testimony of the death-bravery of 
their custodians in war. Two-thirds of the men on its rolls carrying 



240 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

muskets perished that their coimtry might live — a greater loss, as 
is shown l)y the official reports, than was sustained b}' any of the many 
regiments in the war, save one only, and that one particular regiment 
entered the service with a greater numerical force. 

On July 2, 1862, the President issued his proclamation calling for 
three hundred thousand men. Now was real war "in battles mag- 
nificently stern array." One thousand of these men w^ere Bradford's 
quota. The national outlook Avas gloomy, and on even children's faces 
came the hard lines and troubled looks. A meeting was called at 
Towanda July 19, following. Speeches and resolutions were had look- 
ing to the speedy enlistment of the required number for the county, 
and the meeting suggested that the townships should open recruiting 
offices, and when companies were formed all should be organized into 
a Bradford county regiment. 

Early in August a meeting was held in Terrytown, addressed by 
Guy H. Watkins, a rising young attorney of Towanda. August 4th, 
a meeting was held in Wyalusing, the principal speaker being Hon. 
George Landon, one of the ablest popular orators in Bradford count\', 
and at once fiTty men were enrolled. The first compan}' of this regi- 
ment was fornied August 14. 1862, the outcome of the Wyalusing 
meeting, and represented Wyalusing. Ilerrick, Tuscarora, Terry and 
Wilmot townships. A small local bounty had been ])rovided for each 
man, as well as a Bible and a well filled needle-book. The company 
marched out from Wyalusing on the fourteenth ; stopped for dinner at 
Towanda, and here at the court house a company organization was 
effected: Capt. George W. Jackson [both fight and patriotism in that 
name]; Joseph II. Ilorton, first lieutentant ; William T. Horton, 
second lieutenant. In the afternoon the company proceeded to Can- 
ton, camped for the night, and the next day reached Ilarrisburg. The 
non-commissioned officers of the comi)any were: Sergeants, Austin D. 
JefTers. Joseph II. Hurst, Thomas R. 'Miles, Nathaniel P. Moody, 
James V-au Auken; corporals, Martin B. Ryder, Erastus S. Gregory, 
Noble J. Gaylord, Edwin M. White, Jackson C. Lee, George II. 
P>irney, James W. Alderson, Isaac F. Johnson ; musicians, John O. 
Frost and Edward A. Lord. Including the non-commissioned officers, 
the company numbered ninety -seven men, and being first was Com- 
pany "A." 

Company B. — During the early ])art of August, William T. Davies, 
a law student of Towanda, and Henry Keeler, of Wyalusing, began 
making enlistments in Warren and Pike townships. At the same 
time Guy LI. Watkins, brother-in-law of Davies, and Benjamin M. 
Peck, were enlisting men in the Towandas. When a number sufficient 
for a compau}^ was secured, a meeting was held at Towanda. August 
13th, and an organization effected as follows: Captain, Guy H, 
Watkins; first lieutenant, William T. Davies; second lieutenant, 
Henry Keeler; sergeants. Joseph S. Lock wood, W^illiam Jones, Mar- 
tin O". Codding, Ephraim D. Robbins and Jesse P. Carl, who Avas suc- 
ceeded at Camp Curtin by Benjamin M. Peck; corporals, Andrew 
St. John, Amasa Wood. George D. Crandall, James Goodell. John 
Keeney, Josiah A. Bosworth, Homer H. Stevens and Charles H. Cran- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 241 

dall ; Frank J. N'^a.iulerpool and Henry \V. J>ro\vn, musicians. Non- 
commissioned officers and men, ninety-eiglit. 

Company C. — At the same time as the above, Rev. A. J. Swart, of 
Overton, was enlisting men at his place and Liberty Corners, Macedo- 
nia antl Franklin townshii)s, while W. J. Cole was enlisting- men about 
Macedonia and George W. Kilmer was enlisting men from Asylum 
and Liberty Corners. As early as the Tth of August it was ascertained 
they had men enough to form a company. A meeting was called at 
Monroeton, and the following officers elected : Captain, A. J. Swart; 
William J. Cole, first lieutenant, and H. G. Golf, second lieutenant. It 
is proper to state that G. W. Kilmer esteemed himself too young to 
accept office, and therefore declined when offered a commission. Th(^ 
company was mustered at Harrisburg, August 25. Sergeants, W. W. 
Goff, George C. Beardsley, Bishop Horton and A. R. Coolbaugh; 
cor{)orals, John Chapman, George Owen, Charles S. Brown, Hiram 
Cole, Daniel Shoonover, Moses Coolbaugh, John Rockwell and Jerry 
ILakes. Company had eighty-nine men. 

Gompmiy 1). — Commencing with August, Morgan Lewis, of Orwell, 
began enlisting men by virtue of a commission he had received from 
Gov. Curtin, and he soon had seventy-five \\\qw from Windham, Her- 
rick, Orwell, and Rome. At the same time Thomas Ryon, a young 
Towanda lawyer, was recruiting men in Burlingtonand the west sideof 
the county, and had secured twenty -two men. The men met at the court- 
house, Towanda, August 15 and organized: Captain, Morgan Lewis, 
but he declined the great responsibility, and, at his urgent solicitation, 
Isaac A. Park became captain; first lieutenant, Thomas Ryon ; sec- 
ond lieutenant, Morgan Lewis. The medical examiners rejected nine- 
teen of the men. And the joke on the examiners was that these 
nineteen men were accepted by the same board the very next day, 
when they had joined other commands. Mr. Ryon secured other 
recruits from Burlington for the men rejected. The non-commissioned 
officers: Sergeants, Marcus E. Warren, Henry J. Hudson, George 
Wilson, Charles J. Estabrook and David C. Palmer; corporals, 
William Howe, Simeon G. Rockwell, Charles B. Hunt, Charles E. 
Seeley, Robert Nichols, Elijah A. Mattison, David Benjamin and 
William Hewitt; hospital steward, Isaac S. Clark. 

Company E. — This was known as Athens Company, though recruited 
there and in surrounding townshij)s. Joseph B. Reeve, of Athens, was 
recruiting in this borough and in Litchfield ; George C. Page, a farmer 
of Athens township, was recruiting among the farmers, and in Ulster 
and Sheshequin, while John F. Clark, of Burlington, was enlisting 
men about him. The different squads met in Athens, August 16, to 
form a company: Captain, Joseph B. Reeve ; first lieutenant, John F. 
Clark ; second lieutenant, George C. Page ; sergeants, Stephen Evans, 
Tracy S. Knapp, Mason Long, William S. Wright and William Carner ; 
corporals, Orlando Loomis. James W. Clark, Alonzo D. Beech, Otis A. 
Jakway, Charles McNeal, William R. Campbell, Charles T. Hull, Rus- 
sell R. Ciaflin and Handford D. Kinney. At the organization Col. C. 
F. Welles invited the " bovs " to his oflfice, and gave each man ^5. The 



342 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

company left Athens on the 18th, and were mustered at Harrisburg- 
August 25. 

Company I. — This was recruited by Sheriff Spalding and his 
brother, Israel P. Spalding, mostly in Wysox, Rome and Litclifield 
townships. The men met in Towanda on August 12 and organized : Cap- 
tain, Israel P. Spalding; first lieutenant, Edwin A. Spalding, and sec- 
ond lieutenant, Charles Mercur. On the organization of the regiment 
Capt. Israel P. S[)alding was elected major, and E. A. Spalding became 
captain ; Mercur, first lieutenant, and John G. Brown, second lieuten- 
ant ; sergeants, John S. Frink, William Bostwick, John D. Bloodgood, 
Truxton Havens, George F. Reynolds; corporals, John E. Gillett, F. 
Cortes Rockwell, Stephen L. Clark, John M. Dunham, Orrin C. Tay- 
lor, James Lunger, Eugene L. Lent, John Turnbull ; wagoner, Daniel 
Lamphier. Total, eighty-five enlisted men. August 18 the company 
again assembled in Towanda, and, with Companies Band D. left the 
next day for Harrisburg. 

Company K. — James K. AVright, whose three sons were in the 
service, and, though ageing, yet he commenced enlisting in Smith field, 
and, securing the required number, started for Camp Curtin. When 
he reached Troy, his men were told of the larger bounty offered in 
New York, and about one-half of them left him, hut he went on with 
the remainder to Harrisburg. After reaching the rendezvous, two 
squads from Sullivan county, one from Dushore, under John S. Dief- 
enbach, and the other from La Porte, under Henry R. Dunham, were 
united Avith Wright's men, and a full company formed. Captain, Jason 
K.Wright; first lieutenant, Henry R. Durham; second lieutenant, 
John S. Diefenbach; sergeants, Beebe Jerould, Aurelius J. Adams, 
Wallace Scott, Daniel W. Scott; corporals, Charles W. Smith, 
Calvin C. Chamberlain, Gordon T. Wilcox, Wallace W. Farnsworth, 
George W. Pennington, William Rogers, Nathan S. Brown, William 
R. Smalle}'; wagoner, William H. D. Green, 

The three remaining companies, owing to the emergency of the 
hour, were not Bradford county men. Time was so important that 
Companies F and H were taken from Susquehanna county, and Com- 
pany G from Wayne county. Could a little more time have been 
oiven, the countv would have raised the full regiment. 

The commissioned officers met August 28 to organize the regiment, 
and Maj. Henry J. Madill, already in the service in the Sixth Reserve, 
was unanimously chosen colonel. He had already made a brilliant 
army record, but now it may be well said that he had entered upon a 
career that will forever remain pre-eminent in the annals of war. 
Capt. Guy H. Watkins was chosen lieutenant-colonel; Capt. Israel 
P. Spalding, major; adjutant, Daniel W. Searls, who was first lieu- 
tenant of Company I; quartermaster, Robert N. Torrey ; surgeon, 
Ezra P. Allen, but by mistake commissioned assistant-surgeon ; 
assistant-surgeon, William Church, but commissioned surgeon ; Rev. 
David Craft, chaplain ; sergeant-majors, Charles D. Cash , Henry U. 
Jones and Joseph G. Fell. A total of 917 non-commissioned officers 
and men. 

Eoster, Field and Staff. — Henry J. Madill, colonel, September 5, 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 243 

1862; brevet brigadier-general, December 2, 1864; brevet major 
general, March 13, 1865 ; wounded at Petersburg, April 2, 1865. 

Guy H, Watkins, lieutenant-colonel, August 22,1802; promoted 
from captain; wounded and captured at Chancellorsville, May 3,1863; 
killed at Petersburg, June 18, 1864. 

Casper W. Tyler, j^romoted from captain to major June 22, 1864 ; 
to lieutenant-colonel julv 4, 1864; discharged on surgeon's certificate 
March 1, 1865. 

Joseph H. Horton, lieutenant-colonel, promoted from captain 
March 18, 1865. Israel P. Spalding, promoted from captain to major 
December 10, 1862; died July 28, of wounds received July 2 at Get- 
tysburg. Charles Mercur, promoted from captain to major February 
28, 1865. Daniel W. Searle, adjutant, wounded July 2 at Gettysburg; 
discharged on surgeon's certilicate June 2, 1864. Elisha Brainard, 
adjutant, promoted July 1,1864. Robert W. Torrey, quartermaster, 
discharged on certificate October 24, 1864. Charles D. Cash, quarter- 
master, promoted from sergeant major June 24, 1865. 

William Church, surgeon, promoted from assistant surgeon One 
Hundred and Tenth P.V., September 2, 1862; discharged September 
22, L864. Fred C. Dennison, surgeon, promoted December 3, 1864. 
Ezra P. Allen, assistant-surgeon, promoted to surgeon of the Eighty- 
third P. y. December 13, 1862. John W. Thompson, assistant- 
surgeon, died Jul}'' 4, 1864. Wellington G. Beyerle, assistant- 
surgeon, promoted December 27, 1864. David Craft, chaplain, dis- 
charged on surgeon's certificate Februar}' 11, 1863. Andrew Barr, 
chaplain, died at Coatsville, Pa., April 11, 1864. Lilburn J. Rob- 
bins, sergeant-majoi'. Henry U. Jones, promoted to first lieutenant 
Company B, December 5, 1863. Joseph G. Fell, sergeant-major, died 
of wounds received at Gettysburg,. July 2, 1863. Martin O. Codding, 
quartermaster-sergeant, second lieutenant Company C, April 19, 1865. 
C. J. Estabrook, commissary-sergeant, and Isaac S. Clark, commissarv- 
sergeant. Isaac S. Clark, hospital steward ; Michael G. Hill and Gil- 
bert B. Stewart, musicians. 

Company A. — Capt. George W. Jackson, resigned October 31, 
1862. Capt. Joseph H. Horton, wounded at Spottsylvania C. H., May 
12, 1864 ; promoted to lieutenant-colonel March 18, 1865. Capt. 
Joseph H. Hurst, commissioned April 1, 1865, wounded at Chancel- 
lorsville May 3, 1363; at Spottsylvania C. H. May 12, 1864. First 
Lieut. James W. Anderson, commissioned April 22, 1865. Second 
Lieut. William T. Horton, discharged on surgeon's certificate Decem- 
ber 22, 1862. Second Lieut. James Van Auken, killed at Morris 
Farm, Va., November 27, 1863. 

Company B. — Capt. Guy H. Watkins [record given above]. Capt. 
William T. Davies (Lieutenant-Governor), promoted September 1, 
1862; discharged on surgeon's certificate May 23, 18<>3. Capt. Benj. 
M. Peck (President Judge), commissioned captain December 5, 1863 ; 
wounded at Chancellorsville May 3, 1863. First Lieut. Henry 
Keeler, discharged on surgeon's certificate February 9, 1863. Henr}'^ 
U, Jones, first lieutenant, commissioned December 5, 1863. 

Company C. — Capt. Abraham J. Swart, killed at Chancellorsville 



244 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

May 3, 1863. Capt. William J. Cole, wounded at Chancellorsville 
May 3, 1863; promoted to captain December, 5, 1863; discharged on 
surgeon's certificate June 27, 1864. Ca[)t. George W. Kilmer, pro- 
moted from sergeant to first lieutenant December 5, 1863; to captain 
August 8, 1864; prisoner from October 27, 1864, to April 14, 1865. 
Second lieutenant, Harry G. Goff. 

Co7n2Mny D. — Capt. Isaac A. Park, discharged April 22, 1863. 
Capt. Thomas Ryon, promoted December 26, 1863 ; discharged 
August 6, 1864. Capt. Marcus E. Warner, promoted to captain 
December 20, 1864. First Lieut. Henry J. Hudson, promoted Febru- 
ary 14, 1865. Second Lieut. Morgan Lewis, promoted August 23, 
1862; discharged February 10, 1863. 

(Jompany E. — Capt. Joseph B. Reeve; resigned December 10, 

1862. Capt. John F.Clark; resigned June 16, 1864. Capt. Mason 
Long, promoted to Captain December 20, 1864. First Lieut. Stephen 
Evans; resigned November 3,1863. First Lieut. John M. Jackson, 
promoted January 24, 1865; wounded at Chancellorsville May 3, 

1863. Second Lieut. George C. Page; resigned December 29, 1862. 
Company I. — Capt. Israel P. Spalding ; promoted to major, 

December 10, 1862. Capt. Edwin A. Spalding; wounded at Chancel- 
lorsville. May 3, 1863, and at Wilderness, Ma}^ 5, 1864. Capt. John 
G. Brown, promoted captain, January 24, 1865; wounded a*: Gettys- 
burg, Julv 2, 1863. First Lieut. Charles Mercur; transferred to 
Company K, January 5, 1863. J'irst Lieut. John S. Frink, promoted 
January" 24, 1865. 

Company K. — Capt. Jason K. Wright, resigned December 2, 1862. 
Capt. Charles Mercur, promoted to major February 28, 1865. First 
Lieut. Henry R. Dunham, discharged on surgeon's certificate Decem- 
ber 9,1862.*^ First Lieut. Beebe Jerould, promoted December 5,1863. 
Second Lieut. John S. Diefenbach, died October 11, 1862. 

Seventeeth Cavalry Regiment. — Under the President's call of July 
2, 1862, Pennsylvania was required to furnish three cavalry regiments. 
This was one oi those regiments organized October 18, 1862. 

Company D. — This was from Bradford and Susquehanna counties. 
Capt. Charles Ames, resigned May 22, 1863; Capt. Warren F. Siinrall. 
First Lieut. Charles F. Willard ; succeeded by Johnson Rogers. Second 
Lieut. Stanley M. Mitchell. 

One Hundred and Seventy-first Regiment. — (Nine months) drafted 
militia, was called into service in 1862. Four companies, B, C, D and G 
were mostly from Bradford county. Theophilus Humphrey, of Brad- 
ford, was made lieutenant-colonel.' The regiment was in no important 
engagement ; was most of the time in North Carolina. 

Company B. — Capt. Ulysses E. Llorton. First Lieut. William Jen- 
ings. Second Lieut. William J. Brown. 

Company C — Capt. William B. Hall, resigned. Capt. C. E. Wood, 
promoted April 11, 1863. First Lieut. Sanderson P. Stacey. Second 
Lieut. James H. Yan Ness. 

Company i>.— Capt. Minier H. Hinman. First Lieut. Hiram A. 
Black. Second Lieut. Loomis B. Camp. 







^r .jj^%^- 'rt^/i^ ' ' 




i-^^^i.A-e-'Y^ 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COTNTY. 247 

Company ^r.— Capt. Albeit Judson, First Lieut. Samuel C. Robl>, 
Second Lieut. Samuel B. Pettingell. 

Two Hundred and Seventh Regiment. — One 3'ear's service, organized 
September 8, 1864. No separate company was organized from Brad- 
foixl county, but there were men from here in companies B, E and G, 

Militia of 1S62. — The threatened invasion of the State caused the 
Governor to call out all the able-bodied men to arm and prepare for 
defense. September 10 the invaders appeared in Mar^^land. Ever}' 
man was to prepare to march at an hour's notice. The notice to report 
at once came to Bradford county on the 10th, and on Monday follow- 
ing four full companies were on their way to Harrisburg, as follows: 
Capt. E. O. Goodrich's from Towanda, Capt. J. W. Evans' from Athens, 
Capt. Gorham's from Wvalusing and Pike, and Capt. Daniel Wilcox's 
from Canton. In the meantime Gen. McClellan had been recalled 
to the command, and fought the battle of Antietam, but the emer- 
gency passed and the men returned to their homes. These soldiers 
were out only ten days. 

Emergency Men, 1863. — In June, 1863, Lee commenced his invasion 
that culminated and ended with the battle of Gettvsburg July 1. 2 and 
0. The Government called for 50,000 men from Pennsv^lvania to 
serve six months unless sooner discharged. A company of the Twentv- 
sixth Regiment, under this call, Ca[)t. Warner H.'Carnochan, was 
enlisted at Troy, and at once saw severe service in the preliminary 
skirmishes around Gettysburg. Capt. Carnochan and a part of his 
men were captured. 

In the Thirtieth Regiment was Capt. S. H. Newman's company, of 
Canton. They encountered no serious service. 

Governor's' Call. — On the 30th of June, 1863, Gov. Curtin issued a 
supplemental call for 60,000 additional men — ninety days. Under this 
call two companies Avere raised in Bradford county, and assigned to 
the Thirty-fifth Regiment. 

This is the brief outline of the organization of tiie Bradford county 
men in the Civil War; the beginning of the sacritlce in behalf of the 
Union. Their record in the field, in sieges and battles, is that of the 
war from the first to the end. Like every count}^ in the Union the peo- 
ple were all deeply in the sacrifice ; home ties were sundered and lives 
were the sacrifice. On both sides nearl}' four million of men were in 
some wa,y identified with the army in the field, while each man left 
behind him anxious and bruised hearts, whose morning and evenino- 
prayers went out in behalf of " the boys" at the front. When the war'- 
burst came it sent its terrible thrill to every hamlet and cross-roads in 
the land — meetings assembled in every county, at every church and 
school-house. While men were frenzied with the ringing call to arms, 
but few to any extent realized the situation in its full force, the 
unthinking regarded it as a mere passing storm, and welcomed it as a 
purifier of the elements, and going to the war more as a recreation for a 
few days than anything very serious. There were thousands of men. 
North and South, who at the preceding election had deliberately voted 
with the full knowledge that they were casting a ballot for war ; their 
philosophy was, and you can yet "hear this said, that there were irrecon- 



248 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

cilable differences between the sections of the Union and that war only 
could settle it permanentlj^; that as war was inevitable, then the sooner 
it came the better. " It had to be" is to this day the judgment of 
many. The only people who were agreed in all the preliminaries 
before the rise of the curtain were the Fire Eaters of the South and 
the High Law fanatics of the North. Both hated the Constitution as 
our great Fathers made it. One because it recognized African slavery ; 
tlie other because it bound them to the section where ran the 
many parallel lines of the Underground Railroad. The intelligent 
Abolitionist believed that war was the only destroyer of the institu- 
tion of slavery, and he was consistently for war ; the slaveholder 
believed that with a separation of the sections a foreign nation would 
not encourage the theft of his slave property ; and the average South- 
ern man, deep in his soul, believed that the loss of the slaves would be 
the doom of the South; they argued that the whole South and its 
splendid wealth and prosperity was based on slave labor, and with that 
gone, as their country was unsuited to white labor, as they supposed, 
it must lapse into a primitive waste and wilderness. The same con- 
tingent of demagogues, North and South, were playing their selfish part 
in the preliminaries of the life-and-death struggle. A chronic average 
office-seeker is always for his own selfish interests first, last and always. 
The liberality of these men in dispensing solicitude in behalf of hoped- 
for- voters pales the whole world's Christian charit}'. Jeff Davis was a 
characteristic American demagogue — that is all. The onl}^ place he 
deserves in history is silent contempt; in the great highway of civili- 
zation he was a mere toad or wart, and while called a statesman was 
as ignorant of that science as a Choctaw Indian ; he should be written 
as a specimen of "great war-times-men,'" who are great solely because 
they were figureheads when many of their betters were cutting each 
other's throats. Had the South now its coveted separation, all the 
same, their chieftan would have been a cheap fraud — a dirty fetich and 
nothing more. This is not kicking the dead lion, because it was a 
ground-hog and not a lion by any means. Morth and South the cheap 
demagogue was a part of the play ; generall}'^ he was the one-eyed 
fiddler in the dance of death, and he pipf^d his soulful strains to the pea- 
nut galler}^ ; it was the rarest accident when he was found at the front 
with a musket ; but behind the mountains, firing his jaw, he was not 
only brave but a terror — an animal this country has coddled and bred 
until they can show blinding pedigrees. The thoroughbred demagogue 
and the man who sells his vote for a drink are Siamese twins — they 
are for or against war, drouth or chinch bugs as it happens ; great 
in loud pretensions, and the vilest of snobs by instinct and education. 

As related in tiie opening of this chapter, when the direful news 
came of Fort Sumter the people spontaneously came together to hear 
war speeches. A great county meeting was held in Towanda in 1862 ; 
the hey-day of war had now passed away, and bitter tears coursed 
their way down the cheeks of many of the mothers and wives of the 
land. The battle and mob rout of Bull Run had passed into history, 
and the black war-cloud lowered over the Nortii. At this meeting the 
one purpose was to raise recruits for the army. It was plain that 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 249 

there were hundreds of men eager to go and would go if only there 
was a way to keep their families from starving in their absence. The 
county had no ready mone\' on hand, nor was there any provision in 
the law to provide for or give it. At this meeting the County Com- 
missioners in conjunction with the Associate Court Judges were 
appealed to, to act and take the chances on the Legislature approving 
.their action. They agreed to borrow the money, and certain citizens 
gave them an indemnity note agreeing to pay the money back to the 
county if the Legislature refused to legalize their action. In this way 
every volunteer was paid $'25 when enlisting out of the $20,500 ad- 
vanced by citizens, as follows : B. S. Ilussell ife Co., $12, .500 ; David 
Wilmot, "$500; Pomeroy Bros., $5,000; M. C. Mercur, $500; John 
Passmore, $5(H»; John Adams, $500 ; GeoFge Landon, $500 ; N. N. 
Betts, $500. Each one of the Bradford men in the One Hundred and 
Fortv-first Eegiment was paid $25 from this fund. The pavments to 
soldiers were as follows : 1861, $2,459.99 ; 1862, $900.37 ; 1863, $17,- 
981.44; 1864, $1,555; 1865, $673.30; 1866, $450; 1868, $25; 1870, 
$25, and 1876, $50— total, $22,118.10. 

There are now within the county, according to official returns, 2,457 
old soldiers and soldiers* widows. The once active mailed millions 
are slowly fading awav, gathering bevond for the last roll call. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN THE COUNTY. 

Introductory — Republican-Federalists and Republican-Demo- 
crats — Political Questions — Newspaper and Other Advance- 
ments — Miscellaneous. 

" — A few agree 
To call it freedom when themselves are free." 

A MERE compilation of the records is not exactly what is at this 
day required of even the local historian. The genealogies, tradi- 
tions and recorded facts are interesting and valuable matter, and deserve 
the most careful preservation. These things can not be too full and 
explicit. Of themselves, however, they are not true history, but rather 
materials in the hands of the historian. The truth is real history in an 
account of cause and effect ; the growth and s])read of new ideas, cus- 
toms, habits and laws; the why and wherefore of the movements of 
men's minds. The first essential in the hunt for cause and effect, 
tracing them with any certainty, is time or permanency in their appli- 
cation ; the next important item is numbers or quantity. The great 
law of averages must have full play, and this beautiful and unvar3nng 
principle can have no application to one or two or three, or scarcely 
any to one hundred or one thousand, instances or persons. Thus in a 



250 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

hu'»e number of people, existing socially and politicall.y, for a long 
time as a distinct body, there is necessarily a true science in the study 
of all their movements. This real history is the true philosophx' of 
the movements of the human mind ; too abstruse often to be per- 
ceived by even the ablest historian, while the mere annalist is content 
to simply give dates and records, with no attention whatever to the 
deeper truths of the study. Yet a familv, even an individual, may 
be truly historical. The permanent effects of a single person's life 
may be great, either for good or bad, and thus he may give 
influences that shape history, but the effects even here flow out 
upon the many, and in the long lapse of years. It is a modern 
growth, the idea that historv deals mostly with things that are 
somewhat permanent in. their effects, and passes lightly by those 
things, however notable or notorious in their time, that are but 
transient in their influences. A great battle may mean very little, 
compared to Fulton's steamboat ; the battle of Waterloo was as the 
death of a house fly to the discovery of Columbus. This, like all 
thoughts that are new, has had a slow growth ; it has 'yet to dawn 
upon the average mind, but that it will come in time in all its fullness 
need not be doubted ; that pretty much all history is a true account 
of the struggle in the world that has gone on and will go on between 
right and wrong — truth and error — ignorance and knowledge ; that 
rather frightful picture of the conditions of mankind given us by the 
most modern schools of philosophy wherein men are caged beasts for- 
ever fighting and struggling and only '' the fittest survive " is most 
true. After all, this is but a new form of expressing the old truth that 
right and wrong must be at perpetual war, and in that war truth is 
always in the minority, and ignorance and wrong are not onl}^ in an 
overwhelming majority, but are panoplied in power, and are supreme 
and pitiless. Ignorant force organizes armies and levies war, and 
to-day it has made of Europe a vast military encampment; and cruel, 
cruel Russia has liberated its millions of serfs, and made many more 
millions of its people political prisoners, suspects, and the most wretched 
of sufferers. The world's scandal, its unspeakable monster to-day. is 
Russia, religious Russia, educated Russia and its public and compulsor}' 
schools, its freed serfs and its Kremlin and cathedrals and Siberia. 
The concensus of mankind should rise up and blot out that infernal 
despotism. It is a wrong that has slowly grown and fattened on its 
cruelties; and now that the usurper can usurp no farther, like all wrong 
it reacts as well on the government itself as it has for centuries inflicted 
its cruelties on the people. Yet " truth is might}' and will prevail," 
but there need be no reference to the long, long time that 
must elapse before there comes about any noticeable " pre- 
vailing'' of limping and slow-going truth or justice. Another 
form of stating this "struggle," is that of "precedent and 
doubt." Every oppressor and every usurper clings to precedent, while 
every movement toward liberty is preceded by doubts as to the wisdom 
of precedent. Hence, we find the tyrant always vigorously suppress- 
ing doubt — outlawing and turning loose upon it his armed police, and 
in the end his army, where there are no William Tells when ordered to 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. '^51 

fire. The Czar a prisonei' — a miserable nightmare, trembling in fear, 
immured in the great palace walls, driven b}^ his phantoms to madness; 
his condition might call down the pity of his dumb brutes ; and at the 
other end are his miserable subjects in the mines, in the gloomy iron 
casements, driven through the winters storm where men, women and 
children — the most pitiful sight beneath the bending heavens — are 
shot down or bayoneted orknouted,and by the long wayside are dying 
and freezing. Here is wrong and usurpation ripened to the full, and 
commencing with the Czar and running through all classes is but an 
unending horror. This is all the dreadful handiw^ork of ignorant 
ambition — grasping for power, greed for supposed greatness, ambition 
to be the great rulers, has in time brought these Dead Sea apples to 
both King and subject — the whole group is the progeny of ignorance — 
following blindly })recedent and rigorously suppressing doubt. The 
people are '' my children ;" lieav^en pity them ! that " my government 
must care for and protect." The King " is divinely appointed to rule 
over us — the King can do no wrong," is the fatuous education of the 
people, of every people that have groaned under the most shocking- 
tyrannies. To this fatality both King and subject are educated. A 
remarkable feature of the develojnnent of tyranny, is that both ruler 
and subject are educated in the faith that it all comes of CTod, and 
could not and should not be otherwise ; that any doubt, therefore, is 
blasphemy added to ti-eason. Hence, to-day, if the best man in the 
world was made the Czar of all the liussias, he would be helpless to 
relieve his suffering people, who have been so long trained and educated, 
out of all conception of man's natural rights to liberty and justice. 
The war of the Colonies for Independence — that long and cruel war 
— commenced in the unconscious struggle of the people for human 
rights against the divine order of kings — the infallible rulers, and a 
standing army. There are abundant evidences that our noble fathers 
had but little idea of the falseness of the doctrine of the divinity of 
kings, in the early stages of the struggle with the mother country. "^ We 
can have but little conception, even now, how the fate of mankind 
hung trembling in the balance at that awful moment when the "crown 
was offered Washington.*' Here was the most eventful moment in all 
history. Washington and Franklin, supi>lemented by Jefferson, gave 
the world practically the sublime truth that man can best care for him- 
self ; that the ruler is not only fallible, but is the servant of those who 
appoint him, and must render to his masters an account of his steward- 
ship. We can now know that there was but a little remnant of all 
those who buckled on their armor and offered theii- lives as a sacrilice 
for their country, who clearly perceived that it was in fact a struggle 
of the people against the "divine order." They mostly, no doubt, 
demanded " no taxation without representation,"' and, had the king 
granted this, results might have been radically different. Long pre- 
ceding circumstances had tended to educate the colonists away from 
that fatal king-school. They had been driven across the face' of the 
world by religious persecution, wiien the king was heaven's vicegerent 
on earth, to kill and crush out heresy. The State and the Church were 
one, and dissent from either l)v so iriuch as a look or wink, a breath or 



252 HISTORY OF BKADFOHI) COrNTY. 

;i secret thought, even, was to call down u})on the victim the cruelest 
conceivable torture and death : the world was full of the church mili- 
tant, but was without charity and without mercy, and civilization was 
in a condition of petrifaction that most surely could never have 
advanced one jot or tittle without the timely revolt of the American 
Colonies, wiiere men fought and died for liberty — blessed liberty ! the 
supremest thing in this world, whose chief enemy always has been the 
ruler — the governing power, who has started out on the false and 
malignant motto : The king can do no wrong, the people can do no 
right. The truth is the people of themselves can do no wrong ; if 
wrong comes from them, it is done through their representative rulers 
always, and this has been preceded by a long course of mis-education 
enforced among the people. 

These preliminary explanations are deemed necessary before enter- 
ing upon the consideration of the fact in American history that, when 
our fathers had emerged from the long war, and their independence 
had been granted, and thev were confronted with the greater task of 
founding a democracy, there should arise two political parties — the 
Kepublicans and Federalists. In Bradford county, at the very begin- 
ning of its existence as a civil body, these parties were called Repub- 
lican-Federalists and Republican-Democrats. 

In forming our government they had nearly literally transplanted 
the English government, simply leaving out a king and giving the 
people the right to choose their ruler for stated periods. The departure 
'from the mother government was very slight,but little as it was the sole 
question between the two political organizations arose over the slight 
change there was in the fundamentals of government between the new 
democracy and the old monarchy. The seed, of course, of this division 
among the people had come from the first day of the rebellion against 
King George. There were many good people who loyally o])posed 
the movement in its inception, and continued their opposition during 
life. The honest Tory would have, of course, been more easily recon- 
ciled to his new surroundings had we crowned our own king at the end of 
the war, and gone on in the adoration of the national fetich — the good 
King. This sentiment was modified into one of eventual striving, for 
as near an approach as possible to the old forms of government. The 
opposite of this was that broader idea that regards the hereditary king 
with contempt and anchored in the faith that the people were every- 
thing. In short, they held that the people, if allowed to freely ex- 
]>ress themselves, knew as well or better what they wanted for their 
own good, than could any born king. Both believed in the necessity 
of a head, a controlling, ruling power in government. These questions 
among parties had received the modifications of the years that consti- 
tute nearly the life-time of a generation. When Bradford county was 
formed the original Tories had become wild Federalists, and the Repub- 
lican-Democrats had fed upon the bold democracy of Jefferson and 
learned to more and more have faith in the people — which, after all, 
was but another name for a greater and a growing love of liberty. In- 
deed, it is highly probable that by the time of the first action in 
Bradford county, as soon as this was after the establishment of our 



A 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 253 

government, there was not a man here who would, under any con- 
ceivable circumstances, have offered Washington, or any other mortal, 
the crown. All had tasted the blessing of freedom, a free press, free 
speech, free religion, and the untrammeled right of going and coming 
when he pleased. Yet they divided on the question of a strong cen- 
tral government and a stronger central government. Equally earnest, 
honest and intelligent, they were arrayed in opposing ranks, but pelt- 
ing each other with nothing more dangerous than ballots, and the mu- 
tual lashings of tongue and pen. The mists of nearly a century have 
come between us and the times of the first social and political life of 
our people. None are now living to tell us what they then thought 
about the questions over which they were divided. This need not be 
regretted for the reason that one can not know their unreasonable 
])rejudices, nor can we very easily be influenced by the passions that 
stirred them, no doubt deeply. Men then, much as they do now, went 
to the polls and voted in the implicit faith that the future welfare, at 
least of Americans, depended largely upon their being able to outvote 
their political opponents. The hate of Rebel and Tory was just dying 
out, but party fealty and distrust of political opponents may have been 
then as strong or even more bitter than it is now. The Tories had become 
])eaceful Federalists, and were as full of wrath and hatred of the King of 
England, a feeling that they had been taught by bloody events, to extend 
to the whole people of England, as wei-e the most radical Republicans,and 
yet they believed a sleepless vigilance necessary to prevent their oppo- 
nents from rushing the country into a mere headless mob, or to anarchy 
itself. Both parties looked to precedent as a guide in all government 
affairs. The authority of precedent was strong among all the people, pos- 
sibly less so among Kepublicans than their opponents, but jiractically this 
was the authority of liighest resort, on the ])art of all ; in the church, 
the school and in state-craft, precedent was nearly supreme in all 
mooted subjects. 

' ' Larger boats may venture more, 
But little ones must keep near shore," 

was the philosophy of "Poor Richard,'' which, at the time Dr. Franklin 
gave it expression, contained much of the philosophy of the day. If, in 
an emergency, you could find no precedent to guide you, then stand 
still and await developments. Men were more cautious and conserva- 
tive in political opinions then than we find them now. Adam Smith's 
book on PoUtieal Economy was then just published, and was an un- 
known and unheard of thing to inost Americans, especially on the 
frontiers. Our democracy was a new tiling in the world, hardly yet 
more than a doubtful experiment. There were no radical Democrats, 
and there were many apparently unansw^erable reasons for the faith of 
those who believe in a greater stal)ility of government, that meant 
greater centralization of power. 

The beginning of the second war with England and the civil form- 
ative steps of Bradford county were contemporaneous events. Madison 
was President. He was one of Jefferson's al)lest lieutenants in the 
cause of the new democracy, and j)icke(l u]) the gauntlet of waroll'ered 
so hauo'htilv bv EnoJand. 



254 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

Political questions were now rapidly recast, and men were for or 
against the policy that had led to war. All were in favor of its 
vio-orous prosecution — this is true even in the face of the calling of the 
notable Hartford convention, yet there was a division of parties on 
the policies that had brought on actual hostilities. The war com- 
menced in June, 1812, and ended in February, 1815. Our country 
was invaded by a ruthless foreign foe, our cities burned and captured, 
and shocking cruelties inflicted, but our land, and especially our naval 
forces, had conducted some of the most brilliant campaigns then 
known to warfare. The infant nation met the proud mistress of the 
seas, and with her war-ships, that were little more than extemporized 
wooden tubs, blew up her armadas and brought her shi])s as rich 
prizes to our shores. The s])lendid victories of Perry and Jackson 
were the all-sufficient answers to those who opposed the war, as final 
victory and peace was the death of the anti-war element in the land, — 
a demonstration that Greeley was right when he said, "nothing suc- 
ceeds like success,-' and in war the opposite of this it seems would be, 
that "nothing fails like defeat." 

We fortunately can know the prevalent thoughts and emotions of 
the people of Bradford county in these three stirring years of her 
young life, bv carefully consulting the files of the Bradford (Uizcttc 
that commenced publication the same year of the war, and of the 
organization of the county. A newspaper then was very different 
from one of this day and time. There was not a daily paper that then 
found its way into Bradford county and fewest of any kind that were 
then accessible to tiie people. The weekly local paper was their chief 
reliance. This was mostly distributed by private hands ; it was made 
u]) of extracts from other paj^ers, published in the cities, and was 
without local or general editorials, but there is but little trouble in 
examining the ancient files of the Gazette in finding out the editor's 
opinions on all important questions. The advances in newspaperdom 
from that time to the present are immense ; now there are many 
dailies to where there was one weekly formerly; the great dailies 
come damp from the press by the fast-mail train; the telegraph has 
obliterated space and time in gathering the hourly news, and morning, 
noon and evening, night and day, year in and year out. the great pei'- 
fected |)resses are literally showering the land with papers like as the 
winter snowflakes fly. The rapid rise and growth of the newspaper is 
truly phenomenal, but you must not therefore conclude our people are 
so immenseh^ favored over those of the day of tlie little weekly with- 
out a line of editorial comment. The editor's responsibility then was 
greater than now ; his paper was not only carefully read, but was 
studied and laid away — men met and read it over and tliscussed it, and 
families did the same. This was well understood by the publisher. 
and he governed himself accordingly ; he studied thoroughly his 
few exchanges and reprinted articles that were written in solemn 
earnest by men of vigorous intellects — men who treated the few 
subjects in hand exhaustively, elaborating to their heart's content. 
No difference what subject the writer had in hand, he proposed 
to probe to the very bottom of it. One of the little, old, yellow 





{/^-i^^l^t^-^^trzz^ 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 257 

Gazettes^ with but four columns to the page, and, of course, but four 
pages, is before me, and it has a communication chpped from the 
Democratic Press, on the subject of "The Washington Benevolent 
Society," that fills six columns. It is highly probable that article was 
copied in nearly every little four-column weekly paper then published 
in the land, and thus it became a national factor; it was carefull3^ filed 
away, and fortunately preserved for our examination — a handy and 
unfailing index of the histor}'- of the times. There was more power 
and effect in the little, dingy four-column country weekly than there 
is to-day in the great -iG-page daih^ ; and there is, after all, a question 
as to whether, so far as the people in general are concerned, the 
ancient country weeklies were not better in filling the demands of 
their time than is the modern metropolitan press. A man now is 
compelled to read his mammoth dailies in a few spare minutes, while 
waiting for his meal to be served ; he gathers the news, all he has 
time to wait, by scanning the head-lines of the telegraphic dispatches. 
There are dailies issued that a man, to read them as our fathers read 
their papers, would require the entire twenty-four hours intervening 
between the issues. It is usual to count these changes as simply 
advances for the better, but whether they are or not is questionable ; 
as educators, there is no doubt but that the old style was far preferable 
to the new in newspapers, for the simple reason that thoroughness has 
been supplanted by skimming superficiality; the average man read 
less and confined himself to fewer subjects, but he was thorough — at 
least far more so than now, so far as he attempted to go. The tele- 
graph was then hardly so much as a dream, and there was and has 
been nothing that so thoroughly diluted our literature, as it comes 
from the daily and weekly publications, as this. And the whole ten- 
dency now is sensational ; pandering in every column to the pruriency 
that has come of the possibilities of the harnessed thunderbolts. Who 
would now sit down to read six columns of his paper under such a 
caption as "The Washington Benevolent Society V But, on the other 
hand, who will skip a flaming headlight tvpe announcing a "Rattling 
Prize Fight,'" or "A Brave Man Pounded to Death in the Ring ? " There 
were more ])eople who read, day by day, for months, page after 
page of the j)apers about the Beecher trial than there were living souls 
in America when Burr Ridgway was ]niblishing his Weekly (razette, 
except when the printer had unexpectedly migrated. One of the 
largest metropolitan dailies is now edited entirely by telegraph ; that 
is, it, like the old (iazette, has abandoned its editorial page, and boasts 
that it "gives all the news;" and as for opinions, its readers may 
"hustle and find each one for himself."' Our fathers were content 
with column after column of " foreign news," that was generally three 
months old. It was a month after Commodore Perry's immortal vic- 
tory on Lake Erie before the full particulars were published in Brad- 
ford county. Its splendors were not fully comprehended for years. 

Prompted by curiosity I read carefully " Consistency's" article in 
the Gazette, filling over six columns about the "Washington Benevo- 
lent Society." The writer starts out with a well-drawn contrast 
between the conditions of the rich and the poor ; the rich man 

14 



258 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

wallowing in the lap of luxury, while the poor must submit to the 
cruel decree, and g-rin and bear it. Then he plunges deepl}"^ into his 
subject by asking in big capitals the question '' AVhat is the form of 
government best calculated to ameliorate the condition of the poor?" 
A ver}' important question indeed. To give every one an equal chance 
in life ; to allow everyone to enjoy " the fruits of the sweat of his 
brow ;" appealing , in capitals again, to "the constitution of nature," 
and to produce in the body politic justice and ec^uity to all men. 
Summing up all these great and very practical suggestions he appeals 
to the members of the Association, to tell the people what form of 
government will best bring these blessings : 

"Ye friends of truth, ye statesmen who survey 
The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay, 
'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand 
Between a spleiulid and a happy land." 

These are his broad premises, and they sound somewhat of the 
prophetic visions of the ancient fisherman. His premises are the 
greatest political problems that Avere ever presented to mankind- 
justice and liberty to all men — perfect equality of right, or, in other 
words, A good Governynent, something to be hoped for, even before a 
"splendid" one. The people to whom these grave words were 
addressed were then founding our government^ — free to shape it as 
they willed. Would they make it a good government rather than a 
splendid one i The writer had heard perhaps of tlie splendors of 
India, where the royal elephants fairly blazed with diamonds and 
rubies with which they were decorated, and the wealthy women were 
clothed in fabrics so rich and delicate that they were called " the 
\voven weird ; " they toiled not, and yet in this land of gorgeous 
splendors more than six million people, the toilers and producers, 
starved to death in one season of famine. Whether he had or not, 
certain it is, he had thought profoundly and well on that supreme 
problem of the world, how to attain a good government. The article 
was surely written by a Republican Democrat, and he addressed his 
appeal to the opposition — the Republican-Federals. The year 1816, at 
the very hour this article was given the readers of the Bmrlford 
Gazette, it should be I'emembered that our country was in its infancy 
of untried experiments, and it is now o])enly said by history that 
nmong some of the greatest men of that time there were divisions on 
the subject of a centralized government, or a greater power allowed to 
the people — an aristocracy of rulei'S, made rich and powerful by 
government— and that these were to be pampered by the powers and 
they in turn Avould care for and j)rotect the ))eople — those who hewed 
the wood and carried the water. It is not at all curious that this and 
similar questions should arise among our great ancestors; all were 
fresh from the very extreme of paternalism in government, when to 
question the divinity, the infallibility of any ruler in any country or 
government, was treason and desei'ved (juick and ignominious death. 
An aristocracy of some kind, rich and powerful, and, if good, the 
necessary friends and protectors of the people, was deemed a thing of a 
matter of course ; the few superiors, the man}^ subalterns ; the wisdom 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 259 

and love of parents guiding and caring for their helpless and innocent 

brood; a lord fed, clothed and cared for in sickness his dependents or serfs 

" a few agree 

To call it freedom when themselves are free," 

exclaim " consistency!" The king and nobles always agree that when 
they are happy the country is blessed ; courtiers, minions, sycophants, 
and^ dependents bask in the favor of the ruler, and all scheme to secure 
the most money from the sweat and toil of the people. It was 
battling these chronic old ideas that the writer was going through so 
manv columns of the paper — it was illuminating the Democratic ideas 
of Jefferson ; the greatest liberty to the greatest number. 

It should be borne in mind that at thattimeit was different from now, 
especially in the matter of the divine right of kings and rulers, and even 
though this country has destroyed the office of king, and substituted a 
constitutional government, yet all were agreed that the people must be 
l)rotected — their liberties carefully guarded by those in control. In 
the matter of regulating, controlling, making laws to care for, antl 
protect both the public and private affairs of community ; the country 
has gone on and on, as the years, have rolled b}^ and customs, habits, 
and statute laws have been piled one upon another, mountain high. 
Jefferson's democracy readily joined hands in this work of I'egulating, 
even discovering pretexts, plausible and otherwise, for new laws and new 
and more officials ; protecting the dear people— mistaken good men and 
great patriots — were the labors day and night of all men. The people 
grew clamorous for more government, more, morel One regulating 
law would require two, three, or a dozen amendments or new laws, 
and each w^ould require more officials, and they in turn required more 
and more taxes; but men fe!t they were happy, happy always when 
they could more and more feel the weight or actual presence of the law, 
and the government ever pressing closer and closer about their 
individual persons. In other words, there was little division among 
men on the vital question of the true conditions between subjects 
and rulers, but they parted lines in other directions. 

For instance, when Bradford county was organized, as an evidence 
of what the people were contending about, is found some reference in 
the first issues of the Gazdte to the subject of paper currency. The 
Federalists evidently were the men who were accounted as being in 
favor of government providing a supply of paper money for circulation, 
while their opponents, the Republican- Democrats, were for the more 
solid gold and silver. 

Following this was the question of the intensity of everyone's ad- 
vocacy of the late, the present or perhaps the future or next war. They 
were divided in their sympathies between Great Britain and France, or 
Napoleon, in the wars then raging. The more liberal Democrats ^^\q 
heart and soul for Napoleon, while others wereopenlv or secretly favor- 
ing Eui^land. The war of 1812 had emphasized the division between 
the two ])olitical parties. Monroe was president, and those op])osed to 
the war vented their anger at him. 

Chiefly in Bradford county, when it had become organized and offi- 
cered, the divisions were the Ile])ublicans, Democrats and the Federal- 



260 HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUXTY. 

Republicans — the ditferences were far more in name than in fact; the 
former, though New Englanders, were severe in their criticism of the 
Puritan and his fanatic religious pretensions. Although the country 
had then recovered from the era of the abundant drowning of witches, 
no one party, it seems, had its skirts clean enough on this subject to 
taunt or abuse auN'one else, for either mistakes or crimes in this direc- 
tion. The Gazette^ during its first six months' existence, published a 
most remarkable ghost story, without a word of comment, as it was 
taken from some other paper. In that particular case the shadow 
was that of a man who had been murdered foully, of course, and the 
same story is now common stock in much of our light and vicious fic- 
tion, to harrow the souls of credulous children and weak-minded men. 
It is safe to assume that tiiere was far more credulity, and a consequent 
mucii less dis])osition to doubt on the subject of supernatural extrava- 
ganzas among the first settlers in the county than there is now. The 
people read their Bibles with a faith and a literal belief in even its de- 
tached sentences, that the most thorough-going church members of to- 
day can hardly understand. No doubt entered their minds when listen- 
ing to the severe dogmatics of their doughty preachers, and the same 
was true as the head of the family or the school teacher read aloud the 
weekly issues of the Bradford Gazette. The greatness and goodness 
of the minister was measured mostly by the length of his sermons and 
his tireless lung power. There was a strong combination of supersti- 
tion in religious subjects, and on political subjects among those who 
built the frame-work of society in the Susqueiianna valley — an import- 
ant item when we come, in this day, to weighing and estimating their 
lives ; in other words the true history of any people or time, lies,often, 
beneath the surface facts and incidents. You see a madman in irons, 
held bv his strong- guards while he raves and froths and would murder 
any living thing, and you ask his keepers the cause, and they would 
probably tell you that family trouble, death of wife or children, finan- 
cial difficulties, or that it was religion, excitement or an}'^ of the other 
commonly assigned reasons. This answer might be the true one, but 
as often it is not ; it all may have come from some ancestor generations 
ago — the cause is often the seed, planted deep from view, in long pre- 
ceding time of the hour that we gather the full and ripened fruit. 

In 1813 the question of trade with England was laid before the 
people of Bradford county. The Gazette co])ied an article from the 
Baltimore Patriot, under the head of " The Embargo," at which the 
writer is overjoyed, and pronounces it a wise and good measure, '"a 
law called for alike by national honor and national interest;''' and he 
proceeds to say that it will prove more hurtful to England than "even 
the thunder of a Hull or a Decatur" — a law which is to "nurture our 
infant into giant manufactures," shorten the war by years, and ''^rescue 
the souls of millions of neutral agents from the deep damnation of 
habitual perjury ;" and then proceeds to say : "We present the trib- 
ute of our humble applause to the men who wisely and resolutely 
spurned the thraldom of an abused name and passed a wise measure." 
This Republican continues in the vein of exultation, and is bold to say 
that the declaration of war was tiie wisest American measure since the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORO COUNTY. 2<'>1 

Declaration of Independence, and the enforcement of the " Embargo" 
will prove to be the most cogent and prudent measure since the decla- 
ration of war, and the writer sincerely hopes the measure will not, like 
a former one, " become a mere perch for birds of prey." To the 
"speculators" who cried out against it, saying, "how are we to 
employ our capital now T' he answers "establish manufactures" — "j^/ 
out priiKtteers.''^ 

As a war measure, it may be readily gleaned from the article 
referred to, that the Republicans warmly favored the embargo while 
the Federalists, it may be assumeil, opposed it, at least indirectly, and 
the writer denounces " he who would sell his birth-right for a gay coat 
or any coat ought forever to be a slave in buff," and, in his judgment, 
the " meanest peasant in America, blessed with these sentiments is a 
happy man compared with a Tor3\" 

About this time appeared in the Gasette a long article signed 
" P\irmer," discussing the dangers of Americans suffering themselves 
to continue dependent on tlie use of foreign goods, and tlie urgencv of 
securing domestic manufactures of every kmd ; he accuses mercl/ants 
of exacting double prices, if not more, for every foreign article thev 
have for sale. He shows that the tendency is upward in price for 
foreign goods; and that merchants are rapidly making enormous for- 
tunes, "Farmer" lays down some rather striking propositions in 
economics, that is, they would be novel now, afterseventy-five years of 
discussion of the subject of trade with foreign nations. "Such are the 
mournful results,*' lie exclaims, "of your listening to the artful tales of 
merchants concerning the subserviency of commerce to agriculture, 
such the painful and mortifying issues of neglecting domestic manu- 
factures and encouraging those of foreign nations. No sort of com- 
merce favorable to agriculture is beneficial to the farmer, but exporta- 
tion alone; importation and foreign trade are ruinous. ''" -■ ■" 
The war has no tendency to impoverish the nation ; it sends not a cent 
out of society, it merely occasions the transfer of propertv from 
one to another ; it takes from the central and conveys to the frontier ; 
taking from the mechanic and giving to the soldier. '■^' * ""' Only 
push domestic manufactures and cease to frequent the stores of men 
who vend foreign goods and send your wealth abroad and then your 
impoverishment becomes impossible." 

In December, 1813, the people read carefully, Madison's message 
addressed to Congress. This was a ra])id review of what had transpired 
in the then war with England ; it was read and reread with infinite 
pleasure b}^ doubtless, nearly all the leading Republicans of thecount}^ 
and, if read at all by the Federalists, it was not with pleasure, but 
largely for the purpose of finding fault with it. 

The strongly Democratic-Republican pa})er of the county in 1813 
laid before its readers nearly three columns of reading, that even told 
of now sounds curious, but is full of suggestions as to the public mind 
of that time. It is no less than an account, copied from the National 
Advocate, of a public dinner, given at Tammany Hall, JSTew York, 
" under the direction and superintendence of the Repul)lican General 
Committee of ]S^ew York," to Maj.-Gen. William II. Harrison. This 



262 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

was the greatest social and, no doubt, political event of the time, 
and although it was twenty-seven years preceding the elevation of 
Harrison to the great office of President of the United States, it was, 
probabh\ the first I'ound in the ladder that he eventually climbed to the 
top. The ver}^ curious thing about it is that Harrison was nominated 
and elected, and was always a self-proclaimed pro-slavery Democratic- 
Republican, yet his election was a Whig victory and a triumph of the 
memory, the shades, of the old Federalist party. Time unfolds curious 
conditions, even in politics. 

While these old pioneer fathers wei'e rigid and sti'ong in every 
article of political faith, they were equally so, if not more, severe in 
matters of religion. In politics they quarreled fiercely about war 
measures, the proper defense of the flag, the buikling of domestic 
manufactories and like propositions ; but in matters of religion they 
were unanimous in the deepest seated faith, the very savagery of 
dogmas and the pitiless extirpation of her* ss', however radically they 
might differ on points of doxy. Sternly and even severely religious were 
these American pioneers ; the representatives of the church militant, 
gloi'ying in self-inflicted ])enances, and with the sword of Gideon 
smiting sin hip and thigh ; rare bundles of inconsistencv, full of fight 
and religion ; shoulder to shoulder battling with an invading army ; 
two souls as one in hating England or fighting Satan and his im])S, yet 
alwavs ready in the fiercest of the struggle even to turn and rend each 
other on the flimsiest questions of polemics. So full of the spirit of 
dissent were they that the laymen were ever ready to quarrel with the 
shepherds, and without a qualm of conscience they split, divided and 
subdivided their church organizations. 

Thomas Simpson, the first publisher of the Gazette^ understood 
well the demands of his patrons, as may be seen from the fact that 
with his paper filled with war and politics, he yet found frequent occa- 
sion to publish long religious sermons that bristled generally with 
doctrinal points, the animus of which is noticed in the opening sentence 
of one now before us: "How long, O inhabitants of the earth! will 
you suffer yourselves to be deceived by false teachers, delusive spirits, 
and doctrines of devils r' Then follows a number of " How longs," 
concluding with ''How long will you catch at perishable things, out- 
ward ordinances or water baptism? when you are commanded not to 
touch, taste or handle those things that perish with the using, after 
the doctrines and commandments of men ! * * * Why follow phan- 
toms that can not save you at the hour of death? take nothing with 

you that you can not carry into the gates of Heaven : (Jan you carry 
water there f NO ! my friend.''' 

There is food for reflection in this ancient sermon. It was the 
earnest words of a very earnest man, addressed to a people in active 
accord with the speaker. It is a marked characteristic of the times 
and the people, and yet how can we reconcile the fact that only a few 
years before this preacher preached. Goldsmith had evolved from his 
brain that lovable character, the immortal " Vicar of Wakefield " — the 
ideal of a preacher and his family, and their simple daily home life, as 
drawn from the fancy of the strolling musician, who played his flute 



HISTORY OF BF!AI)F()KI) COUNTY. :H\n 

through Europe, to the servant girls and the stable boys, foi- a chance 
crust of bread. The demands of mankind called forth the sermon of 
the living preacher; the divine genius of Goldsmith warbled as the 
birds of the wilderness carol to the skies. To-day this good man and 
his sermon on baptism would, in one of our very fashionable city 
churches, be laughed at; but you must not imag'ine that, therefore, 
Goldsmith would, on the other hand, be lifted up and lionized by all 
people. Gn Broadway, he would be much the poor, wretched outcast 
he was one hundred years ago in the streets of London— just as likelv 
to fi'ee/e and starve in a garret to-tlay as he did then ; but'the preacher 
and his great sermon would be haughtily directed by the bishop's but- 
ler to apply at the '' Little Church Around the Corner." 

In the early part of 1813, three men were arrested and examined 
in the preliminary court in New \'ork, on the charge of treason. The 
Bradford Gazette published the account of the trial, under the head of 
" More Treason," and is content to simply give the facts and the gist 
of the testimony, without a word of comment. The parties tried were 
Abijah and Jacob Biglow and J.W. Jenkins, and, except Abijah, were 
convicted and bound over to the court, but, when the time for trial 
came on, these men had Hed to Canada. Their treason consisted in 
having aided in the escape of some Britisli prisoners. As remarked, 
there were no comments in the Gazette^ no vituperation of Americans, 
who, in the hour of the country's peril, were giving significant aid and 
comfort to the invading foe, urdess, indeed, the Avords " more treason," 
that stood at the head of the article, might be construed as a comment 
— a solemn reflection that there were others in the country who had 
been playing the part of Judases toward their Government." The mod- 
eration of the paper is significant of the manner of our fathers— a 
strong contrast indeed to the temper of the peoj^le in our late Civil 
War. 

This leads us to a notice of the fact that Bradford county, when it 
was formed, had men in it who were well known to all the"^people as 
Tories during the War for Independence. They were never molested, 
there did not seem to be any thought of ill-treating them. They were 
neighbored with as were other people ; assisted in sickness and in 
emergencies as were others, as even kith and kin, and if the fact was 
ever thrown offensively in their faces there is no record or mention 
of it. These men so tolerant toward the poor Tories— the men so 
viciously ignorant as not to sympathize with the liberties of their 
fellow-men, and who committed treason to God and man by their 
blind adherence to and sympathy for the vile oppressor, and es'teemed 
the fathers as simply rebels deserving the most ignominious death- 
were never molested, it seems, and it is doubtful if they were greatly 
discriminated against by the very neighbors who iield themselves so 
ready to ])unish blasphemy, or even a mild form of heresy — a people 
who would punish the husband for kissing his wife on Sunday"; that 
had enacted and mercilessly enforced the Blue Laws, and yet so readily 
forgave treason. In the accounts of the bloody massacre ^that followed 
the battle and surrender of Wyoming, are to' be found the sickening 
details of a brother in cold blood shooting to death his pleading 



264 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

brother, who had escaped unarmed from the fort, and was skulking and 
hiding, in the vain attempt to get awa\^ The unnatural monster, in 
answer to the pra\'er of his brother to spare his life, and he would 
therefore humbly serve him all his days as a menial slave, was the 

incredibly brutal one of, " You are a d d rebel," and the rifle 

finished the sentence. In behalf of the brave revolutionists there is 
nothing of such infernalism as this charged against them during the 
long seven years of war; even the invading enemy were human, and 
the painted savages were guiltless of that depth of horror — it was a 
Tory. Not a representative one of course, for such a villain repre- 
sented nothing of man or beast, except himself — he stands alone in his 
matchless infamy. 

When there were enough permanent settlers here to form a new 
county, they had reached a time when men began to draw away from 
that intense age of religious fanaticism, that wild craze on the subject 
that had whelmed the civilized world in tlie live hundred years of the 
Dark Ages, and were inclined to mix in their thoughts and purposes 
some of the more practical affairs of life. They were rapidly extend- 
ing the view of life, and the beliefs in supernatural powers in the 
most trivial affairs among men were loosening their long clutch of 
men's minds. The representatives of the church, while they had lost 
none of men's devotional respect for the cloth, for the sacred office 
they exercised, 3^et their power in the family circle and in the State, 
and in the material concerns of the individual were slowly waning. 
The influence of the churchmen was thereby signally bettered. A 
century preceding, the church had ruled the State and unfortunately 
wielded the gleaming sword, and interminable religious wars hail 
blasted the bloom of earth, and the most horrid persecutions had 
filled the air with the wails of the dying, innocent victims. From 
these cruel ages the world was slowly emerging, but resistlessly, because 
slowly, like the rise of the continents from the great ocean's depths, 
men were tasting the right of self-government; feeling the power and 
the good of regulating their own private and social affairs. Would 
they rush to the other extreme ? 

The people of Bradford county were deeply interested in the cause 
of education, even before the county was formed. Their attention was 
called to the fact that Virginia had already taken steps for the early 
establishment of public free schools, and appeals were sent to the Leg- 
islature to consider the subject. In nearly every rude log church a 
short term of school was taught, at first by the preacher in charge,and 
in time by his assistant. These were the most primitive subscription 
schools, to which each parent or guardian paid the bills monthly of the 
children they sent, and so rigid was their economy that the expense of 
sending a child to these pay-schools was but a fraction of what it now 
costs to send one to our supposed perfected free schools. A dollar's 
worth of text books then would supply a large family of school chil- 
dren their entire school days ; in this as in other things, it is left to us 
to estimate the changes from that time to this. 

A striking illustration of the prevalent credulity of the times the 
Gazette of 1814 publishes an obituary which is dressed in theextraordi- 




SCi?- 



.rf»S(-y>«<^ 




/ 




,*^ 



HISTORY OF URADFORD COUNTY. 267 

nary circumstance of being in mourning-, that it is ornamented with 
an inverted rule at each end of the article. It is an account of the death 
of a Maj, fiichard Elliott, of Ohio. Evidently it was not that they 
knew the man or had a personal interest in him, but it was the man- 
ner of tlie man's death that made it of such vital importance. The 
name of the man who gave the account is given as a voucher of its 
truth and credibilit}-. The substance is that on a certain Sabbath even- 
ing the man was passing along the highway, when he saw two 
lights in the shape of half-moons coming toward him ; when the lights 
met him they seemed to close him in a circle about the breast, when a 
voice pronounced these words: '^ Are you prepared to dlef^ Without 
hesitation, the man answered '^ If it is Godh will, 1 think I am P The 
lights then passed on, but turned and followed him until he came 
opposite the graveyard where they made a stand ; he could see them, 
by looking back, for half a mile. When the man arrived at home he 
told his wife, and assured her that he had but a short time to live ; he 
related the same to several people, and announced to all that he was 
about to die. The lights were met on Friday evening, about 9 o'clock ; 
on Tuesday following, the man was raving insane, antl in twenty-four 
hours died. The lugubrious story concludes with the words : "This 
is a simple statement of the circumstances of his sickness and death." 
The story is circumstantially told, and is quite ghostly. The men 
of that day, in their leather jerkins, and the dames at the looms and 
the spinning-wheels must have read and heard it with complete awe, 
and the children, no doubt, were freshly alarmed at the dark, and would 
shut their eyes in the fear of seeing the dreaded moon-shaped lights. 
The i)oor man was simply mad -insane beyond question from the first, 
and then, as now, there were no certain medicaments for the mind 
diseased. The moon-shaped lights were but uMtches in another form 
— men were moving slowly away from the suttee of the East, or when 
"Auld Clootie" woukl daily come up through the hot crater's mouth to 
waylay the innocent people on the road, as he had been often caught 
in the act of finding a ])erson alone, near a graveyard, and seized him, 
and, despite his struggles and cries, had carried him off, and with his 
precious burden had plunged into the vomiting volcano, on his return 
visit to his realms with his trophy. Men's beliefs were emero-ing 
slowly from these frightful conjurings — the travail of the dreary ages. 
The story of man's frightful superstitions — shadows to us, but horriblv 
real to them — is one of the most painful chapters in human historj^ ; it 
had filled the world to the mountains' peaks with the deepest gloom, 
and in trembling and despair they literally called upon the rocks and 
the mountains to fall upon them and hide them forever from the face 
of an angry God. However, they were slowly approaching this age 
in the idea that the Supreme was not always so unreasonably angry 
with his children, and that he is all love and justice. " I thy God am 
a jealous God " is now more generally read "And He so loved the 
world, etc." The pendulum swings; it can never be at rest — the ebb 
and tiow of the wind, as it rises, slowly and spirally, toward God's 
throne. The opposing theories : inappeasable wrath, implacable hate 
or mad, convulsive, unreasoning love — the orthodox, with clubs and 



26S HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

knocks, the altruist sweating blood over the innocent failings of 
ignorance, and offering up the great vicarious sacrifice, are hut 
the ceaseless moan of the great ocean of men's troubled souls 
moving through the unending eternities. Possibh', liere, as 
everywhere, when the historian comes, great enough, wise enough, 
and fearless enough to point out the truth that ever lies in the 
mean of all extremes, then may mankind begin to feel and know that 
our civilization is safe, founded upon the rock against which the winds 
and the storms may beat in vain, and foolish good men will cease to 
heart-bleed and wail in sadness over the cruel contentions of men — 
over these beastlv struggles to trample upon each other. " All's 
well ! " 

Adjusting the 2>rophecies, was in the early part of this century the 
serious work of many of the world's holy seers; these cabalistic 
interpreters were a very important feature of the times, and the}' 
burned the midnight oil, and the press teamed with their books 
for all men to read. For a period of twenty years or more these things 
raged with the utmost activity, like everything of the kind in answer 
to a popular demand. The obscure parts of the books of Daniel and 
the Revelations of John, were the fruitful sources of supply for the 
remarkable output of the press of that day. These ranged in all 
degrees from the most learned and solemn to the serio-comic, but all 
intended to show that the great oracles of the church were still 
abroad in the land ; their erudition was astounding, their secular 
flavoring overpowering, and their demonstrations startling, ludicrous 
and whimsical. 

A man named Kett wrote and published a book entitled, "History, 
the best interpreter of Prophecy," and he seriously demonstrates " The 
man of sin " is at once '' both the Papal power and the French infi- 
delity ; " that the " little horn of Daniel's fourth beast '" designates 
Mohammedanism, Popery and French infidelity; the beast of the 
bottomless pit which slays the two witnesses spoken of in the 11th 
Chapter of Kevelations typifies the same infldel power; that Daniel's 
little horn of the goat and of his third beast, the leopard, symbolize 
Mohammed and the French infidelity ; that the second beast of St. 
John, which is to arise out of the earth and " the images to which he 
is to give life" are " infidelity and democracy;" that the two horns 
of the beast are "the German illuminati and French pseudo 
philosophers ; that the particular democratic tyranny, symbolized by 
the image of the beast, is the revolutionary Republic of France, and 
that the mark of the beast is the tri-colored cockade. 

A contemporary of Rett's was one who called himself Galloway. 
This oracle read that the earth out of which John's second beast 
arose was France; the beast himself the French Republic- — his head 
the legislature; his two horns the committee of safety, and the fire he 
was to call down was the wrath of God ; his marvelous performances 
were the French victories ; the image he was to set up, the prostitute 
goddess of reason and liberty; his mark the cap of liberty and the 
cockade ; that his number Latinized, is 666, the name of the monarch 
Louis XVI. 



HISTORY OF RRADEORD COUNTY. ^09 

One of our New Eaglaud prophet interpreters transposed Napoleon's 
name into this same mystical number, and a vvag set about it and made 
the same translation of the signs apply to Jefferson's red ])lush 
breeches. That irreverent but clever wag tleserves a bright inimortalitv. 
lie struck the whole gang of lunatics a staggering blow; in the language 
of the ring, " an uppercut," so neat and deft that it must luive brought 
a grin of approval from even the severest old gospelers of that day. 

In December, 1815, Benjamin Austin, of Boston, addressed a long- 
letter to ex-President Jefferson, propounding very important questions 
on subjects that were then coming to the surface in this country. To 
this Mr. Jefferson re'plied at length, and both were deemed of sufficient 
imi)ortance to republisli in the Gazette. The ojiening paragraph of 
Mr. Jefferson's reply refers to the existing horrible conditions in France; 
blames much of this on Napoleon, who failed to use his legitimate 
powers in the establishment and support of free government, and 
predicts that the great French people will come in time out of the 
fiery ordeal in signal trium])h and ultimate freedom and democracy. 

Wii then sa3^s : 

" You tell me I am quoted by those who wish to continue our 
dependence on England for manufactures. There was a time when I 
might have been so quoted with more candor, but within the thirty years 
since elapsed how are things changed ^ We were then in peace, our 
independent place among nations was then acknowledged ; a commerce 
which offered the raw materials in exchange for the same material, after 
receiving tlie last touch of industry, was worthy the attention of all 
nations. It was ex[)ected that those especially to whom manufacturing 
industry was important would cherish the friendship of such customers 
by every favor. * " - Under this prospect the question seemed 
legitimate, whether with such an immensity of unimproved land, court- 
ing the hand of husbandry, the industry of agriculture or that of man- 
ufactures, would add mosl to that of the national wealth. And the 
doui)t on the utility of American manufactures was entertained on this 
consideration chiefly; that to the labor of the husbandman a vast 
addition is made by the spontaneous energies of the earth on which it 
is employed; for one grain of wheat committed to the earth she 
renders twenty, thirty and even fifty fold — whereas the labor of the 
manufacturer falls in most instances vastly below this. * - •• What 
a field it did promise for the occupation of the ocean — what a nursery 
for that class of citizens who were to exercise and maintain our equal 
rights on that element. This was the state of things in 1T85, when 
the ' Notes on Virginia ' were first published ; vvhen the ocean being- 
open to all nations, and their common right in it acknowledged and 
exercised. "- * •• But who in 1785 could foresee the rapid depravity 
which was to render the close of that century a disgrace to the history 
of civilized society? Who would have imagined that the two most 
distinguished in the rank of nations for science and civilization woukl 
have suddenly descended from that honorable eminence, and setting at 
defiance all those moral laws established by the Author of nature 
between nation and nation, as between "man and man, would 
cover earth and sea witli robberies and piracies merely because 



270 HISTORY OF BRADFORD ( OUNTY. 

strong enougl] to do it with temporal impunity, and tliat under 
tiiis disband onment of nations from, social ordei\ we should have 
been despoiled of a thousand ships and have thousands of our 
citizens reduced to Algerine slaver\^?" He proceeds to show that 
the French joined England in this crusade against American com- 
merce on the seas. Being thus excluded from the free interchange of 
nations, he reaches the question of making ourselves independent for 
tlie comforts of life, and declares '"we must fabricate them for our- 
selves." " We must now," he continues, '' place the manufacturer by 
the side of the agriculturist. The former question is suppressed or 
rather assumes a new form. The grand inquiry now is, shall we make our 
own comforts or go without them, at the will of a foreign nation ? * " "■'' 
I am proud to say I am not one of these [opposed to American manu- 
factures]. Experience has taught me that manufactures are now as 
necessary to our independence as to our comfort, and if those who 
quote me as of a ditferent opinion will keep pace with me in purchas- 
ing nothing foreign, where an equivalent of domestic fabrics can be 
obtained, without regard to difference of price, it will not be our fault 
if we do not soon have a supply at home equal to our demand. If it 
shall be proposed to go beyond our supply, the question of '85 will then 
recur, viz. : Will our surplus labor then be more beneficially employed 
in the culture of the earth or in the fabrication of art? We have 
time yet for consideration before that question will press upon us ; and 
the maxims to be applied will depend on the circumstances that will 
then exist. For in so complicated a science as political economy, no 
one axiom can be laid down as wise and expedient for all times and 
circumstances." 

To this beginning of the subjects concerning our foreign commerce 
we have now added our seventy-five years of experimenting and much 
continuous discussion. At certain periods the question would be laid 
temporarily aside for other issues, yet when these had their time and 
passed away, then the two great political parties would resume the 
never-ending discussions of the questions of the tariffs. Is not much 
of the same uncertainty among tiie people to be found now that there 
was three-quarters of a century ago? At the National fall election of 
1S88, after more than a year of continuous discussion of the subject of 
high tariff and low^ tariff on imports, a year of discussion in which there 
were less of side issues than had ever before been connected with the 
tariff question, and the vote of the country sustained the advocates of 
tariff — President Harrison was elected on this issue in 1888, and this 
was "emphasized by the election of a majority in Congress of that po- 
litical faith. The three co-ordinate branches of government were now 
in accord, and it was claimed, with much apparent truth, that the ques- 
tion was now happily settled- — the people had declared for that policy. 
But in two short years, 1890, with the issue still more sharply defined, 
in the election of a new Congress, the results of 1888 were overwhelm- 
ingly reversed. Thus one election " settles" this important question, 
and'immediately following the next election will completely unsettle 
it, it seems. These whirligigs of time are not only interesting to the 
historian, but they are the poised scales in which he may best weigh 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKl) COUNTY. 



271 



and'jud^e the important movements of the American people. Tliese 
remarkable changes, something approaching a quick revolution of the 
pubhc judgment, may render the lives of the professional politicians a 
burden, delicious to the " outs," calamitous to the " ins ;'' but they are on 
the whole a good sign — they bespeak the activity of the pubUc mind 
on questions of the common weal where numerous mistakes are atoned 
in final justice and truth. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BRADFOED COUNTY CIVIL LIST. 



Past and Present State Officials— Past and Present County^ 

Ofeicials. 



AVilliam T. Da vies 

Samuel McKean 
David Wilmot - 

Samuel McKean 
John Laporte 
David Wilmot 
Henry W. Tracy 
Ulysses Mercur 
Joseph Powell - 
Edward Overton 



lieutenaxt-governok. 
united states senators. 

members ok congress. 



1835-30 
18G1-63 

1822-24 
1834-30 
1844-50 
1862-04 
1864-71 
1874-70 
1876-80 



JUDGE OF THE UNITED STATES COURT OF CLAIMS. 

David Wilmot --------- 1863-68 

CONSUL TO SANTA CRUZ, WEST INDIES. 

Edward II. Perkins -------- 1862 — 

deputy COLLECTOR OF I'ORT OF PHILADELPHIA. 

Henry A¥. Tracy --...--- 1806-68 
Joseph Powell ------- 1885 (Incumbent) 

SURVEYOR OF PORT OF PHILADEJJ'HIA. 

E. Reed Myer --------- 1861-67 

E. O'Meara Goodrich -------- 1869-81 

DEPUTY SURVEYOR oF J'ORT OF PHILADELl'HIA. 

Hiram P. Goodrich . - - - - - - - 1869-81 

SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 

Samuel McKean - - - - - - - - - 1829-32 

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 

Elisiia S. Goodrich ---..--. 185255 

SURVEYOi: (JFNERAL. 

Jolm Laporte --------- 1845-51 



273 irrSTOKA^ of yiKADI'ORD COL'NTY. 

.TUSTICE OF SUPREME COURT. 

Ulysses Mercur, 1872 — became Chief Justice, January, 1883, and died 
in office. 

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

Charles R. Coburn 1863-66. 

STATE SENATORS. 

Henry Welles, 1815-18. District — Lycoming, Clinton, Centre, 
McKean, Bradford and Tioga. Samuel McKean, 1829-30 (resigned to 
become Secretary of Commonwealth) — Bradford, Susquehanna and 
Tioga. Reuben Wilbur, 1830-37 — Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga. 
Elihu Case, 1837-40 — Susquehanna and Bradford. Gordon F. Mason, 
1846-49 — Bradford and Tioga. George Sanderson, 1850-53 — Susque- 
hanna, Bradford, AVyoming. E. Reed Myer, 1856-59 — Susquehanna, 
l)radford and Wyoming. George Landon, 1859-62 and 1865-68 — 
Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming". Delos Rockwell, 1874-76 — 
Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming. William T. Davies, 1876-84 
— Bradford and Wyoming. J. K. Newell, 1884 (incumbent) — Brad- 
ford and WN'oming. 

MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

From 1774 to 1782, inclusive, Bradford county formed part of 
Westmoreland, State of Connecticut, and sent members to the semi- 
annual sessions of the Legislature at Hartford, as follows: September, 
1774, Christopher Avery ; October, 1781, Obadiah Gore, Capt. John 
Franklin ; May, 1782, Obadiah Gore ; October, 1782, Obadiah Gore. 

District — Lycoming, Bradford, Tioga and Potter Counties — 1813- 
14 — Henry Welles. 

District — Bradford and Tioga, Counties — 1815-19, Samel McKean, 
1820-22, Simon Kinney. 

Bistrict — Bradford County {one memher) — 1822-23, Wm. Myer; 
1823-26, Lemuel Streeter; 1826-28, Constant Mathewson ; 1828-29, 
John Laporte. 

District — Bradford and Tioga {two memhers). — 1829-32, John La- 
porte ; 1832-33, Ellis Lewis ; 1833-35, Lockwood Smith ; 1835-36, Darius 
Bullock, Isaac Myer. 

District — Bradford {one uiemher). — 1836-37, Isaac Cooley; 1837-38, 
George Kinnev; 1838-40, David S. Barstow ; 1840-41, Stephen Fierce; 
1841-43, William El well. 

District — Bradford {two members). — 1843-45. John Elliott. Irad 
Wilson ; 1845-46, John L. Webb, Victor E. Piollet ; 1846-47, V. E. 
Piollet, Francis Smith; 18447-8, Francis Smith, Arunah Wattles; 
1848-4'9, Arunah Wattles, Charles Stockwell ; 1849-50, Joseph C. 
Powell, Charles Stockwell; 1850-52, Addison McKean, Henry Gibbs ; 
1852-54, Wm. E. Barton, John Fassmore ; 1854-56, Bartholomew La- 
porte, Judson Ilolcomb ; 1856-58, C. F. Nichols, J. B. G. Babcock ; 
1858-60. O. H. F. Kinnev, Thomas Smead; 1860-62, Henry W. Tracy, 
C. T. Bliss ; 1862-63, Drummer Lillev, B. Laporte ; 1863-64, D. Lilley, 
Jos. H. Marsh; 1864-65, Jos. H. Marsh, Lorenzo Grenn ell ; 1865-66, 
G. W. Kinney, L. Grennell ; 1866-67, Jas. II. Webb, G. W. Kinnev ; 
1867-70, .las. 'U. Webb, John F. Chamberlain ; 1870 71, Jas. H. Wel)b, 



HISTOHY OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 273 

P. li. Buck ; 1871-72, P. H. Buck, B. S. Dartt ; 1872-73, B. S. 
Dartt, E. Reed Myer ; 1873-74, E. Reed Myer, Jas. II. Webb. 

District — Bradford {three rnemhers). — 1874-76, Geo. Moscrip, Eli- 
jah G. Tracy, Uriah Terrv ; 1876-78, E. Reed Myer, James Poster, 
John F. Giilett; 1878-80,'' S. D. Harkness, H.J. Madill, Asa Nichols; 
1880-82, J. H. Marsh, E. L. Hilhs, L. D. Taylor; 1882-84, E. J. 
Ayers, Benj. B. Mitchell, J. P. Coburn ; 1884-86, J. H. Shaw, H. 
Howell, S. D. Sterigere; 1886-88, C. W. Juton, W. B. Heckman, W. S. 
Kinney ; 1888-90, M. O. Loomis, J. C. Faulkner, L. J. Culver ; 1890-92, 
Loren Forrest, L. Lewis, A. B. Sumner. 

DKLEOATES TO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 

1837 — Almon H. Reed, Senatorial (Bradford, Sus(|uehanna). Nath- 
aniel Clapp, Representative (Bradford); 1873 — George F. Horton, Jos. 
G. Patton. 

PRESIDENT JUDGES. 

John B. Gibson, 1812 to Sept., 1816; Thomas Burnside, 1817; 
Edward Herrick, Sept., 1818, to Sept., 1839 ; John N. Convngham,1839 
to 1849; Horace Williston, 1849 to 1851 ; David Wil mot, "1851 to 1861 ; 
Ulysses Mercor, 1861 to 1865; Ferris B. Streeter, 1865 to 1874; Paul 
1). Morrow, 1874 to 1890; B. M. Peck, 1890 (incumbent). 

ADDITIONAL LAW JUDCE. 

Paul D. Morrow, 1870 to 1874. 

ASSOCIATE .JUDGES. 

Geo. Scott, Oct., 1812, to May, 1818; John McKean, Oct.. 1812, to 
May, 1837; Jonathan Stevens, Mav, 1818, to 1840-41; John Laporte, 
1839 to 1845; Abraham Goodwin, 1841 to 1844; David M. Bull. 1845; 
Harry Morgan, 1846 to 1851 ; Reuben Wilber, 1846 to 1851; Myron 
Ballard, elected 1851 ; Harry Ackley, elected 1851 ; Aaron Chubbuck, 
elected 1856; John F. Long, elected 1856; John Passmore, elected 
1858 ; V. M. Long, elected 1861 ; L. P. Stalford, elected 1863; J. Wilson 
A'andyke, elected 1866; Zebulon Frisbie. elected 1868; Stephen D. 
Harkness, elected 1871; Chauncey S. Russell, 1873 to 1875. 

SHERIFFS." 

Abner C. Rockwell, appointed December 9, 1812; John Spakl- 
ing, 2d, appointed December 9, 1815; Lemuel Streeter. appointed 
December 14, 1818; Joseph C. Powell appointed October 30. 1821; 
Reuben Wilber, a))pointe(l October 28, 1824; Benjamin McKean, 
appointed November 27, 1827; Lockwood Smith, Jr., appointed 
December, 1830; John L. Webb, appointed L^ecember, 1833; Guy 
Tozer, appointed November, 1836; Ira li. Stephens, elected October, 
1839 ; John N. Weston, elected October, 1842 ; John F. Means, elected 
October, 1845; William S. Dobbins, elected October, 1848 ; Chester 
Thomas, elected October. 1851 ; John A. Codding, elected October 
1854; Thomas M. Woodruff elected, October, 1857; A. Hanson Spald- 
ing, elected October. 1860 ; J. Monroe Smith, elected October, 1863 ; 
William Griffis, elected October, 1866 ; J . Perry Van Fleet, elected 
October, 1869; J. Monroe Smith, elected October, 1872 ; Andrew J. 
Lay ton, elected November, 1875; Peter J. Dean, elected November, 

* The two candidates haviiit? the highest luiniber of votes were returned to tirt' fio\eruor, of 
whom he appointed one to be sheriff. The same rule held in regard to coroner. 



274 HISTORY OF BRADFOKl) COUNTY. 

1878 ; William T. Horton, elected November, 1881 ; Dallas J. Sweet, 
elected November, 1884; Morris Shepard, elected November, 1887 ; 
Joseph Powell, elected November, 1890. 

TKOTHONOTARY, CLERK OF OYER AND TP:RMINEli AND QUARTER SESSIONS. 

Charles F.Welles, 1812 to 1818; George Scott, 1818 to 1830; 
Darius Bullock, 1830 to 1831 ; Alpheus Ingham, 1831; James P. Bull, 
May, 1831 to 1836; Samuel Strait. 1836; Joseph C. Powell, Oct., 1836 
to 1839; David Cash, elected 1839; Aaron Chubbuck, elected 18*2; 
Addison McKean, elected 1845 ; Allen Mclvean, elected 1848-51-54- 
57: E. O'Meara Goodrich, elected 1860-63, Wm. A. Thomas, elected 
1866-69; Benjamin M. Peck, elected 1872-75; Geo. W. Blackman, 
elected 1878-81 ; Wm. J. Young, elected 1884-90 ; H. J. Madill, elected 
(incumbent) 1891. 

REGISTER OF WILLS. RECORDER OF DEEDS. AND CLERK OF ORPHANS' COURT. 

Charles F. Welles, appointed, 1812-1818; Geo. Scott, Clerk Or- 
])hans' Court, 1818 to 1830; EHphalet Mason, Eegister and Recorder, 
1818 to 1820; Charles Whithead, Register and Recorder, 1820 to 1824; 
Alpheus Ingham, Register and Recorder and Clerk, 1824 to 1831 ; 
Elisha S. Goodrich. 1831 to 1836 ; George A. Mix, 1836 to 1838 ; Drum^ 
mer Lilley, 1838 to 1839; Ephraim W. Baird, elected, 1839; Julius 
Russell, elected 1842 ; Lyman DeWolf, elected 1845 ; Horatio Black, 
elected 1848 ; H. Lawrence Scott, elected 1851 ; James 11. Webb, 
elected 1854 and 1857; Nathan C. Elsbree, elected 1860 and 1863; 
Henry J. Madill elected 1866; Chas. E. Gladding, elected 1869; Otis 
J. Chubbuck, elected 1872; Cephas E. Andrus, elected 1875; Addison 
C. Frisbie, elected 1878 : James H. Webb, elected 1881 ; Adelbert I). 
Munn, elected 1884; James Hurst, elected 1887; Chas. M. Hall, 
elected 1890. 

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS. 

Thomas Smead, elected October, 1850 ; James Macfarlane, elected 
October, 1853 ; Paul D.Morrow, elected October. 1856 ; Guy H. Wat- 
kins elected October, 1859; George D. Montanye, elected October, 1862; 
William T. Davies, elected October, 1865 ; Warner H. Carnochan, 
elected October, 1868 ; Joseph B. Reeve, elected October, 1871 ; John 
N. Califf, elected October, 1874; Isaiah McPherson, elected November, 
1877; Adelbert Fanning, elected November. 1880 ; Eleazer J. Angle, 
elected November, 1883; J. A. AVilt, elected November, 1886; J. ^V. 
Codding, elected November, 1889. 

COUNTY TREASURERS. "-'^ 

Harry Spalding, appointed Januarv, 1813-14; AVilliam Means, 
appointed January, 1815 ; Simon Kinney. a])pointed January, 1816-17 ; 
Henry Mercur, appointed January, 1818-20; Gurdon Hewitt, appointed 
January, 1821-22; George Scott, appointed January. 1823 ; Andrew 
Irvine, appointed January, 1824-26; James P. Bull, appointed Januarv, 
1827-28; Alpheus Ingham, appointed January. 1829; Andrew Irvine, 
appointed January, 1830 ; William Russell, appointed January, 1831-32; 
ChaunccN^ Frisbie, appointed January, 1833-34, David M. Bull, appointed 
January* 1835-37; John E.Hale, appointed January, 1838-40 ; Wm. 
!>. Storm, appointed Januarv, 1841; Charles Stockwell, elected 

♦Appointmentfi were made by the commissioners. 




y?^ 




HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 277 

October, 1S41 ; Leonard Pierce, elected October, 1843 ; Jacob Reel, 
elected October, 1S45 ; James JM. Peck, elected October, 184Y ; John 
Ilorton, elected October, 1849 ; Benj. Wilcox, elected October, 1851. 
Preceptor Forbes, elected Oct., 1853 ; Ezra C. Kellogg, elected Oct., 
1855 ; E. Percival Shaw, elected Oct., 1857; Wm. Griffis, elected, Oct., 
1859 ; Francis AVatts, elected Oct., 1861 ; Stephen D. Harkuess, elected 
Oct., 1863 ; J. Perrv YanFleet, elected Oct., 1865 ; Chas. A. Morey, 
elected Oct., 1867^0. K. Ladd, elected Oct., 1869; Wm. Banyan, 
elected Oct., 1871 ; Matthe^v Marshall, elected Oct., 1873 ; James C. 
Robinson, elected Nov., 1875 , John 11. Grant, elected Nov., 1878 ; 
Eben Lillev, elected Nov., 1881 ; J. Leman Elsbree, elected Nov., 1884 ; 
Luman Putnam, elected Nov., 1887 ; C. T. Hull, elected Nov., 1890. 

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. 

Joseph Kinnev, elected Oct., 1812 ; Justus Gavlord, elected Oct., 
1812; Wm. Myer. elected Oct., 1812; Burr Ridgway, elected Oct., 
1813; Samuel McKean, elected Oct.. 1814; Salmon Bosworth, elected 
Oct., 1815 ; Nathaniel Allen, elected Oct., 1815 ; Eliphalet Mason, 
elected Oct., 1816 ; Joseph C. Powell, elected Oct., 1817 ; Barthol- 
omew Laporte, elected Oct., 1818 ; Wm. Myer, elected Oct., 1819 ; 
Geo. Hvtre, elected Oct., 1820 ; Lemuel Stre'eter, elected Oct.. 1821 ; 
Darius Bullock, elected Oct., 1822 ; John Taylor, elected Oct., 1823 ; 
Theodore Leonard, elected Oct., 1824 ; Gould Seymour, elected Oct., 
1825 ; Burton Strait, elected Oct.. 1826 ; Churchill Barnes, elected 
Oct., 1827 ; Hezekiah Dunham, elected Oct., 1828 ; Eliphalet Mason, 
elected Oct., 1829 ; John L. Webb, elected Oct., 1830 ; Isaac Cooley, 
elected Oct., 1831 ; John Elliott, elected Oct., 1832 ; Morris Spalding, 
elected Oct., 1833 ; Elias Ptockwell, elected Oct., 1834 ; Harry Morgan, 
elected Oct., 1835 ; E. S. Goodrich, elected Oct., 1836 ; Daniel Parke, 
elected Oct., 1837 ; Ira Stevens, elected Oct.. 1838 ; Mvron Ballard, 
elected Oct., 1839; Irad S. Wilson, elected Oct., 1839; Benjamin 
Ruffington, elected Oct., 1840 ; Edson Aspenwall, elected Oct., 1841 ; 
Daniel Brink, elected Oct., 1842 ; Joseph Towner, elected Oct., 
1843 ; Luman Putman, elected Oct.. 1844 ; Ashbel L. Cranmer, elected 
Oct., 1845 ; John H. Black, elected Oct., 1846 ; Hiram Spear, elected 
Oct., 1847 ; Simeon Decker, elected Oct., 1848 ; Aug. S.Smith, elected 
Oct., 1849 ; Sturges Squires, elected Oct., 1850 ; Daniel B. Cotton, 
elected Oct. 185i ; Isaac A. Park, elected Oct. 1852 , Stuart Smiley, 
elected Oct., 1853 ; George 11. Bull, elected OcL, 1854 ; Perley H. Buck, 
elected Oct., 1855 ; Drummer Lilley, elected Oct., 1856 ; William A. 
Thomas, elected Oct., 1859 ; Wm. IL Decker, elected Oct., 1860; Isaac 
Lvon. elected Oct., 1861 ; Josephus Campbell, elected Oct., 1862 ; 
AV'm. D. Dodge, elected Oct., 1863 ; John Beardslee, elected Oct., 1864. 
Sterne McKee, elected Oct., 1865 ; Wm. B. Dodge, elected Oct., 1866 ; 
John A. Moodv, elected Oct., 1867; Ezra Loomis, elected Oct., 1868; 
John B. Hines,*' elected Oct., 1869; E. C. Kellogg, elected Oct., 1870: 
Morris Shepard, elected Oct., 1871; Benj. Kuykendall, elected Oct., 
1872; Abram Snell, elected Oct., 1873; Morris Shepard, elected Oct., 
1874; M. J. Coolbaugh, elected Nov., 1875; George W. Kilmer, 
elected Nov.. 1875; John Baldwin, elected Nov., 1875; James H. 
Hurst, elected Nov., 1878 ; Daniel Bradford, elected Nov., 1878; M. 

15 



278 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

F. Ransom, elected Nov., 1878; Daniel Bradford, elected Nov., 1881 ; 
Myron Kingslev, elected Nov., 1881 ; M. F. Ransom, elected Nov., 
1881 ; Milton ()'. Loomis, elected Nov., 1884; Levi W. Towner, elected 
Nov., 1881; Geo. H. Vandyke, elected Nov., 1884; Sheldon Lindley, 
Levi Towner, Geo. H. Vandyke, elected 1887 ; Sheldon Lindley, P. S. 
Squires H. W. McCraney, elected 1890. 

COUNTY AUDITORS. 

Clement Paine, Moses Coolbaugh, Jonathan Stephens, elected Oct., 
1813; Eliphalet Mason, Wm. F. Dininger, Salmon Bosworth, elected 
Oct., 1814; Ethan Baldwin, elected Oct., 1815; Lemuel Streeter, Ed- 
ward Herrick, elected Oct., 1816; Jonathan Stevens, elected Oct., 
1817; Wm. Means, Geo. Hyde, B. J. Woodruff, elected Oct., 1818 
Samuel Bartlett, elected Oct., 1819; Harry Morgan, elected Oct., 1820 
J. M. Piollet, elected Oct., 1821; Nathaniel Clapp, elected Oct., 1822 
Burton Strait, elected Oct., 1823; Charles Comstock, elected Oct. 
1824; Asa Pratt, elected Oct., 1825; John Laporte, elected Oct., 1826 
Harry Morgan, elected Oct., 1827; J. M. Piollet, elected Oct., 1828 
Isaac Cooley, elected Oct., 1828; John E. Hale, elected Oct., 1829 
Myron Ballard, elected Oct., 1830 ; Samuel Stevens, elected Oct., 1831 
Abraham Goodwin, elected Oct., 1832; Alpheus Holcomb, elected 
Oct., 1833 ; Aaron Chubbuck, elected Oct., 1834; Allen McKean, elected 
Oct.. 1835; G. F. Horton, elected Oct., 1836; Harry Ackley, elected 
Oct., 1837; Luman Putnam, elected Oct. 1838; James M. Edsall, 
elected Oct., 1839 ; Arunah Wattles, elected Oct., 1840 ; Chester 
Welles, elected Oct., 1841; Horace Willey, elected Oct., 1842; John 
Watkins, elected Oct., 1843; J. M. Bishop, elected Oct., 1844; Chas. 
Homet, elected Oct., 1845; Lemuel S. Maynard, elected Oct., 1846; 
Samuel W. Shepard, elected Oct., 1847; F. S.Whitman, elected Oct., 
1848; Wm. H. Peck, elected Oct., 1849; Wm. Overton, elected Oct., 
1850; Edward C. Welles, elected Oct., 1851; Wm. H. Peck, elected 
Oct., 1852 ; C.F. Nicliols, elected Oct., 1853 ; Jonathan Buttles, elected 
Oct., 1854; Christopher Child, elected Oct., 1855; Francis Hornet, 
elected Oct., 1856; Lewis B. Pierce, elected Oct., 1857; Robt. Mason, 
elected Oct., 1858 ; Jeremiah Travis, Jr., elected Oct., 1859 ; E.Reuben 
DeLong, elected Oct., 1860; Robert Mason, elected Oct., 1861; Geo. 
R. Acroyd, elected October, 1862 ; C. H. Corbin, elected October, 
1863 ; Robert Mason, elected October, 1S64 ; George W. Elliott, elected 
October, 1865; Isaac D. Soper. elected October, 1S66; O. D. Field, 
elected October, 1867; Asa McKee, Jr., elected October, 1868 ; Walter 
S. Bowman, elected October, 1869 ; John S. Quick, elected October, 
1870 ; A. R. Brown, elected October, 1871 ; Ira Crane, elected October, 
1872; E. Reuben DeLong, elected October, 1873; George W. Brink, 
elected October, 1874 ; Danyers Bourne, J. R. Brasted, William L. 
Lantz, elected November, 1875 ; Joseph H. Hurst, Ulysses M. Pratt, 
Charles P.Welles, elected November, 1878; William W. jMoody, 
Joseph T. Hested, Charles P. Welles, elected November, 188i ; 
Clement F. Heverly, Earl V. Nichols, Job Morley, elected November, 
1884; L. L. Gregory, George H. Terry, James Foyle, elected 1887; 
H. H. Heald, A. Lent, Jr., Charles Jennings, elected 1890. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 279 

CLERKS OF COMMISSIONERS. 

Joseph Kingsbury, appointed January, 1813-14 ; George Scott, 
appointed January," 1815-20 ; Burr Kidgway, appointed January, 
1820; Edwin Benjamin, appointed January, 1821-22; Morris Spalding, 
appointed January, 1820-24; James P. Bui], appointed January, 
1825-2(5 ; Warren Brown, appointed January, 1827-29; Miller Fox, 
appointed January, 1830-35 ; John E. Hale, appointed January, 
1836-37; Charles Stockwell, appointed January, 1838-41; A. 
S. Chamberlain, appointed January, 1842-44 ; John M. Wattles, 
appointed January, 1845-47; C. S. Kussell. appointed January, 
1848-50; E. M. Farrar, appointed January, 1851-50; E. B. Coolbaugh, 
appointed January, 1857-62 : G. E. Fox. appointed January, 1863 ; E. 
B. Coolbaugh, appointed January, 1864-75'^; Williafn Lewis, appointed 
January, 1876-82 ; Samuel W. Buck (incumbent), appointed Novem- 
ber, 1882. 

.lURY COMMISSIONERS. 

Joseph Foulke. W. B. Storrs. elected October, 1867; E. Keuben 
DeLong, S. W. Buck, elected October, 1870; B. Frank Knapp, C. 
Edson Ferguson, elected 1873; Thomas A. Lee, Frank E. Jayne, elected 
November, 187(); Volney M.Wilson. Thomas J. Smi lev, elected 
November, 1879; Nelson^ Gilbert, J.Monroe Ayers. elected Novem- 
ber, 1882; Mahlon M. Hicks, John li. Ful ford, elected November, 1885. 
Horace Barnes, John E. Dobbins, elected 1888. 

CORONERS. 

John Horton, appointed 1813; Eeuben Wilber, appointed 1815; 
John Minier, appointed 1818; Chauncey Frisbie, appointed 1820; John 
Fox, appointed 1824 ; John L. Webb, appointed 1827 ; John Vandyke, 
appointed 1830; Edwin L. Paine, appointed 1833; Aaron Knapj). 
appointed 1836; Henry S. Salisbury, elected 1839; Calvin Storm, 
elected 1842; John Hatch, elected 1845; Thomas J. Ingham, elected 
1848 ; Geo. M. Black, elected 1851 ; W. W. Eastabrooks, elected 1854; 
Newell Leonard, elected 1857; Jeremiah Culp. elected 1860; Abram 
Snell, Jr., elected 1863; Joseph II. Hurst, elected 1866; John F. 
Dodge, elected 1869; J. Valentine Geiger, elected 1872; Daniel B. 
Walker, elected 1875-78-81 ; Clinton 11. Scott, elected 1882 : A^jlnev 
Homet, elected 1884; Ben. T. Strunk, elected 1887; Ben. T. Strunk, 
elected 1890. 

COUNTY SURVEYORS. 

Jonathan Stevens, appointed De])uty Surveyor 1812 ; Zephen 
Flower, appointed Deputy Surveyor 1821 ;" Eliphalet Mason, appointed 
Deputy Surveyor 1824; Gordon *F. Mason, appointed Deputv Surveyor 
1830; James M. Edsall, ap])ointed Deputy Survevor 1833"; Rowland 
Wilcox, appointed Deputy Surveyor 1836 ; Edgar G. Nichols, elected 
1850; James A. Paine, elected 1853 ; Joseph E.Spalding, elected 1856; 
Josiah J. Newell, elected 1859-62-65; Oliver W. Stevens, elected 186S ; 
Joseph E. Spalding, elected 1871 ; George V. Mver, elected 1874 ; T. A. 
Seward, elected 1877-80; Oliver A. Gilbert, elected 1883; Hiram E. 
Bull, present incumbent. 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. 

Emanuel Guyer, elected 1854; Charles K. Cobui-n, elected 1857- 



280 HISTORY OF IJRAOl'ORD CO\j:STY. 

60; Otis J. Cliubbuck. elected ] 863-66; Austin A. Keeney, elected 
1869-7'2-T5 ; J. Andrew Wilt, appointed to fill vacancy, January, 1878 ; 
George W. Evan (incumbent), elected 1878-81-84-87-00. 

PKKSENT COUNTY OFFICIALS. 

President Judoe, Benjamin M. Peck. Sheriff, Joseph Powell ; 
Thomas F. Foley, Deputy. Prothonotary, 11. J. Madill; C. F. lleverly, 
Deputy. Keo-ister and Recorder and Clerk of the Orphans' Court, 
Charles M. Hall; O. L. Smiley, Deputy. District Attorney, John W. 
Codding. Court Stenographer, Arthur Head. County Commissioners, 
S. H. Lindlev, P. S. Squires, W. H. ]\IcCraney ; John Dean, Clerk. 
Treasurer, Charles T. Hull; AVilliam Maxwell, Deputy. Coroner, 
Benjamin T. Strunk. County Surveyor, lliram E. Ikdl. Jury Com- 
missioners, John E. "Dobbins, Horace Barnes. 



CHAPTER XV. 
POLITICAL. 



First Meetings and Elections — "Why Federalists — Jefferson and 
Hamilton— Land Question — First Two Voting Districts — Fed- 
eral and Whig Parties Overthrown — Old Labor Party — Lin- 
coln, Douglas and Trumbull, an Episode— Election Returns to 
Date — Etc. 

THERE had been permanent settlers here a considerable time before 
there was such a thing as distinctive American politics ; before 
even there was any strong point for neighboi's to argue and contend 
about, except some question relating to their religion, or the conduct 
of the French-Indian war, or something of that nature. After the 
"Boston Tea Party" there was furnished all a bone of contention. 
The conti'olling element in society were the Anglo-Saxons, a race in- 
tensely patriotic, bowing with an Eastern devotion at the shrine of 
royalty, and yet fiercely jealous of any encroachment upon the most 
triyial' reserved rights of the people; their ancestors had made great 
kings, and chopped off the heads of a greater number of them than had 
any other people in history ; savagely religious, they had struck the 
temporal ])ower of the Pope the blow that in time destroyed it. When 
the Avar of Independence was happily ended and our people 
had, by a mere hair's breadth, escaped placing themselves under 
their own chosen crow^ned head ; the greatest man in the tide of time, 
incomparably great in war for the liberty of the people, but far nobler 
and greater in peace, was at the head of affairs, as the wise mentor of 
a people confronting the supreme problem of founding the Republic; 
then arose the first glimmer of what, in the one hundred years, grew to 
be the wide-branching and fruitful tree. American politics. The ship 
of State had been successfully launched, and now she must be ably 



HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY. 281 

manned, officered, and piloted in the unknown waters, on treacherous 
seas where were no charts or beacon lights to point the way to the 
peaceful haven. 

A short ])aragraph is ^iven in some of our histories to a little inci- 
dent that is full of deep signiiicance the more it is studied. In lavino- 
the very foundation of the llepublic, almost the first question, after 
peace was declared, was the indebtedness that had been incurred in the 
prosecution of the war. In addition to what was due our own people, 
it was found that there were nine million dollars due to forei<i'n nations. 
The executive body chosen to consider this great problem, all 
realized that here was perhaps the greatest difficulty menacing the new 
government, the i)residing officer of which was theimmortal Benjamin 
Franklin. This immense debt was the young Nation's nightmare, and 
these great and good men realized much of the black ^hopelessness 
that stared them in the face; in considering it, days and nights and 
patient weeks and inonths, they reasoned on the subject of how to j)ro- 
vide for it — a very ghost at the feast that would not down. The 
deliberative body, composed of men who have had few" equals, and no 
superior's, solemnly concluded finally that the young Repul)lic could 
never pay the enormous amount, and that all that could be done was 
to break up the Government, and divide the territory among the 
Nation's creditors — if they would accept that as full payment. "This 
delicate subject was handled as one of the State secrets of the time; 
not thrown before the peoi)le for their consideration and discussion ; 
whether because they assumed the people would not understand it, 
or it might result in great evil influence on tlie public mind, is not now 
known. Our Government still has its "State secrets," which, in the 
judgment of some good men, is but a relic transmitted from the old 
feudal monarchies. 

To the glory of mankind, our infant Republic was not broken up 
and divided among its creditors in payment of the hopeless debt of 
$9,000,000. As to the great and brave men, Americans, who had suf- 
fered so much in the long and cruel war, so many lives sacrificed, and 
such indescribable suffering and want, broken homes and hearts, and 
fortunes upon the altars of freedom, the indebtedness to them in dolhirs 
and cents was a matter largely of indifference; it was the people's 
Government, and whatever it might owe its j^eople was simply due to 
itself and could stand indefinitely, but all foreign debts must be paid, 
and how was it possible to extract blood from a turnip? In 1789 
Washington became President, and, for the next eight years, the half- 
dozen families in Bradford county had no defined lines in politics, on 
which to divide in contention. In 1797 John Adams succeeded Wash- 
ington, and then the faint lines of the opposition to the Federalists 
became visible, as they shot athwart the political horizon. The four 
years of Adams, as the Chief Executive of the nation, prepared the way 
for Jefferson's succession, and the line of division in parties became 
constantly more and more clearly defined. The eight years of Jeffer- 
son brought matters down to nearly the hour of tiie creation of Brad- 
ford county, when every man in the community w^as expected to both 
preach, and pray, and vote for his own chosen ""party. The first four 



282 HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of Madison's eight years in the office of President were but half gone 
when Bradford county completed its civil organization, and the people 
were called upon to express their judgments on local affairs through 
the ballot box. 

"Whether Jefferson stood in the way of that imperial mind, 
Hamilton, or not, and thwarted his cherished idea of a strong central 
government, or whether Jefferson called into active existence the very 
prominent political life of Hamilton, men may now differ in regard to 
the fact, but certain it is these are the representatives of the central 
opposing political ideas that have run throughout the life of our 
Nation. 

The history of the formation of the Federal Constitution shows 
clearly that there was at that time a large and influential body of men 
in this country who seriously doubted, if they did not absolutely deny, 
the capacity of the people to govern themselves. They believed in the 
establishment and maintenance of agreat central power, as far removed 
from the influence of populor opinion as possible with an Executive 
and Senators, as well as judges, chosen for life ; and Mr. Hamilton, 
went so far as to declare that he was in favor of extino-uishing: the 
State Governments entirely, but did not actually ])ropose such a 
measure, for the sole reason, as he stated, that it would shock public 
sentiment. In his plan of government submitted to Mr. Madison he 
proposed that the President should be chosen for life, and should 
possess an absolute power to veto the acts of Congress. Senators were 
also to be chosen for life, and the Senate was to have the sole power 
to declare war : the rioht of suffrage in the choice of Senators and 
Presidential electors was to be limited to those who owned real estate 
in their own right, or in the right of their wives ; and in order that 
the people of the several States might be more effectually deprived of 
the right of self-government, it was provided that their governors 
should be appointed under the authority of the United States, for 
indefinite terms, and should have the absolute power to negative all 
acts of the State Legislatures. In his speeches in the Convention, he 
distinctly announced that he had no faith in popular government in 
this country, and contemptuously said that no matter how such govern- 
ments might be modified, they were " but pork still, with a change of 
sauce." In relation to the powers, duties and responsibilities of the 
Executive, he declared that the English model was the only good one, 
and he wanted an American President as nearly like a British King 
as possible, except that he should hold his office for life by election 
instead of inheritance. Hamilton was a man who believed in the 
authority of precedent, and for this as a guide there were supreme 
reasons for his judgment that the English form of government was at 
that time the best in the world or in history, and not only that, but 
possibly the best that the world's intelligence would bear — the power 
of the King Fetich, the infallible ruler, who should be regardful only 
of the reserved rights of the rich aristocrats, and these two combined 
would the best care for and protect the people — the hewers of wood 
and haulers of water. This at that time was the world's best experience, 
and the true interpretation of man in his best and highest form. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 28-') 

Could Hamilton have foreseen the rotten boroLi<^hs, some of this 
unspeakable corruption that has found its way to the ballot box, that 
has come in time, he would have held in his hand a weapon that 
Jefferson would have found difficult}^ in warding off its blows. 

The few that were in what is now Bradford county, as they were 
then citizens of Luzerne anil Lycomino- counties, had not voted for 
Jefferson nor his successor, Madison. When the county completed its 
first civil government, the country was at the door of the War of 
1812-15. The majority of the people were Federalists and the decid- 
ing factor in men's minds in this county was the very important 
and nearly vital question of the disputed land titles between Pennsyl- 
vania and Connecticut colonists. The authorities of both States 
supposed that this strip of territory, including this and other counties, 
belonged, under the original crown grant, to them respectively^ ; the 
Penns had granted and sold manors — a species of feudal rights, exceed- 
ingly liberal in their terms, yet retaming the fee and demanding the 
j)erpetual acknowledgment of the Proprietaries' rights by at least a 
nominal tribute, while the Connecticut authorities had sold township 
after township of land, giving freely the fee upon the permanent loca- 
tion of the agreed number of settlers thereon. The conflict of title 
arose over the indefiniteness of the crown ijrant in describin(j:and locat- 
ing the lines after they had proceeded west from the ocean into the 
unknown wilderness. Prior to, as well as at the same time, the same 
question was mooted on the south line of Pennsylvania, between the Pro- 
prietaries and Calvert of Maryland, which finally was adjusted, after 
years of serious contention and some bloodshed, in the establishment 
of the historical '' Mason & Dixon's Line." On the south the conten- 
tion over the disputed strip was between the Quakers and the Catho- 
lics; on the north it was between the Quakers and the Yankees, but 
in all such vexatious questions the final and permanent adjustment 
was always exactly on the lines claimed by the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania. 

In fixing the northern line of the State, the north line of Bradford 
county, resort had to be had to the arbitration of llie courts, and Com- 
missions were appointed for that purpose. Connecticut claimed the land 
south even of the south line of the county, and commenced systematic- 
ally the work of occupying it. The grant of the Six Nations had been 
made to the Susquehanna Company, and much in the spirit of the 
" boomers " that recently gathered in such crowds on the borders of 
the new Territory of Oklahoma, the keen-eyed settlers came down the 
Susquehanna, and up the Susquehanna, and met in dispute as to the 
possession of the coveted land, now the confines of Bradford county. 
In this case, as in many others, it seems that those, the most innocent, 
were 'in the end the chief sufferers. We can not now know fully in 
what good faith the Company of the Susquehanna made their purchase 
on the river from which the company took its name, but it may be 
assumed that it was in implicit good faith and that their title was clear. 
This much is unquestionable, the people who bought of the company 
were in good faith, and when they were forcibly dispossessed of their 
homes it was a cruel wrong to them. It was the land question, arising 



284 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

from the facts just referred to above, that largely determined the 
politics of the people of Bradford county. When the enabling act, 
creating the countv, was passed in ISIO, an overwhelming majority 
of the people were those who had come under the auspices of the 
Susquehanna Company, and therefore at the first election in Bradford 
county there was a majority that were Federalists ; the vote for John 
Franklin was unanimous— they put their faith in that party because 
they su])posed that that was the short and certain way to a settlement 
of the disputed land titles that was a solemn problem to them. They 
staked their all on the Federal courts, and believed that here they 
would have their titles under the company the more surely confirmed. 
It is a little difficult now to understand upon what ground this 
impression rested, but it had gone abroad, although, as early as 1795, 
a test case was decided in the United States Circuit Court against the 
Connecticut claimant. Col. Franklin was the central figure of North- 
ern Pennsylvania and the people would vote for him regardless of his 
politics. 

The members representing Luzerne county 171 A-sseinUy frovi 1787 
to 180^ inclusive, were as follows : 1T87, John Paul Schott ; 1788, 
Obadiah Gore ; 1789, Obadiah Gore ; 1790, Obadiah Gore ; 1791, 
Simon Spalding ; 1792, Sinum Spalding ; 1793, Ebenezer Bowman ; 
1794, Benjamin Carpenter; 1795. John Franklin; 1790, John Franklin; 
1797, Eosewell Welles ; 1798, Rosewell Welles ; 1799, John Franklin ; 
1800, John Franklin ; 1801, John Franklin ; 1802, John Franklin and 
Rosewell Welles. These were nearly all Bradford county men. That 
is, what is now Bradford county was then the strongest and leading 
part of 1 uzerne countv. 

The Bradford county people held their first joyful and patriotic 
Fourth of-Julv celebratmn in 1801, and the previous year had voted in 
the election districts that had been provided in this part of the two 
counties of Luzerne and Lvcoming. The first political meetings within 
this territory had been held in the year 1799. These meetings and 
elections weVe in the ancient townships of Ulster, Springfield, Allens- 
buro- and Rindaw. They were referred to at the time by the Gazette, 
of Wilkes-Barre. The meeting of -a respectable number of the inhabi- 
tants '' of the townships named, we are informed, met at the house of 
Jeremiah Lewis in Springfield, for " the purpose of consulting as to 
who would be the best person for candidate for governor "; Ezekiei 
Hvde was chairman of the meeting and Samuel Gordon, secretary. 
The next meeting of Avhich we can now find traces was in 1804, in Rush 
township. Of these elections. Rev. David Craft, in his history of the 
county, says that all papers referring to the returns while this was a 
part of Luzerne county " are hopelessly lost." There are meager 
and only partial returns"^ for the years 1801, '2, '3, and '4. In 1801 
there were two election districts here, Tioga and Wyalusing— the 
former cast 112 votes and the latter 39. The conclusive evidence that 
at this election the voters were not Strictly divided on party lines is 
given in the vote for Colonel Franklin and John Jenkins. The can- 
didates for the Assembly were John Franklin and Lord Butler, running 
against Mathias HoUenback and Benjamin Carpenter. In Tioga the 





LXAy 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD C'OrXTY. 28T 

vote stood, Butler, lOG ; Franklin, 112 ; lioUenback, 3, and Carpenter, 2. 
For Commissioner, Arnold ('olt received 110 votes and his opponent, 
Pettibone, 1. In the Wj^ahising district, for Assembly, Butler, 20 votes ; 
J'ranklin, 23 ; Ilollenback, 18 ; Carpentei-, 15. For Commissioner, 
Colt, 24, and Pettibone, 15 votes. 

At the election, 1802, Thomas McKean was standing for re-election 
as the Democratic candidate for Governor, and was opposed bv 
James Poss, Federalist. Tiiree election districts were then provided 
in the territory that is now in Bradford county, Wysox township 
having- been added to the two former. The vote for Poss, Federal, was 
Tioga, 9G, Wysox, 26, and Wyalusing, 36; and for McKean, Democrat, 
the vote stood 20, 20 and 7, respectively. In a total of 205 votes cast 
in what is now Bradford county, a little more than three to one were 
Federalists. The vote for Governor better indicates the politics of the 
})eople than does the remainder of the ticket, where mostlv they were 
influenced by individual preferences. There were four candidates for 
the State Senate, who were voted for as follows in the Tioga districts: 
Joseph Kinney, 58 votes; Laurence Myers, 21; Thomas McWhoiter 
and Nicholas Kern, none. These were evidently neighbors, voting onlv 
for their neiglibors, and probably the two latter did not reside in this 
part of the county, as Nicholas Kern did not receive a single vote in 
the three Bradford districts. In Wysox, McWhorter received 3 votes, 
Meyers, 17, and Kinney, 32; while in Wyalusing the vote was, Mc- 
Whorter, 28, Myers, 7, Kinney, 6. For Assembly, Franklin received 
every vote but three in ihe county, and his popularity is again mani- 
fested in the year 1803, when he received every vote in the county but 
ten, attesting alike the personal and political popularity of the man. 

We have a strong indication as to wiio were among the active lead- 
ing Pepubl leans (Democrats), at that earl\^ time, in a letter dated 
October 1, 1805, by the signers thereto: John Ilollenback, Guy 
Wells, Elisha Keeler, Daniel Poss, M. Miner York, Jabez Hyde and 
Benjamin Stalford, who addressed William lioss, Esq., and othet^s, 
informing them that the Pepublicans of Wysox District have nominated 
Moses Coolbaugh "and have talked of Peed Brockway," but are 
willing to consult with the lower part of the county, and select the 
person who would be most -dgvetahle to nW the J'ree/Jir/i of the county." 
[That word "freemen,"' in the communication, may sound a little 
strange to readers now-a-days. It is explained by the statement that 
at that time Pennsylvania was a slave State. J 

September 25, 1805, the prominent people of Wysox and Orwell met 
in convention or consultation at the house of Jacob Myer. They described 
themselves as "reputable and respectable citizens of the township." They 
placed in nomination Moses Coolbaugh and Job Irish. They made a 
good race, but the Federals could outvote them, and it is said that the 
street gamins of that day jibed at them and called them " Denis.'' A 
meeting at Wyalusing recommended, for the Legislature, Justus Gay- 
lord, Jr., and Poswell Welles for the Assembly, and John Jenkins for 
commissioner. 

Back in the year 1800, October 3, a letter was written by Clement 
Paine to Col. John Jenkins, in which he said: "The undernamed 



288 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

persons in this township (Athens), may be depended upon to give their 
votes in your favor : Wright Loomis, George Welles, Jonathan Harris, 
Elias Satterlee, Daniel Satterlee, Capt. Stevens, Pitkin Pratt, John 
Miller, David Alexander, Capt. Tozer, Maj. Mathewson, and Capt. 
Joseph Spalding.'' He then adds: "We may, I think with safety, 
calculate on at least double the number I have named above in your 
favor." 

The district of Wysox, Wyalusing and Braintrim sent a meeting 
of delegates to the house of Bartholomew Laporte, in Asylum, Sep- 
tember 17, 1806, when Moses Coolbaugh and Justus Ga3'lord, Jr., were 
again put in nomination for the Assembly. This election was con- 
firmed by the other delegates of the county. At the election the vote 
stood, Justus Gaylord, Jr., 333 votes, and for Justus Gaylord (with 
the junior left off), 38 votes — total 371 ; Moses Coolbaugh received 
3(U votes. Justus Gaylord, Jr., was defeated because it was held by 
the judges that the votes omitting the " Jr.'' were intended for his 
father, who was quite an old man, and was not a candidate at all. 
Mr. Coolbaugh was a Democrat, while Maj. Gaylord was a Federal. 

The first election in the new county of Bradford was in October, 
1812, when a full corps of county officers were chosen, every one being 
a Federalist. One Democrat was elected until 181(5, in the person of 
Eliphalet Mason, county commissioner. All the appointed officers in 
the county were Democrats, because Gov. Snyder was of that party. 

This year, 1810, Bradford county swung into the Democratic line, 
and thus continued, without variation, for twenty years. The county 
was in touch with the country that \vas drifting away from the old 
Federal part3^ which was finally completely overthrown in 3 828, and 
was succeeded by the now long since defunct Whig party. In 1836 
the county, on President, gave 58 majority for Harrison, but at the 
next general election it swung back and gave Van Buren 213 majority 
over Harrison. 

In 1828 the old Federal ])arty was finally and completely over- 
thrown, and its immediate successor was the Wliig party. Bradford 
county, with but few exceptions, remained true to the Democracy. Up 
to 1840, the Abolition party had no strength or standing among our 
voters, and even then its strength was small. The Democratic party, 
however, had its trouble, dissensions sprung up, and in time it became 
a house divided against itself. The State had rid itself of slavery 
without having made the question a political one ; it had black slaves, 
and it had indentured servants, and a class of immigrants Avho had 
bonded their labor in the old country, for a certain number of years, to 
companies that brought them over the sea. These contracts were 
enforced by the law and the courts. In their easy-going mode of life, 
with the very small "clearins," that were then the farms, the great 
abundance of fish and game, made servants of small profit. But few 
tradesmen wanted more than a good, stout apprentice, who was one 
of the family. There appears no record of any negro, slaves naving 
been brought and permanently held here. The institution never 
flourished in this State, and the heaviest ownership was along the 
south line of the State, adjoining Maryland. The immigrants to this 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 289 

county, much like all northern frontiersmen, were poor in this world's 
goods, bringino- little wealth except stout hearts and honest industry. 
The old "Hunker "and 'Tree Soil'" factions sprung up in the 
Democratic county in the "forties," the first serious dissension in that 
party's ranks. This, in fact, was nothing more than a quarrel over 
the distribution of the offices, and was brought about mostly bv 
Van Buren, who had failed in securing the nomination at his party's 
hands, and ran to punish and defeat his successful rival. The 
names given the factions were mutual terms of derision and con- 
tempt—" Old Hunkers " and " Free Soilers." Neither one of them 
was at all influenced in this section by any sentiment on the subject 
of African slavery, whatever may have been the feelings of the people 
in otlier sections. An attempt was made, about this time, to organize 
an Abolition party in Bradford county— John McKinnev and Justus 
Lewis being at the head thereof. In iSoO a general meeting was called 
in Towanda, and an Abolition S])eaker from Philadelphia was secured 
to address it — a riot followed, and the speaker was abused and a hearing 
denied him. The sober-minded pe(^ple called on Hon. David Wihnot 
to pacify the mob; he addressed the excited crowd and took occasion to 
denounce all Abolitionists, and counseled the people to quietly disperse. 
The next year a county meeting of Abolitionists was convened at 
Wysox, which was attended by about 200 people of the county; the 
meeting was held there for the reason that the people of ToAvanda, it 
was understood, would not tolerate its presence. This organization 
then took the name of "Liberty jmrty," and in 1840 organized and put up 
its ticket, and for the head of their^'^ational ticket in Bradford county 
there were 26 votes given ; there were 56 votes given for some of 
the ticket. In other respects the history of this partv in this county is 
but the same as that of it in nearly alf the northern counties of the 
Union, where at least the early prophets were not without iionor save 
in their own county. 

In 1842 there was the first, though not the last. Laborer's party in 
this county. It was or^^anized, and a ticket put in the field : Repre- 
sentative, Chauncey Frisbie, of Orwell ; Sheriff, John Van Dyke, of 
Canton ; Prothonotary, Theodore Wilder, of Springfield ; Register and 
Recorder, E. W. Hale, of Monroe ; Commissioner, N. B. Wetmore, of 
Herrick ; Coroner, Gordon Wilcox, of Smithfield ; Auditor, Benj. 
Thomas, of Towanda. These people were evidentlv encouraged at that 
early day to put up a ticket of their own by the nearly patent fact that 
the Whig party was in the throes of dissolution ; President Harrison 
died almost as soon as inducted into office, and his vice-president had 
Tylerisedn\vL\o^t as soon as he was firmly in his seat, and the Whigs of 
Bradford county were aimlessly floundering without a head, and very 
naturally they made up a headless county ticket; the most of them 
supported the Laborer's party, possibly not so much because of their 
love for them as for their desire to down the Democracy and to express 
their hate of Tyler. The Whig organ in the county— 77/d Scrihe— 
advocated the Laborer's ticket out and out, but the Democrats carried 
the day by over 800 majority. 

The Labor party, nothing daunted, kept their adherents together,also 



290 HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COLXTV. 

the next year, 1^43, and now established their weekly paper, and, if, at 
this late day, we may judge that party b}' the motto that adorned the 
head of their paper, it certainly deserved success whether it gained it 
or not. The motto was a strong platform. Here it is, and, pray, who 
may throw the first stone at it ? 

'* The Laborer's party will endeavor to fill all State and county offi- 
ces with the best workingmen that can be found in both old parties. 
[This is buncorab, but read the next sentence.] We are for low salaries, 
little legislation, few offices, no sinecures, reduced taxes arid strict ac- 
countability of office-holders." 

The lines italicised are a model party platform. There have been 
many much longer ones written, but it is exceedingly iloubtfnl if there 
has ever been a better one. " Low salaries, little legislation, few offi- 
ces, no sinecures and reduced taxes." What more can be said in be- 
half of good government? It is like the Golden Rule in good morals 
— the great omnium, where all elaboration merely weakens and con- 
fuses. Its supremacy is in its short simplicity. Xearly fiftv years — 
half the lite of our nation — have come and gone since these men struck 
out in this bold line of economics, and now there has arisen a young 
and powei'ful party, composed nearly exclusively of the farmers, who 
are very nearly on the line of the "Laborers" of fifty years ago. 
When the next hundred years are ruled off and have been 
added to the life of our great Democracy, who can forecast what will 
be the dividing political and social questions then deeply interesting all 
men '. Indeed, though we may wander far from present moorings of 
parties and factions, there is no certaint}' that we may not circle back 
b\^ that time to the identical place now occupied. Since the hour of 
our American victory against the oppressor, man has been in the eager 
.pursuit of a better government — in the Eastern as well as in the West- 
ern hemisphere. These ideas now flow in the two lines : First, the old 
idea of a strong government — absolute power vested in the head, and the 
militar}^ ability, not only to beat back the invader, but to invade and 
conquer and possess such of your neighbors' domain as you ma}^ covet ; 
where there is the one supreme law of might. Second, the other or paral- 
lel idea, is the acquirement of a better government than have been the 
old ones — in short, a good government. In many respects these two the- 
ories are directly opposite, and yet itcanreadiW be seen that good men, 
equally earnest, honest and patriotic may here divide. A man may pride 
himself upon his countrv's invincible army and navy ; or its great insti- 
tutions, public buildings, palaces, castles, public libraries, State schools, 
and colleges, a rich church, and a powerful aristocrac}", and the extrava- 
gance of the expenditures upon its great ruler or rulers, or even feel a 
glow of patriotic pride that his nation has the largest list, and pays the 
greatest annual sum to its pensioners of any nation in all history; 
while his next-door neighbor, viewing things from a radically different 
standpoint, may equalh^ pride himself upon what his neighbor might 
call the poverty of the government ; that is, but few and cheap public 
institutions or buildings, the lowest possible salaries to officials of all 
grades, little or no standing army, and the very minimum of taxes. 
While verging that wav, it can not be said that such issues have 



IIISTOIJV OF P.KADFOlil) COL-XTV. 29] 

ever yet exclusively divided our ])eople in ])olitical lines. This may 
come to be the case in time. One thing- is patent, while one hundred 
years ago men took issues, mostly upon the sole question of the limit 
of the right of people to vote, in the form of the constitutional powers 
of the rulers, and the reserved rights of the people, this condition is 
slowly changing, especially since the experiment of the right of suf- 
frage, almost universal among the males of the nation, as it has existed 
the past few years. Practical experience thus slowly hut surely is 
educating mankind toward a general betterment. '^ The story of 
Rome in her day of greatest splendors is told in the boast that wjis on 
the lips of every citizen: ''lam a Roman citizen^ This was not 
only a subject of pride, but it was held that anywhere in the world it 
Avas the only needed shield and protection from im])osition from out- 
side peoples. The law of might was clearly then the supreme law of 
mankind — physical force the great captain of the world. 

The coming statesman may in time abandon the idea that the peo- 
})le bring and offer up on their country's altar their lives, their honor 
and their property in the first step in forming a body poHtic, and then 
the good government protects and cares for all as the most wise and 
loving parent ; the government being the loving father — the people 
the obedient and trusting children. This enchanting theory is liable 
to be worn threadbare in time, and it is possible it may come to be so 
thoroughly questioned that economists will declare that rulers are 
mere machines, mere nothings, incapable of much good at best, and 
that the people are every tiling — supreme in every natural right to 
justice, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; the real lords of 
creation, literally owning the earth, and that they may condescend to 
appoint this or that servant, called Presidents, Senators. Governors or 
dog-catchers, and elect to dole out to these menials the pittance of 
their daily wage. ''lam a freeman^' may some dav be the boast 
incomparably above that of the old-time Roman citizen. Men will 
cease to plume themselves and strut in their gay coachman's or police- 
man's uniforms, or any of the badges of servitude, from the wigs and 
gowns to the maid's' caps. The world will still turn round, tie sun 
will shine and the fructifying rains descend, and population increase, 
even after that terror to nea)'ly all rulers, universal libertv and justice, 
has come to all men. Man in the untrammeled pursuit'^of happiness 
is the godliest being possible for this world to possess. To have 
striven for this, though never so little, is to wear the crown of crowns, 
is to be one of the most exalted that has come in the tide of time— is 
to deserve the fullest and brightest immortality. 

First Election was of course an important affair to the people, and 
fortunately the old poll book has been recovered wherein there is verv 
nearly a complete list of the voters given in the countv. If this countrv 
has any such thing as "the first families," then this list is our roval 
"400." Look over the list, and see if you can trace vour lineage to 
this list of F. Fs. 

After the formation of the countv the " Red Tavern" was the elec- 
tion place for many years. The first election was held on the second 
Tuesday (13th) of October, 1812, for the purpose of electing county 



292 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

officers. The board appointed to conduct the election in Towanda were 
Eliphalet Mason, inspector; John Felton, Jacob Bowman, Charles 
Brown, judges ; Ethan Baldwin and E. B. Gregory, clerks. Those 
that voted at that election Avere — Henr}^ Salisbury, William Finch, 
Henry Spalding, Benjamin Coolbaugh, James Dougherty, Wm. Cool- 
baugh, Ananias Whitman, Solomon Allen, John Pierce, Peter Edsall, 
Reese Stepliens, Usual Carter, Isaac Foster, Nathaniel Edsall, Russell 
P\)wler, Elias Thompson, Samuel Seely, Jacob AVagner. David Blanch- 
ard, Ezekiel Griffis, Moses Gladden, Jacob Ringer, Nathan Coon, 
Aaron Carter, AVilliam Coolbaugh, Jr., Amos Ackler, Stephen Wilcox, 
John Goodwin, Wm. Peppers, Wrn. McGill, John Head, Andrew Gregg, 
Ezra Rutty, Thomas Cox, Abial Foster, John Northrup, Benjamin 
Ackles, Edsall Carr, Absalom Carr, Wm. French, Jr., Wm. B. Spalding, 
George Bowman, Xoah Spalding, John Mintz, Wm. Means, Moses 
Warlord, Amos Bennett, Jr., Amos V. Mathews, Buckley Chappel, Ezra 
Rutty, Jr., Stephen Horton, Elisha (Jarpenter, Lemuel Payson, Abner 
C. Rockwell, Ebenezer P. Clark, Adonijah Alden, Abijah Northrop, 
Martin Stratton, Timothy Stratton, Sam'l Needham, Eleazer Sweet, Tim- 
othy Alden, Job Irish, Oliver Newell, Moses Rowley, Richard Goff, 
Solomon Talady, Jr.,Ozias Bingham, John Fox, Jonathan Fowler, Abra- 
ham Foster, Austin Fowler, Wm. Thompson, Isaac Ellsworth, Elisha 
Cole,Richard Benjamin, Jas. Lewis, Samuel Cranmer, Parly White, John 
Schrader. Josfah Cranmer, Wm. Golf, John D. Saunders, Ethan Bald- 
win, John Franklin, Jabez Squires, Jacob Bowman, Zabin Williams, 
John Wythe, Samuel Gilson, James Roales, John Schrader, Jr., Calvin 
Cranmer, James Northrup, Eliphalet Mason, John Felton, Charles 
])rown, Jonathan Frisbie, Josiah Stockings, E. B. Gregory, Rufus 
Foster, Smith Horton, Reuben Hale, Ephraim Ladd, Warner Ladd, 
Rowland Wilcox, Sheffield Wilcox, Daniel Miller. Total number of 
voters, 108. These electors residetl in what are now the towns of 
Asylum, Albany, Monroe, Franklin, and the Towandas. 

The candidates voted for at this election were, for Sheriff— K. C. 
Rockwell, 84 votes ; John Spalding 2d, 25; Wm. Means, 40 ; John 
Mintz, 26 ; John Taylor, 3; Jacob Boardman, 1; Jacob Bowman, 8; 
Job Irish. 2; Aaron Carter, 2; Josiah Stocking, 1 ; John Miner. 1 ; 
George Bowman, 1 ; Elisha Cole, 1; John Fox, 2; Peter Edsall, 1; 
Andrew Gregg, 1 ; Samuel McKean, 4. Commissioners — John Salt- 
marsh, 35; Samuel Gon, 34; George Scott, 33; Joseph Kinney, 58 ; 
William Myer, 02; Justus Gaylord, 54; Eliphalet Mason, 14; Jesse 
Hancock, 3"; Isaac Chaapel, 2; Clement Paine, 6; Charles Brown. 1. 
Coroner— iohw Fox, 2; John Taylor, 43; John Horton, 43; John 
Minor, 41 ; Harry Spalding, 48 ; Jacob Bownnan. 0; Reuben Hale, 2 ; 
Job Irish, 1. 

At the general election, October, 1813, are the following names 
not contained in the list of 1812: Daniel Thompson, Thomas Simp- 
son, Chas. F. Welles, A. C. Stuart, Daniel Drake, Nathaniel Talcott, 
Jesse Woodruff, George Davidson, Burr Ridgway, Christopher 
Cowel, John Simpkins, Andrew Irwin. 

In 1843 the " Laborers " were better organized, and nominated in 
the county a full ticket. It is said they drew their leaders and voters 



HKSTORY OF Hli A DFORl) COUNTY. 2!>3 

from the old parlies impartially. George Kinney and Joseph Kings- 
bury were Wliigs who were prominent leaders in the Laboi'er's party, 
and side by side with them were the strong Democrats, Asa Pratt and 
John L. Webb. At that election, 1843, the ticket presented by them 
was for Congress, Bela Jones of Susquehanna county; Senator, George 
Kinney, of Sheshequin ; Representative, C. Frisbie, of Orwell and Eli 
Baird, of Troy; Commissioner, John YanDyke, of Canton ; Treasurer, 
Wyllys Brow^nson, of Towanda; Auditor, Milton Bailey, of Ulster. 
Acain the Whio's made no nominations, so it was the Laborers and 
Democrats. Kinney carried Brail ford county, but was defeated by the 
vote of Tioga, and so Reed and Sherwood, Democrats, were elected to 
the Legislature. The vote of the three parties for the two years was 
as follows: 



1843. 
1843. 



[jABOUEU«. 


UEMOCHATS. 


WHKiS. 


941 


2,239 


1,662 


1,289 


1,750 


938 



This shows that all the gain was to the Laborer's party, while both 
the others lost in their vote, — much the largest per cent, of loss being 
from the Whigs. 

Away back in 1828 the politics of the State was deeply stii'red by 
the anti-Ma.sonic movement that quickly became a political (|uestioii. 
The rather nebulous idea that tlje Masons had murdered a man named 
Morgan, a member of the order who gave away for gain or notoriety 
their lodge secrets, began to pass current among the peoj)le, and Thad. 
Stevens, then a young man of Gettysburg, was shrewd and bold enough 
to seize upon this general delusion, feed and fatten it, and make it the 
issue in the election then j^ending. This was a singular exhibition of 
the public mind. In the first place the Masons never had any secrets 
in this country, whatever may have been theirs in the Old AVorld, 
where men had to secretly combine and conspire in defense of their 
lives and plainest rights. There can be no place for secret political or 
otherw^ise organizations in this country ; when that necessity arises 
then American democracy, all freedom and all justice will have gone 
forever from our land. The leader of this movement in Bradford 
county was Mr. O. P. Ballard. It had soon run its brief and brilliant 
course througliout the State. It never succeeded in getting a majorit}^ 
of the voters in the county, and it peacefully passed away. 

Jackson was now the idol of the Democracy, while Clay was equally 
honored by the Whigs. Tfiese were two strong types of Americans — 
the dashing and brilliant Clav, the unequalled orator, the man of 
personal magnetism, challangetl on his highway the strong, unyielding, 
brave and chivalrous Jackson ; so unlike that they may well be said to 
have been splendidly matched. These were the successors in the 
great political tournament of Hamilton and Jefferson, and equally as 
well equipped to leave the impress of their lives upon their da}'^ and 
age. Clay was superb — Jackson was iron ; both were patriots, the 
one as invincible as the other was captivating. It was natural that 
such leaders should reorganize ])olitical parties ; reform the ranks and 
create the new^erain American politics, when voters became wi'ang- 
ling and often fierce politicians, and all realized that they had leaders 



294 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

who possessed pre-eminently the courage of their convictions. Clay 
would '' rather be right than be President," while Jackson, '' b}*^ the 
eternal" with the people at his back, struck dead incipient American 
aristocrac}^ and of each was it true that their party was their personal 
followino-. Nothing' of the kind was known to the countrv before 
their day. nor has any parallel come since. 

With the election for President in 1S52, wlien Pierce (I).) was 
elected over Scott (W.) the Whig party was finally overthrown and 
ceased longer to be a factor in American politics. The mantel of Jack- 
son had fallen on the shoulders of Stephen A. Douglas, and the "Little 
Giant "" was forging his way to the front rank of living statesmen. The 
'' Free Soil " question Avas precipitated upon the countrv by the Kansas- 
\ebraska question, that followed so closeh^ upon the repeal of the 
Missouri (yompromise, and in 1853 was organized in a countv in Illinois, 
the Republican party. This may not, although it is so claimed in the 
locality, to have been the first organization ever effectedof that party, 
but it was the one that -was pregnant with the remarkable future that 
then and there dawned upon the nation. The two leading anti-Doug- 
las men in Illinois and who were a part of this first TIepublican organ- 
ization were Abraham Lincoln aud Lyman Trumbull — the latter had 
been a Democrat, who had ample reasons to believe he had never been 
justly treated by the leaders of his party, a IS'cav England man, an 
able lawver and scholar, but said to be a cold, intellectual tower ; 
while Mr. Lincoln was a Iventuckian and had been a Whig, and 
when a youth had migrated to Illinois with his parents, who pos- 
sessed but a meager share of this world's wealth. These men were 
very unlike, as much so personally and mentally as they had been 
politically and socially. Much the only thing in common between 
them, now, for the first time brought together in a political strug- 
gle, was the opposition to Douglas, and they joined hands to over- 
throw him, and wrest from him the control of the office of Senator 
from Illinois. The terms of this agreement were readily adjusted. 
Lincoln was to rally the old AYhigs and bring them bodily into the 
Republican camp, and both supposed that this of course would be the 
big end of the new part}'. Trumbull was to rally the anti-Douglas 
Democrats, all those who opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
mise or who had caught the general " Free Soil" cry that then began 
to be heard all over the 'N'orth. Gen. Shields was the junior Senator 
from Illinois and the first struggle was to capture the Legislature and 
it was agreed, in case that was done, that Mr. Lincoln should be made 
Senator, and then in 1858, when Mr. Douglas' term would expire, Mr. 
Trumbull would stand against him for the office. On this basis the 
State and national election in Illinois, 1856, opened and one of the 
most remarkable campaigns was fought out. The Republicans carried 
the Legislature and Mr. Lincoln expected that his fight for Senator 
was over. AVhen the Legislature met, Mr. Trumbull had gone carefully 
over the members returned and to his surprise he found that a 
majority of those elected as Republicans were those who had formerly 
been Democrats, and he therefore quietly stepped in and took the office 
of Senator and left Mr. Lincoln to warm his toes in the ante-room and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 297 

wait until 1858, and then make tiie fight against Douglas. Mr. Trum- 
bull was shrewd enough to realize that to defeat Douirlas in his re- 
election was altogether another matter from that of defeating Gen. 
Shields. It was a bird in the hand with Trumbull, while it was a two- 
years' wait and a very uncertain "bird in the bush" in the end with Mr. 
Lincoln. It is a part of the common history of the country that Douglas 
and Lincoln canvassed the State, holding joint discussions, from the 
North Line to Cairo, and Mr. Douglas defeated Mr. Lincoln, and this in 
the end made Mr. Lincoln President, in 1860. One of the notable things 
in this celebrated contest for Senator was the fact that the candidates 
went before the people, and to all practical purposes the choice for 
Senator was known as soon as the vote was counted ; and this was the 
first time in the history of the country that this innovation had 
occurred. This yet un^\'ritten episode in American politics perhaps 
has had more to do in shaping the history of the Union the past thirty- 
four years — the greatest era concerning our countrj^ — than probably 
any other circumstance that has ever occurred. Even after the war, 
and Mr. Lincoln was dead, Trumbull in the Senate voted against 
Johnson's iinpeiichment. and since that time has been actively identi- 
fied with the Democratic ])arty. These and precedino- facts and inci- 
dents are given as explanatory to the reader, and will lend interest to 
the following compilation of the Bradford county voting in the early 
days of the county, that are taken as compiled hy Rev. David Craft, 
and also as taken from the official records : 

181-1 : For Governor (Lycoming and Bradford counties combined). 
Simon Snyder (D). 72-1 votes ; Isaac Wayne, 11 ; George Latimer, 13 ; 
total, 7'18~Democratic majority, 700. 1817: William Find lay, 929; 
Joseph Iliester, 353 ; total, 1,282— Democratic majority, 576. 1820 : 
William Findlay, 915 ; Joseph Iliester, 788 ; total, 1, 703 — Democratic 
majority, 127. ' 1823 : J. Andrew Shulze, 977; Andrew Gregg, 801; 
total, 1,781 — Democratic majoritv, 173. In 1826, Shulze received 
1,753 votes; in 1829.1832 and 1835, for Governor, Wolfe received 
respectively 1,219, 1.685 and 1.504 votes. In 1838, the vote for Gover- 
nor was. Porter, 2,420, and Joseph Ritner, 2,219. 

For President, 1824; Jackson, 1640, Adams, 31, Crawford, 16 ; Dem- 
ocratic majority, 1593. 1828, Jackson, 1553, Adams, 910; LJ)emocratic 
majoritv, 643. 1832, Jackson, 1598, Wirt, 1221; Democratic majoritv, 
377. 18^36, Harrison, 1521, Yan Buren, 1463 ; Whig majority, 58. 1840, 
VanBuren. 2844, Harrison, 2631; Li bertv party, 26; Democratic plu- 
rality, 213 1844, Polk, 3495, Clay, 3164, Libertv, 63— total, 6722 ; 
Democratic pluralitv. 331. 1848, T/iylor, 3272, Cass\ 1889, VanBuren. 
1780— total, 6941 ; Whig over Democrat. 1383 ; Whig over Free Soil, 
1493 ; Cass and Van Buren over Taylor, 397. 1852. Pierce, 3930, Scott, 
3526, Libertv, 281— total, 7737; Democratic plurality, 404.' 1856, Fre- 
mont, 6969.' Buchanan, 2314, Fillmore, 71, Liberty, 7— total, 9361 ; 
Republican majoritv over all, 4571. 1860, Lincoln, 7091, Douglas, 2176, 
scattering, 31— total, 9228 ; Republican majoritv, 4884. 1864, Lincoln, 
7530, McClellan, 3195- total, 10,725 ; Republican majoritv, 4335. 1868. 
Grant, 7768. Seymour, 3538— total, 11,306 ; Republican majority, 4230. 
1872, Grant, 7452, Greeley, 3563, Temperance, 16— total, 1 1,031 ;'Repub- 

16 



298 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lican majority, 3873. 1876, Hayes, 8008, Tilden, 4989, Cooper, 59, 
scattering, 62— total, 13,118; Republican majority, 2898. 1880, Gar- 
field, 8152, Hancock, 4950, Weaver, 496. For Congress, C. C. Jadwin 
(R.), 7974, Robert H.Packer (D.), 4924, Joshua Burrows (N.), 625. 1882, 
For Governor, Beaver (R.), 5191, Pattison (D.), 4217, Stewart (I.), 
1262. The latter was Independent-Republican. For Congress, E. 
Overton. Jr. (R.), 3273, G. A. Post (D.), 3961, C. C. Jadwin (Ind.), 3595. 
1884, Blaine, 8405, Cleveland, 4216, Butler, 304, St. John, 521. For 
Congress, Burwell (R.), 8232, Post (D.), 4474, Dobson, 602, Decker, 
107. 1888, Harrison, 8762, Cleveland, 4552, Fisk, 536, Scattered, 58. 

The last presidential election. 1888, shows that there had been an 
irregular growth in the Republican majorities in the county since the 
election of 1856. And that at tlie last it reached within a few votes 
of its highest figure, given Lincoln in 1860. But by reference to the 
State election of 1882, when Pattison, Democrat, was elected gover- 
nor, there was a split in the Republican ranks, which is represented by 
the votes for Stewart, Independent-Republican candidate for governor, 
and in this congressional district there was a split likewise in the 
Republican congressional vote, when the Democrat, Post, carried the 
county by a small plural it}'-. The vote given above in 1882 does not 
show a Republican loss of voters, simply that they were divided. 

The election of November 4, 1890, was a State and county one, 
where a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of internal affairs, 
congressman, and county officers were voted for. This was one of 
those peculiar movements in politics that are sometimes difficult to 
account for. At the beginning of the campaign the regular Republi- 
can convention was held, and a full county ticket nominated. A spirit 
of dissent arose in the ranks of the party, and finally another conven- 
tion was called, composed of those who were dissatisfied with the 
action of the regular convention. By a singular coincidence this 
meeting convened in Towanda the same time as the Democratic 
convention, and after some negotiation the two bodies aj^pointed con- 
ference committees, and a fusion or joint ticket was nominated, 
each taking about (me-half of the nominees as near as they could be 
divided, and then opened out one of the most animated political contests 
ever witnessed in the county ; speeches were held by day and by night, 
and livery rigs were kept unusuall}" busy carrying young and old cam- 
])aigners into ever}^ nook and corner of the count}' to talk to the dear 
people — on local matters, however. The State ticket was but little 
mentioned, and national issues were entirely forgotten, and the writer 
of these lines, who was an impartial looker-on, was impressed 
greatly with the fact that, considering the intensity of the struggle, 
there was but little personal mud-slingingat the respective candidates 
on either side. While it was not a presidential year, yet the whole 
county was never more thoroughly aroused, exactly what it was all 
about, it was a little difficult for an outsider to understand. " Down 
with the old ring! " seemed to be one side's watchword, and '"down 
with the kickers " was answered back. A general election for Con- 
gressmen occurred at the same time in all the States, and outside of 
Pennsylvania it was the question of tariff — the McKinley Bill (a tariff 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 299 

bill then just passed), or similar national questions, over which parties 
were so earnestly wrangling. In the Southern, and many of the 
Western States, the farmers had just organized, and in some of them, 
as Kansas for instance, they swept all before them. But in Pennsyl- 
vania there was no Farmers' ticket in the field — a straight Democratic 
State ticket was up. All over the State, but more especially in 
Bradford county, the opposition to the dominant party ignored national 
issues and the result of the poll was nearly bewildenng. Pattison, 
Democrat, was elected Governor by nearly 20,000 majority, and the 
Hepublican candidates for the otlier State offices were elected by nearl}^ 
the same majority. In Bradford county there were only 145 less 
votes cast in 1890, than had been given at the last preceding pres- 
idential election, 1888, the vote being 13,315 and 13,170 respectively. 
As an evidence that it is sometimes the unexpected that happens, it is 
told that one of the men elected to one of the best offices in the county 
thought so little of being a candidate — such a modest '' not an office- 
seeker," although a Democrat, that when he was named " simplv to 
fill up the ticket," was what they told him, in the Democi:atic conven- 
tion, he declined to run ; three or fom* others were then put in nomina- 
tion, but each one refused; finally the first one was pursiiaded to let 
his name stand, and reluctantly, to accommodate his friends, he con- 
sented, and was nominated and elected by 2,000 majority. 

November 4, 1890, was, therefore, an eventful day, politically, in 
Bradford county. Another incident of this election is' worthy of note: 
John A. Fox, Democrat, was not nominated by any convention, and he 
became a candidate on the heels of the campaign for commissioner, and 
received 5,809 votes, and failed of an election only by a narrow 
majority. Thus the official vote is so full of interesting "^I'eading that 
it is here given, and for the purpose of easily comparing, the vote for 
President in 1888 is siven in the first two columns: 



300 



HISTORY OF BHADPORD COUNTY. 



Election Districts. 



Alba borough 

Albany township 

Armenia - - . 

Asylum 

Athens borough — 1st ward 
" 2d ward 

8d ward 
Athens town'p — 1st dist.... 
2d •' .. 
3d " .. 
4th " .. 
r)th " .. 

Barclay 

Burlington borough 

Burliutrton township 

West 

Canton borough 

Canton town'p — 1st district 
2d 

Columbia 

Franklin 

Granville 

Herrick 

LeRaysville 

Litchifield 

LeKoy 

Monroeton borough 

]\Ionroe township 

New Albany borough . . . . 

Orwell township 

Overton 

Pike — 1st district 

2d district 

Ridgebury 

Rome borough 

Rome township 

Smithfield 

Springfield 

South Creek 

Svlvania borough 

Sheshequin township 

Standins: Stone 

South Waverly 

Terry 

Towanda boro — 1st ward . . 

" " 2d ward . . 

" " 3d ward. . 



Presid'nt 

1888 



W 



22 
217 

84 
138 
151 

278 



85 

16 
194 
140 

03 

85 

28 
174 
118 
219 
218 

92 
166 
104 
255 
136 

89 
156 
191 
103 
265 

52 
225 

49 
127 
150 
163 

42 
176 
263 
218 
133 

52 
266 

52 

87 
156 
162 
235 
174 



O 



Q 



17 
92 
21 

143 
74 

189 



86 
64 

140 

137 
63 

118 
13 
43 
48 
66 
56 
20 
86 
61 
50 
51 
11 

112 
39 
28 

116 
14 
29 
82 
19 
24 

122 
9 
45 
90 
77 
71 
13 
85 

131 
91 

121 

127 

131 
75 



Govern 'r 


Lieut. 


Sec'y 
Internal 


Congress 


Jud 




Gov. 


AfEairs. 








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146 


165 


106 


69 


34 


69 


34 


69 


34 


69 


36 


56 


123 


158 


125 


156 


125 


156 


131 


144 


108 


157 


99 


159 


98 


159 


98 


116 


144 


164 


132 


118 


135 


113 


135 


113 


108 


143 


148 


131 


137 


134 


133 


134 


133 


100 


174 


170 


83 


80 


82 


80 


82 


80 


54 


106 


88 


16 


62 


16 


62 


16 


62 


13 


65 


20 


212 


137 


216 


135 


217 


134 


209 


140 


221 


122 


129 


122 


129 


122 


129 


122 


132 


134 


66 


60 


66 


60 


66 


60 


63 


62 


70 


71 


91 


71 


91 


71 


91 


84 


77 


87 


21 


20 


21 


20 


21 


20 


21 


23 


21 


140 


81 


142 


79 


136 


85 


136 


84 


115 


86 


80 


85 


80 


85 


80 


93 


81 


72 


218 


79 


221 


76 


221 


76 


222 


77 


212 


156 


98 


159 


98 


160 


97 


178 


85 


130 


94 


39 


102 


34 


102 


34 


114 


19 


113 


124 


129 


126 


124 


128 


122 


143 


111 


140 


72 


79 


71 


80 


71 


80 


59 


99 


43 


216 


89 


216 


89 


220 


87 


232 


81 


166 


126 


72 


126 


72 


126 


72 


129 


82 


93 


73 


37 


76 


35 


76 


35 


78 


34 


47 


111 


137 


112 


137 


112 


137 


121 


134 


95 


139 


52 


139 


52 


139 


52 


146 


65 


69 


98 


30 


100 


29 


100 


29 


96 


37 


87 


232 


152 


234 


150 


234 


150 


209 


177 


162 


46 


23 


45 


24 


45 


24 


46 


23 


29 


197 


66 


197 


63 


197 


62 


226 


50 


107 


33 


98 


35 


96 


35 


96 


66 


66 


19 


99 


36 


99 


35 


99 


35 


94 


42 


57 


130 


33 


130 


33 


131 


33 


134 


34 


89 


131 


151 


134 


150 


136 


148 


147 


141 


122 


43 


15 


44 


15 


45 


14 


42 


20 


22 


163 


65 


162 


66 


162 


66 


157 


80 


89 


220 


124 


228 


122 


228 


123 


219 


151 


147| 


185 


151 


190 


146 


191 


145 


225 


119 


174| 


117 


85 


119 


83 


119 


83 


123 


82 


1 99 


32 


27 


37 


22 


39 


20 


88 


23 


34 


222 


112 


225 


111 


225 


111 


217 


121 


174 


53 


130 


54 


129 


54 


129 


58 


128 


72 


62 


101 


63 


100 


63 


100 


62 


100 


99 


107 


191 


108 


190 


108 


190 


119 


186 


1 93 


144 


141 


147 


138 


149 


136 


144 


137 


i 174 


175 


179 


178 


176 


189 


165 


198 


161 


! 229 


166 


117 


169 


115 


169 


115 


178 


110 


' i9o: 



w 



^ 



t^ 



20 

199 

49 

175 

99 

102 

99 

67 

58 

128 

113 

56 

73 

22 

108 

101 

100 

120 

22 

110 

117 

148 

129 

66 

158 

143 

44 

223 

40 

177 

117 

81 

S7 

163 

45 

141 

243 

168 

108 

28 

167 

108 

69 

210 

109 

133 

103 



i 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 



yoi 











iSec'y 










Presidn't 


Governor 


Lieut. 


Internal 


Con 


^ress 


Judge. 




1888 




Gov. 


Ailairs. 










S3 


O 


Q 


ja 


tr 


O 


H 


^ 


g 


o 


Sh 


tfl 




a> 


<-i 


O: 


o 


o 


cr 


^ 


t^ 


S" 


3 






a 


o 


O 




c 


p 


o 


^ 








Election Districts. 


so 

3 

5" 

» 

o 

B 


a 

< 


3 ■ 


1 

no' 
O 

a 

p 


> 


c 
p 
o 

Q 


B 


* 


o 

D 
p3 

■-J 

• 


IT 

s 
o 

a 
p 

ft) 

p 


CD 
00 

Q 

o 
a, 
& 
5" 


p 

§. 

a 

o 
o 


Towanda townsliip. . . . . . 


137 


64 


145 


78! 


146 


77 


146 


77 


147 


75 


154 


70 


North 


90 
213 


67 
115 


61 
194 


115 
133 


66 

197 


110 
121 


66 

199 


110 
121 


67 
206 


116 

1171 


78 
205 


101 


Troy borout^h 


117 


Trov township — 1st district 


138 


64 


109 


81 i 


109 


81 


109 


81 


111 


80! 


102 


86 


■ " 2d " 


134 


33 


96 


54! 


97 


54 


97 


54 


100 


61 


99 


66 


Tuscarora 


236 
lo9 


66 

98 


198 
159 


67, 
118i 


199 
159 


66 

118 


199 
159 


66 

118 


200 
146 


76 

128 


112 
131 


165 


UISILM- 


151 


Warren 


205 
147 


89 
173 


186 
129 


78 
184 


187 
129 


77 
184 


187 
129 


77 
184 


189 
125 


82, 
19ll 


85 
90 


182 


AVilmot 


223 


Windham 


160 

72 


98 
31 


151 
61 


96 
39 


151 
62 


96 
38 


151 
62 


96 
38 


160 
62 


87 i 
42 j 


119 
34 


127 


Wvaliising borough 


69 


tvvp — 1st dist. 


89 


58 


81 


79 


83 


77 


83 


77 


72 


9l| 


65 


97 


2d dist. 


111 


38 


90 


53| 


92 


50 


92 


48 


92 


63 


46 


115 


Wysox — 1st district 


113 


84 


95 


8l! 


95 


82 


95 


82 


96 


81 


81 


101 


2d " 


77 


56 


72 


66 i 


74 


64 


75 


63 


85 


53 


96 


43 


Wells 


112 


119 


72 


136 


73 


135 


73 


135 


73 


132 


81 


126 


Total 


8762 


4553 


7426 


5744 


7583 


5649 


7609 


5626 


7638 


5850 


6558 


6990 


Plurality 


4209 




1682 




1934 


. . . . 


1983 


.... 


1788 






432 



The other curious features of this vote is that the largest majority in 
the county is o-iven the Eepublican candidate for Secretary of Internal 
Affairs, an office about which the average voter took the least interest. 
The next highest majority, that is after leaving the State ticket, was 
that given lion. Joseph Powell, Democrat, for sheriff, and the smallest 
majority received by any one on tlie Fusion ticket was that of Gen. 
Henry J. Madill, Eepublican, the war veteran, indeed, with a military 
record as brilliant as that of any man in the Union army. 

The aggregate vote for the other offices than those given above 
was as follows :— For Sheriff, Levi Wells (R.), 5,821 ; Joseph Powell 
(D. on F. ticket), 7,078. For Prothonotary, Mial E. Lilley (R.), 6,570; 
Henry J. Madill (F.), (),735. Register, John N. Califf (R.), G,489 ; 
Charles M. Hall(F.) 0,890. Treasurer, Finley N". Hubbard (R.), 0,300; 
Charles T. Hull (F.), 7,108. Representative (three to elect), three 
Fusion candidates elected b}^ majorities, Leonard Lewis, 360; A. B. 
Sumner, 608, and Loron W. Forrest, 1313. Commissioners, vote as 
follows:— Sheldon R. Lindlev (R.), 0194; P. S. Squires (R.), 6327; 
Henry W. McCrany (F.), 6799, and John A. Fox (Ind.), 5,809. 



302 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

EMINENT PEOPLE. 

David Wilmot — Chief Justice Mercur — Paul Dudley Morrow — 
Burr Ridgeway — E. O'Meara Goodrich. 

DAVID WILMOT. — No man has ever lived in Bradford county, 
nor indeed in northern Pennsylvania, who has achieved so wide a 
reputation as David Wilmot. lie was born in Bethany, Wayne county, 
Pa., where he spent his boyhood clays, and was educated there and at 
Aurora. At the age of eighteen he commenced the stud\' of law at 
Wilkes-Barre, where he remained until the time of his admission to the 
bar, when he removed to Towanda. lie soon became a consj)icuous 
character, and early in his career gained a great influence over the 
people, Avith whom lie was always honest. He had a fine voice, a good 
presence and an eloquent tongue. Indeed, he quite magnetized his 
hearers, and could use satire without giving serious offense. Mr. Wilmot 
was possessed of a remarkable analytical mind, but was not a great 
lawyer, save before a jur}'. He relied upon his latent resources at the 
moment to make up for his lack of thoroughness and aversion to study. 
However, he was a deep thinker, and with his quickness of comprehen- 
sion, eloquence and ability to read faces, carried juries, while others, 
more thoroughly versed in the law, made but little impression. His 
make-up soon developed him into a politician, and he took the Demo- 
cratic side of the house opposed to Gen. McKeanand his followers. It 
was not long before he became recognized as a leader, and, in 1844, was 
elected as a Free Trade Democrat to Congress, and was the only member 
from Pennsylvania who voted for the repeal of the " tariff of '42." In 
common with the Democratic partv he favored the annexation of 
Texas. On the 4th of August, 1846, "^President Polk sent to the Senate 
a confidential message, asking an appropriation to negotiate a peace 
witli Mexico. A bill was introduced into the House, appropriating 
$2,000,000 for the purpose specified. It had now become so apparent 
that the proposition was intended to strengthen the pro-slavery 
influence in the general government, that a consultation of a few 
members of Congress was held, and the matter thorouo-hly discussed. 
It was agreed that it was a move not in accordance with the Demo- 
cratic or Jeffersonian idea as argued in the Constitutional Convention, 
and shown by the ordinances of 1787. The measure must, thei-efore, 
be checked, and the following resolution was drawn up by Mr. Wilmot, 
and agreed to b}" the others, and he was selected to offer it as an amend- 
ment to the bill: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall 
exist in any part of said Territory, except for crime, whereof the party 
shall first be duly convicted," which has since that time been known in 
our country's history as the " Wilmot Proviso." While it is true that 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 303 

this made Judge Wilmot immortal in the political estimation of the 
hour, now, that the actors are all dead, and sectional passions are stilled, 
let us hope forever, yet our children, in a respect due our great revolu- 
tionary fathers, should ever keep in mind that this "Proviso" is copied 
verbatim from Jefferson in Virginia's cession of the Northwest Terri- 
tory to the Union of States. The measure, though lost in Congress, 
created a great agitation throughout the country, and was the wedge 
which split the Democratic party upon the slaverj' question. Many 
of the Democrats in the district made a bold assault upon Mr. Wilmot 
for this, and tried to prevent Ids return to Congress. In 1846 he was 
re-elected on the tariff issue, over Judge White, a High-Tariff Demo- 
crat ; and again in IS-tS, mainly on the sentiment of his proviso. While 
he was elected as a Democrat, he was a " Free Soiler" and supported 
Mr. Yan Buren for the presidency in 1848. In 1850, Mr. Wilmot 
again secured a renomination to Congress as a Free Soil Democrat, 
which resulted in a split of the Democratic party in the district 
on the slavery question. The pro-slavery Democrats having 
put a candidate in nomination, for the good of the party, upon Mr. 
Wilmot's suggestion, both candidates withdrew, and Galu'sha A. Grow 
was selected as a compromise and elected. In 1851 he was elected 
Presiding Judge of the district over William Elwell, the Independent 
candidate, and acted in the capacity for which he had been elected 
until 1857, when he resigned the office to enter the gubernatorial 
contest. His competitor, William F. Packer, the Democratic candi- 
date, was elected, but his defeat sounded the death-knell of the Demo- 
cratic party in this State, and made him more popular than ever before. 
The speeches which he made throughout the State awakened a deep 
interest in the ])rinciples of the Republican party, and finally made it 
victorious. However, lie had not dreamed of an election, and at a 
serenade given him at liis home, after his nomination, said: " I well 
understand I can not be elected, but the canvass will be the means of 
establishing a party of which the people will be proud and can rely 
upon." His statement was verified the next year by a Republicaii 
victory in the State. 

Mr. Wilmot was one of the fathers of the Republican party, and 
in fact, the very measures which he had proposed in Congress, in 1846, 
had no small influence leading to its existence. In Bradford county, and, 
indeed, in the '-Wilmot District" he made the Republican party. He was 
a delegate to the National Republican Convention, held in Philadelphia 
in 1856, and was chairman of the committee on resohitions, and drew 
up the famous resolution denouncing " slavery and polygam\' as twin 
relics of barbarism." In the convention he was proposed as candidate 
on the ticket with Mr. Fremont for the Vice presidency. He could 
have commanded a unanimous nomination, but was averse to it. 
In 1860, Mr. Wilmot was also a delegate to the National Repub- 
lican convention held in Chicago, and was its temporary chairman. 
He, with the Pennsylvania delegation, was instructed to vote for Gen, 
Cameron. After one ballot he saw that Seward would be nominated 
unless Cameron was dropped. Whereupon the Pennsylvania delega- 
tion, he at its head, asked leave to retire. After consultation Mr. 



304 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY 

Wilmot asked that their instructions be taken off, which was agreed to 
by the delegation. Upon the second ballot nearly their whole vote 
was cast for Mr. Lincoln, which carried enough others on the third 
ballot to nominate him. Mr. Lincoln never forgot his kindness, and 
he always had great influence with him. After Mr. Wilmot's defeat, 
in 1857, he was appointed by Gov. Pollock to the same office which he 
had resigned, and continued to act in that capacity until 1861, when 
he was elected to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the 
resignation of Gen. Cameron, who had been selected as one of Mr. 
Lincoln's cabinet. "A wide field of honor and usefulness seemed to 
open before him. He was in the prime of his manhood, in the full 
vigor of his mental powers, revered everywhere as the champion of 
freedom, and his friends confidently expected him to win for himself 
a still loftier name, while advancing the cause of human rights. But 
at the outset of his Senatorial (1861) career, his health began gradually 
to fail, until it was almost impossible for him to attend to the routine 
of his duties." Mr. Wilmot was a member of the "Peace Conference" 
of 1861. and when comino- down from one of its meetings said : 
'' There is no use ; we can not agree, and I am not sure that a war 
would be the worst thing that could happen to this country. I fear it 
is near at hand." At the close of his term as Senator he Avas appointed 
by President Lincoln a Judge of the Court of Claims, which office he 
held until the time of his death. 

In politics Mr. AVilmot Avas wonderfully successful, and up to 185Y 
knew not what defeat was, even though he sometimes ran counter to the 
party machinery. Such an influence had he that he virtually ran the 
politics of the county. After the organization of the Republican 
party in this county, in 1855, he kept up such a constant agitation of the 
slavery question that, in 1856, he gave Fremont 4,600 majority over 
Buchanan, the county having been heretofore Democratic by several 
hundred. Tlie "Wilmot District " gave Fremont a majority of ten 
thousand. Mr. Wilmot was not an Abolitionist, as is sometimes sup- 
posed, but on the contrary was opposed to that party- He never 
claimed a place with Wendell Phillips, Thurlow Weed, William 
Lloyd Garrison or Horace Greeley, for he fought slavery a long time 
within the Democratic party, and hoped to maintain his position 
and influence in that org-anization while makin^- the battle. He soon 
found that the timber Avas too knotty to work, but not to splits and 
he put in his Avedge and began the effort, which was successful. 
Without a doubt he had more to do Avith the creation of the Repub- 
lican part}^ and the overthrow of the Democratic, than any other 
man, Mr. Wilmot Avas a strong, powerful force in starting the com- 
bat Avhich finally resulted in the abolition of slaA^ery. In the South 
his proviso made him despised by the skiA'e holder as a usurper and, 
indeed, the very school-children Avere taught to hate him. The slaves 
early learned his name, and had an exalted rcA^erence for him. He 
Avas a man of strong convictions, and outs])oken in the expression of 
his opinions— a man greatly loved by his friends and unsparingly 
hated by his enemies. He was a powerful speaker, keen in debate, 
carrying with him the hearts of his hearers, and producing convic- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 305 

tions in others frequently by his own strength. But Mr. Wihnot's end 
is sad. Continued ill-health affected his mind, and he finally died of soft- 
ening of the brain, at his residence at Towanda in 1868. He is buried in 
Riverside Cemetery, and his resting-place is marked by a plain slab 
on which is inscribed : 

David Wilmot, 

BORN 

Jan. 20, 1814, 

died, 

March 16, 1868, 

aged 54 years. 



Chief Justice Mercur. — This eminent Jurist was the son of 
Henry Mercur, who was the son of immigrants from Klagenfort, 
Austria, who came to America in 1780, and settled in Lancaster county, 
Pa., where Henry Mercur was born, September 20, 1786. He was sent, 
in 1799, to Vienna to be educated at the university, where he spent 
eight years, and returned to his native home in 1807. His brotliers 
and sisters were James W., Mahlon C.(now the only survivor), Ulysses, 
Hiram and Eliza Jane. While at school Henry Mercur witnessed the 
entry of Napoleon's army into Vienna. He remained at the parental 
home, after his return, two years, and in 1809 removed to Towanda to 
make his permanent home. Here he married Mar^ Watts, September 
10, 1810. He died in Towanda, September 10, 1868. His wife, Mary 
Watts Mercur, died December 14, 1839. 

Mrs. Ulysses Mercur was Miss Sarah Simpson Davis, daughter of 
John and Amy Hart Davis. Her grandparents w^ere John and Amv 
Simpson Davis. Her father, John Davis, was at one time a member of 
Congress from his native count}' of Bucks. The Hart family, who were 
of North of Ireland and Welsh descent, came to this country with 
William Penn in 1682, and settled in Bucks county. Mrs. Mercur's 
brother was Gen. W. W. H. Davis, famous in the late war, and known 
to the country as eminent in literature and art. 

Her great-grandfather, AVilliam Davis, came from Great Britain to 
this country in 1740, and located in Bucks county. Mrs. Uylsses 
Mercur resides in Towanda in the old family homestead, and with her 
are her two sons. Dr. John D., and Ulysses. 

The history of the Mercur family will remain a permanent and im- 
portant chapter in that of the grand old Commonwealth. Hon. 
Ulysses Mercur, LL. D., fourth son of Henry and Mary Watts Mercur, 
was born in Tow^anda, August 12, 1818, where was his home during 
life. A public man the larger part of his active career, filling nuiny 
high and responsible offices, many of them not only of high responsi- 
bility, but attentled with continuous and arduous labors, he would 
alwa^ys eagerly return to his home and old neighbors for his vacations 
and rest and recreations. While the conscientious discharge of his 
public duties were often remarked by his acquaintances as being a 
labor of love, at which he burned the midnight oil, while the world 
around him slept, yet when his holiday come he was quickly back to 
Towanda, in the scenes of his childhood, with the dignity of office 



nor. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

laid aside, its cares and toils forgotten, and, amid home and family and 
friends and neighbors, was building anew those stores of vital energies 
so essential to his labors when they would be again taken up. To those 
who were older and who had known him from early childhood, he must 
have remained to them much as the youth they so well remembered — 
quiet, earnest and determined, with much indications of a reserve of 
forces within what might well promise a large future development. 
His parents were eminently respectable farmers — industrious and 
frugal, guided in the rearing of their children by that prudent fore- 
thought that preferred the future welfare of their sons and daughters 
to that of wealth stored away for their use. A strong characteristic 
of the father was that indulgence to his children that allowed them to 
have much to say in shaping their young lives. The children's wishes 
were heeded, their judgments consulted, the financial affairs of the 
family explained, and then an amicable conclusion was sure to follow, 
and smoothly the little home went on. This, too, in an age where 
there was much emphatic parental authority in the average home, and 
where often the severest dogmatism prevailed, especially by the father 
toward the sons. 

After graduating from the Towanda schools, the youth expressed 
to his parents a wish to at once commence the study of the law. This 
was opposed by his elder brother, M. C. Mercur, on the ground that 
his education was not sufficient for a learned profession. The force of 
this objection was recognized by the entire family, and to the great 
distress of the lad, who saw in it the sudden dissolving of the air 
castles that had no doubt been his companions by day and by night, 
and had stimulated his best exertions in the common schools, the 
household was called together, and the matter freely discussed. The 
happy arrangement resulted that a small tract of land, which was 
intended to be given Ulysses as his portion, it was agreed should go to 
him. then and there, and if he perferred to use it in educating himself 
further and becoming a lawyer, it was well and good. Tiiis was the 
solution of this once apparently insuperable difficulty. The little 
piece of ground was converted into $1,200— the "sinews of war" with 
the Latin conjugation and the Greek verbs, and the final entry upon a 
professional career stamped with a fame as enduring as these grand old 
hills on which his eyes opened when life commenced. He had com- 
pleted his course in the common schools ,at the age of sixteen, when 
he entered the store of his elder brother in Towanda as a clerk. Prior 
to this he had helped to work on the farm during summer, and went 
to school in the winter. Here he remained until he was nineteen 
years old, when, having converted the small farm, his father gave 
him, into cash, he entered Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pa., in 
the "prep" department. The regular college course is four years 
after entering the " freshman class," and as an evidence of his assiduity, 
as well as aptness, he graduated with high honors at the end of four 
and a half years after entering the school; taking the highest position 
in the literary society of which he was a member. And, further, that 
during the last year and a half he was at college he was systematically 
reading a course in the law. During his entire school course he had 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 307 

made his little fortune of $1,200 pay every expense. After graduating 
he immediately returned to Towanda and continued the study 
of the law, and in 1843 he was admitted to the bar in his native town. 
He g-raduated in 1842, and then one year was a student in the 
office^ of Edward Overton, Esq., and such Avas the confidence of 
Mr. Overton in his student that at once he offered him a full 
partnership in his extensive, practice. As favorable as was this 
offer from his law preceptor, 3'et it could have been readily made 
with any one of the several eminent lawyers tiiat were then 
members of the Bradford county bar — a bar in which were such men 
as David Wilmot, Judge Williston, William Elwell and William AVat- 
kins. In a remarkably brief period he was the peer of any of them 
■ — noted for his conscientious discharge of his duties, and a sturdy 
honesty; so much so that it was sometimes blunt when impressing 
upon an excited client that his case was not a good one. and flatly 
refusing the offered retainer. In a given case, where he had refused a 
fee from a wealthy man, and the disappointed client had sought out 
other counsel and entered upon litigation that bankrupted him and 
then went to Mr. Mercur and, after stating his case in hand, was 
amazed to find the attorney ready to engage himself in his behalf. 
Expressing his surprise, he was told that the whole secret lay in the 
fact that then he had no case, while now he had a good one ; and he 
fought it through to complete trium])h. His first advice lost him a fee, 
but would have saved the man his fortune; his actual retainer in the 
case had no fee to accompany it, but it righted a wrong when the poor 
man could perhaps have found succor nowhere else. His professional 
life w^as made up largely of such incidents, but this one mentioned 
would have fixed in the pid^lic mind some idea of that high sense of 
integrity that actuated him. Consequently, while yet a young man, 
he was known far and wide for his courageous probity nnd ])rofound 
knowledge of the law. And it was not mere idle breath when one 
who was a competent judge said: "It is no flattery to say that as a 
young lawyer he was unsurpassed in the State." The next seventeen 
years, after he had entered upon the practice of the law% so severe 
was his application that his health broke down, and he was compelled 
to take a vacation, wdiich lasted through the entire winter of 1860-61. 
These months of rest and travel wholly restored his health. On the 
election of Judge David Wilmot to the United States Senate in Janu- 
ary, 1861, he resigned the President Judgeship of the 12th Judicial 
District, and Mr. Mercur was appointed to the vacancy, and at the end 
of the term was elected to a full term without opposition — the district 
was then composed of the counties of Bradford and Susquehanna. In 
1862 this Congressional district was composed of Bradford, Columbia, 
Montour, Sullivan and Wyoming counties, and a division in the 
Republican party resulted in the election of a Democrat. At the next 
election, 1864, in order to prevent a recurrence of defeat, the leading 
men of the district, after much entreaty, prevailed upon Judge Mer- 
cur to stand for Congress. His Democratic o]iponent was Col. Y. E. 
Piollet, also of Bradford county. Ji\dge Mercur was elected, and for 
the next three consecutive terms received his party's nomination. At 



308 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the end of his i'ourth term, 1872, he was nominated by the Republican 
State Convention for Judge of the Supreme Court. It is told of him 
that he accepted his fourth term in Congress solely on the grounds 
that he wished to repeal the tariff on tea and coffee. His promotion 
to the supreme bench came to him as unsought as had his first or suc- 
ceeding terms in Congress. He remained upon the bench from the 
time of his first election to the end of his life ; a prominent public 
life of twenty-six years ; from a short vacation, after seventeen years 
of arduous practice, he went to the bench of the 12th Judicial Dis- 
trict, serving out the short term, was elected to a full term and almost 
immediately transferred to Congress, where he remained eight 3'ears, 
and quit that to go to the eminent position of Supreme Judge of the 
grand old Commonwealth. A distinguished record, made famous by 
his brilliant talents ; a long and useful life adorned by a sleepless 
energy, a robust manhood and the courage of honest convictions. 

In politics Judge Mercur was originally a Democrat (though the 
other members of his family were active Whigs), one who gave heart}' 
adherence to the Free Soil wing of that party. In short, it may be said 
that he was of the Wilmot and Gi'ow political school. He was among 
the first to offer his powerful aid to free Kansas, and was, therefore, one 
of the active organizers of the Republican party, severing the last tie 
that bound him to the Democratic party on the occasion of the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise. Hon. David Wilmot always esteemed him 
as one of his most trusted and esteemed personal friends, but this was 
largely true of the leading men of the Nation, at least all those who had 
come in contact with Judge Mercur. When Mr. Wilmot was invited by 
President Lincoln, in the spring of 1861, to act as a Peace Commis- 
sioner, at Washington, before accepting the appointment he visited 
Judge Mercur, for the purpose of having a full consultation, before 
entering upon the responsible duties of that office. 

Ulysses Mercur and Miss Saraii S. Davis, tiaughter of the late Gen. 
John Davis, of Bucks county, were joined in the bonds of matrimony 
June 12, 1850. Of this happy union were five children, all surviving. 
The eldest, Rodney A. Mercur, is one of the prominent lawyers of 
Towanda ; Dr. John D. Mercur is of the same place ; the only 
daughter, Mary E., married Col. B. F. Eshleman, of Lancaster; 
James W. Mercur is an attorney-at-law in Philadelphia; and Ulysses 
Mercur is now a laAV student at Towanda. The family worship at the 
Episcopal Church. 

In the midst of the busy cares of life, the final great summons 
came. Judge Mercur died at Wallingford, Pa., June 6, 188Y, in his 
sixty-ninth year. He was taken sick May 25, with a chill, the first 
premonition of an attack of pneumonia. On the Friday following he 
had rallied, and his friends supposed the crisis was passed, and Sunday 
following brought the greatest hopes. He now recognized his wife, 
and chatted pleasantly with his wife and his sons, at his bed-side, and 
even expressed a desire to get up. But on the morning of the 6th, as 
his physician. Dr. Getchell, was about to depart for Philadelphia, and 
visited his patient to take formal leave. Judge Mercur half turned in 
bed and said, cheerily : " Good-bye." These were his last spoken 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 309 

Avords. At 9 o'clock, his friends noticed a sudden change, and hur- 
riedly sent after the retiring doctor. But the patient had quietly and 
peacefully passed away. The immediate cause of death was heart-clot, 
which, in his exhausted condition, could not be overcome. Pennsyl- 
vania and the Nation mourned. The great and good man was gone. 
On the afternoon of October 3, following, ex-Chief Justice Agnew 
announced in the Supreme Court the death of Chief Justice Mercur. 
There was a notable attendance of the members of the bar when the 
announcement was made. On rising to address the court Judge 
Agnew said : 

May it please your Honors, I rise to perform a sad and painful duty. You miss 
from among you a familiar form, and the air seems freighted with sorrow. 

It is my mournful part to announce to you the death of Chief .Justice Ulysses Mer- 
cur, your honored head and colleague. He has left the " warm precincts of the cheer- 
ful day " for the darkness and gloom of the grave. 

Though gone from your Bench for many years, and living far away from the scenes 
of his active life, yet it has seemed to my brethren of the Bar most meet that I should 
break this melancholy news. I accept the duty, only regretting my inability to per- 
form it well. 

The ex-Chief Justice then recounted the circumstances of Judge 
]Mcrcur's death at Wallingford, near Philadelphia, June 6, 1887, fol- 
lowed with a brief sketch of his life, and among other things in sub- 
stance said : His professional life was one of labor and reward, 
founded upon unflinching principle and great integrity. Courage, too, 
was a distinguishing trait of his character. 

He was nominated by the Republican ])arty, and electetl to the 
Supreme Bench of this Commonwealth, in 1872, to succeed Chief 
Justice Thompson, whose commission then expired. 

Here he gave evidence that he was in h.is proper sphere. At the 
same time Chief Justice Agnew ascended the bench of the Supreme 
Court, and willingly testified that he ever found Judge Mercur a 
diligent and painstaking judge, an agreeable companion and a ])leasant 
C(Jleague ; that during their association many important cases came 
before the court, and in these he marked, with much pleasure, the 
splendid exhibition of Judge Mercur's attachment "to principle and to 
the true exposition of the constitution, both the old and the new." 

On the expiration of the term of Chief Justice Sharswood, in 1882, 
extended by the new constitution to 188o, Justice Mercur, as the 
oldest member in commission, became the Chief Justice. 

"Thus lived and died a useful and honored citizen, and an upright 
and able judge. His life is an example to be studied well, and to be 
followed by the youth of the profession. 

"It is an instance, also, of the high character of our grand repub- 
lican institutions and the door they hold open to all citizens who, by 
merit, would win their way to fortune and to fame. Here no tyrants' 
hand 'grasps the whole domain,' or 'stints the tillage of the smiling 
plain.' Here no lordling crushes out the souls of prostrate poor, 
strips their humble cottages of the hard-earned products of their toil, 
or robs their homes of comfort and of happiness. 

"But here, fired by love of learning or prompted by laudable ambi- 



310 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

tion, or yearning for wealth and comfort, or for the elevation of higher 
tastes, the poorest and the lowliest, unchecked by rank or privilege or by 
'poverty's unconquerable bar,' may aspire to slake the thirst for know- 
ledge, seize the objects of his desire, indulge his taste for art, or seek 
the happiness of an attractive and lovel}'^ home. Such a home it was 
the fortune of the late Chief Justice to enjoy for many happy years. 
Here, too, a noble constitution, enduring for a century, and constantly 
expanding to meet the growth and wants of a nation, protects all 
beneath the benign influences of its powers, secures to every citizen 
his just rights, and smiles on his advancement in knowlege, wealth and 
distinction." 

Immediately after the adjournment of the court, a meeting of the 
bar was organized, which was presided over by Chief Justice Gordon, 
and a committee on memorial appointed, of which Hon. John Dalzell 
was chairman. Among other resolutions reported was the following : 

Iq connection with this office nothing can be said of him that is not to his honor. 
There is no taint on the purity of his ermine, the hot breath of calumny has never 
touched liira, and no question was ever made of the integrity of his life. His daily 
walk and conversation were pure and without reproach. * * * 

With his robes around him, in the enjoyment of all his faculties, with seeming 
ye:ir-; of usifulness yet to add to his honor, he has been stricken down, and now naught 
remains for us but reverence for his memory. * * * He has earned his rest — rest 
from the cares and responsibilities of high place. * * * May he rest in peace. 



Paul Dudley Morrow may justly be called one of the eminent 
sons of Bradford county. He was born in what is now Wilmot town- 
ship. February 17, 1828; the fourth child of John and Sally Horton 
Morrow. His parents were intelligent and energetic people — in com- 
fortable surroundings as the circumstances of farmers were in that 
day — who brought up their family in the fear of the Lord, as it \vas 
understood by the Covenanter branch of the Presbyterian Church. 

Judge Morrow often amused his friends by his description of the 
way in w^hich the Shorter Catechism w-as instilled into him. When 
the regular Sabbath recitation proved shorter than the perfect stand- 
ard demanded, as was not infrequently the case even in Covenanter 
households, the deficiency was made up on Monday morning by a 
Ixxlily exercise which was intended to profit much, in which the rod 
of correction ]ilayed as important a part as did the rod of Moses in 
Egypt. And indeed, in one sense, it did profit much, for the man Paul 
never forgot what the boy Paul so faithfully learned: and Judge 
Morrow was scarcely moi-e noted for his knowledo-e of civil law than 
for his mastery of the Westminster theology. It is obvious that the 
atmosphere of such a home must have been bracing physically, intel- 
lectually and morally. Hard work in the fields alternated with hard 
study at the district school, and with hard listening to the school- 
house sermons of Covenanter preachers. The boy grew strong in 
body, mind and conscience. He wrought, like the farmers' lads about 
him ; and yet no pent-up Utica confined his powers. He planned for 
greater things as he turned the hay, or ran the lumber down the Sus- 
quehanna. To him that hath pluck shall be given; and in due season 
he assumed charsre of a district school. But "boarding round " was 



I 



A 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 311 

not his highest ideal of living, nor forcing the young idea to shoot by 
the warming influence of the rod his supreme conception of usefulness. 
Aspiration beckoned onward, and at the age of eighteen he entered 
Harford Academy, at Harford, Susquehanna county, where he was 
prepared for the Freshman class of Hamilton College; from w4iich 
institution he was graduated in 1852. During his college days he was 
a hard, ambitious student, appreciating the value of his opportunities, 
and the necessity of strenuous, self-denying effort in order to succeed. 
He maintained a high position in his class, and won the respect of his 
teachers. Hamilton was always dear to his heart, and never had she 
a more loyal son. The Institution showed her appreciation of liis 
ability and attainments by conferring upon him, in 1879, the decree of 
of LL. D. To tiie end of life Judge Morrow showed the liveliest inter- 
est in educational questions. He sympathized with every boy and 
girl who was striving to secure an education. He was one of the 
founders of the Bradford County Teachers' Association, and was the 
first secretary of that body. He made frequent addresses before 
Teachers' Institutes. He served for years as a trustee of the Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, and three years as a director of the Public 
Scliool of Towanda. His views were always clear, enlightened and 
)>ractical. He was a strenuous advocate oi a college training, and 
never ceased to urge the importance of the classical languages. 

During his senior year in college he studied law under Prof. The- 
odore W. D wight, since so famous as a ])rofessor in the Columbia Law 
School. Immediately upon graduation he entered the office of Ulysses 
Mercur at Towanda, and in September, 1853, was admitted to the bar 
of Bradford countv. There were giants in the land in those days — 
David Wilmot, Edward Overton, Ulysses Mercur, William Watkins, 
William Elwell, John Adams, but the young attorney relying upon 
his well-trained mind, and a vast capacity for hard work, modestly but 
bravely entered the lists. And he was not disappointed. He secured 
a fair share of business from the start, and succeeded in establishing so 
good a reputation that in 1856 he was elected District Attorney. He 
had the elements in him to meet such an opportunity. His adminis- 
tration of the office was a success, and he retired with an excellent 
reputation for legal knowledge and practical skill. In 1862 he entered 
into partnership with David Wilmot, then Ignited States Senator, and 
continued in that relation until Judge Wilmot was appointed Judge of 
the Court of Claims, at Washington. Afterward he was associated 
with Plenry Peet and with Judge Mercur, until, in 1870, he was 
appointed Additional Law Judge of the Thirteenth District, composed 
of the counties of Susquehanna and Bradford, of which the Hon. F. 
B. Streeter was President Judge. In the fall of the same year he was 
elected Additional Law Judge for a term of ten years, but in 1874, 
under the provisions of the new constitution, he became President 
Judge of Bradford county. Judge Streeter removing to Susquehanna 
county. In 1880 he was renominated, without opposition, hy the Re- 
publican con v^ention, endorsed by the Democrats, and elected as his own 
successor. He didnothve through this entire term, but died December 
1-1, 1890, leaving an unexpired portion of eighteen days. 



312 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

For the last three years of his life Judge Morrow was a sufferer from 
Bright's disease, but he bore his sufferings patiently and hopefully, and 
to the last his characteristic brightness and cheerfulness were con- 
spicuous. His strength of will never yielded until the inevitable 
summons came, and he died in peace without a visible pang, with a 
cheerful smile upon his face. 

An analysis of Judge Morrow's character is by no means difficult. 
He was such a sincere and positive man that one could not mistake 
his prominent characteristics. His mind was of a high order ; it was 
clear, rapid, strong and confident in its operations. He saw into the 
heart of a question and was confident of his conclusions and judgments. 
Yet he took no superficial glance ; he was not misled by natural quick- 
ness, but made a careful study of every subject that challenged his at- 
tention. He was, by force of his robust moral nature, conscientious in 
every opinion, his whole nature went with his intellectual convictions. 
His sense of justice was acute and powerful; so, also, was his sense of 
honor. Nothing so stirred his soul to indignation, as what he esteemed 
a lack of professional honor, or an attempt to prevent justice by trick 
or fraud. He had a high sense of honor as to ail questions ; meant to 
do right as he saw the right, and to dispense justice without fear or 
favor. No Judge can hope to please everybody. Judge Morrow cer- 
tainly did not expect to do it, but he believed that in the long run the 
public will vindicate the man who tries to do right, and he was not 
mistaken. Time only increases the general respect for his ability, and 
learning and legal decisions. Every year will brighten his memory. 
Though dead, he still speaks in the course of justice in Bradford county. 

There were other aspects of Judge Morrow's character Avhich were 
exceedingly attractive and contributed in no small measure to his suc- 
cess. He was a very social and friendly man ; his attachments Avere 
fervid and lasting. He loved with all his heart, and was always ready 
to promote the interests of his friends ;his quick sense, his spontaneous 
humor, made him a favorite wherever he went. He was always respect- 
ful to age and courteous to women. He had a natural taste for literature, 
and in his days of health and vigor, studied carefully the great classics of 
our Eno-lish toncrue. In his familv he was a model of love and devotion. 
In June, 1857, he was married to Harriet King Pitcher.of Warren, and no 
man was ever more blessed in the marriage relation. He loved to say that 
no small part of his success in life was due to his wife, and this was no 
idle compliment. She was his wise and careful counsellor in prosperity, 
and his light and joy in darkness and suffering. Their wedded life of 
thirty-three 3^ears was one sunny scene of confidence and love, and was 
suddenly broken on that Sabbath morning, to be restored, as we 
believe, in the higher fellowship and blessedness of the life eternal. 

Three children were born to Judge and Mrs. Morrow, all of whom 
survive him, and are at present living in the City of Duluth : Mrs. Hen- 
rietta M. Hale (wife of Judge James T. Hale), John P. and Charles S. 
Mon'ow. 



I 




<N^<^^^*^-^ 




HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 315 

Burr Ridgeway. — One of the most interesting characters of 
early times, was of Quaker descent, and was born in the town of Spring- 
field, N. J., April 17, 1780 ; lived to the advanced age of ninety-six. 
When he was eleven years old, his father removed to Philadelphia, and 
w^as accidentally killed soon thereafter, leaving young Burr at that ten- 
der age without a father's care to shape his future destiny in life's un- 
trodden path. In 1803 he came to Wysox, to take charge of John 
HoUenback's store and house of entertainment. In the following year 
he was appointed postmaster for Wysox, then the only postoffice between 
Wyalusing and Sheshequin. He purchased what is known as the 
" Piollet farm,'' but sold it in 1808, and purchased on Wysox creek, 
where he, in company with one of his brothers, built a saw and grist 
mill. Not meeting with the success which he had anticipated, and 
having had ill-luck in making his first shipment, he was compelled to 
abandon the enterprise, and returned to Philadelphia for a year or two. 
Having earned a small capital, he again returned to the county, and in 
the fall of 1812 came to Towanda to clerk for William Means. He at 
first took up his residence in a log house, owned by Harry Spalding, 
standing on the gulf where the Episcopal Church now is. Subse- 
quently he built a house on the lot now occupied by Patton's block, 
and lived there. 

In March, 1813, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace by Gov. 
Simon Snyder, for the district comprising the townships Towanda, 
Burlington and Wysox ; and at the October election in 1813, he was 
elected County Ci^nmissioner on the Democratic Ticket over Col. 
Joseph Kingsbury, tlie Federal candidate, the vote being respectively 
3<i5 and 257. Thomas Simpson wisbmg to sell the Bradford Gazette. 
Mr. Ridgeway purchased it of him, and began its publication with the 
first issue in 1815. At this time there was not a mail route in the 
county on the west side of the river, and but one on the east side, the 
mail being brought once a week each from the north and south. 
When Mr. Ridgeway began publishing the Gazette, the people were 
very obliging, and one seemed to vie with another in distributing the 
papers. Mr. Ridgeway circulated a petition and forwarded it to the 
Postnuister-General, praying that a mail route be established for 
the accommodation of the people of the western part of the county. 
Proposals were issued for two lines, for a term of two years, 
which were to pass through several of the townships, the mail" to be 
carried on horseback. Mr. Ridgeway became the contractor upon both 
lines. He continued the publication of the Gazette ior OYev three 
years, when a difficulty arose between C. F. Welles and Samuel 
McKean, which ended in a lawsuit that was very injurious to the 
paper. As a result he sold the press and material, and moved to 
Wysox, where he turned his attention to agriculture He was appointed 
prothonotary and register and recorder of the county. At the close 
of his term he purchased a farm on the south branch of the Towanda 
creek and went there to live in 1822. He, however, again returned to 
Towanda, continued as a justice of the peace, and for a short time 
engaged in the mercantile' business. In 184r), he went to Franklin to 
reside, and there remained until the time of his death, August 19, 1876. • 

17 



316 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Besides the offices enumerated, JUr. Eidgeway filled many other places 
of honor and trust, and his capacity and integrity were always 
appreciated b}' his fellow-citizens. He was prominent in the Masonic 
Fraternity, and Avas one of the first members in the county. His life 
was useful, his name popular, and his memory cherished by many. 



E. O'Mara Goodrich. — Among the sons of Bradford count}^ who 
have risen to influence and reputation must be mentioned the name of 
E. O'Meara Goodrich. 

He was born in Columbia township June 23, 1824, the eldest son of 
Elisha S. and Achsah Goodrich. When about twelve years of age his 
parents removed to Towanda. His father was the founder of the 
Bradford Reporter^ and while yet a youth, in 1843, O'Meara became 
associated with him in its management. In 1846 he became sole pro- 
prietor and editor, and continued until death its inspiring and con- 
trolling spirit. He was a born printer and editor, and had a fine eye 
for typographical effect. His paper was always tasteful and attractive ; 
but, in addition to this, he possessed the qualities of an able and success- 
ful editor. Endowed with quick perception and sound sense, he mas- 
tered every subject that came within his view and review. His temper 
was cool and controlled. His judgment was remarkable, and his self- 
control in respect of speech was equally remarkable. He could speak 
his mind calmly and fully, and stop; hence, his editorials were always 
intelligent and weighty, and commanded the respect, not only of his 
party, but of his political opponents as well. 

His entire political course^ both personal and editorial, was marked 
b}'' a high sense of honor. He always treated his opponents with 
respect, and never had recourse to abuse or misrepresentation. He was 
always in favor of an open, fair course, in politics, and stood ready to 
give straightforward and honorable battle for his principles and 
opinions. Such a course could only have one result; his paper became 
a recognized power in the count}'. Men waited to hear what the 
Reporter had to say about men and measures. And they never had to 
wait long, or failed to understand what the Reporter'' s editor meant. 

Mr. Goodrich was originallv a Democrat, but drifted into the Free 
Soil movement in 1848. It was not, however, until 1855, that he 
parted with the party of his early devotion. In union with such 
Democrats as David Wilmot and Ulysses Mercur, he publicly protested 
against the Ivansas-Xebraska bill, and in 1855 was a delegate to the 
convention at Pittsburgh which organized the Kepublican party. 
Henceforth he never swerved in his devotion to that party. AH his 
time and talents were given cheerfully for its success, and no man had 
more to do with making Bradford county a Republican stronghold than 
he. In 1860 Mr. Goodrich was nominated and elected prothonotary, 
and at the close of the term was unanimously re-nominated and triumph- 
antly re-elected. In 1868 he was appointed, by President Grant, surveyor 
of customs for the port of Philadelphia, and wastwice re-appointed. Had 
he lived a month longer he would have held the office for twelve years. 
This fact sufficiently proves his thorough efficiency and fidelity. As 
a citizen Mr. Goodrich was held in the highest respect by the people of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 317 

Towanda. He was public-spirited and generous; ready to advocate 
every public interest, and to encourage every needy and suffering 
neighbor. The poor always found in him a friend, and all religious 
interests and social movements a stanch supporter. His friendships 
were warm and lasting; the large concourse which followed him to the 
tomb attested the respect and attachment felt for him by all his towns- 
folk. On the seventeenth of July, 1845, Mr. Goodrich was united in 
marriage with Miss Susanna O'Hara, of Binghamton, N. Y., who for 
thirty-six years earnestly co-o])erated with him in extending his power 
and influence, and in making his home a center of cheerful hospitality 
and social enjoyment. She still survives, with two daughters, Mrs. 
Annie G. Santee, of Hazelton, Pa., and Mrs. Angle G. Kattell, of 
Binghamton, N. Y. Mr. Goodrich died at the house of the latter after 
a brief illness, January 28, 1881. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ATTORNEYS. 



The First in thp: County — Story of A. C. Stewart — List, with 
Time of Comin(4 — List of Present Attorneys — Etc. 

WITH the civil organization of the county came the first attorney, 
Alpheus C. Stewart, who remained in Towanda a few years, 
and then was overtaken by Greeley's advice to " go West, young 
man." About 1815 Mr. Stewart folded his tent in P)radford and 
turned his face toward the wild and distant West, and finally located 
in Belleville, 111., the county seat of St. Clair county, situated aliout 
fourteen miles, a little south of east, from St. Louis. ^ Here the young 
lawyer soon found clients and friends, and here he in a few years came 
to a tragic end. one that forms an episode in the early historv of that 
section of country. In the society of young men of the place there 
was one who had, from some trivial cause, a misunderstanding with 
Mr. Stewart. The other young men, loving their fun, urged on the 
difficulty, and finally, with Stewart's knowledge, a duel was arranged, 
but all except the challenger knew that the guns were to be loaded 
only with powder and wadding. But when on the ground, the young 
man, suspecting something, slipped a bullet in his gun and, at the word, 
shot Stewart dead. He fled the country, but was finally overhauled, 
returned, tried, convicted and hanged — the first legal execution in Illi- 
nois, and therefore memorable in the State's history. A. C. Stewart 
was a bright young man and was a most unfortunate victim of those 
miserable idiots that think it funny to play practical jokes. 

Simon Kinne}^ was the second lawyer to locate in the county, 
and he also went to Illinois and located in what is now Bureau county, 
in that State. He was a personal friend of Daniel Webster, and Sage 



318 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of Marshfiekl once visited Kinne}' and purchased a farm near the 
latter's. Col. H. L. Kinney, a son of Simon, went to Illinois, and 
commenced a career as lively and brilliant as a romance. He con- 
tracted to build the canal from Chicago to Joliet ; and built several 
" boom " towns, opened free hotels on a vast scale, made a great 
fortune, spent it with prodigal extravagance, and disappeared. Short- 
ly appeared in the " Lone Star" State when it was a separate empire, 
made other fortunes, spent them, and for his day and time was a verit- 
tabie golden Count of Monte Cristo; finalh% after going through 
much exciting experiences in the late war, to the Confederate cause, 
he then went to Mexico, headed an insurrection, and in a port sall}^ 
was fairU?^ riddled with bullets by the assailants. If true of any one 
surely it was of this man, '' life's fitful fever is o'er.'' 

C. F. Welles came here as a lawyer, or became a lawyer, in 1813 ; 
he was the first protlionotary of the county, and one of the leading 
and most influential citizens. A brief sketch of this distinguished man 
may be found in the chapter "Athens." 

The same year Edward Ilerrick located here. This fact is a part 
of the permanent records of the county, and we have a township, 
" Ilerrick," as well as a village, " Herrickville." 

David Scott's name appears on the first county court records, 1813, 
and the same year appear the names of Garrick Mallory, Robert 
McCkire, John JEvans, Ethan Baldwin, Darius Bullock, Charles Catlin. 
The next year we find but one name added, and so on for several 
years. A great change in the practice of the law has come with the 
past seventy-five years. The law and the practice then were literally 
English, you know. The Common Law of England, as well as certain 
statute laws, was in force here the same as in England. The qualifi- 
cation, or rather the slight difference lay in the Legislative enactments 
of the State. 

The law pleadings were purely English, as laid down in Blackstone 
and Chitty's commentaries and forms. The law of evidence was liter- 
ally as it came to us in the standard English books on those subjects. 
The decisions of the English courts were the law here, the same as in 
Great Britain, except where they were in conflict with our statute 
laws. An English lawyer, therefore, fifty years ago, had to make but 
little preparations for the cliange if he wanted to come to America to 
practice his profession. 

It would be the customs of the profession here, that would, perhaps, 
bother him more to learn than the differences then existing in the law 
in the two countries. 

The great lawyers they had here in those days, and it is no exag- 
geration to say tliat we had many really great men in the profession, 
were all of the kind that were known as ''Circuit Riders.'" They had 
to know the law better than their English brothers. They traveled 
over wide circuits, going with the judge from county to county on 
horse-back, and in their saddle bags were their wardrobes and their law 
libraries. Hence, as they made long trips, sometimes like sailors; only 
after months returning home for a short rest, when they would resume 
their trip and go over again the same ground. Two trips a year, as 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 319 

there were two courts a year in each county. Tlie counties were then 
much larger than now, and often it was many miles' ride to some new 
county seat. 

In law pleading we have parted widely from much of the old 
Englisii forms, and so abundant and varied are our statutes, and the 
increase of our courts and the many decisions, tiiat now in this respect 
it ma}^ be called the American system. We retain the old English 
rules of evidence more nearly literal than anything else of the English 
law. 

The law and the courts, in their broadest meaning, are one of the 
most marvelous outgrowths of civilization ; evolved through the long 
centuries antedating the morning of authentic history. The vastness 
of the court machinery itself staggers the mind when it first compre- 
hends something of it^ — courts, clerks, officers, lawyers, jurors, 
criminals on hand, cases dragging through generations, and cases in 
actual trial running through days, weeks, months and, sometimes, years, 
and are never completed. Great and magnificent buildings, and the 
armies of attendants, employes, the written records by rooms full, 
vaults full, and thousands of busy pens making every day more ; the 
countless libraries, and law schools, and offices and court-rooms are some 
of the palpable evidences of this institution. Behind and beyond these 
are the mysteries — the learned technicalities — the Draconian Code, 
the black-letter and the comparatively modern Coke-upon-Littleton are 
some of the conjuring that have grown from what must have been a 
very simple beginning. Indeed, why should not the common mind reel 
and stagger under the glimpse of realization of the stupendous whole. 

C'ui bono f What inherent ])rinciple is it in our nature that has 
rendered all this vast and involved machinery a necessity to our com- 
mon mankind ? Very much the same it prevails in all organized com- 
munities or nations. Is the demand for all this an artificial creation ? 
Appearances would indicate that it was a natural and spontaneous 
outgrowth, like that of marriage, or war, some form of religion, or the 
universal ideals of beauty in women or horses. It is singular that some 
able biologist, like Spencer, has never taken this subject in hand, and 
at least tried to account for its universal outcropping in every civiliza- 
tion, and in substantially much the same form in all. The technicalities 
of the law are a phenomenal curiosity. The most august courts, 
where are the longest black gowns, the biggest wigs and the stuffiest 
figurative woolsacks, are often the splendid arenas for the legal 
gladiatorial contests. The causa>. celebres are where are decided the 
contests of the pennant winners among the great attorneys — simph' 
legal tournaments where wealth and fame is in winning, " knocking 
out," as it were, the attorney on the other side, and where often the 
poor client cuts about as much figure as an ancient almanac. Then, 
for instance, you look carefully over the Myra Clark Gaines ejectment 
case — where millions are involved, and genei-ations come and pass 
away, and the case goes on and on. Or Dickens'' fanciful case of 
Jarndijce vs. Jarndyce ', its last sad scene, where the pale young 
man drags himself into court, and wearily listens to learned argu- 
ments that he can not understand, and finally gropes his way out of 



320 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the court-room and lies down and dies. Another case where it was in 
court one hundred years, and, the parties all being dead, it was then 
discovered that what was once a great estate was all gone, and the last 
penny was a little short of being enough to pay the costs. 

" The curiosities of the law " ought to be some day the title of 
a great book that would reflarae the fires of the old maxim, that truth 
is stranger than fiction. 

There is one other thing about the study of law that is striking in 
its features. Perhaps as much or more than any other school, it teaches 
the importance and authority of precedent. Hence the perhaps gross 
incongruities you may sometimes meet in the courts in a democracy 
that have been transplanted from the ancient monarchy. Wigs and 
gowns are simply comical in this country, where theoretically every 
voter is a sovereign. The uniform and tin star of a roundsman ; the 
ceremony of kissing the Bible in making oath, about which you will 
find they are very particular in the older States, but which is now sub- 
stituted in the "West b}' generally holding up the right hand; the reten- 
tion of the grand jury and the necessit}' of their formal and once 
hypercritical bill of indictment before you could put a man on trial. 
The fictitious John Doe vs. Eichard Roe are now about obsolete, but 
at one time, and for centuries, all ejectment suits were in the names of 
tliese unfortunates, and above all is the general faith that the older a 
])recedent the better is the law and the more binding its authority. 
There must be a close relation existing between the science of law and 
the science of state craft. The lawyer and the statesman are esteemed 
as one to a large extent. 

The American law student when he commences his reading is put 
to the study of Blackstone exactly as is the student in England. This 
is the standard book on which all is based, even if Blackstone did 
believe that there were in ancient times swarms of witches and ghosts, 
but thought that modern cases needed careful lookmg into before 
believing. He writes most eloquently of the " garnered wisdom of 
the ages," and tells the young student in glowing sentences that in 
the knowledge of the law, at least, the past was the Golden Age; that 
here is the Pierian spring where he may drink long and deeply of tlie 
heal th-gi vino- waters. 

When you divest yourself of these accumulations that have 
gathered around the law, and think of it a moment in that mood, you 
can not but realize that once all this wonderful thing must have lain 
bundled up in the simple Golden Rule ; if there is either right or 
wrong, justice or injustice that is not included in this short and simple 
rule of life, you can not imagine what it is. 

Do as you would he done by, is the simple lesson easily understood 
by the savage or the child. To add to this statutes and laws neither 
extends its meaning, application, nor simplifies its terms. Simple as 
this is it must have been the source from whence came all this stream 
of law-making, law practice, law libraries, courts and officers, as well 
as the great and powerful profession of the lawyers. 

The pioneer lawyer was, like the pioneer farmer, compelled to be a 
man of far greater resources within himself than his modern brother. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 321 

The times are drifting away from the ancient technicalities of the law 
as well as from the ancient severity of the churcli dogmas. Men have 
grown more liberal as they have become less and less technical. The 
modern lawyer fits up his office, and there is usually a court library 
near at hand, and he has long since ceased to ride'the circuit. He 
stays at home with his books and practice, and no longer is every 
successful attorney presumed to have Chitty's forms committed to 
memory. He may now write a warrantee deed in fewer words than 
it once required lines, if not pages. 

Again the profession of the law, like that governing skilled 
mechanics, is divided up into specialties, and this immensely lessens 
the labors of the preparatory work of learning the profession or trade. 
We now have our criminal lawyers, chancery lawyers, corporation 
lawyers, constitutional lawyers, etc.; dividing'^ the necessary prepara- 
tory work after the manner, for instance, of that of the workmen in a 
watch factory. This division of labor is peculiarly an American 
innovation on the old, and while it is destroying the old-fashioned 
all-around workmen or professional men, it is*^ perha})s bettering tlie 
work as well as lessening the time required in serving an apprentice- 
ship. In Europe a man must yet serve a seven years' apprenticeship 
to be a licensed watchmaker. In the American watch factories you 
will find girls working machines and making very perfectly the one 
piece of the watch to which they confine their entire labor, and two 
weeks' apprenticeship was all that she required to learn her trade well. 
In her line she can probably do more in a day than the European 
seven-year-trained man can do in a week, and do it better. Striking 
off into specialties is the strong tendencies of modern times, found as 
distinctly in the learned professions as in the trades. In medicine 
there is the general practitioner, the surgeon, the eye-and-ear doctor, 
the corn doctor and the horse doctor, and for nearly every disease a 
specialist. In theology there is the revivalist, the organizer, the 
church builder, etc. It is the art of doing one thing, and thereby 
doing it bettei" than one can many things. 

Lawyers now gather in the great cities and work for a salary for 
large corporations. They seek no other employment than that of the 
one man or firm who hires them by the year. They simply need to 
know the law necessary to the business of" their employer, and in that 
respect they are invaluable advisers. 

It is these circumstances that have carried us beyond the age 
when the statutes required every lawyer to have a license before 
allowed to practice. In fact the law requiring this is a mere fashion — 
the relic of a past age. It is impossible to imagine how a community 
or State would suffer if this ancient law should be abolished. The 
man in sea,rch of a lawyer never inquires as to whom it was that 
signed his license. 

The foUoAving is a list of attorneys of the past, and the date of 
their admission as entered of record in i3radford county since 1813 : 



322 



HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Name. Admitted. 

Adams, J. C 1824 

Ames, Herbert S 1870 

Baldwin, Ethan 1813 

Bullock, Darius 1813 

Barton, D. F 1823 

Baird, E. W 1830 

Burnside, James 1832 

Barstow, Julius R 1839 

Booth, Henry 1844 

Barker, Geo. R 1849 

Brisbane, John 1852 

Ballard, O. P., Jr 1868 

Barker, Sperry 1868 

Burrows, T. E 1870 

Bentley, Benj. S 1875 

Biiffington, Edward D 1880 

Catlin, Charles 1813 

Case, Benj. T 1817 

Collins. 1818 

Cash, David 1819 

Cook, J. A 1843 

Case, N. P 1848 

Chamberlain, A 1848 

Case, Milton H 1853 

Carnochan, Warner H 1861 

Coburn, F. G 1861 

Canfleld, Jno. E 1845 

Camp, B. O 1871 

Carmalt, Jas. E 1877 

Cronin, John 1885 

Cameron , David 1885 

Dennison, — 1815 

Dimmock, D., Jr 1835 

DeWolf, Lyman E 1837 

Dana, Edmund L 1844 

Dewitt, W. R 1848 

Deitrick, A.J 1851 

Durand, S. H 1860 

Dewitt, Jacob 1863 

Davies, Rees 1872 

Doane, SO 1872 

DeAngeles, P. C. J 1872 

Drake, Frank F 1H74 

Dunham, E. M 1875 

Davies, JohnE 1882 

Disbrow. Theo. C 1881 

Evans, John 1813 

Elwell, Wm 1832 

Emery, Jacob 1835 

Elwell, Edward 1840 

Elliott. Edward T 1861 

Espy, John 1867 

Elsbree, L 1875 

Espy, B. M 1876 

Elliott, M. F 1881 

Frazer, Philip 1837 

Frisbie. Mason Z 1851 

Frazer, Franklin 1866 

Fassett, D. D 1870 

Gray, Hiram 1828 

Grow, Galusha A 1847 

Greeno, C. C 1850 

Grim, A. Logan 1863 

Goodrich, St. John 1841 



Name. Admitted. 

Guernsey, Jno. W 1841 

Gridley, E. C 1871 

Goff, E. F 1876 

Gillette, W. LaMonte -. 1881 

Herrick, Edward 1813 

Hale, James T 1832 

Hulett, Mason 1832 

Heaton, J. H 1840 

Holliday, James 1841 

Hazard, E. W 1841 

Hakes, Lyman 1843 

Hale, Judson 1844 

Hale, James E 1846 

Hurlburt, Edwin 1847 

Herrick, Edward, Jr 1866 

Harris, Jos. R 1870 

Hillis. E. L 1875 

Hale, Benj. F 1881 

Hale. Jas. T 1879 

Huston, Chas. T 1879 

Ingham, A 1826 

Ingalls, Roswell C 1839 

Ingham, Thos. J 1860 

Johns, Hiram C 1870 

Jones, Lynds F 1873 

Johnson, F. G 1883 

Kinney, Simon 1813 

Knox, John C 1841 

Kelley, H. C 1842 

Kinney, O. H. P 1844 

Kellum, Charles 1845 

Kinney, Miles 1853 

Kidder, Luther 1853 

Keeler, Heurv 1862 

Kingsbury, John H 1869 

Kirkuff, J. B 1870 

Kirkendall, S. E 1878 

Kinney, O. D 1876 

Kirby', S. S 1883 

Keeney, J. P 1879 

Kimberly, Geo. W 1880 

Lewis, E 1828 

Little, Robert 1842 

Lvman, A. Chauncey 1855 

Lewis, E. D 1870 

Little, E. H 1872 

Lamb, Chas. E 1872 

Lewis, Geo. W 1876 

Lamberson, W. A 

Lewis. G. Mortimer 1876 

Lloyd, Clinton 1877 

Mallorv, Garrick 1813 

McClure, Robert 1813 

Miner, Josiah K 1816 

Maynard, John W 1883 

Maxwell, Volney M I883 

Mercur. Ulysses 1843 

Mitchell, David 1843 

Myer, Hiram W 1845 

Marvin. E. C 1846 

Metcalf , Henry 185i 

Mills, M. E 1851 

McCay, Jas. E 187o 

McAlpin, Harvey 1853 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



323 



Name. Admitted. 

Morrow, Paul D 1853 

McKean, H. B 1855 

Montanye, Geo. DeLa 1857 

Mercur, Charles 1861 

Morrison, S. G 1871 

Mitchell, S.N 1873 

Mason, Gordon F 1875 

Myer, Thos. E 1877 

McCullum, A. H 1877 

Morgan, Adelbert 1878 

Mercur, James W 1879 

Morgan, Albert 1878 

Myer, Thos. E 1877 

Mills, Edward, Jr 1878 

Marsh, H. F 1882 

Morrow, John P 1886 

McGovern, Wm 1882 

Noble, Silas 1835 

Nichols, F. M 1873 

Noble, Orrin T 1874 

Overton, Edward 1816 

Patton, William 1818 

Payne, H 1830 

Pettibone, Harvey 1832 

Pierce, Stephen 1832 

Purple, Norman H. 1833 

Patrick, H. W 1838 

Patrick, G. G 1841 

Pierce, L. H 1842 

Pierce. James E 1844 

Piatt, OrvilleH 1850 

Patrick. Edward L 1860 

Peet, Henry 1863 

Peck, William A 1864 

Palmer, King W 1879 

Payne, S. R 1864 

Patrick, F. G 1868 

Picketts A 1874 

Porter, Frank S 1876 

Peck. W. H 1847 

Parsons, Eli B 1849 

Phinney, J. F 1882 

Piollet, Victor E., Jr 1882 

Richards, J. T 1840 

Reeve, J. B 1851 

Ross, Franklin C 1859 

Ryan. Thomas 1861 

Redfield, A. A 1877 

Rockwell, H. H 1878 

Scott David 1813 

Stewart, A. C 1813 

Strong, S. G 1818 

Sturdevant, E, W 1829 



Name. Admitted. 

Sample, Hamilton 1837 

Sanderson, George 1840 

Scott, Wilson , . ia4i 

Smith, Elhanan 1842 

Saxton, Fredrick 1843 

Smith, Francis 1844 

Sherwood, Julius 1844 

Smead, Thomas 1844 

Scott, W. G 1845 

Stevens, N . Miller 1849 

Siebensck, James J 1857 

Shaw, J. H 1869 

Stone, Judson W 1871 

Smith, D. W 1872 

Sherwood, Edmund 1879 

Sittser, John A 1874 

Sanderson, John F 1874 

Sickler, Harvey 1875 

Smith, C 1875 

Stroud, Geo. D i876 

Scouten, John G 1879 

Stevens, O. D 1872 

Thomas, Hiram 1833 

Todd, Thomas 1850 

Tyler, Hugh " ' . 1847 

Truesdale, L. M 1851 

Tutton, Geo. S 1852 

Tozer, Ralph 1853 

Thompson, R. J 1871 

Thompson, William II 1869 

Talbot, D. Smith 1872 

Tozer, J. S 1872 

Thompson, Edward A 1880 

Welles. C. F 1813 

Williston, Henry 1818 

Watkins, Wm 1828 

Wilmot, David 1829 

Wood word, G. W 1834 

Ward, Christopher L 1837 

Williston. L. P 1837 

Wilcox, Hutchins T 1840 

Wattles, Morris S 1844 

Wilcox, 1844 

Wells, Thomas 1844 

Webb, Henry G 1849 

Watkins, Guy H 1853 

Willard, W. W 1858 

Willard, Chas. F 1859 

Williams, H. N 1859 

Watkins, G. M 1868 

Williams, John G 1882 

Walker, Edward 1882 



The following is a list of the members of the Bradford county bar 
now in practice, arranged according to seniority of admission : 



H. C. Baird September 9, 1842 

E. B. Parsons February 7, 1849 

N. C. Elsbree February 8, 1849 

H. J. Madill May 8, 1851 

D' A. Overton February 8, 1853 

I. N. Evans February 8, 1853 

Edward Overton, Jr May 3, 1858 



Benj. M. Peck September 3, 1860 

James Wood September 3. 1860 

Wm. T. Davies September 6, 1861 

Delos Rockwell February 6, 1862 

John W. Mix December 7, 1863 

John N. Califf May 2, 1864 

Wm. Foyle February 16, 1870 



324 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



D. C. DeWitt December 5, 1870 

H. F. Mayuard December 14, 1871 

Heary Streeter February 19, 1872 

Isaiah McPherson May 6, 1872 

S. W. Little May 5, 1873 

J. F. Shoemaker September 1, 1873 

W. E. Chilson March 27, 1874 

A. C. Fanaing September 21, 1874 

J. A. Wilt February 17. 1875 

R. A. Mercur May 3. 1875 

William Maxwell Mav 3, 1875 

William Little September 20, 1875 

E. ,J. Angle December 15, 1876 

L. M. Hall May 16, 1877 

W. J. Young May 16, 1877 

Arthur Head May 16, 1877 

Chas. M. Hall May 16, 1877 

James H. Codding February 21, 1879 

Sam W. Buck May 8, 1879 

John W. Codding September 5, 1879 

J. C. Horton February 11, 1880 

M. E. Lilley May 5, 1880 

Iq other words there are fifty-seven attornej^s now in the practice 
in the county. . _, 



W. C. Sechrist December 6, 1880 

Eugene A. Thompson. .December 6, 1880 

E. J. Cleveland December 7, 1880 

H. F. Johnson Decemi.er 5, 1881 

W. C. Douglas May 17, 1882 

J. T. McCollom September 5, 1882 

Chas. E. Bullock February 12, 1884 

Jas. H. Webb September 19, 1885 

Julius T. Corbin September 11, 1886 

R. H. Williams February 7, 1887 

E. Langdon Hart September 15, 1887 

W. E. Lane September 17, 1887 

Harry P. Corser May 6, 1889 

Benj. Kuvkendall, Jr Mav 6, 1889 

JohnC. Ingham May 6, 1889 

Warren W. Johnson August 27. 1889 

Louis T. Hoyt September 11, 1889 

F. E. Beers May 12, 1890 

Lee Brooks September 10. 1890 

H. K. Mitchell September 10, 1890 

Stephen H. Smith May 15, 1891 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

• PHYSICIANS. 



Early Practice of Medicine — The Old-Time Heroics— The Ancient 
Hoodoo, Charms, Blood-Letting and Hot AYater — Calomel and 
Salivation—License to Practice— Homeopathy— Medical Society 
— Present Officers — List of Registered Practitioners — Etc. 

EVERY civilization has its age of medical practice — periods that to 
many of the poor victims, could they revisit the glimpses of the 
moon, would, no doubt, emphatically pronounce episodes m their 
particular lives. The hoodoo doctors were, as a race, consummate 
humbugs, and tortured often with no higher purpose than that of pelf. 
Some of them honestly believed in their occult power to exorcise 
witches and disease, and sold their charms and horrid decoctions in 
the grim faith that they were inspired by supernatural wisdom. The 
tenacity with which a superstition will cling to a people is seen in the 
faith an ignorant negro will to-day place in a rabbit's foot, or the faith 
in the power over life and death of the reeking midnight ceremonies of 
tlie hoodoo. After hundreds of years' contact with the whites, from 
generation to generation, have been transmitted, in form but slightly 
modified in all that time, the rank superstitions to which they were 
born in the jungles of Africa. 

Apparently the most tenacious superstitions of all cling to the 
practice of medicine — curing diseases, and especially here it is that 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 325 

io-norance driven from one stronghold, bobs up serenely in another. In the 
slow evolution of the science of curing- the ills that flesh is heir to, 
these superstitions find their way into the books and schools, and are 
sifted down through the centuries. The books and schools of medicine 
were loath, it seems, to reach the realization that the science of medicine is 
an evolution; a bold experiment always, and there is little or no authority 
of precedent in the case. The schools too much refer to the ancients, 
with that curious ingrained faith, generally denied, but often lingering, 
that the old times were the good times, and that there was once in the 
world the Golden Age, whereas, if you could locate that persistent 
fiction, you would find the goodness and wisdom of that period were 
wretched cannibals or clouted wild men. If you could only read a 
real book of medicine, published three hundred years ago, it wouhi 
surely tend to weaken your faith in even very old men of your own time. 

A very modern thing is the licensing of doctors — lawyers were 
shrewd enough to protect their guild many centuries ago, but until 
lately a quack, or even a hoodoo doctor, if he could only get the 
patients, had the same right to practice as the graduate of the most 
ancient university. Doctors were often given to hang their diplomas, 
in Latin on fair parchment, on their office walls, as perhaps an induce- 
ment and inspirer of confidence to the afflicted. The race in the line 
of patients was not always to the graduate. The quack advertised his 
goods and wares, and often waxed rich and owned houses and blocks, 
while the poor graduate, covered witli Latin diplomas, starved in his 
dreary garret. The State has joined hands in these modern times with 
the profession, and the public health is officially watched over. The 
next step naturally would be to make official doctors, and thus add a 
splendid retinue to the list of official patronage. Such a proposition, 
absurd as it would be, no doubt would find eager advocates, and in 
conventions and on election days we would see duplicated the late 
scenes in Ireland, where church pastors and shillalah warmed up the 
vicinity of every voting bootii. But it should not be forgotten that 
there are many arguments for the appointment in our cities of meat 
inspectors, deemed essential to the welfare of the community in secur- 
ing healthy food, whether tenderloins or neck. 

In the story of Gil Bias is a biting sarcasm on the ancient practice 
of medicine. It is there laid down that the secret of the whole science 
is in " hot water and bleeding." If the ])atient got well it was science 
that cured him ; if he died, it was plain that more blood-letting and hot 
water would have saved him. Nothing could be plainer or simpler, 
and nothing could exceed the people's faith and awe of the eminent 
practitioners. The very simplicity of the science added immeasurably 
to its profundity, and vested it with a deep superstition and reverence 
in the common mind. Don Quixote was a death-blow to ancient 
Knight Errants, but Gil Bias was hardly more than grist to the hopper 
of the medical quacks. 

The respective States have passed license laws for doctors, but, of 
necessity, this curious proviso generally found its way in the act : 
Every physician who had been regularly in the practice a certain 
number of years, was by virtue thereof to be considered authorized to 



326 HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

practice. Immediately followed the curious fact that the State was 
protecting a gang of ignorant quacks, equally with the college gradu- 
ates. Where, before, the graduate could show his diplomas, now the 
impostor could show the law, a far stronger authorit}^ than any college 
could grant. To this the statesman could answer: You petitioned us 
in the name of protecting community, and we did the best we could. 

Granting licenses is a growing institution, but after all it is a two- 
edged sword. The pretext for enacting the law is, to the common 
mind, fair and unanswerable, even if its actual practice is sometimes 
a boomerang to its ablest advocates. The people will sleep upon their 
rights whenever the State undertakes to guard them. An enter- 
prising butcher, in a Western town, offered the town council $500 
for an authorized license to sell meat. With an open, free market, 
where the farmers could come in their wagons and peddle meats, 
the butcher was getting rich. Not long after his offer was rejected 
the word passed around that he had purchased and beefed a 
diseased animal. Customers passed by his doors then, and in a brief 
time he was a bankrupt and out of business. In the same town lived 
a physician who was a several-times graduate, and experienced in the 
sick room ; a cultured man, and justly eminent in the profession. 
There, too, lived a coarse, dliterate, ignorant woman, but cunning, who 
from scrubbing began nursing, and finally doctoring the sick, and 
growing bolder and bolder, and imposing on the ignorant until the 
physician was finally outraged by the request to a consultation with 
this female fraud. Thereupon, he went to work and never rested 
until the State had enacted a physician's license law. It provided that 
all who had been ten years consecutively in practice, without regard, 
should be considered licensed. The old woman easily made out her 
case, and lo ! the doctor had hit himself and helped her immenseh'^ — 
in the law they stood exactly equal, and now her new and glaring 
doctor's sign swings in the wind near where once was the doctor's 
modest one simply indicating the place of his office. Theory and 
practice in law-making are often distmct things, and ancient precedent 
as a rule, is a poor doctor. 

Plenty of men living can tell you of the great changes in the prac- 
tice of medicine that have come in the past tifty years. Within that 
time the brutal practice of deliberately salivating patients has passed 
away. It was cruel and barbarous in the extreme. In later time 
than that has mostly disapjieared the intolerable idea that patients 
must be denied everj^thing thev^ craved, and to see a poor fever-victim 
burning and willing to die for a draught of cold water, when he was 
offered warm elm or toast water only; bled, blistered and gorged with 
calomel and jalap, here were simpl}^ tortures that would pale the lights 
of the evil hour of the dreadful Inquisition. The modern and ancient 
treatment of the insane is a distinct finger mark in the highway of 
civilization. Better food, better ventilation and better drainage have 
contributed their share to the average lengthening of life, that is the 
greatest feature that marks the past century. JVl uch of this we owe to 
the men who have studied the subject of medicine and who have striven 
to make a science of the curing of diseases and alleviating- the suffer- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 327 

ings of mankind. The physician should, and doubtless will in time, 
take his place as among the greatest and best of men. He will fill the 
open niche some da}', and reverse this dreary heathenism that the 
"great" man is he who has butchered most of his fellow-men and not 
he who has saved most from disease and suffering. That woman 
strong and great enough to reform the dress of her sister from the pres- 
ent barbarisms a,nd intolerable outrages, on not only " the human form 
divine," but the health and lives of posterity, should be crowned with 
supreme honors. The good physician should here find an inviting 
field to throw his influence in the aid of this noble work, so heroically 
being pushed by a few of our si)lendid women of the day. 

The names of the first pioneer physicians are generally given in the 
dilTerent township histories. In 1817 a change in the prevalent ideas 
of treatment, as well as medicines, was impending. The busy Thomp- 
sonian with his " vegetable yarbs," teas and corn sweats was loosened 
upon the land. He sniffed his defiance at " Mercury," and the pill 
war was on. Patients would rebel, drink cold water, and in spite of 
the books get well. Then sometimes the doctors of all "faiths" were 
guilty of the indiscretion, in times of much sickness, of neglecting 
whoU}^ certain poor patients, and these would violate all sense of 
decency and show a better rate of recovery than those doctored the 
most. The " regulars " were not dumb nor blind, but saw these things, 
and adopted the latest discoveries forced upon them, and to-day, with 
sixty thousand people, there is but a small per cent of the calomel now 
used that there was when the total population was less than six thou- 
sand, and the lancet, hammer, and chisel and burning irons are 
since given over to the veterinary surgeons —hardly a fair deal for the 
iwor faithful horse. 

In 181:7 about twenty physicians of the county met at the court- 
house for purpose of forming an association; Dr. Samuel Huston being- 
elected president, and Dr. Alexander Madill, secretary. Two or three 
meetings were held, and one was appointed at Troy, but Drs. Madill 
and Bliss were the only ones present, and the association now took 
a rest of two years. In 1849 a meeting convened at the "Ward House," 
Towanda — nine members. This required that members should be 
graduates, or licensed by some medical board, or in honorable practice 
fifteen years. This society was in active organization twenty nine 
years, and on its roll of membership were nearly all the "regulars" 
in the county. Dr. G. F. Horton of this body 'was president of the 
State Society in 1862 ; he made a geological report and map of the 
State in 1858. About the same time Dr. E. H. Mason made a report 
of the hydrography of the State. 

One of the earliest physicians of note in the county was Stephen 
Hopkins, of Tioga Point (Athens), who settled there in the summer of 
1790. He soon became a noted physician ; built the first frame house 
in Athens. He died March 29, 1841 ; his widow, Jemima (Lindslev), 
died August 16, 1830. 

"Dr. Adonijah Warner arrived and located in Athens in 1792, and at 
once formed a partnership with Dr. Hopkins, who vvas there when he 
came ; Dr. Warner remained in Athens five years, and then removed 



228 HISTORY OF HRADFOHD COUNTY. 

to Sheshequin and taught school, and provided in his contract for the 
privilege of visiting patients, selling his practice. He had carried all 
the drugs antl potions he had in his materia meclwa with him through 
the wilderness from Philadelphia. Dr. Warner married Nancy Means 
of Towanda, in 1798, in Wysox, where he died in 1840, aged eighty- 
three." 

Dr. Amos Prentice came and located in Athens in 1797. His house 
and residence were on Cayuia creek. He died Juh' 19, 1805. 

Dr. Spring came to Athens early in the century — married a sister of 
John Shepard — widow Grant. 

Dr. Thomas T. Huston was a practicing physician in Athens forty- 
five years. His father w^as a lieutenant in the navy during the Revo- 
lution. A brother was Judge Charles Huston. 

Dr. Dorman was the first in Wysox. He left there in 1792. 

Dr. Adonijah AYarner succeeded Dorman in Wysox, and settled the 
place of Robert Panning. 

Dr. Nathan Scoville was anearh^ practitioner in Wyalusing. Dr. 
Daniel Baker was for a long time the most prominent physician of the 
place. 

HomeoiKitliy — Dr. Silas E. Shepard was probably the first of this 
school in the county. He Avas a preacher; settled in Troy in 1828, and 
took up the practice of medicine, and when he removed to New Yoi'k, 
turned his patients over to his brother. Dr. Samuel W. Shepard, who 
successfully practiced until quite recently, and is now mostly retired ; 
considers himself wholly so, but occasionally prescribes for some old 
friends. 

Dr. Peonard Pratt, of Towanda, still in the harness, commenced 
the practice here in 1846. Remained in Towanda seven years, and 
removed to Chicago. 

Dr. Pratt's father-in-law. Dr. Belding (old school), was practicing in 
Le Raysville in the " forties." 

Dr. J. L. Corbin, of Athens, was in Towanda with Dr. Peonard 
Pratt ; removed to his present residence in Athens. 

Dr. Nebediah Smith began the practice of homeopathy here in 1848. 

Dr. D. S. Pratt graduated at Philadelphia (old school). Pocated in 
Towanda 1851, but commenced the practice here with liis brother, of 
honie()])athy, and is still one of the leading ])hysicians of the county. 

In 1860 the leading physicians of all schools in the county were : 
G. F. Horton. JohnE. Ingham, Theseus Barnes, E. H. Mason, Theodore 
P. Pratt, D. T.Abel, David Codding, Dr. Gorham, Kinney, of Rome, 
A. R. Axtell, Georg-e II. Morgan, Charles R. Padd, Alfred Parsons, 
Edward Mills, William Claggett, Benj. DeWitt, Horace P. Moodv, 
Volney Hornet, E. G. Tracy, H. S.Cooper. D. N. and F. G. Newton.' 

In 1880 the law required phN'sicians in practice to register in the 
recorder's office, name, date of graduation or commencement of prac- 
tice. The list appearing on the records is as follows : 



Allen, Omaso, H., Monroe township,. 

Allen, Ezra P., Athens 1847 

Axtell, Allen K., Troy .1843 

Anderson. Manton E., Sayre 1880 

Allen, William E., Smithfield 1880 



Armstrong, Addi.«on A., Austinville..l883 

Ayers, Sherman E., Philadelphia 1884 

Bartlett, H. A.. Sugar Run 

Barrett, ,T. W., Orwell 1874 

Brown, F. W., Athens 1874 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



329 



Badger, S. W., Athens 1873 

Beidleman, Addisou, Sheshequin 

Brooks, R. W., Canton 1873 

Bash, Horace, Wyalusing 1875 

Bishop, Stephen C, Wysox township 
Bowers, Jeremiah K., Reading, Pa, ..1873 

Beers, James Lewis, Sayre 1880 

Beach, Lewis L., Springfield 

Beach, Chas. A., Troy Boro 1883 

Beach, R. Belle, Troy 1883 

Beach, Eliza J., Waverly, N. Y 1876 

Blackwell, Clarence H., Granville 

Centre 1884 

Barker, Perley N., Troy 1887 

Byron, Lawrence, Barclay 1886 

Blair, A. Strvker, Ulster." 1882 

Bancroft, A. A., Towanda 1869 

Codding, David S., LeRaysville 

Cloveriiale, Helen ]\[., Towanda Boro. 

Carpenter, P. S., Austin ville 1875 

Corbin, J. L., Athens 1874 

Conklin, Gustavius, Orwell 1862 

Cory, J. H., Springfield 1878 

Clagett, W. L. , Standing Stone 1874 

C^ole, C. H.. Sheshequin 1849 

Cowell, S. S , Smithfield 

Ciiilson, R. R., Ridscebury, Twp 1876 

Cole, J. Howard, Gillett 1854 

(Heveland, J. E., Canton 

Corey, Wm., Springfield 

Carrier. C. W., West Burlington Twp.1862 

Cogswell, M. J., Tuscarora 1866 

Corr, Jno., Towanda 

Codding, Chas. L., Towanda 1883 

Case, George M., Sylvania 1884 

Clark, Byron, Washington, Washing- 
ton Co 1880 

Cowell. Edward M.. Smithfield 1885 

Chamberlain, John W., Wyalusing. .1886 
Colt, Samuel F., Wysox township. . . . 

Corastock, Gatis S.. Grover, 1874 

Champlin, Henry W., Towanda 1881 

Cemens, Henry 8., AUentown. Pa... 1861 
Cheney. Nelson, Jamestown, N. Y. . .1868 

Dare, Chas. V., Troy 1854 

Davison, James, Canton 1856 

Denvers, HattieO., Towanda 

Dusenbury, C. S., Le Riysville 1865 

Dickerson, Mahlon D., Milan 

Divis, Robert G., Athens 1882 

Devyer. Chas. S., Springfield 1888 

Eakius, Emory A.. Chicago, 111 1869 

Everitt, E. A., Burlington 1856 

Everett, John E., Burlington 1887 

Foster, Eraeline M., Towanda 

Prisbie W. L., Orwell 1869 

Furman. .John M., Terry 

Fitch, H. LeRay, Wyalusing 1882 

Fanekner, James N., Williamsport, 

Pa 1875 

Gamble, Thos. A., East Troy 1873 

Griflith, Wm. P., Towanda 1881 

Gray, T. D.. Sylvania 1875 

Gregory, George W., Troy 1879 



Gamble, M. D., East Troy ... 

Granger, Lewis E. , Le Rays ville 1882 

Glover, Henry A., Windham town- 
ship 1882 

Harshbarger, D. W., New Albany. . . 

Hornet, Volney. Camptown 1856 

Holcomb, W. H., Le Roy township. . 

Horton, George F., Terrytown 1827 

Hull, Waston C, Monroetou 1861 

Hubbard, D. G. , Carbon Run 1869 

Hillis, Wm. J., Barclay 1858 

Hooker, Carlton C, Alba 

Hopkins, Chas. F., Monroe 1884 

Haines, Chas. A., East Canton 1880 

Hooper, Elizabeth M., Elmira, N. Y.1883 

Holcomb, Guy C, Ulster 1887 

Harshbarger. W. F., New Albany. . .1881 

Holcomb, John T. , Athens 1881 

Hammond, Charles M.,Bentley Creek 1885 

Haines, John F. , Le Roy 1888 

Johnson, T. B., Towanda 1868 

Johnson, Charles H., Barclay 1873 

Junk, William A., Wilmot township. 

Judson, Azariah, Litchfield 1845 

Jones, Lorenzo A. , Terry 1872 

James, C. W., Towanda 1862 

Kiersted, Charles F., South Creek 

township 1872 

Keyes, Francis W., Orcutt Creek. . . . 

Knapp, C. B., Stevensville 1868 

Knapp, H. L., Windham 1860 

Kilborn, H. B., Franklin 

Kline, EflFenger R. , Say re 1882 

Kinsman, Hiram T., Smithfield. . . . 
Kinsman, Hiram T., East Smithfield. 1887 

Ladd, Charles K., Towanda 1877 

Lyman, J. W., Towanda .1849 

Lewis, W. S., Canton 1873 

Lenard, Volney, Springfield 1879 

Langhead, J., Gillett. .^ 1854 

Lyon, W. D., Franklin. 

Lewis, Frank B., Athens 1884 

Lantz, Lester R. . Franklin 1879 

La Plant, Hiram D., Sayre 1891 

Morse, Levi, Litchfield 1868 

Mf'Lachlan, John. Granville town- 
ship 1879 

Mingos, Leonard M., Towanda 1878 

Montanve, Lester D., Towanda 1861 

Madill.F. F., Wvsox 1855 

Mack, C. W.. Windham 

Murdock. Robert, Burlington 1872 

Moody, H. M., Smithfield 1866 

Morrow. F. G., Warren Centre 1872 

Mills, Edward, Ulster 1839 

Mott, Limes. Burlington 1830 

Manley, L. Edward, Le Roy 1883 

McAuliiT, James. Barclay 1883 

Marshall, Sarah P., Sheshequin 

Mathews, Alexander L., Sugar Run.. 1882 

McCreary, John H., Herrick 1866 

Musgrow, Charles N., Austinville. . .1879 

Mercur, John D. , Towanda 1878 

Morey, Edgar B., Waverly, N. Y....1889 



330 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 



Moshier, James S., Sylvania 1891 

Moore, Jason H., Pittston, Pa 1887 

Newton, D. N., Towanda 1848 

Newton, F. G.. Towanda 1880 

Nesbit, Andrew D., Stevensville 1887 

Olmstead, Edward M., Sayre 1887 

Payne, E. D. , Towanda 1857 

Parsons, James W., Canton, Pa 1880 

Park, Ira R., Overton township 1870 

Pratt, D. S., Towanda 1851 

Payne, Clias. F., Troy 1866 

Planck, C. H., Albany 1869 

Purdy, Nathan C, Grover 1855 

Peebles, J. M., Hammondton, N. J. .1876 

Pratt, C. Mauville, Towanda 

Pratt, E. Lenord, Towanda 

(iuick , P. A. , Wilmot 1874 

Rockwell, O. H., Monroe 1873 

Reed, Chas., Wysox 1880 

Ransom, Wm. C, Sheshequin 

Rice, William, Rome 

Roberts. Wra., Pike township 

Reed, Miles E. , Camptown 1883 

Rosenbloom, Chas. A., Pittsburg, Pa. 

Reichard, Noah W., Herrickville 1887 

Rice. Frederick W., Rome 1889 

Struk, Solomer, Wyalusing 

Smith, Cady. Alba 1879 

Scoville, D. C, Wyalusing 

Spalding, Julia H., Rome 1877 

Smith, Nedebiah, Canton 



Stone, Geo. W. , Rome 

Stephens, A. R. , Herrick 1855 

Shepard, S. W., Troy 

Scott, C. H. , Sayre 

Smith, L. B., Ulster 

Schoonmaker, Irving, Ulster 1884 

Strunk, Benj. F.. Wyalusing 1883 

Summer, Porter H., Wyalusing 1883 

Stevens, Cyrus Lee, Athens 1880 

Stevens, Franklin M. , Sayre 1885 

Smith, Mary E., Waverly, N. Y 1884 

Terry, Miner F., Terry township. . ..1864 

Towner, H. L. , Athens 1879 

Tracy, E.G., Troy 

Tracy, Geo. P., Burlington 1859 

Thompson, Ferdinand A., Durrell. . . 

Taylor, Geo. B., Towanda 1885 

Tracy, Polly S., Smithfield 1886 

Underwood, J. D., Smithfield 1865 

Verbryck, Geo. G., Canton towns'p .1884 

Vanners, Ira F., Sayre 1885 

Vansponsen, John W., Athens 1887 

Woodburn,S. M., Towanda 1872 

Warner, Phebe, Windham 

Wilder, Theo, Springfield 1857 

Worthing. C. C, Rome 1844 

Wilson, Henry A., Sugar Run 1S82 

Weaver, Geo. S. , Sayre 1882 

Wood. Florence D. , Smithfield 1876 

Washburn, Silas F., Rome 1865 

Wilcox, W.B., LeRoy 1857 



Medical Society 0/ftWrs.- — President, Rev. S. F. Colt; Vice-Presidents, A. S. 
Blair, C. N. Hammond; Secretary, I. N. Schoonmaker; Treasurer, D. N. Newton; 
Censors, C. F. Stevens, W. F. Harshberger, T. B. Johnson, F. A. Thompson, W. L. 
Claggett, 



CHAPTER XIX 

NEWSPAPERS. 



Introductory— The Argus— The Rp^porter-Journal—The Repub- 
lican AND other Prominent Journals and Journalists in Brad- 
ford County. 

THE jolly knights of the " stick" and " editorial scissors " of Brad- 
ford county, sandwiched with the contingent of reportorial 
" Fabers." are a crew fit for gods to journey over the troubled sea of 
journalism with. Our "office cat" purringly remarks, and he is rigiit 
too, that the country printing office is the greatest institution in the 
world. The Mecca of spring poets and sweet girl graduates, the best 
school that has ever taught ; the loadstone of budding genius ; and the 
merrv trysting ground of as clever a set of fellows as ever went on an 
annual excursion. 

There are tiiirteen live weekly papers in the county, besides a 
daily and weekly. They nest in Towanda, four of them— the Daily 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 333 

Bevlew, by the Mclvee Brothers, all as clever as the day is long ; are 
independent in politics, but quote in full all of "Doug's" political 
stump speeches, and thereby have a barrel of fun — -"Doug" being a 
self-appointed independent institution, his "interminable intellectual 
corruscations " — next ? 

ThQ Argus remmds one of James' lone horseman that "might 
have been seen/' Its editor, E. Ashmun Parsons, can boast that in 
the throng, Democratically, he stands alone, " grand, glittering and 
peculiar," and confesses he has the best paper in Northern Pennsyl- 
vania, and admits that if business keeps improving he will have to get 
a "Hoe" in place of his hydraulic press. "Ash" is the son of his 
father, and the two in succession liave been in the same printing office 
more than fifty yea)'s, and if old Bradford comes in solidly Democratic, 
and no other paper is started to disturb his dreams, it may be depended 
upon he will do his best to live a thousand years ; with an "alf and 
alf " county ticket elected, the boy smiles from ear to ear, and nolens 
volens is a clever gentleman and a good newspaper man. His father, 
Judi'-e Parsons, is now retired; is hale, hearty and Democratic. 

The Eeporter-Journal is the leading paper in the county in age and 
in the length of its subscription list. "Roster: D. M. Turner, business 
manager; H. F. Marsh, editor, and C. H. Turner, " local." The whole 
outfit are as clever a set of gentlemen as you ever found, and after a 
careful search not a single " kicker " could be found. If you want to 
know all about Republicanism, straight and from the shoulder, ask 
them— any one of them. 

The Rejnihlican is presided over by Judge Judson Ilolcomb, and is 
owned by this gentleman and Charles'^L. Tracy, and, except when the 
Judge was in Washington in attendance upon one of the seven Con- 
gresses, in which he was Index Clerk, when his assistant, Edward J. 
Holcomb, was at the helm, he is busy at the office desk. Owing to 
the election last fall, the Judge says he will resign (a kind of neces- 
sary interregnum) his Washington pfflce. and roll up his sleeves for 
the whole Republican ticket in 1892. These men make a successful 
paper of the liejnthlican. 

_ These are the " boys" that " festive" around the county capital — 
print first-class country papers, attend their respective churches with 
unflagging regularity, and every one keeps posted on the last base-ball 
contest, and every time one of them misses an annual editorial meet- 
ing he is sorry for it all the next winter and summer. 

In Athens the oldest printer now^ there is Charles Hinton, of the 
Gazette. He is the successor of " Brick" Pomeroy, who learned his 
trade mostly in that place. Mr. Hinton revived tlie Gazette after its 
many vicissitudes and failures, and looks as much like a hard-working 
case printer as there is in the county. Tiie Gazette w^as revived into 
vigorous life in 1871 by Mr. Hinton, a seven-column folio, and enlarged 
to eight columns, and then changed, in 1800, to its present quarto form. 
Hinton sold, in 1874, to Spalding and Fraser; and in two months the 
whole was burned— a total loss. In 1876, Mr. Hinton resolved there 
should something occur that year worthy our country, and so he 
again revived the Gazette, and" thus it now lives and flourishes. No 

18 



334 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

man in the county knows more about the make-up or business manage- 
ment of a paper than he. 

The Neios is S. W. Alvord's paper (Independent-Eepublican), and, 
though comparatively young, is spicy, and he handles a facile pen. 

At Troy may be found A. S. Hooker, of the Noi^thern Tier-Gazette^ 
and Frank Loorais, of the Register. Mr. Hooker is a senior Trojan, 
and their papers are fully spoken of further on. 

Charles D. Derrah is a lone Sentinel on the watch-tower. 

The Canton Sentinel was established in May, 1871, by C. H. Butts & 
Son, of Williamsport, a seven-column folio. They ran it till 1879, and 
then sold out to A. B. Bowman and Charles Bullock, who ran it till 
January, 1883, when they sold it to C. D. Derrah. In March it was 
changecl to an eight-page quarto, six-column paper. This was the first 
paper started in Canton. It had no opposition until 1889, when the 
Herald was started by C. S. Holcomb, but was only run two years. 

The Wyalusing RocTiet is presided over by J. S. Hamaker, who 
learned his trade in Towanda and graduated like a house-a-fire. The 
Rocket was started in May, 1887, by C. A. Stowell, and at one time 
was conducted by S. W. Alvord, and purchased by Mr. Hamaker in 
1888, who has boomed it with great success ; he is a man of ability 
and unflagging energy. 

It is proper to say here that the Wyalusing Star^ independent, 
a seven-column folio, struggled six months and quit. 

Monogram, LeRoy, a new paper in that village, hardly more than 
on its feet yet, was started by Mr. Holcomb. 

Sayre times, a very modest, neat paper of Sayre, was started in 
the early part of 1891. C. L. Francisco' is the proprietor. The first 
venture in that place in this line, it gives evidence of success. 

The LeRaijsville Advertiser.— ThQ first newspaper published at 
LeKavsville was called " LeRaysville Union,'' founded August 25, 1865, 
bv S.'F. Lathrop. The next was founded May 2, 1879, called '^ The 
LeRaysville Advertiser'' and was published by P. C. Van Gelder & 
Son. January 1, 1887, it was purchased by E. H. Codding, and 
August 1, 1887, F. M. Wheaton was admitted as partner, and the paper 
is now published bv Codding & Wi)eaton. 

Thomas Simpson, in 1813, published the Bradford Gazette, the fiv^t 
newspaper printed in the county— the oifice being located at " Means- 
ville," near the Episco])al church, opposite Jesse Woodruff's tailor 
shop. He continued to publish the Gazette about one year, when he 
sold his interest in the paper to Burr Bidgeway, who continued to print 
it for a little more than three years. During that time, and while the 
editor was on the days of appeals as county commissioner, Octavius 
A. Holden, who had charge of the paper in his absence, issued six 
numbers of a paper stvled " The Times'' the object of which was to 
advertise the unseated"^ lands, a majority of the commissioners being 
Federals and opposed to patronizing the Gazette, and took this 
opportunity and paid Holden to print six numbers of the " Times'' 
under the direction of Simon Kinney, county treasurer, and issued the 
same as their dates matured. The scheme did not succeed, as the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 335 

treasurer did not think it prudent to sell upon such notice, and thus 
ended the " Tiynes.'' 

The Washingtonian^ the first Federal pa]ier in the county, was 
edited by Lewis C. Franks, who continued its publication for about one 
year, 1817, when it was turned over to Octavius A. Holden, who dis- 
continued its publication after a short time. Its motto was — " I claim 
as large a charter as the winds, to blow on whom I please." 

The Bradford Gazette^ which was Democratic-Republican in poli- 
tics, was ])urcl]ased by Streeter & Benjamin in 1818, and its name 
changed to Bradford Settler. 

The Bradford Settler, Avas purchased in 1821 by George Scott, 
who remained the editor and pul)lisber for two years, wiien he was 
succeeded by James P. Bull, who conducted the paper in the interest 
of the company representing the McKean interest in politics, being- 
Democratic. In 1830 Mr. Bull sold the Settler to Hamlet A. Kerr, who 
edited it for a short time. In 1833 Dr. Hiram Rice succeeded to the 
office and material, and changed the name of the ]y,x\)QV to the JVortJiem 
Banner. He continued the |)ublication of the paper for two years, its 
politics remaining unchanged, being ardently Jacksonian. 

The Towanda Eepuljlican was published in 1826-27 by Warren 
Jenkins as an opposition paper (National Republican) to the Jacksonian 
Democracy. \\\ 1828-29 Burr Ridgway succeeded to it, and continued 
its publication for two or three years when it ceased to appear. 

The Northern Banner was purchased by E. S. Goodrich in 1835, 
and continued for about two years, when it was sold to J. C. Cantine 
and others who combined it with the Democrat under the title of the 
Banner and Democrat. 

The Bradford Democrat was established as the organ of the 
McKean wing (the Banner having ceased to support it) of the 
Deuiocratic party in 1836-37. It was published by Cantine & Ilogan 
for a time. Mr. Cantine was succeeded by H. A. Beebe, subsequently of 
the Owego Gazette, who continued its publication till 1841, when it 
was d iscon ti n ued . 

The Bradford Argufi. the oldest paper in the county, was origin- 
ally founded as the Anti-Masonic Democrat, started at Troy in or 
about 1830, by O. P. Ballard. Dr. £. R. Utter bought the Democrat 
in 1832 33, removed it to Towanda and changed its name to the Brad- 
ford Argus, and its politics to that of the Whig party. Mr. Utter 
continued the Argus until 183-1, when he associated George Wayne 
Kinney and Dummer Lilley, practical printers, in the publication of 
the paper, the firm being known as Utter, Kinney & Lilley. This 
arrangement was short-lived, Mr. Utter regaining the sole control 
agam. In 1836 he sold the concern to Dummer Lilley, who continued 
the j)aper until November, 1839, when he sold it to Col. Elhanan 
Smith. B. F. Powell and E. A. Parsons, who, under the name of Smith, 
Powell & Parsons, continued the publication till 1841, when Col. 
Smith, who had been the editor, sold his interest to Parsons & Powell, 
and Powell to Parsons in 1851, whereupon the latter became the sole 
proprietor of the paper. In November of the same year the estab- 



336 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lishment was burned to the ground, it being a total loss, but was re- 
estal)lished by Mr. Parsons in the short sj)ace of five Aveeks. Mr. Par- 
sons continued to conduct the Arc/us in the interests of the Whig 
party till that organization went out of existence, then as a Republi- 
can paper till 1862, when it withdrew from the Republican cause and 
supjwrted the " People's ticket." It became a Democratic organ in 
1864, and was edited by Jacob De Witt till 1866, when Mr. Parsons 
placed his son, E. Ashmun, in charge of the paper, who enlarged it; 
put in hydraulic power and otherwise improved it. The junior Par- 
sons is still the editor of the Argus. 

The Bradford. Porter. — The first number of this paper was issued 
in June, 1840, by E. S. Goodrich, in the interest of Gov. Porter, of 
Pennsylvania, and continued so to do for a lime; but the Governor's 
policy" becoming distasteful to the editor, he added a prefix to the 
name in December, 1843, and christened it The Bradford Reporter., 
which remained unchanged till January, 1885. In 1841, the Demo- 
crat having been discontinued, the Reporter became the organ of the 
Democratic party in the county, and so remained until the Free-Soil 
controversy arose, when it espoused the cause of " Free-Soil," and 
battled vigorously against the extension of the " peculiar institution," 
being a zealous supporter of David Wibnot, and an efficient advocate 
of his measures to prevent the spread of slavery. In 1845 Mr. Good- 
rich retired from the paper, and for a short time E. O. and H. P. 
Goodrich conducted it ; but in 1846 the former became the sole pro- 
prietor, and pubUshed the paper till 1863. lie then surrendered it to 
S .W. Alvord, for one year, and again assumed control and continued 
to edit and publish it until 1869, at which date Mr. Alvord again 
succeeded to its control and management, and so continued until 
1879 when he quit the paper. From 1879 to 1881 C, II. Allen 
was the local editor of the paper, and Mr. Goodrich the editor and 
proprietor, onlv having before leased to Mr. Alvord. 

From 1881 to 1882 C. H. Allen was editor of the paper, which 
was ow^ned bv the Goodrich estate, tdl February, 1882, when it was 
sold to H. F. Marsh and J. E. Ilitclicock, the former being the editor- 
in-chief. Marsh & Hitchcock continued the publication of the Reporter 
till 1885, when it was consolidated with the Towanda Jourrial, under 
the name of Reporter-Journal, the first issue being dated January 8th. 
The politics of the paper is Republican. The proprietors are: H. F. 
Marsh, J. E. Hitchcock, D. M. Turner, C. II. Turner; H. F. Marsh, 
editor; C. H. Turner, local editor. Upon the formation of the Repub- 
lican party the Reporter became its oi'gan in the county, and has ever 
since been immutable in its politics. 

The Penmsylvania Backvjoodsman was issued in 1845-46, as a liter- 
arv periodical, by Henrv Booth and C. L. Ward. 

^ The North Branch Dermcrat \vas published a short time in 1850 as 
an anti-Wilmot organ, Wien Forney, of Philadelphia, being nominally 
the editor and publisher. 

The Bradford Times was established and sup|.orted by the Demo- 
cratic State Central Committee, under the direction of C. L. Ward, J. 
F. Means and V. E. Piollet, and first issued in June, 1856, by D. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. X}'^ 

McKinley Mason, who was the editor in charge. Mason remained in 
charge of the paper until after the close of the Buchanan campaign, 
when it was leased to John G. Fries, of Bioomshurg, Pa., wlio con- 
tinued its pubhcation til] some time in 1857. In 1858 the material of 
the office was leased to Chase & Keeler who founded 77ie Bradford 
Herald. 

The Bradford Herald was also closely devoted to the interests of 
the Democratic party. In 1859 O. D. Goodenough bought out Mr. 
Keeler, and the paper was continued for about a year by Chase & 
Goodenough, who sold to Ferguson <k Payne. Tiie new proprietors 
published the paper till about the beginning of the year, when it went 
out of existence. 

The Dailij Argus, the first daily newspaper published in Towanda, 
made its appearance in 1863, and was continued for two weeks. It was 
issued by E. A. Parsons in conjunction with the Bradford Argus. 

The Towanda Business Item was established in 1871, ttfe first 
number being issued August 5th, by O. D. Goodenough and E. J. 
Clauson, and was a live, spicy, independent local paper, though a small 
one. It was enlarged during the second year to a twenty-four-column 
paper. Mr. Goodenough retired from the Iie7n, January 1, 1878, Mr. 
Clauson continuing its publication till the time of "his death in 
December, 187-1. The paper then went into the hands of Gen. II. J. 
Madill, of whom Judson Ilolcomb and T. A. Angus purchased the 
stock and material, and June 1, 1875, founded The Bradford Rejnd)- 
lican, merging the Ttem in the new publication, being Independent- 
Republican in politics. With Mr. Ilolcomb, editor-in-chief, the Ee- 
jntUican was continued by Ilolcomb & Angus till 1879, when C. L. 
Tracy purchased Mr. Angus's interest, the paper having since been 
published by Ilolcomb ct Tracy. In 1882 C. II. Allen became associate 
editor with Mr. Ilolcomb, a sliort time. 

The Towanda Journal was established by D. M. Turner, editor and 
proprietor, m May, 1873, the first number appearing on the 14:th dav 
of that month. In January, 1882, C. II. Turner purchased an interest 
in the paper, and was its local editor thenceforward till its combination 
with the Reporter. The Journal w^as a wide-awake, newsy pa])er, 
independent in ])olitics. 

The Towanda Daily Journal was edited and published bv D. M. 
and C. II. Turner from October, 1882, till October, 1883. 

The Towanda Gazette was published as a Greenback organ in 1879, 
by S. C. Clizbe, who continued its publication for about one year. At 
the same time he issued the Towanda Daily Gazette. 

The Towanda Daily Revieio was founded by Alvord & Son, and 
the first number of the paper issued August 1, 1879, being Inde- 
pendent-Kepublican in politics. S. W. Alvord was the editor. 
April 1, 1883, W. II. Webb bought an interest in the paper, and on 
the 10th of that month the Daily Beniew was enlarged from 
a four to five-column folio, and llie TowandaWeeliy Review, an eiglit- 
column folio, was established. November 8. 1883, W. H. Webb became 
the sole proprietor and editor of both papers. In March, 1884. he 
enlarged the Daily Review to a six-column folio ; and in April follow- 



338 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ing changed the Weekly Review to The Towanda Semi- Weekly Review^ 
of the same size as the enlarged Dail3^ On the 9th of July, 1884, S. 
W. Alvord again became the editor of the paper, and shortly thereafter 
re-established the Weekly Review, and in October reduced the size of 
the Daily Review to a live-column folio, in which size it is still pub- 
lished. On January 1,1885, O. D. Goodenough and E. R. Thompson 
leased it, changing the politics to Conservative-Democratic, with Mr. 
Goodenough, editor. June 15,1885, E. B. and F. C. McKee purchased 
the paper conditionalh', and since January 1, 1886, have been the 
owners and associated editors. The politics of the Review are independ- 
ent, and it is the only daily paper now published in Bradford county. 

The True Greenbacker was pubHshed by the Greenback County 
Committee in 1878-79, under the editorial management of Frank G. 
Johnson. 

The Missionary, a religious journal, was edited by the Rev. G. J. 
Porter, and published in 1878-79, in the interest of the Universalist 
Church. 

TJie Knights of Honor Admcate was founded in 1878, by J. 
R. Kittredge, and represented the interests of the society which its name 
suggests. In 1882 the paper was sold to a Boston party. In 1882 Mr. 
Kittredge also founded the Knights and Ladies of Honor Record, 
wiiich was continued here till 1883, when the paper was removed to 
St. Louis, Mo., where it is still being published by Mrs. J. R. Kittredge. 

The Bradford, County School Journal was founded in October, 
1879, through the efforts of the leading teachers of the county ; was 
edited by them, and devoted to educational interests. Its publication 
was discontinued after a year and a half. 

T7ie Towanda Record, originally established as the Dushore 
Record, was issued by J. W. Gould in JSIovember, 1882, and continued 
as an Independent paper for about three months. 

The Nestor of the Press of western Bradford has kindly furnislied 
an account of these papers that have come to Troy as follows : 

During the Anti-Masonic excitement that lasted for several years 
following the abduction of Capt. Morgan, from Canandaigua, N. Y., in 
1827, and the formation of the Anti-Masonic party, Orrin P. Ballard, 
a merchant of Troy, brought in a press and types, and established the 
first paper in western Bradford. It was started in 1830, and was 
named the Anti-lfasonio Demot'.rat It was edited by E. R. Utter, and 
was finally sold at the end of two years to Mr. Utter. The Anti- 
Masonic excitement having subsided, Dummer Lilley, a young Whig, 
associated himself with Utter, and they changed the name of the paper 
to the Troy Argus in 1832, and after running it for a year or so, moved 
it to Towanda, where it became the present Bradford Argus. 

Bradford Argus.— On one occasion the letters of the heading 
became transposed and the paper came out as the " Tory Argus," a fact 
that caused endless laughter, as the word "Tory " was a name of the 
bitterest reproach. Troyhad a taste of newspaper convenience and 
did not long abide the moving of the Argus to Towanda. 

The Analyzer was established in 1810, and was so vigorous, 
politically, that it procured the name of "The Scandalizer." It was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 339 

edited first by Francis Smith, Esq., and, later, by James F. Ballard, was 
a Democratic sheet, and lasted but about two years. 

About 1845 Mr. Ballard established a new paper entitled The New 
8tai\ the editors being Julius Sherwood and Elijah A. Kockwell. 
It ran about three months, when Mr. Rockwell, who was a young- 
and brilliant writer, left, and began what proved a quite remarkable 
career. Taking ship he went to the Sandwich Islands, and, engag- 
ing in the quarrels of the anti court part}', establislied the Honolulu 
Tiriies, the first paper on the islanti, and came near losing his head for 
attacking the king. He made his escape to a British vessel, and was 
afterward shipwrecked on the islands of Japan, whence he was res- 
cued by Perry's Expedition. He went to California, where he founded 
the San Francisco Morning Call^ and became one of the most noted 
journalists in the State, establisliing the Sacramento Bee,, amd, later, the 
Sacratnento Herald. After Mr. ItockwelTs departure, Francis Smith 
was associated with Sherwood in running the paper, which was neutral 
in politics, and finally twinkled for the last time when only a few 
months old. In 1847-48, William C.Webb, now Judge Webb of Topeka, 
Kansas, established the Troy Banner. 

The Troy Baiiner, which was Whig in principles, was run for 
only a few months in Troy, when a more promising opening appeared 
at Wellsboro, and it was moved thei-e, at first appearing as The Banner 
and later as the Advertiser^ and finally became the present Agitator. 

In 1850, Mr. Barclay, a New Yorker, brought in a press and estab- 
lished The Weekly Trojan^ associating with him Geo. Messenger at a 
later period. The firm later became Messenger & Colwell, and con- 
tinued the paper to 1854, when it died just as the Williamsport and 
Elmira Railroad was completed, and when a vigorous growth should 
have been looked for. The material of the old office was gathered up 
h\ Moses Gustin, and a small but pretty sheet called 

The Teinrperance Banner was run for about three months in 1854, 
when it was sold to Dr. P. A. Johnson, now of Waverly, N. Y., who 
enlarged it and published it as 

The hidependent Journal for about a year and a-half, when, vexed 
with libel suits, and yielding to the indifference of the public, it died a 
natural death. The press and tj'pes were later carried to Burlington, 
and used by the eccentric Dr. Daniel Sweeny in publishing, in about 
1857 58, a religious paper called The Samaritan Star, which had a not 
very brilliant existence of two years. About the year 1859, A. C. 
Lumbard, an Elmira printer, since identified with many enterprises, 
started The Troy Times, which was independent in politics, and as the 
troublous times of the war were approaching, it had a rather pre- 
carious existence during the high prices and stirring events of 1861. 
Mr. Lumbard was succeeded by Shepard & Landon, who ran the paper 
for a short time, and then it suspended. On October 1, 1863, Wm. 
H. Baldwin, the present owner of the Watkins (N. Y.) Democrat, revived 
The Troy Times {No. 2). As Troy was a provost marshal's post and 
mustering place for the soldiers of five counties, the war news and lists 
of drafted men made the paper, which was Republican, of much interest. 



340 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

In September, 1806, A. S. Hooker bought an interest in the paper, and 
became its editor, changing its name to the 

Northern Tier-Gazette. From the first the paper became an active 
force in shaping the interests of the region. It began a crusade for 
a graded school, the result being the present Troy Graded School ; it 
advocated improved agriculture, and originated the Troy Farmers' Club, 
and kept up a steady agitation on the subjects of education, temperance 
and Republicanism.' In 1867 Henry Jenkins bought out Mr. Bald- 
win's interest, and finally sold out to" Mr. Hooker in 1869. In 1870 its 
office was burned, but the paper, after two weeks' suspension, was issued 
as usual. It was enlarged in 1881, and printed on a new cylinder 
press. The paper has been scholarly and heartily in sympathy with 
all public improvements' as well as"^ with education, temperance and 
religion. Its editorials have been noted for their independence, clear- 
ness and vigor, and the opinions of no local paper are more widely 
copied. 

Athens Neios was started as a daily by S. W. Alvord and daughter, 
Emily E. Alvord, the first number being issued Tuesday, February 5,1889, 
and the following December was changed to the present Weekly Neivs, 
a sprightly five-column quarto, and Independent-Republican in politics. 
Mr. Alvord's name to a paper in Bradford county, where he has so 
long ])rominently been recognized as a leading newspaper man, was a 
guarantee of a quick success of the News. In the matter of business, 
circulation and infiuence his paper to-day is to be ranked among the 
foremost in the county. 

Troy Register., by Frank Loomis, was started October 18, 1881. as a 
three-column folio, Repubhcan in politics. First proprietor was Albert 
Morgan, who ran it one year, and was succeeded by the present pro- 
prietor. In the early part of 1882 it was enlarged to a six-column 
folio, and in 1883 to a nine-column quarto, its present form. The office 
is well equipped, having a fine Acme cylinder press, steam ])ower, has a 
stereotyping outfit, and is supplied with a loop from the telegraph line. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SCHOOLS. 



Some of the First— Academies— Hypatia— Miss Westover — Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute— Public Schools Established- 
Number OF Schools and Cost — Etc. 

THE primitive schools in the county arc told of mostly in the 
account of the respective townships where they were. The very first 
was a religious school, simply to train the Indians concerning religion ; 
that they might read the Bible was one purpose of teaching them the 
alphabet. In 1778, tradition has it, there was a small school in old 



HISTOUY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 341 

Springfield, where were, before the hegira, about forty families ; but it 
is only a dim tradition. After the re-settlement, about 1784, the sub- 
ject of schools was taken up. A certain Master Root opened a school 
in Athens in 1788; then Benedict Satterlee in 1808 taught a school 
there, and in 181 1 a school-house was built in the place. In 1789 
Uriah Terry taught school in Maj. Gaylord's house. Thomas Wigton 
taught a school in Wyalusing about the close of the century. As early 
as i790 a small log school-house was said to have been built at Merry- 
all, and David Lake started the first school in 1791. The next year 
Theodosia Wells taugiit in this building. It is said a school was 
opened in Wysox as early as 1790. In 1802 Eliphalet Mason taught a 
while there. The school-house was on the flats near Strickland's. A 
Mr. Brevost taught the first school in Asylum. Loren Kingsburv 
taught a school m Canton in 1801. In 1805 Capt Samuel Grifiin had 
built a school-house in that place, in which a Miss Segur taught. The 
first school-house in Smith Held was built in 1807. Clen. Samuel Mc- 
Kean built a school-house in Burlington in 1820. 

In an address before the Teachers' Association. Supt. Charles H. 
Coburn said : "Clarissa Woodruff taught school in Orwell in 1804, 
and, a year or two after, Laura Frisbie. In 1807-8 Roswell Lee taught 
in Warren." 

Free schools were provided for by a law of 1834. This law was 
slow to find its way to the public favor. A counts superintendent of 
schools was not elected in Bradford county until 1854. Emanuel 
Guyer was the first elected, and his salary was fixed at $500 per annum. 
This was raised by the directors, as the law provided they might do, 
to the sum of $1500 per annum. This " extravagance," as it was 
esteemed, produced quickly the " Guyer war," — the man and the office 
were roundly abused. He was followed in office by Charles E. Coburn, 
who has filled the chair of professor of mathematics in the Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute. His coadjutor in the school work was O. 
J. Chubbuck, and they founded in 1857 the County Teachers' Associa- 
tion, and this was followed soon after by the County Teachers' Insti- 
tute, that is now one of the flourishing and permanent institutions of 
the county. In 1863 O. J. Chubbuck was elected school superintend- 
ent ; a jiractical teacher, and whose motto might have been "hew to 
the line, let the chips fall where they may." He had been heart and 
soul in the aid of his predecessor, and was well equipped to carry on 
every reform and improvement of detail that Mr. Coburn had 
attempted, and, indeed, to add new ones, especially in the office work. 
And at the end of his term the office was well fixed in public favor, 
and not only free schools were the popular thing, but our present 
graded schools were well under way toward permanent establishment. 

The perfected free or public schools have now been in full operation 
more than a generation — long enough for results to manifest them- 
selves. This is the ripe fruit of seventeen centuries of schools. Nearly 
twenty centuries ago a beautiful and gifted girl taught in Alexandria 
— taught, as all schools were then taught, by the metaphysicians and 
philosophers, in lectures in the gardens and groves, and from the 
porches. The life-teachings and death of the noble Ilypatia have inspired 



342 HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 

the pen of the liistorian, the essayist, the scholar, and, above all, the 
poet — beautiful maiden, noble Ilypatia, wliose lecture theme was: 
'•'•Who am If Where am If Whither am I going f'' Tiiis washer 
crime, for which she w^as seized by the mob and torn in pieces, her 
flesh scraped from the bone with oyster shells, and fed to tiie dogs. 
This is the stqrj^ of a great woman. Her fate, so sad then, is but the 
more glorious now, through the added centuries. This is a type of the 
best production of an age when all people educated themselves, or, 
rather, when children did not go to school. What can the schools show 
now ? Not an unfair question at all. We live and struggle for results, 
not to twiddle our thumbs after we have put in practice our beautiful 
theories ; and, because the theory is perfect, therefore the practice of 
it must be even more perfect. 

Gyniliia M. Westover, a once Towanda girl, is, perhaps, as fine a 
type of what may aid our present ideas of education as the countiy 
affords. She is selected as being a better instance than that of any of 
our past or present boys, because boys are surrounded with infinitely 
more possibilities for self-development than girls. Most fortunatel}^ 
for this excellent young woman, she w^as from early childhood her 
" father's boy," and his companion, as traveler, geologist, miner and 
prospector; and in her varied accomplishments has but few equals 
among the living. With no shading upon the best feminine instincts 
of woman, her mind and body grew in health and strength. Her father 
was a geologist and expert miner, and the child learned to ride almost 
before she could walk. She rode with her father all through the west- 
ern mountains and mining regions from Mexico to the Canada line in 
his prospecting journeys. During these years the child became an 
expert shot and horsewoman, and learned the Spanish language besides. 
Once, when a little girl, she shot dead an Indian who had his toma- 
hawk uplifted over the head of a white woman. Again, when her 
father's camp was surrounded b}' hostile Indians, she galloped out upon 
her pony, and brought relief. The redskins saw her, but they were 
used to meeting the child riding about after the cows, and did not dis- 
turb her. She had played many a time with the little Indian children, 
and thus won the good will of the older ones. 

These years were the making of Cynthia M. Westover. They gave 
her health, practical knowledge and splendid independence and self- 
reliance. They were years of self-development, and are a strong, living 
proof that real education is developing an ev^er-growing self-reliance. 
She was so much at home with the shy wild creatures of the wood that 
she learned their calls, and they came to her like domestic birds and 
animals. She had a strange power over them, and used to come into 
camp with wild birds and squirrels upon her shoulders. Besides that, 
she could lasso a steer with the best of them. When, at length, she 
Avent to graduate at the State University of Colorado, she paid for her 
last year's tuition with the price of her own small herd of cattle, which 
the gallant cowboys mostly took care of for her. 

The girl mostly fitted herself for college. After graduating at the 
normal department of Colorado University, she took a full course in a 
commercial college. In Denver she taught school a while, taking 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 343 

charge of the truant and bad boys of the streets. Her great force and 
magnetic power, as well as her wonderful executive ability, showed 
itself in the way in which she straightened out the crooked sticks 
among the rude children she dealt with. The little girl who had 
brought the birds and animals to her side at her call, controlled with- 
out effort the almost equally untamed children of Denver streets. She 
Avas a music teacher in Towanda, during a part of the time she was a 
resident of the place. A linguist, geologist, ornithologist, mathemati- 
cian, musician, and botanist, learning all of these mostly as she learned 
the Indian and Spanish language — not from a master mured within the 
walls of a school-room. Miss Westover is now Secretary in the office 
of the department of street cleaning. New York City, under Gen. 
Beattie, receiving this important and responsible position simply for 
the good reason that she passed the best examination of the many 
men who were applicants for the place. And here she has displayed 
the same magnetic power, coupled again with striking practical execu- 
tive ability, that has marked her course everywhere. Fifteen hun- 
dred Italian laborers are employed in this department. Cynthia AVest- 
over can talk to them in their own language, and " boss'' them as few 
men have been able successfully to do. During an illness of Commis- 
sioner Beattie, lasting several weeks, she managed entirely the affairs 
of the whole street-cleaning department of New York. A vast 
amount of work and responsibility that only a few men could perform 
and do the work as well as this young woman. 

The } oung girl came East to perfect her musical education, able 
from her own earnings on the ranch, and the sale of cattle, to pay her 
own way mostly. In a little while she appeared in private opera, and 
was offered a place in an opera troupe. Instead, however, and much 
to test herself, she took tlie civil service examination for custom house 
inspectress, more to find out what it was like than anything else, and 
was prompth^ ai)pointed ; accepted with hesitation, and proceeded at 
once to learn the Italian, German, Spanish, French, Danish and some 
of the Chinese languages, as necessary to that position. A splendid 
mathematician, she is referred to in the department for any critical 
calculations desired ; has mastered the subject of street-cleaning in all 
the principal cities of the world, and here, as elsewhere, dominates, b\^ 
superior knowledge, those in positions above as well as below her. 

In answer to a special request of the writer, Miss Westover has 
kindly furnished the following outlines of her life and education: 

" My great-grandfather was Alexander Cam))bell, Scotch-Irish 
Seceder, founder of the sect called Campbellites, or Disciples of Christ. 
In 1841 he founded Bethany College, West Ya., and later, Hiram Col- 
lege, at Hiram, Ohio, and the Northwestern Universit3% Indianapolis, 
Ind. My father's mother was Alexander Campbell's daughter. Grand- 
father Westover was a descendant of the Westovers of Yirginia. 
Three brothers, early in 1600, settled with a few followers not far from 
the site on which Richmond now stands. The little village still bears 
the name of Westover, and the Westover mansion, built in the year 
1749, stands to-day, very little changed, except by agre. My mother was 
a Lewis, descendant of the same famdy as John Frederick Lewis, R. A., 



844 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

— the Englishman who attracted attention by his studies from wild 
animals, sketches of manners and costumes in Spain, etc., and from 
whom, I suppose, I inherit some of my love for the studies of nature. 

"I was born in Afton, Iowa, on the 31st day of May, 1859. Very 
plausible arguments have been offered, both for and against a public 
education, and could mankind lead their lives in that solitude, which is 
so favorable to many of our most virtuous atfections, we should be 
clearly on the side of a private education ; yet, my instruction was of 
neither class, absolutely, as you will observe from the cuttings inclosed. 
Since I came out into the world, had I not had some address and 
knowledge of it, different from what is to be learned in books, I would 
not have been qualified, with good principles and innocence alone, to 
encounter the difficulties whicli have been thrown in my way. Cour- 
age and perseverance have not failed me, while, often, others b}'^ and 
by grew puzzled, disheartened or disgusted. 

"" From the age of three years I was taught, through necessity, to 
think and act for myself ; m.y invention was never suffered to languish; 
hence, at a very early age I knew how to conduct myself through the 
ever-changing emergencies, which are too numerous to be compre- 
hended in any system of advice. When I entered college I was back- 
ward, it is true, in some studies, but particularly bright in others; my 
mind seemed to be athirst for instruction, and it took but a short time 
to get equal percentages with my classmates, in the, to me, heretofore 
unknown studies, such as spelling, history, Latin, rhetoric, etc. I 
attribute my true appetite now for knowledge, to the fact that ni}^ 
memory was never surfeited and enfeebled by being "crammed" 
when I was young; and my perfect health to the outdoor exercises 
and amusements which I necessarily got, following m}' father over the 
Rockies (I have never been under the doctor's care). I could not 
contract habits of idleness while keeping pace with the active move- 
ments of my father, neither \ras there the danger of my mind being- 
filled with more knowledge than it could retain or arrange properl}^ — 
for example, while in college I graduated from one class fresh in mind, 
and not overworked, while the faculties of three associates, older than 
myself, were seriously impaired by overstretching of them." 

As an evidence that the schoolmen are alive somewhat to the 
importance of object lessons for the young, and that there are other 
lessons than merely those of the curriculum, it may be told that 
Prof. Thomas Hunter, of the Normal School, of New York City, in an 
address before the graduates, pointed to Miss Westover as an example 
worthy their study and emulation. His words were considerate 
and wise. When the magic pen of genius tells the simple story of her 
life — childhood, girlhood, and development into strong and best 
womanhood — so rounded, so strong — such a type, so superb that it 
stands alone, it will make a book for the youths of all time and all 
countries. With no "vaulting ambition" the girl, like Byron,- "aAvoke 
to fame." 

This is a well-rounded life, mentally and physically, and the best 
side of it is not from the school room. The one sentence she uses: 
" Since I came out into the world, had I not had some address and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUJSITY. 345 

knowiedge of it, different from what is to be learned in l)ooks, I woukl 
not have been qualified, with good principles and innocence alone, to 
encounter the difficulties wliich have been thrown in my way." Here 
is a great truth, in a great woman's life. When our systems of educa- 
tion can say, or have said in their behalf as much, then men who can 
tliink clearly and strongly will be answered fully and forever when 
they again propound their recent interrogatory : " Are Our Schools a 
Failure h " If there are imperfections in our schools, if they grow one- 
sided men and women, defective in body or mind, ill-starred in the 
struggle for life, tlien let us proceed determinedly about tlieir amend- 
ments. This is one way of advancing ourselves along the rugged 
road of civilization. The attempt to advance is seldom harmful; 
while restful inaction is sometimes followed with slow rust and decay. 
Rest assured of one thing : Whenever our education is perfected then 
the best people always will be those upon whom the schools have had 
the most to do. As it is now the king's, or the millionaire's sons, on 
whom ever}'' resource of education is fully exhausted, are not the 
world's intellectual or physical phenomena. The very dregs of 
unschool-roomed poverty have a royal train of the immortals, headed 
bv a Sliakespeare and a Burns. Nor can this be used as an argument 
in favor of illiteracy or self-assigned ignorance; no more than can it 
be used as an argument by the school men that these were incompre- 
hensible exceptions to the law of the average of mankind, and possibly 
much life in the school room would have added luster to this bur- 
nished gold. Let us rather conclude that the evolution of the school 
is still going on, and hope that it will go on until education, the 
supreme thing in life, becomes a jierfected science. 

Acadeiiiies. — The first one was commenced in Athens in the other 
century, and a full account of it will be found in the chapter devoted 
to that place. 

An academy was started at Le Raysville, January 8, 1830, with 
Giles DeWolf, Josiah Ben ham, L. W. Woodruff, Isaac Seymour. 
Lyman Bostwick, Lemuel C. Belding and Gould Seymour, as trustees; 
in its day a valuable adjunct in the cause of a higher education, which, 
as wi»s the case with most small academies, filled an important place 
until superseded by the State schools. 

The Towanda Academy was started June 16, 1836. James P. Bull, 
J. D. Montayne, Isaac Myer, Iliram Mix, Burton Kingsbury, Enos 
Tompkins, David Cash, N. B. Storm, George A. Mix, trustees. This 
was superseded by the establishment of the Sus([uehanna Collegiate 
Institute, which is still one of the important educational institutions 
of the county. 

The Wysox Academy was started April 8, 1840. Harry Morgan., 
William Myer, Joseph M. Piollet, Joseph M. Bishop, Harry M. Spald- 
ing, Yictor E. Piollet, Daniel Coolbaugh, David H. Owen, trustees. 

Rome Academy, March 24, 1848. Trustees, John W. Woodburn, 
Lemuel S. Maynard, William W. Woodburn, William E. Maynard, 
Samuel C. Mann, Joseph Allen. W. W. Kinney, trustees. 

The old Troy Academy was commenced in 1842, an educational 
institution, whose memory not only lingers much as a pleasant dream 



346 HISTORY OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 

in the minds of its alumm, but is embalmed in written words bv one 
of its fair girl stutlents. Thus tiie greatness and immortality of all 
our institutions, but more especially our schools, are dependent upon 
the genius of some of the girls and boys, who have played hookey, 
gone in pairs to the spring, or roamed and picked wild flowers, and 
who, dreading the stern master and his rule, have slyly bubbled with 
innocent tricks or deceptions on the Dominie Sampsons of the rural 
academ^^ The old building is gone, the spring-path and the spring 
itself are now, in the crunch of improvement, impossible to find, but 
their blessed memory will linger, like a sweet dream, forever. Life 
and marriage, and other inconsequential things, may, perhaps, all be 
failures, but the old country academy never. Rev. Freeman Lane was 
the first teacher in the Troy Academ}^ in 1839. 

The Wyalusing Academy started into existence on September Y, 
1859, under the imposing name of the Wyalusing Educational Union, 
Trustees, Henry Gaylord, Augustus Lewis, E. R. Yaughan, J. R. 
Welles, Washington Taylor, J. Depue, Benjamin Ackley. The board 
was organized, Henry Gaylord, president; Andrew Fee, secretary. A 
suitable building was completed in 1861 ; Miss L. A. Chamberlain, 
principal, who was succeeded the next year by Mr. La Monte. This 
building was in time turned into the public schools. 

The first school in Towanda was taught by Miss Weltha Tracy (after- 
ward Mrs. Reuben Hale), before 1803, in a small building on the bank 
of the river north of the lime-kiln. Eliphalet Mason taught four 
months in the winter of 1803-4. Daniel Scott (afterward Judge Scott), 
before the year 1807, taught in a building opposite the present resi- 
dence of H. L. Scott. A man by the name of Osborn subsequently 
taught the same school. 

At an eai'ly date schools were occasionally kept in the Foster neigh- 
borhood, and frequently attended by the children from the village. 

Mrs. Gregory's School. As early as 1811 Mrs. E. B. Gregor}^ 
opened a board mg school, in her own house, for young ladies and 
girls. She afterward taught in the log house which w^as subsequently 
occupied by Jesse Woodruff as a tailor's shop. Dr. Goodrich taught 
the next school after Mi*s. Gregory's, at Scott's. Sometimes a school 
was kept down on the "Fox-Chase" flats, which, like the others, 
accommodated the entire neighborhood. The first regular school in 
Towanda was held in a wooden building, not far from the river bank, 
a little north of the court-house. After the erection of the " fire-proof," 
in 1825, several terms of school were taught here, and Wm. F. Dininger, 
D. F. ]jarstow and a Mr. Dudley are remembered as teachers. Schools 
were also taught in the attic of the court-house. 

Many of those who taught or rather kept school, were poorly quali- 
fied. Of the earlier teachers who were fitted for this important work 
and succeeded well mav be mentioned — Rev. Wm. J. Richardson. D. 
F. Barstow, the celebrated James (commonly "Jim") Crooks, Hannah 
Ridgway, Rowena Scott, Mrs. Dr. Whitehead, Geo. A. Mix. 

The Towanda Academy. — Among those worthy pedagogues were 
O. H. Piatt, United States Senator of Connecticut; Henry M. Hoyt, 
ex-Governor of Pennsylvania; Prof. F. W. Gunn, deceased, an eminent 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 347 

educator and founder of " The Gunnery," an educational institution 
of celebritjMn Connecticut; Prof. George R. Barker, a distinguished 
teacher; Miss Blackraan, the historian of Susquehanna county ; Profes- 
sors JSTash, Worthing, Lyman, Scott, Burrhans, Vandercook and 
others. The Academy was continued until after the erection of the 
old public shool building and the incorporation of the Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute. 

Fuhlic Sclwols. — A public-school building (wooden) of two stories 
was erected in 1851-52 on the corner of Pine and Second streets (where 
the old building yet stands), and occupied for school purposes until 
1873, when the increase of population and enterprise of the citizens 
demanded a more spacious edifice of modern design and architecture. 
The present magnificent brick school-house on State street was com- 
pleted in 1873, and occupied in the fall of the same year, and an addi- 
tional building in 1883, 28 x 32 feet,of two stories with basement in the 
Third ward. The First ward school building was completed in 1889 — 
an elegant brick. 

Young Ladies' School. — In 1851, Miss Anna Ross (subsequently 
married to Rev. Mr. Latimer) and Anna Jewett (Mrs. M. C. Mercur) 
opened a school for young ladies, and were succeeded in 1854 by the 
Misses Hanson, who' established the " Towanda Female Seminary," 
and continued the school four or five years. The house now occupied 
by Chas. H. Allen, on Second street, was used as their seminary 
building. 

The Sisters of Mercy.— Thvowgh the efforts of Rev. C. F. Kelly, 
the church purchased the C. L. Ward mansion, and in September, 1877, 
opened a school under the direction of the Sisters of Mercy. The 
school prospered, and numbered about 300 pupils. It is free to all and 
is supported by the congregation. The usual number of sisters is ten, 
who, besides their duties in the school, visit the sick and the poor. 

Susquehanna Collegiate Institute was chartered May 13, 1849. The 
petitioners for the charter were Revs. S. F. Colt, F. D. Drake and 
Hiram Stevens, and J. D. Humphrey. It was the child of the Pres- 
bytery of the Susquehanna, "to teach the higher education and the 
religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The first name, " Col- 
legiate Institute of the Presbytery of Susquehanna," was changed to 
its present name February 9, 1852. Its location depended upon cir- 
cumstances, the charter 'only specifying Bradford county. Towanda 
offered the largest inducement, and here it was located, ten acres pur- 
chased, and the corner-stone laid July 4, 1853. Rev. Samuel F. Colt 
was principal the first three years, and Charles R. Coburn professor of 
mathematics, until he was elected County Superintendent. Mr. Mc- 
William succeeded Rev. Colt, but soon retii-ed and was succeeded by 
Rev. David Craft, who was principal two years. Two principals were 
elected, W. II. Dean and O. H. Dean, and were in charge three years; 
succeeded b}^ Mr. McWilliam, who was in charge five years ; then 
John D. Hewitt, one year, when Rev. S. F. Colt was a<^ain principal, 
and so remained until 1870, when the institution passed into the hands 
of E. E. Quinlan and G. AV. Ryan, who remained in joint charge three 
years, when the latter was elected principal of the public schools of 



348 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 



Towanda, and from then to the present Prof. Quinlan has had exclu- 
sive control of the institution and has built it up to one of the leading 
schools of the land. Prof. Quinlan is an able educator and possesses 
rare executive abilities. The college wa.s never in so good a condition 
as now, and it counts its friends and patrons from all over northern 
Pennsylvania and southern New York. The present faculty is as fol- 
lows/ Edwin E. Quinlan, A. M., principal; Rev. Rolandus Kocher, A. 
M.; Frederick C. Wixom, Ph. B.; Clarence J. Marshall ; Miss Rosa 
Fee, preceptress; Miss Katharine D. Swick, A. B.; Mademoiselle J. 
LeQuin and Miss Lillie Stewart. 

The school property of Pennsylvania is estimated to be worth 
$32,958,638 ; the cost of tuition, building, fuel and contingencies are 
$11,902,260.82; fuel, contingencies, debt and interest paid, $3,178,- 
458.92; building, purchasing and renting, $2,054,004.39; tuition, 
$6,669,797.51. The estimated value of school property in Bradford 
county is $334,980, having 383 school-houses, 450 school-rooms, 17 
school-houses built during the year, 199 houses in good condition, 70 
school-houses supplied with furniture during the year, 449 schools, 38 
school-houses in which the higher branches are taught, 143 male 
teachers, 515 female teachers. 

The following are the details by townships as they are numbered : 



DISTllICTS. 



Albany 

Alba 

Albany, New. .. 

Armenia 

Asylum 

Athens, bor . . 
Athens, twp — 

Barclay 

Burlington, bor. 
Burling-ton, twp 
B u r 1 i n s' t o n , 

West 
Canton, bor. . 
Canton, twp. 
Carbon Run. 
Columbia 
Doty Hill (I.) 
Franklin .... 

Granville 

Herriok 

Lecanville dad.) 

Le Roy 

Le Raysville 

Litchfield 

Macedonia (Ind) 
Monroe, bor 
Monroe, tw]). . 
Orwell, twp. . 
Overton (I.). . 

Overton 

Orwell (Ind.). 



< . 



Si 






217 146 
41 



$0 65 
101 
67 
71 
73 
78 
88 
53 
56 
65 

79 
83 



1 05 

113 

74 

69 

109 

103 

87 

93 

53 

64 

75 

73 

100 

109 

219 

1-20 



DISTRICTS. 



31. Pike 

33. Ridgebury 

33. Rome, bor 

34. Rome, twp. ... 

35. Say re (Ind.)... 

36. Sheshequin 

37. Smithfleld. ... 

38. South Creek... 

39. Springfield 

40. Standing Stone 

41 . Sylvania 

43 . Terry 

43 Towanda, bor. 

44. Towanda, North 

45. Towanda, twp.. 
46 Troy, bor. . . 

47. Troy, twp .. 

48. Troy, East 

49. Tuscora 

50. Ulster 

51 . Warren 

52 Waverlv, South 

53. Wells 

.54. AVilmot 

55. Wmdham 

56 Wyalusing 

57. Wyalusing, bor 

58. Wysox 



SCHOLARS. 



z; be CL^ 
■ - t--tj 






443 7480 6917 



9841 



46 

93 

90 

81 

86 

81 

91 

101 

107 

56 

57 

130 

50 

68 

128 

116 

63 

76 

69 

95 

70 

100 

65 

98 

96 

77 

69 





i 5 .<^J^' 



(^cyr.a^. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 351 

Bradford county has 58 school districts, 7,480 male scholars, 6,917 
females. Whole tax levied for school purposes, $108,177.60: State 
appropriation, $19,363.24; teachers' wages, $75,835.36; total expendi- 
tures, $177,142.82 ; total resources, $19,991.58; total liabilities, $55,- 
883.42. 

The Teachers' Association continues to meet quarterly. At the 
Institute of 1890 held at Towanda, the following were the officers : 
President, G. W. Ryan ; vice-presidents, D. Fleisher, M. G. Benedict, 
U. G. Palmer, C. P. Garrison ; secretaries, C. J. Marshall, M. G. 
Ronan, F. H. Seward, Etta Foster, Anna Cash ; music conductor, L. E. 
Rowley ; organist. Miss Honor Sheridan ; stenographer. Miss Sarah 
Chatham ; enrolling clerks, E. E. Chubbuck, M. Shores, D. Post, 
J. Manley, D. F. Lindley. There was an attendance of over 500. 
The institution, under the management of G. W. Ryan, is probably as 
prosperous as any in the State. 



CHAPTER XXL 

CHURCHES. 

Baptists — Presbyterians — Methodists — Episcopalians — Disciple 
Church — Universalists — Catholics and Other Churches in the 
County— Early Preachers, Etc. — Miscellaneous. 

BAPTISTS.— The first were in Troy in 1808. Elihu Rich, Sr., and 
Elihu Rich, Jr., commenced church services and soon organized 
under the name of the "Baptized Church of Christ at Burlington"; eight 
persons placed their names on the roll, four of the Rich family, Russell 
and Lydia Rose, Moses Cancius, James Mattison. In 1822 the church 
was incorporated as "The First Baptist Church of Troy," and a church 
built in 1832; a parsonage built in 1874. The ministers in the order 
were : E. Rich, Sr., E. Rich, Jr., I. Butler, David A. Balcon, Elder Kin- 
ney, Benj. Oviatt, James Parsons, Levi Baldwin, B. G. Avery, John 
Savrer, Daniel N. Root, Samuel Bullock, Henry C. Koon, Edward Ely, 
Job. Leach, J. M. Cogshell, Joseph W. Parker, W. H. H. Dyer, T. 
Mitchell, T. S. Sheardown, S. K. Boyer, Chas. T. Halliwell, J. Barton 
French, W. H. Mentzer. 

Presbyterians. — They organized in 1839, with the following members : 
Solomon, Jemina, Israel, Sophia and Samuel Morse, Jr., Ebenezer Kim- 
ball, Anna, Eleanor J., Polly and Mary Ann McClenan, Ehzabeth Cole, 
Barthena Wheeler, Julia Rockwell, Enos Frisbee, Lydia Long, Ebenezer 
and Laura Pomeroy. In 1876 a parsonage was provided. A first 
preacher was Isaac Todd, followed by R. Entler, John K. Cornyn, 
Henry S. Doolittle, Sidney Mills, J. G^ Carnochan, L. S. Fine, Samuel 
F. Colt, E. H. Camp, S. K Conde, G. P. Sewepell, the latter came in 
1879. 

19 



352 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Methodists. — The celebrated Lorenzo Dow visited Burlington in 
1871 and preached ; no church organization however was effected until 
1855, when by the efforts of Maj. B. S. Dartt, E. Newberry, John J. 
Berry, A. J. Howell, G. N. Newberry and others " The First Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Troy, " was organized; Rev. W. H. Knapp. 

East Troy and Columbia Cross Roads were until 1874 " outside 
appointments," under the charge of Rev. J. S. Lemon; at that time they 
were made a separate "charge" when the Troy church moved into its 
present quarters on Redington Ave. Among the pastors were : D. 
Ferris, D. E. Clapp, W. B. Hoik, O. L. Gibson, G. J. DuBois, J. H. 
Blades, M. C. Dean, W. S. Wentz, J. E. Williams, M. Hambhn, C. L. 
Council, H. C. Moyer, D. W. Smith. 

Episcopal ChurGh of Troy. — This was organized March 4, 1841, 
and called " St. Paul's Church of Troy," Rev. G. P. AVinslow, rector. 
The first vestry were : S. W. Paine, Henr}^ Card, O. P. Ballard, I. N. 
Pomeroy. L. J. Bradford, E. C. Oliver, William Scott, D. F. Pomeroy, 
Batman Monroe and G. F. Redington, clerk and treasurer ; S. W. 
Paine and Henry Card, church wardens. From 1849 to '59 the church 
organization was not kept up. In 1875, however, they provided for 
their church building and in 1887 secured the Rev. James P. Ware. 

Disciples Church . — The church was organized at the house of Adriel 
Hibbard, and called "The Church of Christ of Columbia and Troy," 
with 16 members, Elders, John C. Rockwell and Barney Webber, Chas. 
Himes, N. Pease, Ezra Hines, Levi Preston, Jr., John Owen, Louis 
Hibbard, Lurinda Owens, Minerva Hinds, Lurinda Webber, Mary 
Howe, Rachel Strait, Laura Strait and Nancy West. Their first 
meetings were held at the school-house on the Shubal-Manyard farm 
two miles west of Troy. The distinguished ministers of this church 
were Elder J. B. Knowlcs. L. B. Hyatt and Rev. Silas E. Shepard. In 
1848 they built their church on Elmira street, now owned by the 
Episcopalians. In 1884 they leased the old Presbyterian church. 
Rev. T. D. Butler, pastor. In 1884 Rev. John H. Gardiner was placed 
in charge. Their church building was completed in June, 1885. 
Their membership is 105. 

The Universalist Church. — In 1885 Rev. F. O. Eggleson came to 
Troy and took charge of " All Souls " Parish and for some years 
preaching was held in the Baptist's church. In 1885 they built their 
present temple on Redington Ave. Included in Rev. Eggleson's 
parish were Sylvania and Springfield. 

Catholics. — In 1853 the Church purchased the church on the hill. 
Father Ahearn was the first priest, his parish including Towanda, 
Troy, Athens, Ridgbury, Canton, in Bradford county Rev. M. J. 
Hoban was ]>laced in charge, also serves Canton, Cascade and Ralston. 

St. JoJui's Nepomucene Roman Catholic Chur'ch, at Troy, was pur- 
chased about 1859 from the Episcopalians, having been formerly used 
by that denomination. It was blessed and dedicated. The church and 
missions were previously attended from St. Andrews, Blossburg, Pa., and 
SS. Peter and Paul's, Tow^anda. The first resident pastors of St. 
John's was Rev. C. Maugan, 1859, and afterward attended by Rev. 
Florence McCarthy, who was succeeded by Rev. John Loughlin, who 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 353 

Avas succeeded b}^ Rev. M. P. Stack, who was succeeded by Rev. N. J. 
McManus, who was succeeded by Rev. M. H. Dunn, who was suc- 
ceeded by Rev. John Bergan, who was succeeded by Rev. P. J. 
Hurst, who was succeeded by Rev. M. J. Hoban, who was succeeded 
by present incumbent, Rev. T. J. Coraerford. 

p:arly preachers. 

East Canton M. E. Church. — The west Leroy church was built in 
1857. 

Alba Baptist Church was erected in 1835 on the farm of 
Joel Taylor, and beino- blown down, the pieces were gathered and re- 
erected on the farm of David Palmer. The society was organized m 
1818, and was connected with Canton much of the time. Revs. Bur- 
diclv, Dwyer, Lake, J. H. Dwyer, Levering. Burroughs, "Wells, Crowl. 
The church in Le Roy was built in 1855. 

Alhct Disciple Church.— Hev. M. C. Frick, pastor, 1Y5 members. He 
came to the charge in 1881 and extends his labors to Armenia, Grover, 
and the Spencer school-house in Union. Church was organized and 
built about 1810. Connected with Granville Centre during pastorate 
of Elder John L. Phoenix. Immediate cause of its organization was 
the exclusion from another church of S, E. Sheppard, Col. Irad Wilson 
and fifteen or sixteen others " for heresy." Elders, Randolph Manley, 
Leonard Lewis; deacons. J. P. Bates, P. Case, N. B. Case; trustees, 
N. B. Case, P. Case, Joiin Warren, Charles Warren, Leonard Lewis. 

Alba Seventh Day Adventists. — Organized August 5, 1883. J. L. 
Baker, elder; J. Lough head, deacon ; C. B. Loughliead, clerk, and Mrs. 
Esther Lougiihead, treasurer. 

Grover Disciple Clvureli. — A house of w^orship, but has no pastor 
at present. Grover Evangelical Church. — Rev. Mr. Vought, pastoi'. 
He also j^reaciies at Beech Flats where the society erected (in 1884) a 
tasteful little church. Grover Old School Baptist Church.. — Elder 
Durand ]u'eaches. 

East Troy and Columbia 31. E. Churches. — Rev. DeWitt Myers, 
pastor. He came in October, 1886. They have a neat church at 
Cross Roads. Since division and separation from Troy, S. A. Chub- 
buck, N. B. Congdon. David Crow, John \^an Kirk, J. W. Barnet, P. 
M. Joralemon, A. King and P. J. Bull have occupied the pulpits. 

East Troy Free Will Bapdist Church. — Rev. O. J. Moon; he serves 
at Baile3^"s Corners, in Granville. At the latter place a very neat little 
chapel was erected in 1883. N. W. Clark and Franklin Baxter, dea- 
cons. 

The East Troy Church is one of the oldest organizations in the 
township, erecting its first house of worship in 1839, during the pastor- 
ate of Rev. Asa Dodge. " The Old Churcli," sad to say, was sold and 
turned into a ''tavern," which was subsequently burned. Present 
house erected in 1865. The trustees are Joel and Leighton Calkins, 
C. R. Case, Zina Dunbar, Alfred Van Horn ; deacons, Zina Dunbar 
and Joel Calkins ; clerk, C. R. Case. Rev. Mr. Moon, the incumbent. 

Granville Disciple Church. — Rev. W. S. St. Clare, pastor. He 
preaches also at Le Roy. Dr. Silas E. Sheppard organized the Gran- 



354 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ville Church in 18e32. The church of LeEoy Corners was erected in 
1850. L. M. Leonard, Henry Arnold, P. R. Warren, Leroy Holcomb, 
George Morse and Hiram Stone, the elders. 

West G7'anmlle F^'eeWUl Baptist C/mrcA.— Organized 1833, wor- 
shiping at first in the Windfall school-house, afterward in the Union 
church, built about 1848 (now Mr. Josiah Warren's horse-barn), but 
since 1865 in their present very neat and comfortable house of wor- 
ship. M. B. Porter is clerk; Ciiarles Taylor, S. S. superintendent; Y. 
S. Land on and M. B. Porter, deacons ; and V. S. Landon, Henry Jen- 
nings, Hiram Kittle, M. B. Porter and James Merritt, Sr., trustees. 

Arfiie7iia Baptist Church.. — Organized, 1876. Rev. T. R. Jones 
closed labors in July, 1886. Without pastor. Deacon, Frank Mor- 
gan ; clerk, J. W. Riple^^ 

Armenia Wesley an Methodist C7ii/rc7i.—Rev.Mr. Porter, pastor, 
church built in 1880. Preaching also at the Wall school-house. 

Sylvania Preshyterian ChurcJi. — Organized in 1858. Adopted 
Presb\'terial order sometime afterward. The church was built in 1876. 
Rev. J. H. Jewell has been pastor thirty-five years. 

Sylminia Universalist Church. — Building erected in 1855 or 1856 
as a Union Church by a combination of Baptists, Methodists, Presby- 
terians, Free Will Baptists, and " Kothingarians." The trustees now 
are A. M. Cornell, C. H. Ballard, Joseph Gladden and J. H. Calkins. 

Wells and C alumina Baptist Church. — In 1840 there was a Baptist 
organization of more than one hundred members at Sylvania. 
Removed to Austinville, where there is a large antl imposing church 
edifice. There is also one on *' Baptist Hill." 

Wells and Columhia Presbyterian Church. — In charge of Rev. 
Hallock Armstrong. '' His eye is not dim nor his natural force abated." 
His appointments are Aspin wall, JudsonHill, Mosierville and Colum-. 
bia Cross Roads. The latter society was organized in 1859. Elders 
and deacons, John McClelland and Gabriel Besle}^ 

Judson Hill M. E. Church. — An appointment on Daggett's Mills 
charge. Rev. J. Merring, pastor. Old church burned, doubtless by 
an incendiary. Present house erected about 1865. 

South Creek Baptist Church. — Located at Gillett. First building 
erected in 1858; second structure in 1877; Deacon John F. Gillett, 
Rev. Levi Stone, pastor. 

Springfield Baptist Church. — Organized in 1819 at the house of 
Major John Parkhurst, father of Eben F. Parkhurst. There were 
eighteen constituent members, embracing the Parkhursts, the Cooleys, 
the Bennetts, the Browns and the Adamses. First deacon, Isaac Cooley ; 
first clerk, Elam Bennett. Worsiiiped for some years in old school-house 
on land between tlie store and the Dr. Wilder place. Church built in 
1845 under the labors of the present pastor, Rev. Thomas Mitchell, who 
entered the field in 1844. Other pastors have been Elam Bennett, 
Wm. Jones, Thomas B. Jayne, C. T. Hallowell, J. F. Rush and Rev. 
McLellan. A fine parsonage was built during Rev. C. T. Hallowell's 
term of service. W. W. Spalding, deacon ; Frank Ripley, T. Beards- 
ley, Marcus Strange, Geo. Cory, H. R. Gates, trustees. 

Springfield Universalist Church. — An old church building, now 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 355 

thorout^hly organized and working, under the care and leadership of 
Rev. F. O. Eggleston, of Troy. Deacons: Wni. Cornell, Alfred 
Brace, Mrs. A. Brace. Trustees f Wm. Cornell, J. R. Guild, Wallace 
Mattocks, Stej)hen Brace and Mr. Plosley. 

Leona 31. E. Charge. — Organized in 1814, with six charter mem- 
bers : Joseph Grace, Elisha Fanning, David Brown and their wives. 
Some of the first preachers were: James FI. Baker, James Hall, John 
Griffin, Palmer Roberts, William Burge, Rev. Judd, Rev. Warner, 
Elom Parkhurst, Rev. Bennett, Rev. Rogers, Asa Orcutt. Rev. Gilmore 
and Solon Stocking. Ministers: J. K. Tinkham, E. O. Hall, C. L. F. 
Howe, John Powell, B. J. Tracy, J. E. Williams, P. J. Bull, J. R. 
Drake, W. Statham, (). N. Roberts, J. Lloyd Jones, C. M. Adams and 
others. Rev. C. D. Smith present pastor. There are two little 
churches at Mt. Pisgah's base. 

Methodist Ejnscopal Church of Big Pond. — Erected in 1883-4, 
under labors of Rev. J. A. Roberts. Alvin and Derrick Smith prom- 
inent workers. Rev. F. M. Sinitlj, pastor. 

Burlington M. F. Charge. — It is recorded that "the first Methodist 
minister who visited Burlington was Rev. Mr. Newman." "The old 
church," with its high pulpit, antique gallery and weather-beaten 
exterior, still stands, surrounded by the grass-grown graves and hum- 
ble headstones of the sleeping pioneers. Rev. C. M. Adams is the 
incumbent. 

Trustees, C. Rockwell, J. Blackwell, Jesse McKean, George Hill, 
Sherman Hill, Mr. Whitehead, Isaac Brown, Mr. Bailey, Decatur 
Pepper, Ed. Spencer, Mr. Thacker; stewards, Thomas Blackwell, 
Alfred Blackwell, Hilton Leonard, Joseph Rockwell, David Rundell, 
F. L. Stanton, H. Spencer, C. Fanning, D. S. Bourne, Sloan Ross, Will- 
iam Heath, and M. Rockwell. 

Protestant Methodist Church of Burlington. — Rev. Mr. Crump at 
Towanda preaches fortnightly in pleasant little church of the denomi- 
nation at Hickory Grove. 

Evangelical Ghm^ch in Burlington. — Burlington borough, Luther's 
Mills and Mountain Lake. Rev. Mr. Golding, Rev. G. B. Gallagher 
appointed, Union Church, Hickory Grove. No sermons at present 

canton's congregation. 

The Methodists formed a church at Canton in 1817, and the follow- 
ing were its first members: Solomon Brown, Lusanna Brown, Levi 
D. Landon, Lurinda Landon, David Lindley, Anise Lindlev, Cynthia 
Lindley, Elias Wright, Amanda Wright, David Andrews, Priscilla 
Andrews, Thomas Miles and Nancy Miles. In 1851 Ilex. J. B. Hewitt, 
who was then on the circuit, organized the class at " Canton Four Cor- 
ners." It was comi)osed of Mrs. I. C. Wright, Mrs. Rath bone, Mrs. 
Charles Stockwell and Mrs. S. K. Porter. In 1867 the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Canton borough was built. Following J. B. 
Hewitt as preachers, were: James Linn, Harvey Lamkin, Thomas 
Jones, John Powell, Elisha Sweet, H. T. Avery, J. H. Ross, C. L. F. 
Howe, J. E. Hvde, M. Covle, J. Putnam, J. Thompson, Rev. S. T. 



3o6 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Sanford, present pastor. Trustees, G. A. Gurney, H. Caterlin, C. Ster- 
ling, C. A. Crise. 

The Presbyterians. — "The first Presbyterian Ciiurch of Canton" 
was organized in 1832, and embraced the two congregations of Canton 
and East Canton. Twent3^-one members were enrolled. Tiiese were 
Jerome, Charles, Sarah, Joel, Mary and Lydia Wriglit ; John and 
Achsah YanDyke; Oliver and Lydia Bartlett; Sylvester, Anna, Nancy, 
Betsy, Mary and Kosanna Manley ; Abraham and Alfred Foster, 
Abigail Smith, Lucy Lantlon and Harty Ilickok. Of these none 
remains to-chxy save one, Mary Manley, wife of Mr. Charles Stephens 
of Franklin. Meetings were held for several years in homes, and in 
"the old school-house" near the burying ground, and in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. The church at East Canton was commenced in 1840, 
and was dedicated in the spring of 1847. The church at Canton was 
commenced in 1860 and was dedicated in 1861. From 1861-2 Rev. 
Philander Camp was pastor. From 1863-4, Rev. John Colwell, M. D. 
served. In 1865, Rev. Mr. Gates commenced his long-protracted 
pastorate. The parsonage was built in 1883, and botii churches were 
enlarged and remodeled in 1886. 

Disciple Church. — Elder T. Miller organized this church in 1850,with 
the following members : Elders, Charles McDougall, IraC. Mitchell, Na- 
than Mitchell, George Wells, AV. T. C. Sanders, of Philadelphia, William 
Owen, of North Broad Albans, N. Y., Alexander Greenlaw, John L. 
Phoenix, R.C. Barrow, A. B. Chamberlain, of Auburn, C. T.Mortimer. In 
1851-2 the fine church on the corner of Troy and West Union streets 
was erected, and in 1870 it was extensively improved and re-furnished. 

The Baptists.— Ke\r, W. H. H. Dwyer, father of Mrs. Rev. W. H. 
Porter, of Alba, commenced preaching in Canton borough in 1854, ov- 
gatyzing the Baptist society with 18 charter members : Abraham Run- 
dell, James D. Hill, J. W. Knappin, Gudwin Fuller, George Hison, 
James C. Parsons, E. Q. Greenleaf. and Sisters Knappin, Miller, M. 
J. Dwyer, E. A. Hison, Mary A. Rundell, Anna Parsons, Lucy Hill, 
Anna Griffin, Lydia Rundell and Sarah E. Parsons. Rev. E. Loomis 
was succeeded bv Revs. Geo. T. McNair, E. A. Francis, James 
McDonald, J. L. Watson, Geo. P. Watrous, E. Wells, Thomas Mit- 
chell and Alexander McGovern. 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ORWELL. 

This church was organized Sept. 5, 1815, under the name of " Warren 
and Orwell Presbyterian Church." Present pastor is Rev. F. E. 
Bassey. Original members at organization, 8 ; in 1870 — 52; 1880 — 74; 
1890 — 49, and there are beyond the l)ounds of the church, 29, or a 
total of 78. Seating capacity of church, 228, and the buildings are 
valued at $2,000. S. N. Bronson has been clerk of the session since 
1878. In the meeting to organize the society, it was resolved to build 
"on East street, a few rods north of the old school-house, on the west 
side of the highway," on the land of Liberty Sharp. The subscribers 
to the buildint)- fund in 1815 : Alvin Humphrey, Lucy, Charles, 
Addison and William Cowles, Asa Fuller, Monels Humphre3% Lucius 
Fuller, James D. Newell, J. W. Grant, Silas Allis, Rhoda Gridley, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 357 

Abel Estabrooks, Joel Burns, Marcus Estabrook. John W. Browning, 
Dudley Humph re\^ Nathan Paj'son, Joseph S. Browning, Lyman 
Tenneil, Johnson Cowles, Chauncey Grant, Levi Frisbie, Chauncey 
Frisbie, Theron Darling, Roswell I). Pitcher, Abel Darling, George 
AV. Pitcher, Liberty Sharp, Ithall Allis, Czar Roberts, Jason Chaffee, 
Conel and Theron Wells, EHsha Iveeler, Charles Stevens, Jarvis Loyal, 
Benijah Martin, William Warlield, Samuel Mathews, Jesse Barnes, 
William B. Robinson, James Smith, Jesse Estabrooks, Thrall Blair, 
Eleazer Allis, Jr., John D. Wage, Levi Frisbie, Zebu Ion Frisbie, Uri 
Cook, Joel Cook, Jr., Curtis Robinson. 

The house was completed and opened for church service in January, 
1828. The records indicate that at this time the building was used by 
the Baptists and certain societies also. In 1832, Uri Cook, moderator, 
and Milton Humphrey, clerk. In 1835, Wyllys Bronson, chosen mod- 
erator and clerk. The nine members originally organized by Revs. 
John Bascom and Salmon King : Pai-ley, Moses, Amos and Sally Coburn, 
Mary King, Lucy Coles, Maria Coburn and Dorcas C'oburn. In 1816, 
seventeen were added : Lois Merrill, Polly Case, Joel Cook and Salome 
Humphrey (wife of William Humphrey) ; Mrs. Green, Capt. George 
Ranney and wife, Phebe Frisbie, Esther Roberts, Sarah Andrews, 
Jemima Wells, Molly Coburn, Comfort B. Chaffee, Rilla Humphrey, 
Polly Ranney, Betsey Payson and Peggy Grant. 

September 26,' 1823. Sister Lydia Alger was put upon her trial for 
" the sins of prevarication, falsehood and other unchristian conduct," 
and found guilty, and the " moderator then laid her under censure." A 
few days before this. Comfort B. Chaffee, had confessed in open meet- 
ing that he had been guilty "of profanity and falsehood." The year 
before this. Sister Huklah Johnson had confessed : " I believe the Sab- 
bath to be holy," and tliat she "had traveled on the Sabbath under 
peculiai- circumstances," and w^as heartily sorry For her great sin, etc. 

Some of the schemes for cheering the sick by these earnest, good, 
old-fashioned fathers and mothers, is given as follows: " On the first 
Sabbath in February, 1823, the sacrament * * w^as administered to 
Sister Experience Buffington, at her own house, on account of her 
being sick, after which the members present individually took her by 
the hand and bid her an affectionate farewell, not expecting to meet 
her in this world again ; but hoping to meet her in another to serve 
God without alloy." 

In April, 1824, by a vote, it was resolved to change the form from 
Congregational to Presb3'terian. 

At a meeting of the church in 1824, "Brother Libertv Sharp exhibited 
his confession that he did passionately strike three of his neighbors." 
It is not stated under what "rules" lie was knocking 'em out. 

At a meeting, JSTovember, 1827, three members were excommuni- 
cated for non-attendance at cliurch worship; the minutes then recite : 
" After some conversation in experimental religion, and confessions of 
stupidity and indifference, asked each other's forgiveness." 

In April, 1828, thirty-seven members were dismissed " to be con- 
stituted into a new church ; " they formed the church at Warren. This 
year it was resolved to change the name to the " Church of Orwell." 



358 HISTOKY OF BRADFOED COUNTY. 

The new church at Orwell was completed and dedicated January 
15, 1S50, chapter read by Kev^ Snowden ; sermon by S. F. Colt. 

Ministers: Solomon Kin^, from the formation, 1815 to 1827; 
Christopher Corev {in connection with Pike township), January to 
April, 1828; Amos Bingham, 1829 to 1831; Samuel Henderson, 1832 
to 1836 ; Isaac Todd,183t) to 1838 ; Charles C. Corss, 1837 to 1841 ; John 
Mole, 1841 to 1843; N. Bogardus, 1843 to 1844; William Huntting, 
1844 to 1849; (stated supply) ; Thomas Thomas, 1850 to 1852; Charles 
Huntington, spring to fall of 1852; Augustine Root, 1855 to 1856: 
T. Thomas, 1857 to 1862; J. A. Prossell, 1862 to 1864; Clark Salmon, 
1864 to 1869; Samuel F. Colt, 1869 to 1870; J.Crane, November, 
1870 ; Faber Ryllesbv, 1870 to 1875 ; William Bradford, 1876 to 1877 ; 
William Macnab, 1877 to 1879; Howard Cornell, 1879 to 1885; 
Ilalleck Armstrong, one Sunday, 1885 ; S. F. Colt, seven Sundays ; 
Walter B. Thomas, nineteen Sundays; T.Pierce, 1885 to 1886; T. P. 
Thomas, 1886 to 1887. In December 1887 the present pastor, Francis 
E. Besley was installed. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The First Preshyte^'ian Church of Towanda was an off-shoot from 
the church of Wysox. In 1821, thirty-eight were added to its com- 
munion. A number of these were living on the west side of the river, 
October 25, 1825, and constituted into a separate organization. The 
following were members: Rufus Foster, John Fox, John B. Hinman, 
Abraham Foster, Samuel Cranmer, Clark E. Conley, Ephraim Ladd, 
Lydia Scott, Hannah Taylor, Mary Fox, Sally Foster, Eley Ridgway, 
Deantha Gilson, Selina Powell, Weltha Hale, Lois Ladd. In 1829 the 
number of members had increased to twenty-seven. The church strug- 
gled against great opposition until the winter of 1831 ; thirt3^-four were 
soon added. Up to 1833 the church had had no regular pastor. In 
September of that year Rev. Oscar Harris became pastor. In 1834 
there was not a church edifice in Towanda. In 1835 the church was 
completed and opened for worship, and twenty persons were received 
into the communion. Mr. Foster continued a pastor of the church 
until his death, January 16, 1865. Under Mr. Harris's pastorate, the 
building was enlarged. He resigned in January, 1870, and in much of 
that year Dr. John S. Stewart, the present incumbent, was installed. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, Towanda, was incorporated 
1838. Trustees: William Watkins, E. R. Utter, Nelson P.Brown, 
Silas Noble, William Elwell, John E. Geiger, James P. Bull, Burton 
Kingsbury, George H. Bull. The church building was erected in 
1837. Prior to that tiuie, the few members of tlie society worshiped 
in private dwellings, in the court-house or school-house. Present pas- 
tor is Rev. W. H. S. Hermans. In 1869 the church edifice was rebuilt 
and enlarged. 

Christ Church. — Rev. Samuel T. Lord held occasional services 
during the autumn of 1833 in Towanda, and in December began to 
officiate here regularlv. Services held for a shoi't time in the court- 
house, then for a few years in tlie "fire-proof" Avhere they also held 
their Sabbath-school, M. C Mercur, O. D. Bartlett and 'Miss Mary 



HISTORY OF BRADFOED COUKTY. 359 

Woodruff being the teachers. Mrs. Geo. Wansey, Mrs. Chas. Toucey, 
Mrs. Noah Spakhng and Mrs. Geo. Watson, formed a part of the 
original class, and Antes Snyder, Wm. B. Foster, Jr., and Abraham 
Goodwin were prominent members of the church in its early days. In 
1888-90 was built the splendid stone church, the finest in the city. It 
stands immediately south of the old building lot. Old building torn 
down in 1891. December 20, 1841, the court granted a charter under 
the name of '' Christ's Church," to Wm. B. Foster, Jr., O. D. Bartlett, 
Abraham Goodwin, JohnN. Weston, C. L. Ward, M. C. Mercur, David 
Wilmot, and their successors. In 1842 the church was completed and 
an organ purchased, and Rev. George Watson became rector, and in 
1844 the church was admitted into union with the convention. In 1849 
the building was altered and enlarged and a bell purchased. Durino- 
1853-54 funds were raised by the congregation and a rectory built. 
Asa S. Colton, 1845; Robert j\ Parvin, 1847; Benj. J. Doudas, 1850 ; 
Francis D. Hoskins, 1866 ; William McGlathery, 1870 ; Chas. E. Mc- 
Ilvaine, 1873. John S. 13eers became rector and was succeeded bv 
Rev. E. A. Enos, who severed his connection in the autumn of 1885. 
Present pastor is Rev. W. E. Daw. The number of communicants is 
about 175. 

Catholic- — The first Catholic service held in this countv was 
at Asylum, during the existence of the French Colony there, 
continuing about five years, from 1794 to 1799. In 1821 the settle- 
ment of Irish people holding the Catholic religion was begun at Silver 
Lake, in Susquehanna county. Rev. Henry Fitzsimmons was appointed 
to this mission in 1836. He visited Troy, Canton, Ridgebury, Athens, 
and Towanda, celebrating mass and administering the sacraments to 
the faithful who began to locate in considerable numbers along the 
line. Father O'Reilly gathered the followers of the church at Towanda, 
and held services in various places until 1841, when he and his cono-re- 
gation erected a plain wooden church edifice on the site of the present 
church in Towanda village. When work upon the canal suspended, 
he advised his parishioners, who had been thrown out of employment, 
to move back into the township where the land was cheap, purchase 
farms and become permanent citizens. In accordance with this 
advice, little settlements of Irish people were formed in various parts 
of the county and have become quite as prosperous as any about them. 
Father O'Reilly was relieved from his duties here by his own request 
and was succeeded by Rev. Basil A. Shorb, who was followed by Rev. 
Ahearn and he by Father Doherty, who was succeeded by the Fran- 
ciscan fathers. After them Rev. Patrick Toner had charge of the 
field; during his administration, in 1869, the old wooden church was 
taken down, and the present elegant brick Gothic structure erected on 
Third street ; is one of the handsomest churcii edifices in Towanda, 
and was finished under the excellent management of Father Kelly, 
present pastor, and dedicated as " Saints Peter and Paul's," December 
14, 1879. In connection with the church is a cemetery in North 
Towanda, which was consecrated May 24, 1883; and also a school 
taught by the " Sisters of Mercy." Rev. Charles F. Kelly succeeded 



360 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

Eev. Mr. Toner as pastor, February 11, 1876. The number of Catho- 
lics in the parish is about 4,000. 

Toioanda Baptist Church.— In 1841 Rev. G. M. Spratt commenced 
hibor in Towanda church; after a few months, measures were taken by 
Isaac Carey and Rev. Spratt to build a house of worsiiip, assisted by 
James Elliott, then living in Ulster. In February, 1843, twelve persons 
from Ulster were united with the little band at Towanda — James Elliott 
and wife being among the number. The two churches, Monroe and 
Towanda, were known as one, the Towanda being a branch and hold- 
ino- its own covenant or church meetings. The earliest record of the 
church occupying its new house of worship was March 1st, 1845. In 
1845 Rev. G.M. Spratt, D. D., resigned his pastorate, and Jesse B. Sax- 
ton became pastor of the Monroe and Towanda Church. October, 1846, 
a council dismissed 30 members for the purpose from the Monroe and 
Towanda Church as a regular and independent Baptist. On October 
31st, 1846, James Elliott and Edwin Ilurllnirt were elected deacons of 
the new church. Rev. Jesse B. Saxton resigned the pastorate April 1st, 
1847, when Rev. G. W. Stone was called to the pastorate, serving about 
a year and six months. In 1850, Rev. Jacob Kennedy became ])astor 
for one vear. The church was without a pastor from April, 1851, till 
April, 1854, at which time Rev. J. R. Morris became pastor for the 
space of one year. In June, 1856, Rev. William Sym, D. D., an Eng- 
lishman, became pastor, serving till the fall of 1858. The church was 
now without a pastor till July,'l850, when Rev. Increase Child became 
its pastor, and served until October, 1861. The church at this time 
numbered 49 members. Rev. S. G. Keim became pastor April, 1863, 
and served one year. October 1st, 1865, Rev. Robert Dunlap became 
pastor, remaining till September, 1868. Rev. S. J. Lusk pastor in 
1869 to 1874. In 1876 Rev. T. A. Edwards became pastor, and in 1880 
Rev. Charles T. Hollo well became pastor of the little church, at this 
time reduced to thirty members. Their number more than doubled 
during his pastorate, Vhich closed in 1884. The church was without 
preaching services for most of the time till November, 1885. Rev. G. 
II. Trapp became pastor in 1885. Present pastor is S. M. Hendricks. 
The Universalists.—VvxoY to 1866 the Universalists had no regular 
church organization at Towanda. However, they had regular preach- 
ing for several years. Among their first ministers may be mentioned 
G°S. Ames, Mr. Andrews, S. J. Gibson, Wm. M. Delong. In 1866, 
C. S. Russell, Alien McKean, G. F. Mason, Dr. E. H. Mason and W. 
II. Shaw obtained a charter of incorporation of an organization to be 
styled the " First Universalist Society of Towanda."' Church edifice 
erected on Second street in 1876-77, as the " Church of the Messiah." 
The erection of the temple of worship was largely due to the efforts 
of Rev. G. J. Porter, who was succeeded in 1879 by Dr. Wm. Taylor, 
and he in turn by Dr. H. R. Nye ; succeeded by Rev. Anson Titus, 
resigned in 1891. The church numbers 101 members. 

African M. E. i.'Jiurch.~T\\(i first colored minister to Towanda 
was Thomas Jackson (Bethel), of Montrose, who began coming thereto 
about 1851-52. Their wooden church edifice was built in 1854. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COtTNTY. 361 

ATHENS CHURCHES. 

Episcopalian. — Trinity Church, of Athens, was organized in 1843, 
and the church was built in 1862. Previous to this they had a wooden 
church, which was destroyed by fire. Among the rectors of the par- 
ish have been tlie Ilevs. Watson, French, Harding, Nock, Rosemiller, 
Hooper, Barker and Cross. The present rector is Rev. S. M. Wren. 

Methodists. — In 1832 a " class " was organized and circuit-preaching 
established. Charles M. Harst and Esther Saltmarsh were members 
of the first " class," Chester Park and his famil}^ joining soon after. 
From the organization of the class until 1842, services were held in the 
Academy building. The first church was dedicated in 1844 and was 
located on Chemung street. This church was burned in 1851, and in 
1852 another churcli was erected on the same site. In 1884 the brick 
edifice known as the "Bethel M. E. Church," was built. This they 
now occupy, and George A. Place is present pastor. 

Presbyterian. — This church was organized as a Congressional Church 
in 1812, with twenty-two members, but changed to Presb\'terian in 
1823. It w^as divided in 1858, one part becoming a Reformed Dutch 
Church, with eighty-one followers. After the reunion of the old and 
new school churches in 1865), the Athens Church voted to again become 
Presbyterian, and was received under the care of the Presbytery of 
Lackawanna in 1871. The first church building was erected in 1827 
and was burned in 1861. The second building was of brick and was 
built in 1863; that also burned, in 1879. The i)resent brick edifice was 
erected on the site of the other buildings and was dedicated in 1881. 

Catholic— TJ\) to the year 1865 Catholic congregations of Athens 
and liidgebury were served from Towanda, small frame buildings 
having been erected for church purposes. Rev. John O'Mally was in 
pastoral charge of Athens and Ridgebury until 1865. His successors 
to 1875 were Rev. E. A. Garvey and Rev. James Loughran. During 
the pastoral charge of Rev. John Costello, next in succession, the 
church in Athens was rebuilt and enlarged ;a pastoral residence pur- 
chased, and a cemetery established mid-way between Athens and 
Waverly. St. John's church was built in 1876 in South Waverly. 
The church of the Epiphany of Sayre, was built in 1889. Father Cos- 
tello resigned the pastoral charge of Athens and Ridgebury, and re- 
moved to Sayre, where he at present resides. The name of tlie clergy- 
man appointed to succeed him in Athens is Rev. James Moffat. 

SAYRE CHURCHES. 

Baptist.—''^ The First Baptist Church of Sayre" was organized in 
1886, with 35 members. Tliepr-esent pastor is Rev. O. R. McKay. 

Episcopal.— ^^ Church of the Hedeemev^^ is the oldest religious or- 
ganization in Sayre and was established in 1877. The first members 
were : Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Babcock, Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Thomas, Mr. 
and Mrs. G. K. Dietrick, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Carey, Mr, R. A. Packer, 
Mr. Chas. C. Burns, Mrs. L. K Warren, Mrs. J. Daniels, Mr. J. E. 
Babcock, Mr. J. N. Bishop, Mr. II. H. Hamilton, Mr. H. G. Spalding 
and Mr. J. B. McCall. A railroad restaurant was transformed into a 
church building and enlarged in 1888. The present stone church was 
consecrated in 1889. Rev. Chas. M. Carr, rector. 



362 HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUKTY. 

Methodist. — The first Methodist Episcopal Church of Say re, was 
organized in 1875. R. M. Ilove}^ W. 11. Flory, John Lamont, George 
Kear were active promoters of its early organization. Stephen Jay is 
the present pastor. 

St. Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church. — This was establislied in 
1890, with 34 members. They rented a building, for church purposes, 
of the Episcopalians; but the next year they built a building of their 
own, which they now occupy. 

PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Wysox Church. — Tlie earliest records now to be found of church 
matters are dated October 8, 1791. A church was organized in Wysox, 
consisting of foui'teen members. The next church organized was that 
of Wyalusing, in 1793. The minister presiding was the Rev. Ira Con- 
dit. Tliis church, it is believed, was the first regularly organized Pres- 
byterian Church in Northern Pennsylvania. The meeting was held at 
the mouth of the W\'alusing creek, where now stands the Second 
Presbyterian Church of Wyalusing. In 1809 it became a Congrega- 
tional Church ; but in March, 1831, it again took the Presbyterian 
I'orm, which it has ever since retained. 

Smithfield. — The next church organized was that of Smithfield. 
This was of the Congregational form, organized in Poultney, 
Yermont, in February, 1801. The first sermon preached to this church 
was in 1802, by the Rev. James Wood. 

Orwell. — The next was the church of Orwell, organized October 
10, 1804, by Seth Williston and James Woodward. The Association met 
in Orwell, January 14th, 1814. Here the name of John Bascom appears 
on the records, and a committee was appointed to install him over 
the church of Smithfield, and also to install William Wisner over the 
church of Athens. February 15, 1816, the church of Pike first 
appears on the roll. The members living in Pike had previously 
belonged to the church of Orwell. Indeed, up to this time, Orwell had 
been the only church in that section of what is now Bradford county. 
September 5, 1815, however, a few months before the church of Pike 
was added to the Association, the Rev. Salmon King and the Rev. John 
Bascom organized a church in Warren, consisting of 8 members, 3 men 
and 5 women, and called it the church of Warren and Orwell. By 
the fall meeting of 1817, Rev. John Bascom had been dismissed from 
the church of Smithfield, and Mr. Wisner from Athens ; both, as the 
record states, for want of su])port. 

There does not appear to have been a single church in the so-called 
Susquehanna Presbytery that'had the Presbyterian form ; Wyalusing 
Church laid aside the Presbyterian form as early as 1809. We find no 
Presbyterian Church in the body till March 3, 1821, when the Rev. 
Manasseh Miner York and the Rev. Simeon R. Jones organized one 
with the Presbyterian form in full, in the township of Wells, Bradford 
county, Pa. Church meetings were often held in barns, although there 
seems to have been some sort of house of worship before this in Wysox. 
Sometimes the people in Wysox met those of Towanda at a half-way 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 363 

place ; this half-way place was Mr. Means' barn on the Wysox side of 
the Susquehanna. 

In 1831 the following churches were in the county : Wyalusing, 
Orwell, Warren, Wysox, Eraintrini, Wintlham, Athens, Smithfieki, 
Wells. 

HERRICK CHURCHES. 

Keen Summit Union Church., of IJerrick, was erected in 1883-84. 
The first board of trustees were : John Frutchey, John A. Keen, John 
Yought, Mrs. T. S. Limd v and Jacob Schoonover. The first meeting was 
held October 15, 1884. Rev. N. F. DeWitt (Methodist) preached until 
the spring of 1886. He was succeeded by the Rev. E. P. Eldridge, who 
remained until 1889, since which time they have had no regular 
pastor. The first religious services in the township were at Daniel 
Durand's house, about 1832, by Calvanistic Baptists, then at the old log 
school-house. The next services were by Episcopal Methodists in the 
Spring school-house, Rev. Edmund Fairchild officiating. Baptist 
meetings were held in the old log school-house, which stood on the site 
of the present Camp District school-house. Among the more prominent 
members were Isaac L. Cam]> and wife, Joseph Camp and wife, and 
Harry Wells and wife. They afterward changed to the Ballibay school- 
house, where they still hold meetings. It is claimed that this society 
was organized prior to 1838, and was the first regular Baptist organiza- 
tion in the township. Among their pastors can be recalled Elder Bixby, 
Rev. Parker and the Rev. Dr. l^aldwin. In 1845 they organized a 
Presbyterian society in Ilerrick, with the Rev. Samuel F. Colt as pastor, 
who also preached in the Merryall chui'ch, and from which were taken 
letters to effect a formation of the Herrick Society. First meetings in 
the school buikling which stood on the site of the present Ilerrick 
Presbyterian Church which w^as built in 1858, previous to Mr. Colt's 
ministry. Rev. Charles Huntington had preached to the Merryall 
charge, with occasional services at Ilerrick. After the present church 
was erected, about 1859, Rev. Darwin Cook took charge, and con- 
tinued to the present. In 1858 they had a membership of about thirty- 
five. 

The Baj)tist Church of Christ, at Grover, Avas organized in 1872 
under the supervision of Elder S. H. Durand. The first members 
were Edward Yermelya, David Scudder, Lewis Garrison, Luther 
Bellows and wife, Mary E. Knapp, Maria Ivelley, Anna Shadock, 
Lurinda Wright, Meriett Dickerson and Anna Williams. The congre- 
gation now numbers twenty-two members. 

The Catholic Church at Commisky, in Wilmot township, was built 
and dedicated in 1890. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, on the Payne road in Wilmot 
township, was built in 1890. 

The Presbyterian Church at Ulster Avas completed in 1890. Rev. 
E. O. Gondii ng, pastor. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Hickory Ridge, in Burlington 
township, was recently completed. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Moore's Hill was completed in 
1889, served by Rev. E. O. Goodling. 



364 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Burlington M. E. Chuj'ch was organized late in the last century. 
Among the first settlers on Sugar creek in 1791 were William Dobbins 
and James McKean. 

Le Raysville M. E. Ghtirch was the old Pike charge, which had 
been separated from W\^alusing in 1832, the name having been changed 
in 1850, The first parsonage in all this territory was built within the 
bounds of this charge in 1815 or 1816, about half a mile above Stev- 
ensville. It has societies in Le Kaysville, Prattville, and South War- 
ren, and at each of these places a house of worsliip. 

Rome Methodi.<<t Charge was set off in 1853. They have a fine 
church building, which was erected in 1850. There are societies at 
Rome, Towner Hill, Myersburg, and Pond. At Myersburg there is a 
good church building. 

Orwell M. E. Church was dedicated March 22, 1839, and Avas the 
first built by the Methodists in the territory, and was regarded as a 
very im]wrtant enterjirise. 

Litchfield was made a distinct charge in 1851 and has two churches 
and a parsonage. It is connected with the Owego district. 

Windham was set off in 1856. It reports 280 members, one church 
building, and one parsonage. 

Hornbrook was made a separate field in 1869, and w^as attached to 
Owego district until 1872, when it was transferred to Wyalusing. 
They have a pleasant house of worsliip at Hornbrook, and another at 
Ghent. There are societies at both these places, and also at Gillett. 

Ilerrick was erected into a distinct field of labor in 1870, and P. R. 
Tower was appointed its first pastor. It has societies at Herrick, 
East Herrick, Camptown, Lime Hill, and Standing Stone. At the lat- 
ter place is the only church building on the charge. There is a par- 
sonage at Camptown. 

There are in eastern Bradford nineteen church buildings and eight 
parsonages, and a membership of about 1,800 persons. 

Church at Terrytoion. — The fir-st Presbyterian Churchy of Asylum, 
now Terry, was organized August 24, 1842, with ten members. In Feb- 
ruary, 1844, the membership had increased to thirty-two, of whom 
nearly one-half resided in Herrick. Their Herrick members were con- 
stituted a church February 26, 1844. There were twelve of them. 
They maintained a separate existence until 1855, when the remnant of 
them was received into the Herrick Presbyterian Church. A reorgan- 
ization took place October 8, 1863, under the supervision of a com- 
mittee of Susquehanna presbytery, and the church was taken under 
the care of the presbytery. The Rev. David Craft, who had supplied 
the church since September, 1861, was installed pastor March 1, 1866. 
Dr. George F. Horton and William Gamble were elders. The present 
membership is about fifty. 

The Second Preshyterian Church in M^'ysox grew out of a secession 
from the old church. The exscinding act ot 1837 afforded a pretext for 
uniting with the presbytery of Montrose. In 1857-58 they built a snug 
little church. Rev. H. J. Crane became the pastor in 1860, and con- 
tinued to be until the presbytery united the two branches. 

The Reformed Presbyterian Chivrch of Ulster was organized May 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 365 

18, 1855, with twenty-six members, but, a short time after, twenty-five 
more were added to the number. The Rev. Robert Stevenson was 
installed pastor of the churcli July 11, 18G1. Soon after their organi- 
zation they erected a house of worship, and also a comfortable 
parsonage. 

Ballibay Congregation {Covenanters). — Organized in 1832. 

The Chtirch of IlerricJi. — In June, 1849, an organization was 
effected at Herrickville, consisting of eight members, with Abel Bolles 
and Lyman Bronson ruling elders. In 1858 a comfortable church 
edifice was erected. Rev. D. Cook. 

The Preshyterian Church at Monroeton was organized Nov. 25, 
1851, with twenty-five members, all of whom had been members of 
the Presb\'terian Church at Towanda. 

Stevensville Chtirch was dedicated October 3, 1858. February 2, 
1860, thirty persons, members of the old Wyalusing Presbyterian 
Church, were organized into the Presbj^erian Church of Stevensville, 
in which Hiram Stevens, Myron Stevens and Henry A. Ross were 
chosen the elders, and Rev. D. Cook was installed pastor. 

Barclay Church. — Organized December 26, 1866 ; twenty-four 
persons were constituted a Church. Messrs. Muir, Huntington and 
Turner were ordained elders ; William and John Ditchburn and D. 
Short were chosen deacons. 

Rome Church was organized April 17, 1814. The Church thus 
constituted consisted of ten members, of whom Bazaleel Gates and 
Solomon Spalding were ordained elders. The Rev. John Ivison was 
the first stated supply, and Rev. S. H. Hazard succeeded him. A 
house of worship dedicated February 3, 1846. 

Church of Orioell and Warren was organized September 5, 1815, 
as a Congregational Church, by Rev. John Bascom and Rev. Salmon 
King, with eight members. At January, 1819, the number had 
increased to thirty-three, with Levi Frisbie and Parley Coburn as 
deacons, and Mr. King as pastor; changed its form of government to 
the Presbyterian, April 3, 1824, at Orwell, and Anson Collins, Chaun- 
cy Frisbie, Uri Cook, Milton Humphrey, Amos Coburn, and Nathan 
Young were chosen elders, and ordained April 15. The church divided 
December 18, 1827, and the portion of the membership residing in 
Warren, eighteen in number, were organized into a separate churcli, 
with Parle}^ Coburn as both deacon and elder, and Moses Coburn, 
Nathan Young, and Aaron Corbin ruling elders, and were henceforth 
known as the Church of Warren. 

The Church of Orwell, on the Ridge road, between the hill and 
Potterville, having become dilapidated, the congregation determined 
to erect a new house of worship, and the place selected was on the hill. 
At this a minority of the church took offense, and twenty-three seceded 
to form the Congregational Church of Potterville. They have a good 
church building, which is pleasantly situated. 

The Church of Wells and Columhia.. — February 22, 1832, a com- 
mittee from the Presbytery of Bath organized the church, which took 
the name of the Church of Wells and Columbia, with fifteen members. 
This was the successor of the old church of Wells. They have a house 



366 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of worship, erected in 1839, and at the last report there was a member- 
ship of thirt\^-six souls. 

Orivell Presbyterian Clmrch was organized October 10, 1804, by 
Seth Williston and James Woodward, and consisted of nine members. 
This church subsequently became centered at Le Raysville, and is 
now known as the Congregational Church of Pike. 

The first class or society of Methodists in Monroeton was organized 
in the early part of this centur3^ The leading spirit in this was Father 
Cole. There are two houses" of worship in Monroeton. 

The Methodist Episcopal Churxh^ at Ulster was built in 1854. 
Since tiien there has been a parsonage built upon the church, and a 
church at Milan. There are three preaching places on the charge, viz : 
Ulster, Milan, and Moore's Hill. 

East Troy Methodist Episcopal Church.— ThevQ is a church here of 
108 members, which has two cluirch edifices, one at East Troy and the 
other in Columbia. 

Liberty Corners and Asylum, Methodist Episcopal Church is a 
strong field, and at present in the care of Kev. M. G. Kj^mer. At 
Liberty Corners, or Hoi Ion Hill, is a church and parsonage, and at 
Asylum is a very neat building. The property, altogether, is estimated 
at $7,800; the membership is 153. 

The MetJwdist Episcopal Church at Albany has a membership of 
102, and whose two churches are valued at $3,000. 

The Methodists Imve a church at Wilmot, covering the townships of 
Wilmot and Terry. There are eight or nine appointments on the 
charge. They have a parsonage at Terrytown. The Springfield 
charge has 142 members, have two church buildings and parsonage, 
and at Wells are two houses of worship and a parsonage. 

Lutheran Church. — Is near the county south line, organized and 
church built in 1850, with 30 members, with Mr. Erie as pastor, John 
George Eberlin, Sr., elder, and Thomas Messersmith and Jacob 
Eberlin, Sr., deacons. The congregation, though purely Lutheran in 
form and doctrine, is called a union church, as either a Lutheran or 
German reformed ])reacher is allowed to occupy the pulpit, to the 
exclusion of all others, except in case of funerals. In. 1874, a neat 
framed church, thirty by fifty feet, has superseded the old log edifice. 
The church building is in this county, and the members of the congre- 
gation reside in both counties. 

Ufii'versalists. — Have a nice church in Towanda, at Athens ; one 
in Springfield township ; at one time had an edifice in Monroe, one at 
Standing Stone and Orwell Hill. The only clergyman is in charge of 
the Athens Church. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 369 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SOCIETIES. 

Commencing Back in the Other Century — Kapid Increase in the 
Last Few Years — Etc. 

ONE of the oldest lodges in Northern Penns\dvania is Eural Amity 
Lodge, No. TO, F. vfc A. M., Athens, established by \A^arrant, July 
6, 1796. This was then Luzerne county, and lodges were established 
as follows: No. 108 at Wysox and Orwell, in 1808, and now in 
Towanda. The day named, the Grand Council of Philadelphia 
issued a warrant allowing it constituted as folloAvs: Arnold Colt, mas- 
ter; Stephen Hopkins, senioi" warden, and Ira Stevens, junior warden. 
The following is a list of the members of llural Amity Lodge, No. TO, 
who had been made Masons in Union Lodge, Newtown, previous to its 
organization : Capt. Ira Stephens, Maj. Elisha Satterlee, Gen. Simon 
Spalding, Cob John Spalding, Wm. Witter Spalding, Col. Jos. Kings- 
bury, John Shepard, Esq., David Paine and Isaac Cash, Rev. Noah Mur- 
ra}^ Rev. Moses Park and Stephen Hopkins. 

Dr. Stephen Hojikins came to Tioga Point, in 1790, from Morris 
county, N. J., was long and well-known to the citizens of this valley, 
and his descendants still reside amongst us. The first Masonic record 
we find of him is in the minutes of the sixteenth meeting of Newtown 
Lodge, February 17, 1794, where he is recorded as a mend^er. In 
1800, he was made master of Lodge No. 70, and afterward was a hard 
worker for the success of the Lodge; was made a Royal Arch Mason in 
Athens, January 21, 1813, an honorary member in 1820, and died at 
Athens, March 21, 1841. Clement Paine was appointed seci'etary, 
Maj. Elisha Sattei'lee, treasurer; Joseph Kingsbury, senior deacon; 
John Hutchinson, junior deacon: John Spalding, tyler. There were 
present, Gen. Simon Spalding, Chester I>ingham, John Sliepard, Col. 
David Pixley, Benjamin Wynkoop, William Witter Spalding, fourteen 
in all, who, by mutual assent became the original or charter memljers 
of the lodge. 

Capt. Ira Stephens was a soldier of the Revolution, his certiticate 
of honorable discharge, at the closing of the war, was signed by Gen- 
eral Washington. He was the father of Chester Stephens, also of 
the late Ira 11. Stephens, of Towanda. Was made a Mason in New- 
town Lodge, February 24. 1794 ; was killed by a desperado in Angelica, 
N. Y., September 19, 180.3, where he was buried with Masonic honors. 

Clement Paine was born in Eastiiam, Mass., August 11, 1769; came 
to Tioga, Point in 1794. He was a ))rominent merchant and citizen of 
this place till his old age. He delivered the first address before the 
Lodge at their h)-st celebration of St. John's Day, December 27, 1798. 
He went to Troy, Bradford countv, in 184.5, to reside with his son, and 
died there, March 1, 1849. 

20 



;)70 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Maj. Elisha Satterlee was made a Mason in Newtown Lodge, Feb- 
ruaiy 24, 1794, and a Mark Master Mason, at Tioga Point, in I8O9. 
He was the father of John F. Satterlee, and the grandfather of John 
F. Satterlee, Jr. Died at Athens, August 24. 1826, aged sixt^'-six years, 
and was buried with Masonic honors by the Lodge. 

Gen. Simon Spakhng was a resident of Sheshequin, where he had 
settled in 1783. He is well known in the history of W\'oming, as he 
held a captain's commission in troops raised for both Hartley's and 
Sullivan's expedition, in each of which he bore a part. He took the 
first step in Masonry in the Lodge at Newtown, June 23, 1794, but 
his second and third degrees in No. 70, March, 1799. He was born in 
Plainfield, Conn., 1741, and died at Sheshequin, January 24, 1814. 
Capt. John Spalding was a son of Gen. Simon Spalding and was 
initiated into the mysteries of Masonry at the same time and place 
with his father. 

Wm. Witter Spalding was initiated at Newtown, June 23, 1794, 
Avas admitted a member of No. 70, May 21, 1798. He was grand- 
father of Maj. A. Hanson Spalding, late sheriff of Bradford county. 
Benjamin Wynkoop resided at Tioga Point at the date of organi- 
zation of the Lodge. Was a silversmith by trade. He had been made 
a Mason previous to his settling here, and was admitted as charter 
member of the Lodge. 

At the re-organization of No. 70, under its old charter, n November, 

1846, the following named were its charter members : JosephKing- 
bury, Simon Spalding, John Spalding, Zephon Flowers, Dan Elwell, 
Ebenezer Shaw, J. F. Satterlee, Sr., Chester Stephens, Edward Iler- 
rick, Thos. T. Huston, Ab'm Minier, C. Matthewson, Francis Tyler, 
Charles Comstock, W. H. Overton, S. S. Bailey, Ira H. Stephens, Guy 
Tozer, Harve}'^ Beach, Samuel Huston, Thomas W. Hill, Wm. Hall, 
Wm. Kiff, A. P. Spalding. Also, Harvey Gore, Patrick Conroy, N. 
J. LeDioyt, H. T. McGeorge, Wm. Kendall, Jos. G. Wilkinson and 
Asahel Buck. 

List of masters of Rural Amity Lodge: 1798, Arnold Colt; 
1799. Joseph Kingsburv ; 1800, Stephen 'Hopkins ; 1801, Joseph 
Kingsburv: 1810, Elisha Satterlee; 1811, Solomon Everts; 1812, 
Joseph Kingsburv : 1816, John F. Satterlee ; 1818, Thomas T. Huston ; 
1822, Eb. Backus; 1823, Asahel Buck ; 1824, Joseph Kingsbury ; 1828; 
John F. Satterlee; 1829, Samuel Huston; 1839, Charles Comstock ; 

1847, John F. Satterlee; 1849, Harvev Beech; 1851. WaH'r Olmsted, 
1852. Fred S. Hovt ; 1856, Sidnev Hayden ; 1858, Henrv McKinney, 
1859, Sidney Havden ; 1860, H. C. Baird ; 1862, Sidney Havden ; 1865; 
Henrv McKinneV; 1867, A. H. Seward; 1868, W. H. Mathewson ; 
1869,"E. Herrick.^ Jr. ; 1872, Joseph M. Ely, Jr. ; 1873, E. Herrick, Jr. ; 
1874. Joseph M. Ely, Jr. ; 1875, E. P. Allen ; 1876, F. S. Morlev ; 1877, 
H. C. Hayes; 1878, George E. Davis; 1879, F. M. Wells; 1880, D. 
W. Tripp'. The present officers are: F. T. Sairs, W. M. ; Charles 
Brown, S. W. ; Clarence W. Peck, J. W. ; *Job Griffin, treasurer ; 
George E. Davis, secretary. Present membership, 125. 

A. F. (& A. M. — Union Lodge, No. 108, Towanda, wa: chartered 
March 7th, 1807, and was instituted April 3rd following, by Joseph 



HISTOJIY OF HKADFORD COUNTY. 371 

Kingsbury, at the house of Amos Mix, in Wysox, with the following- 
officers : Horatio Grant, W. M.; Amos Mix, S. W.; Ebenezer Tuttle, 
J. W.; Josiah Grant, Treas.; Geo. Scott, Sec; William Mver, steward ; 
Cy p. Grant, S. D.; William B.Whitney, J. D.; William B.Foster, 
tiler. As set forth in the charter, the meetings of the Lodge were to 
be held alternately in the townships of Orwell and Wysox. This 
arrangement was observed till about 1815-1(», when the house of 
William Myer in Wysox was selected as the place of meeting, and 
continued as such until 1829. Owing to the anti-Masonic movements at 
this time, the Lodge only met on rare occasions till November 14, 1839, 
when a meeting was held at the house of William Myer, and the 
Lodge thoroughly and energetically revived. Since that time its meet- 
ings have been continuous. In December, 1839. the scene of its hibors 
was changed to Towanda, where its meetings were at first held in the 
old " Fire Proof,'' and since 1856-57 in the Kingsbury block. In 1887 it 
was removed to the Chamberlin block, where it still remains. The 
present officers are : Frank C. McKee, W. M.; John N. Califf, S. W.; 
William H. Minor, J. W.; William Chamberlin, Treas.; James H. 
Codding, Sec. It has a membership of 184. 

Union Royal Arch Chapter^ No. 161. was chartered in 1846. Its 
present officers are: Chas. P. Welles, H. P.; Sam. W. Buck, king; 
John N. Califf, scribe ; William Chamberlin, Treas.; James H. Cod- 
ding, Sec. It has a membership of 129. 

Northern Commandery, No. 16, was chartered in 1856. The pres- 
ent officers are : E. C, S. W. Buck ; Gen., T. B. Johnson ; C. G., L. 
E. Frost ; Treas.. Wm. Chaml)erlin ; Sec'y, Jas. H. Codding. 

Mt. Moi'iah Lodge, No. 150, F. d^ A. M., Troy, was chartei-ed 
in 1817, with Ezra Long as first master. Tliis was the third Lodge 
chartered in Bradford county. The members of this Lodge in 1823 
were as follows : Ezra Long, Stephen Fowler, James Long. Jolm 
Calkins, Howard Spalding, John Barber, Elikin Case, Charles Taylor, 
Reuben Smead, Daniel A. Balcon, John B. Murphy, Churchill Barnes, 
Jacob Carter, Seth Rowley, William Gernert, Joshua G. Landon. 
Wilbur Reuben, Vine Baldwin, Cauklin Baker. William White. Francis 
Mead, Oliver Besley, Nath. Blakesley, Iloyt Ballord. Harvey Park- 
hurst, Lera Dodge, Alex. Hughes, Griffin iJailey, William Pratt, 
Erastus Lillibridge, Richard Comfort, Amos Strickland, Sylvester 
Streeter, Asa Pratt. The officers in 1824 were Eliker Case, W. M.; 
Charles Taylor, S. W.; John Barber, J. W.; Jacob Carber, Sec; Reuben 
Smead, Treas. About this time they held their meetings at Vail 
Baldwin's hcjusein Troy township, on the old Porter road, two miles out 
of the borough. It was kept up till July 16, 1823, and here the records 
seem to be lost. That the Order was still in existence is evidenced bv 
a letter addressed to Howard Spalding, W. M. of Mt. Moriah Lodge,, 
also a letter addressed to Churchill Barnes, Sec, dated December 14, 
1824. In 1826, five members were added to the list, viz.: William 
Garnert, Ezra Lamhm, James Lukist, Charles Salsbury, William S. 
Ingles. The Lodge, it is su])posed, surrendered its charter in 1827. 
after whj,ch it was again revived ; it then surrendered its charter a, 
second time, in 1837, during the Morgan excitement. The charter 



372 HISTORY OF BKADFORl) COUNTY. 

members of this Lodge are supposed to have revived the Lodge June 25, 
1857, under the name of the Trojan Lodge, No. 306, at Canton. The 
following are the charter members: D. Perry Elliott, David Babcock, 
Newton Landon, Warren Landon, Andrew E. Watts, William W. Whit- 
man. Present officers are: Isaac Cleaver, W. M.; Robert C. Kenchill, Sec. 

Trojan Lodge, No 306. — Tlie following are the officers for 1891 : 
Isaac Cleaver, 'W. M.; Milton O. Loomis, S. W.; J. T. McCollom, J. 
W.; Edward VanDine, Treas.; liobt. C. Kendall, Sec; Daniel Fleisher, 
S. D.; Dr. G. W. Gregorv, J. D.; P>ed Tavlor, S. M. C; Dr. Thomas 
Gamble, J. M. C; Dr. 1^ N. Barker, Purs.^ J. W. Gould, tyler; Pev. 
F. T. Eastment, chaplain. 

Past Masters.— E\\\m Case, 1857-58; Irad Wdson, 1859; R. C. 
Rockwell, 1860-61 ; C. S. McKean, 1862 ; Irad Wilson, 1863-64; Wm. 

C. Kendall, 1865 ; Delas Rockwell, 1866-67-68. 

Canton Commandery was first called Minnequa Commandery, 
organized June 29, 1886, with the following members: Charter mem- 
bers — J. E. Cleveland, W. C. Crippen, Henry J. Benedict, Andrew D. 
Foss, H. Eugene Landon, Almeron Burt, George 11. Webb, M. O. 
Loomis, E. G. Tracey, Ilollister Catlin, Luman Putnam, Jr., T. 
Murray AVatts, V. M. Boiser, A. M. Jewett, William A.. Weaver, 
Charles G. Sayles, Murray Moore, Jno. N. Wolfe, W. W. Whitman, 
Ex. Com.; A. C. Fanning, general; W. L. Selden, captain gen- 
eral; C. E. Stone, G. F. Kinse, Theodore Pierce, Vine H. Baldwin, 
Charles E. Bullock, Mial E. Lilley, Daniel J. Moran, E. L. Manley, 
Warren Landon, Newton Landon, Jno. A. Junes. Daniel Innes, John 
E. Dobbins, Isaac Cleaver, E. J. Hill, J. H. Grant, Liston P»liss, B. B. 
Mitchell, Delos Rockwell, George D. Leonard, J. C. Strait, E. E. Van- 
Dine, J. H. Brown. 

Present officers — Isaac Cleaver, eminent commander; Newton Lan- 
don, generallisimo ; E. Everett Van Dine, captain general ; Theodore 
Pierce, treasurer; Charles E. Bullock, recorder. 

Canton Lodge, Na. J^-IG, F. and A. J/., was chartered March 4, 
1868, with following charter members: D. Perry Elliott, David Babcock, 
Newton Landon, Chas. W. Landon, AVarren. Landon, Andrew E. Watts, 
AVilliam W. AVhitman. The following are the first officers : 

Charles AV. Landon, W. M. ; Warren Landon, S, W. ; William 
AY. AVhitman, J. AA^. ; D. Perry Elliott, Treas. ; Byron W. Clark, 
Sec'y. ; David Babcock, S. D. ; Andrew E. Watts, J. D. , Ebenezer L. 
Manley, S. M. C. ; Simeon P. Barnes, J. M. C. ; Newton Landon, 
pursuivant ; George AV. Tooker, tvler. The present officers are Chas. 

D. Derrah, W M. ; John A. Innes, S. W. ; Willis T. Davison, J. W. ; 
Theo. Pierce, Treas. ; Chas. E. Riggs, Sec. 

Evergreen L^odge^ No. 163, F. cfe A. M., of Monroeton, was organized 
March 1, 1819. The first officers were: Eliphalet Mason, W. M.; Simon 
Kinney, S. W.; Russel Fowler, J. AA^. The ])resent officers are: F. F. 
Lomax, AV. F.; P. E. Allen, socn^tary. The charter was surrendered 
for a short time during the Morgan troubles, but was soon restored. 

Roman Lodge, No. %1S, of Rome, was organized Alarch 9, 1868. The 
present officers'^are: L. R. Browning, W. M.; I. M. Thompson, Sec. 

Smithfield Lodge, No. 1^28, of East Smithfield, was organized Septem- 



c 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKI) COUNTY. 



ber 10, 1868. The present officers are: Geo. M. IJird. W. M.; AVilson 
F. Voorhis, secretary. 

Le Raij Lodge, No. 1^7 1, of Le Ilaysville, was organized June 22, 
1870. The following are the [)ast masters: W. IS. IJeaton, S. AV. 
Little, II. H. Atwocxl, M. E. Warner, II. H. Taylor-, ^\ . II. Darling, 
J. G. Bensley, B. V. Pendleton, S. B. Tapper, W. B. Pciyson, L. A. 
Codding, J. r. Bosworth. The following are the present officers: 
Scott W. Johnson, W. M.; Ilollis II. Atwood, secretai-y ; L. E. Gran- 
ger, S. W.; J. V. Keeler, J. W.; Frank Ikister, treasurer; William 
JDarling, chaplain. Present membershij), 40. 

Athena Sisterhood Branch, No. 586, O. I. II. The officers for 
1891 are: Past chief justice, Mrs. Phebe E. Newhart; chief justice, 
Mrs. Frank Campbell ; vice justice, Mrs. Margaret Stickel ; account- 
ant, Mrs. Ethan Jakeway ; cashier, Mrs. Ada Hodge ; adjuster, Mrs. 
H. F. Johnson ; prelate, Mrs. J. C. Flood; lierald, Mrs. J. L. Elsbree ; 
watchman, Mrs. Linda Lewis ; vidette, Mrs. A. L. Munn ; trustee, 
Mrs. Lueyett Rogers, Mrs. Caroline Kenyon, Mrs. Lizzie Wolcott; 
medical examiner, C. L. Stevens, M. D. 

lioyal Arvarriini, Queen Esther CoiuicU, No. 1153, was organized 
May 10, 1889. Charter members : J. W. Murrell, II. C. Hayes, 
Edward Mills, G. II. Curtis, James B. Maney, Theo. Mullock, Chas. 
T. Hull, II. N. Lowe, Ja,mes Bennett, 1. Loewy, N. V. Weller, Harry 
L. Towner, Elliott M. Frost. The first officers were: J. W. Murrele, 
E.; H. C. Hayes, V. R ; E. Mills, O.; George II. Curtis, P. P.; James B. 
Maney, Sec.;^ T. O. Mullock, Col.; Chas. T. Hull, Treas.; P. N. Lowe, 
chaplain; James Bennett, G.; I. Loewy, W.; Nathan V. Weller, S. 
Present officers: Miles Finch, P.; James F. Dyer, V. G. ; E. Mills, ().; 
James Maney, P. P.; S. Loewy, Sec; D. J. McAffee, Col.; C. T. Hull, 
Treas.; C. L. Stevens, chaplain ; Chas. Ilorton, G.; P. N. Lowe, W.; 
A. P. Palmer, S.; trustees, E. Mills, J. 15. Maney, C. L. Stevens. 

Say re Council, No. 1175, Royal Arcanum, was organized Aug. 3, 
1889, with a charter membership of 19. The present olficers are: C. H. 
Strauss, P. ; Jas. Paub, V. P. ; J. W. Richards, O. ; C. L. Fi'ancisco, P. 
R. ; A. T. Stark, Secy.; Andrew Ilarvie, collector; J. S. Haupt, 
Treas. ;G.W. Brassiugton, chaplain ; J. II. Lynn, guide; F. H. Geiss, 
warden; E. Berger, sentry. Present membership, 2(5. 

Asa Packer Lodge No 156, Order Fraternal Guardians, was 
organized Dec, 30, 1890, with the following officers: W. I. Feed, C. 
G. ; James Adam, Y. G. ; A. P. Krenier, P. C. G. ; Chas. C. "West, 
Sec; W. E. Shipley, cliaplain ; Herman I)olich, guide; E. (). Pealer, 
Treas. 

Sayre Dlvisi(m, No. 380, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
was organized Feb., 12, 1888, with a membership of 12. The first 
officers were: S. D. Scholey, Chief Eng. ; E. A. Vaughn, first 
engineer; E. Dietrick, Sec. Eng.; W. II. Eaton, First Asst. Eng.; G. 
Decker, Sec. Asst. Eng.; L. E. Delaney, Third Asst. Eng.; C. 
Palmer, guide; II. H. Brown, chaplain. Present membership, 65. 

Weaver Lodge, No. 379, B. of L. F., was organized Jan. '29, 1888, 
with a charter membersliip of 12. The chai'ter officers were: E. Car- 
penter, P. M. ; John Durkin, M. ; Dennis Hays, \^. M. ; C. L. Burrows, 



374 HISTOKT OF BRADFORD COUXIY. 

S. ; W. J. Stewart, C. ; E. E. AVelton, K. ; A. C. Burr, M. A. ; Fred 
Brown, W. ; Geo. Kirkland, C. D.; Fred Meeker, I. G. ; J. C. Mc- 
Nerney, O. G. ; W. H. Cowell, C. H. The present officers are: John 
Durkin, B. M. ; W. E. Breston, M. ; Floyd Meeker, V. M. ; James 
Denton, S. ; W. J. Stewart, C. ; Johnson Walt, B. ; H. C. Beam, M. 
A. ; Joseph Hay, W. ; Geo. Kirkland, C. D. ; W. S. Kirk wood, I. G. ; 
John McDonald, O. G. ; H. C. Beam. C. H. 

Alumni Association of the Collegiate Institute. The officers are: 
John W. Codding, A. M., Bres. ; Chas. M. Hornet. Yice Bres. ; Emma 
L. Welles, Sec. ; N. N. Betts, Treas. 

Wysox Pomona Grange, No. 23, P. of II. — Bresident, Louis 
Bioliet; secretary, Dwight Kellum. At a meeting held in Wysox, May 
28, 1891, sixteen granges were represented b}^ delegates. Some of the 
supporters of the Grange are : A. O. Tracy, C. J. Beardsley, F. W. 
Bullock, E. J. Ayres and Albert Cornell. 

The " Golden Cyde^^ or, more properly. The International Frater- 
nal Alliance, of Baltimore, Md., was organized in this county in Jan- 
uary, 1889. D. N. Sargent, of Wellsburgh, N. Y., acting as attorney 
in organizing it. 

Union Agricultural Society, Canton : Bresident, J. H. Brown ; 
vice-president, F. A. Owen ; treasurer, George A. Guernsey ; secretary, 
Charles D. Derrah ; directors, John A. Innes, E. W. Sweet, A. H. 
Spencer. 

Towanda lodge. No. '290, K. of P., was organized in 1871, largely 
through the instrumentality of Bi. S. Clark. At its organization the 
principal officers were: H."^S. Clark, A". B.; H. J. Madill, C. C; G. II. 
Horton, V. C; A. D. Harding, K. of K. S. On the establishment of 
the Order in the county Mr. Clark was appointed District Deputy G. 
C. and held the office for two years. The deputies who have suc- 
ceeded him have been H. J. Madill, O. A. Black, B. F. Crossley, B. 
Benedict, and J. N. Califf, the present incumbent. 

Mountain Cliff Lodge, K. of P., of Barclay, was organized April 8, 
1873. The first officers were, John Kellock, \. B.; F. M. Miner, C. C; 
William Johnson, Y. C; John Noble, K. of K. S. 

Mom-oeton Lodge, No. 2083, K.of 11, was organized March 9, 1&80. 
Has a membership of 33. Bresent officers: Theo. Ackley, D.; C. W. 
Walker, F. K.; J. H. Devore, S. Y. D.; E. B. Young, Treas.; O. H. 
Bockwell, Sec. 

TJUter Lodge, No. 2057, K of 11, was organized February 19, 1880. 
The first officers were: James Mather, B. D.; James Irving, D.; J. 
F. Ammerman, Y. D.; W. R. Weller, A. D.; E. F. Messerem, R. The 
present officers are: C. C. Geotchins, D.; W. W. Easterbrook, A. D.; 
James Kane, R.; J. Q. Sullivan, F. N. R. Bresent membership is ten. 

Bradford Encamjwient, No. LI, I. O. 0. F., at Towanda, was 
chartered June 22, 1846. The following were the charter officers: 
William H. Strickland, C. B. ; D. C. Salisbury, H. B.; E. W. Morgan, 
S. W.; G. F. Mason, J. W.; I. H. Stephens, scribe. The Society was 
reorganized Aug. 26, 1872. The present officers are: F. J. Kingslev, 
C. B. ; O. L. Stevens, H. B. ; E. E. Walters, S W.; J. O. Baker, J. W.; 
J. W. YanTuvl, scribe; J. H. Codding, Treas.; E. J. Browning, 



FIT.STOKY OF BRADFORD (BOUNTY. 8T5 

0. S. ; H. J. Haves, I. S. ; J. M. Morrison, G. ; J. J. Eilenberger, first 
W.; S. P. Smith, second W.; A. 11. Owen, third W.; F. J. Timm, 
fourth W. ; H. A. Vail, lirst G. to T.; M. E. Oliubbiick, second G. toT. 
Number of members, forty -six. 

Canton Encampment., No. ISJf,, 1. 0. O. I^., was organized April 17, 
1869. The present officers are : J. M. Bush, C. P. ; Allen Baker, H. 
P. ; M. Close, S. W. ; E. J. Cleveland, J. W. ; Edward Newman, S.; 
II. H. Taylor, T.; W. H. Williams, O. S. ; C. B. Worden, I. S. ; G. C. 
Lathrop, G. Present membership, 30. 

Bradford Lodge, No. 167, I. 0. O. F., Towanda, was chartered 
March 9, 1816, and instituted July 7, 181-G, with the following officers : 
William Elwell, N. G. ; Stephen Pierce, V. G. ; Charles Keed, sec- 
retary; O.R.Taylor, treasurer; E. W. Baird, Asst. secretary. The 
present officers are : J. H. Hayes, JST. G. ; Scott S. Watson, V. G. ; 
James H. Codding, treasurer; M. E. Cliubbuck, secretary ; W.J. Lent, 
Asst. secretary. It lias a membership of 105. 

Priam. Lodge, No. ^^7, 1. 0. 0. F., Troy, was organized May 17, 
1847. The first officers were : Francis Smith, N G. ; Erastus W. 
Ilazzard, V. G. ; William F. JS'ewbery, secretary ; Franklin S. Ayles- 
worth, A. S. ; Curtis T. Fitch, treasurer; the present officers are: W. 
P. Case, N. G. ; W. S. Brown, V. G. ; J. B. Willour, secretary; H. 
M. Spalding, A. S. ; Warren Case, treasurer. The Lodge now numbers 
forty -two members. 

Canton' Lodge, No. 321, L. O. 0. L\, was organized June 19, 181:8, 
with the following officers : William Gosline, N. G.; W. S. Baker, V. 
G.; A. G. Pickard, secretary ; S. H. Newman, Asst. secretary ; John 
W. Griffin, treasurer. The following are the present officers : L. A. 
Bates, N. G.; E. J. Cleveland, V. G.; E. Newman, secretary ; F. W. 
Miller, Asst. secretaiy ; H. C. Stone, treasurer. The present member- 
ship is ninety-seven. 

Athens Lodge, No. 165, L. 0. O. F., was organized during the summer 
of 1846, but as the records were burned, the exact date of organization 
can not be ascertained. The first officers were : O. D. Satterlee, N. G., 
E. S. Mathewson, V, G.; O. Shipman, secretary ; J. H. Welles; 
treasurer; I. H.Stephens, Asst. secretary. The present officers are: 

1. Loewy, N. G.; M. R. Heath, V. G.; J. H. Northrup, assistant 
secretary; J. J. Kimball, treasurer. 

Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503, L. 0. O. F., was organized April 14, 
1854, at the house of J. S. Thomas. Charter members : Joshua Bur- 
rows, Lorin Camp, Hiram Elliott, Geoige Acroyd, James Beaumont, 
H. Black, II. Buck, J. D. Camp. L. B. Camp, F. S. Camp, J. S. Angle, 
V. Smith, J. Fee, J. C. Bartholf, Homer Camp, Steward Bosworth. 
First officers: Joshua Burrows, N. G.; Hiram Elliott, Y. G.; S. W. 
Camp, Sec; J, S. Thompson, A. S.; H. Black, Treas. Present officers : 
U. G. Peet, N. G.; C. S. Chaffee, V. G.; T. C. Lee, Sec; C. S. LafPerty, 
Treas.; James Beaumont, Treas.; P. H. Sumner, Con.; G. H. Titus, R. 
S.; Frank Chamberlam, L. S.; C. J. Vosburg, R. S. to V. G.; A, C. 
Hammerly. L. S. to V. G.; W. S. Chaffee, I. G.; H. B. Lyon, O. G.; 
W. T. Depue, R. S. S.; N. B. Overton, L. S. S. 

AmtinviUe Lodge, No. 326, I. 0. 0. F., of Austinville, was organ- 



376 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ized December 31, 1872, with twenty-two charter members. The 
present officers are : WilUam Fisk, N. G.; M. fl. Block, Y. G.; W. D. 
Canfield. secretary ; J, S. AspinAvall, treasurer. Present membership, 
twenty-eight. 

Valley Lodge, No. Ji,Ii.6, 1. O. O. F., Sheshequin, was organized July 
18, 1851. The first officers were : Thomas Kinney, N. G.;Chas. H.Ames, 
y. G.; A. J. Cole, recording secretary; Samuel Griffin, A. S.; Elishu 
Satterlee, Treas. The present officers are: Addison E,. Gillett, N. G.; 
Leland Griffin, V. G.; Walter S. Elsbree, recording secretary; Jacob 
P. Rogers, assistant secretary; George Childs, treasurer. The present 
membership is seventy-seven. 

Monroeton Lodge, No. 137, I. O. O. F., was chartered November 17, 
1845, and instituted February 12, 1846, The first officers were : D. C. 
Salisbury, N. G.; E. W. Morgan, Y. G.; G. F. Mason, secretary; W, 
H. Strickland, treasurer. The present officers are : R. D. Phillips, N. 
G.; John M. Harvey, Y. G.; John Dumfee, secretary; I. M. Piatt, 
assistant secretary. The present number of members is sixty-seven. 

Spinngjield Lodge No. 381, I. 0. 0. F., was organized February 28, 
1850, with the following as first officers: Thomas Smead, N. G.; H. 
W. Root, Y. G.; Dr. Theo. Wilder, secretary; C. P.Williams, treasurer. 

Le Rays Lodge, No. 1^.16, 1. 0. (). F., was organized October 31, 
1850, with the following as first officers: Dr. C. S. Dusenbury, IST. G.; 
Steven Gorham, Y. G.; L. P. Blackman, secretary; John Baldwin, 
treasurer. 

Home L^odije, No. J^SO, I. 0. 0. F., was organized September 12, 

1853, with the following as first officers : H. D. Towner, IST. G.; J. II. 
Allen, Y. G.; W. H. Shaw, secretary. Present officers: E. E. Chub- 
buck, N. G.; Bert Boardman, Y. G.; S. O. Allen, secretary ; D. S. 
Boardman, assistant secretarv ; L. C. Meracle, treasurer. 

Asylum Lodge, No. ^88, I. 0. 0. F., was instituted July 21, 1853, 
with the following as first officers: Henry Kinney, i^. G.; D. L. 
States, V. G.; A. J. Stone, secretary ; David Wilson, treasurer. 

Wyedusiiig Lodge, No. 503, L 0. 0. F., was instituted April 14, 

1854, \vith the following as first officers: Joshua Burrows, N. G.; 
Hiram Elliott, Y. G.; L. W. Cam]), secretary ; Harrison Black, 
treasurer. 

NetD Albrniy Lodqe, No. 682, 1. 0. 0. F, was organized December 
23, 1869, with the following as first officers : G. W. Burdick, N. G.; 
G. H. Kendall, Y. G.; S. D. Steriger, secretary ; D. W. Harshburger, 
treasurer. 

Oranmlle Centre Lodge, No. 687, I. 0. 0. F., was organized 
December 24, 1869, with the following as first officers : Robert Innis, 
JST. G.; M. O. Loorais, Y. G.; P. M. Sayles, secretary ; Adam Innis, 
treasurer. 

Aspimocdl Lodge, No. 789, I. 0. O. F., was organized March 
14, 1872, with the ' following as first officers: James R. Brasted, 
N. G.; J. D. Wolfe, Y. G.; Geo. H. Knapp, secretary; Ed. Wright, 
treasurer. 

Barclay Lodge, No. 807, L 0. O. F., was organized July 12, 1872, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 377 

with the following as first officers: Chas. Hutchinson, N. G.; John 
Ditchburn, V. G.; L. S. Kelder, secret arj^ ; Ed. Wheatley, treasurer. 

White Lilly Lodge, ]\^o. 808, Wvalusino;, was organized September 
19, 1872. Charter members: H. "^B. Gaylord, A.^ B. Porter, H. J. 
Hallock, J. H. Swarts, E. W. Vaughan, David Craft, Daniel Brown, 
JS". S. Snover, G. A. Boberts, Church Vanosdoll, S. C. Gavlord, F. II. 
Stalford, N. J. Gaylord, J. F. Stalford, B. T. Ilallock, A. B. Culver, 
G.K.Thompson. Scott W. Vaughan, O. B. Hiney. First officers: 
N. S. Snover, N. G.; A. B. Culver, V. G.; H. B. Gaylord, Sec; A. B. 
Porter, A. Sec. " Ilallock Block" was burned July 24, 1875, and all 
the property of the Society except their ledger. Their splendid pres- 
ent building stands on the old Ilallock hall ground, built in 1870. 
Present officers : E. II. Casnell, N. G.; W. B. Wells, V. G.; H. J. 
Ilallock, Sec; W. P. Wilson, A. Sec; W. II. Kintner, Treas.; present 
membership, 74. 

Zeroy lodge, No. 8.1^3, 1. O. 0. F., was organized June 24, 1873, 
with the following as first officers : A. T. Lilley, N. G.; W. F. Eobin- 
son, Y. G.; M. L. Wooster, secretary ; J. E. Lilley, treasurer. 

Silvaraville Lodge, No. 887, L. O. 0. F., was organized November 
11, 1874, with the following as first officers: J. J. Culver, N. G.; Wil- 
liam Christian, V. G.; E. L. Taylor, secretaiy. 

Burlington Lodge, No. 90 Jp, L. 0. 0. L^., was organized March 26, 
1875, with the following as first officers: L. M. Bundell, N. G.; P. Y. 
Burns, V. G.; N. W. Lane, secretary ; R. R. Phelps, treasurer. 

Clanson Lodge, No. 930, L. 0. 6. F, was organized November 23, 

1875. The first officers were : G. H. Fitch, N. G.; W. Reutner, V. G.; 
I. M. Sweet, secretary. 

Wells Lodge, No. ^931,1. 0. O.F., was organized December IG, 1875. 
The first officers were : Capt. Albert Judson, N. G. ; C. L. She])ard, 
Y. G. ; A. B. Hathaway, secretary. 

Sylvan Lodge, No. 926, L O. 6. F, was instituted Februarv 1, 187G. 
The first officers were: J. H. Calkins, N. G. ; A. M. Caixl, Y. G. ; Geo. 
P. Monroe, secretary ; Peleg Peck, treasurer. 

Smith field Lodge, No. 928, L O. 0. F., was organized January 15, 

1876. The first officers were: E. G. Durfey, N. G. ; J. L. Yincent, Y. 
G. ; O. Gerould, secretary. 

Northern Tier Lodge, No. 930, was organized March 28, 1876. The 
first officers were : Peter Yortendyke, N. G. ; N^ . George, Y. G. ; Ira 
Crane, secretary ; L Pitt, treasurer. 

Litchfield Lodge, No. 938, L O. O. LZ, organized June 25, 1876. 
First officers : A. G. Wolcott, N. G. ; F. H. Sherman, Y. G. ; J. C. Mc- 
Kinney, secretary ; A. M. Wolcott, Asst. secretary ; C. H. Campbell, 
treasurer. Present officers: A. A. Cooper, K G.' ; J. F. Merill, Y. 
G. ; P. W. Wolcott, secretary; J, A. Wood, Asst. secretary; John 
Barr, Jr., treasurer ; H. I. Chandler, R. S. to N. G. ; James Musen, L. S. 
toN. G. ; George Parks, W. ; E. Chandler, C. ; S. Hadlock, R. S. S. ; 
G. S. Munn, L. S. S. ; D. S. Chandler, chaplain. Number of members, 
forty. 

Bentley Creek Lodge, No. 9]^, L. O. 0. F., was organized October 



378 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

20, 1876. The following were the first officers: Geo. Miller, K G. ; 
Alvin May, V. G. ; E. M. Tuton, secretary ; V. S. Vincent, treasurer. 

Saxton Post^ No. 65, G. A. P., Granville Centre, was organized 
October 10, 1878, and named in honor of Solomon Saxton, Company 
F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, who died a prisoner of war, at 
Tliomasville, Ga. Charter members : D. D. Huff, S. R. Case, John A. 
Hawthorne, E. M. Ross, S. C. Hoby, S. J. Saxton, M. Gage, Harrison 
Ross, James A, Hawthorne, J. C. May, Aaron Walbrow, Charles R. 
Kenyon, M. M. Montague, James L. Holdford, Hiram H. Foster, Har- 
vey Putnam, A. M. Mott, D. A. Griswold, P. R. Warren, Frank Sax- 
ton, Thomas Bush, Allen Woodin. First officers: Harrison Ross, C; 
Barton Saxton, Adj.; P. R. Warren, chaplain ; C. R. Kenyon, S. Y. C; 
Frank Saxton, Q. M.; Sylvester Putnam, J. V. C; S. J. Saxton, Sur.; 
S. R. Case, O. D. Present officers: James McKean, C; David Allen, 
S. R. V. C; James Bradley, J. Y. C; Burton Saxton, Sur.; Simon Will- 
iams, chaplain; P. R. Warren, Q. M.; Reuben Rockwell, O. D.; C. R. 
Kenyon, O. G.; S. Putnam, Adj.; S. R. Case, Q. M. S. 

Madison Cooper Post, xYo. 4-4^, G. A. P., was organized July 9, 
1884. Officers: E. M. Fenton, C; A. R. Smith, S. Y. C; William 
May, J. Y. C; James Henry, Sur.; S. A. Hicks, chaplain ; Frank Rip- 
leyJ^Q. M.; Oscar Harkness/Adj.; Darius Bullock, O. D.; John Brenck- 
ley, O. G. 

Gustin Post, No. IBJf,, G. A. P.,Tvov. — The charter officers were: 
Rev. J. B. French, C; William R. Sumis, Sr., Y. C; Dreah N. Yer- 
beck, Jr., Y. C; Simon Green, Q. M.; J. Seymour, Adj. The present 
membership is sevent3^ Present officers: J. C. B. Armstrong, com- 
mander; G. H. Manson, adjutant. 

Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. P., Rome, was organized Octobers, 1870. 
The first officers were : Simon Russell, C.; John Forbes, S. Y. C; John 
S. Frink, J. Y. C; A. Keefe, Adj.; P. Towner, Chaplain ; L. F. Rus- 
sell, Q. M.; H. McCabe, O. D.; R. McCabe, O. G.; D. S. Boordman, 
Sur.; John Whitaker, Sergt.-Maj.; Wayne Towner, Q. M. S. The pres- 
ent officers are : D. S. Boordman, C; J^ohn Yaught, S. Y. C; Marvin 
Harris, J. Y. C; J. A. Allen, Q. M.; Martin Horton, Sur.; Rev. J. B. 
Davis, chaplain; G. L. Forbes, O. D.; B. G. Wilmot, Adj.; S. O. 
Allen, O. G. The present membership is seventy-three. 

IiKjhain Post, No. 91, G. A. P., Canton, was organized Nov. 16, 
1877, with 13 charter members. The first officers were: IST. Landon, 
Com.; F. Bunyan, S. Y. C; A. A. Mills, J. Y.C. ; J. B. Bulter, Adj.; 
E. B. Kellev, Q. M.; William Black, O. of D. The present officers are: 
Wilham Black, Com.; Aug. Owen, S. Y. C; G. H. Kendall, J. Y. C; 
N. Landon, Q. M.; H. H. Spencer, Adj.; Job Crandle, O. of D.; 
E. Robinson, O. G. 

ffurst Post, No. 86, G. A. P., was organized December 20, 1877, 
and now has a membership of 46. First officers: H. F. Smith, C. ; 
J. L. Coburn, S. Y. C. ; Thomas Beaumont, J. Y. C; E. Fuller, Adj. ; 
P. J. Man, Q. M.; San ford Cox, Sur.; J. E. Adamv, Chap.; Joseph 
Harris, O. D.; Charles Hawley, O. G.; L. B. Camp, S. M.; A. J. 
Drake, Q. M. S. Present officers : C. L. Stewart, C; J. A. Park, S. 
\^ C; James Alderson, J. Y. C; C. J. Easterbrook, Adj.; S. W. 



TTTRTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. oi'd 

Wells, Q. M. ; A. li. Stevens, Sur.; S. F. Buttles, Chap.; J. W. Ifurst, 
O. D.;' James Carr, (). G.; S. P. Warner., S. M.; George Jennings, 
Q. M. S. 

East Smith field G. A. E. Post was organized m 1808, with the 
following charter members : Stephen Ansell, L. T. Adams, I. M. 
Eames, E. M. Durfey, E. B. Darfey, W. B. Forrest, Bebee Gerould, 
G. L. Gardner, G.L. Gardner. J. W. Schouten and J. L. A'incent. 
Present officers: D. W. Lane, 0.; S. K. Gustin, S. V. C.; C. C. Camp- 
bell, J. Y. C; E. E. Chamberlain, O. D.; I. M. Eames, O. G.; L. T. 
Adams, chaplain; A. O. Scott, Adj.; H. M. Moody, surgeon; Calvin 
Chamberlain, Q. M.; D. Phelps, Q. M. S.; J. S. Doty, S. M. Trustees : 
William Crayton, A. O. Scott, O. E. Wilcox. Present meml)ership, 
forty-six. In the public square is a splendid Soldiei's' Monument 
erected. The pure white marble shaft rises about eighteen feet; was 
erected by the citizens, prominent among whom were James H. Webb, 
H. Mont Moody, Israel Phel])s and W. E. Vooris. 

Watkins Post, No. 68, G. A. P., Towanda, was organized June 
17, 1867, with H. A. Frink, commander, and was kept up till 18G9, 
when it was disbanded. The Post was reorganized Dec. 19, 1878, 
with the following officers: II. J. Madill, commander; J. E. Fleming, 
S. V. C; James Foster, J. V. C; D. W. Scott, Q. M.; W. B. Kelly, 
Surg.; O. D. Lyon, chaplain ; E. Overton, Jr., O. D.; D. L. Sweeny, 
O. G.; C. F. Cross, Adj. The present officers are: T. Kingsley, P. C; 
J. W. Lewis, S. B. C; William Maxtield, J. B. C; O. D. Lyons, A.; 
A. J. Fisher, Q. M.; Peter La Plant. S.; H. A. Burbank, chaplain. 
This Post has a membership of 12L 

Watkins Camp, Sons of Veterans, No. 75, was chartered Nov. 17, 
1884, and continued a short time when it disbanded. It was rechar- 
tered March 5, 1891, with a membership of thirty-three. 

Order of the Iron EalL Branch No. 3 (beneficial), was chartered May 
21, 1881. The present officers are: William Keyser, chief justice ; E. 
E. Shaw, V. J. ; W. L. Carpenter, prelate; J. II. Pennepacker, cash- 
ier; O. E. Bennett, accountant; Jessie Schoonover, herald; M. O. 
Moody, watchman; C. M. Neeley, vidette. It has a membership of 
seventy-six. 

Knights of Honor, Lodge No. 57, was chartered Jan. 14, 1875. 
The ]iresent officers are: Geo. Britton, dictator.; S. S. Pierce, Y. D.; 
Asa Douglas, chaplain; Geo. Kidgeway, Sec; II. S. Graves, Treas. 
It has a membership of sixty-seven. 

Knights and Ladles of Honor, Mystic Lodge, No. 4-6^, was chartered 
April 1, 1879. The present officers are: S. M. Woodburn, protector; 
Mrs. W. P. Dimock, Y. P.; Mrs. A. C. Ridgeway, chaplain; Geo. 
Ridgeway, Secy. ; C. T. Kirby, treasurer. It has a membership num- 
bering thirty-three. 

MalloryPost, No. ^85, G. A. P., Sayre, was organized September 
19, 1882. This post was named after First-Sergeant Hollis Mallory, a 
gallant young soldier of Company C, Seventh Pennsylvania Reserves, 
who died after being released from Andersonville prison. The present 
officers are: Isaac Burk, commander; Henry Davenport, senior Y. C; 
A. E. Burbank, junior Y. C; J. Watkins, O. of D.; J Cramer, O. of G.; 



380 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

S. Chase, chaplain; J. D. Luce, quarter-master; H. P. Teed, adjutant. 
Present membership is thirt^^-eight. 

Jackson Post, Mo.7JfM. A. It., Wyalusing, was organized September 
13 1877, with forty charter members. The name of Jackson Post 
was taken in memory of Capt. G. W. Jackson, who was a member of 
Company A, 141st ^Regt., P. Y. The present officers are: W. T. 
Horton, P. Cora.; N. J.' Gaylord, S. V. Com.; Ethel Fuller, J. Y. 
Com.; Abial Lewis, Q. M.; Alfred Hammerly, O. of D.; Hiram Whit- 
ney, O. of G.; Yolney Homet, surgeon ; E. F. Roberts, chaplain; J. G. 
Keeler, adjutant; James Alderson, Q. M. S.; E. L. Dunklin, sergeant- 
major. The present membership is fifty-five. 

Spalding Post, No. 33, G. A. P., Pike township, was organized 
August 1, 1876, with seventeen charter members, viz. : M. E. Warner, 
J. A. Bosworth, F. J. Yanderpool, P. L. Cobb, C. H. Warner, S. B. 
Canheld, George M. Brink, Harvey B. Taylor, G. M. Johnson, James 
H. Goodell, C. A. Carter, L. W. tlpham, J. C. Shadduck, George W. 
Brink, H. C. Alderson, W. D. Chaffee and J. B. Lines; of these 
twelve are members in good standing; one hundred and twelve have 
been recruited, fifty-eight are deceased, leaving at present seventy-one 
members. M. E. Warner was first commander, and E. M. Pitcher is 
present commander. 

SiDari Post, No. 72, G. A. P., New Albany, was organized June 
28, 1877. Number of present members in good standing, 56. First 
officers: R. H. Richards, C; S. S. Ormsby, S. Y. C; Adrial Lee, J. 
Y. C; James Terrv, O. D.; Warren Aver, M.; John Grant, Sur.; 
Robert Hatch, Chap.; S. W. Hatch, O. G.; Alfred Strevy, S. M.; H. 
R. Yan Loon, Q. M. S.; O. W. Emery, Adj. Present officers : M. B. 
Ryder, C; Isaac Babcock, S. Y. C."^; R. S. Sabin, J. Y. C; Porter 
Jones, Q. M.; John McNeel, Sur.; S. H. Williams, Chap.; Benjamin 
Ayers, O. D.; James Allen, O. G.; J. M. Jones, Adj.; D. A. Crandall, 
S.'^M.; Edward Chilson, Q. M. S. 

Washimjton Camp, No. '272, P. 0. S. A., Sayre, Avas organized June 
26, 1881, with a charter membership of twentv-five. The first officers 
were: W. F. Startzel, president; J. H. Weiss, Y. P.; W. H. Florey, 
recording secretary; T. II. Brown, treasurer; C. F. Bennett, financial 
secretary. Present membership is seventy-five. 

Sayre Building and Loan Association was organized May 9, 1885. 
Tiie present officers are: R. M. Hovey, president; Dr. I. R. Schoon- 
maker, vice-president; D. K. Hamilton, secretary, J. W. Bishop, treas- 
urer; W. C. Douglas, solicitor; directors, R. M. Plovey, D. K. Hamil- 
ton, F. J. Krom, Dr. I. R. Schoonmaker, S. W. Blood, "G. Mangier. 

P. A. Packer Band, Sayre, was organized in 1887. They received 
a check from R, A. Packer, with wiiich they purchased a set of instru- 
ments. The officers are as follows : J. M.'^Weaver, president; T. D. 
Williams, treasurer; Mat McGuflfee, secretary; J. M. Daly, leader. 

Athens Union Veteran Legion, Encampment No. 28. was organized 
June 26, 1888, with the following charter members: W. H. H. Gore; 
Oliver D. Lyon ; Daniel Bradbury; James H. Wilson ; R. S. Edminston ; 
Abarina French; Geo. D. Fuller; Edward S. Rolls: William H. 
Crawford ; Chas. T. Hull ; D. W. Tripp ; Charles Ilinton ; John 



HISTORY OF BRAJ)F0R1) COUNTY. 381 

Connell ; John M. Kiamer ; William H. Dodd ; Henrv C. llavs ; 
Amos H. Miller; Alexander Reefe; Melain Douglas ^ James "W. 
Alderson ; William Ilollrngshead and Henry Davenport. Encampment 
mustered and officers installed June 2r», 1888. Past Colonels : W. H. 
H. Gore; Daniel Dradbury ; Robert S. Edminston. The officers for 
1891 are: Col., George L. Fuller; Lieut. Col., William H. Crawford ; 
Maj., Walter H. French ; officer of day, Daniel Bradbury ; Adj., 
William H. Nutt ; Q. M., Flenry Davenport; chaplain, Alphus Sin- 
sabaugh ; O. of G., Amos H. Miller ; surgeon, Lewis Eighmy ; sergeant- 
major, John Connell; Q. M. S., Nelson A. Cornell; bugler, William 
H. Crane ; color-bearer, Jos. H-. Wilson. 

Griffins Cainp, No. 30, S. of V., was organized August 0, 1885, 
with forty-five cliarter members. The charter officers were : J. H. 
Sairs, captain; V. E. Heath, first lieutenant; E. Jakeway, second lieu- 
tenant; F. L. Ross, first sergeant ; F. G. Sairs, quarter-master sergeant. 
The present officers are: Charles Hosmer, captain; Jessie B. Stage, first 
lieutenant ; E. Anson, second lieutenant ; R. V. liogers, first sergeant; 
Fred Ilosmer, quarter-master sergeant. 

Ferkl)hS Post, No. m^, 6^..!. 7?., was organized at Atljens,Feb..lS70. 
It was named after Capt. x\ugustus S. Perkins, who was killed at Fred- 
ericksburg. The charter members were : Edwin A. Spalding, captain 
Company I, 141st P. V.; Jolm H. Ilosmer, corporal. Company M, 
50th N. Y. E.; Henry Carpenter, private, Company D, loTth N. Y. 
v.; Horace Williston, first lieutenant, Company — , quartermaster, 
57th P. Y.; Frank Y. Hull, artificer, ('ompany M, 50th N. Y. E.; 
William P. Crans, private. Company II, 57th P.' V^.; Henry C. Haves, 
corporal. Company C, 14th U. S. I.; George M. Page, private, Company 
F, 6th P. R.; Lafayette Anson, Company H, 57th P. Y.; L. E. Sinsa- 
baugh, sergeant. Company H, 46th P. Y.; Yictor E. Phelps, [)rivate. 
Company C, 5th U. S. A.; William Balcom, jn-ivate, Company — , 
20th N. Y. Ind. Battery; B. F. Mclvmney, corporal, Company I, 
187th P. Y.; Benjamin Wanzer, private. Company B, 137th N.'' Y. 
Y.; Addison B. Stone, private, Company B, 50th N. Y. E.; Fred. 
B. Welch, sergeant, Company B, 50th N. Y. E.; Charles R. Law- 
rence, private, Company A, 179th N. Y. Y.; Orin D. Roberts, cor- 
poral. Company H, 57th P. Y.; R. C. Sinsabaugh, lieutenant, Com[)any 
H, 57th P. Y.; Joseph B. Reeve, caj^tain. Companv E. 141st P. Y.\ 
William H. Patterson, private. Company F, 10th N^ Y. C; Charles T. 
Hull, corporal, Company E, 141st P. Y.; William Carner, sergeant, 
Company E, 141st P. Y.; Michael Fmnev, private. Company E, 
141st P. Y.; Nathan Y. Weller, private. Company I, 109th N. Y. Y.; 
James H. Wilson, private. Company F, 6th P. R.; John Beecher, 
corporal, Company E, 14th N. Y. H. A. Officers installed : Edwin 
A. Spalding, commander; H. Williston, S. Y. C; John H. Hosmer, 
J. Y. C; C. T. Hull, adjutant; J. B. Reeve, quarter-master; H. C. 
Hayes, officer of the day; F. Y. Hull, officer of the guard; Lafay- 
ette Anson, chaplain; J. H. Wilson, Q. M. S.; F. B. Welch, ser- 
geant-major; R. C. Sinsabaugh, suro-eon. The present officers are : 
Michael Harrigan, Com.: John Rifenberg, S. Y. C; T. D. AYood, J. 



382 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

V. C; Alexander Keefe, Adj.; D. C. Grav, Q. M.; M. K. Smith, surgeon ; 

F. P. Wolcott, O. of D.; N. A. Cornell^O. of G. 

IIuWs Battery A, First Veteran Artillery, Athens, was organized 
June 14, 1887, with twenty -seven charter members. The charter 
officers were : C. T. Hull, chief of artillery ; William H. jSTutt, captain ; 

G. H. Weeks, quarter-master; F. P. Wolcott, surgeon ; H. Van Watter, 
first surgeon ; W. H. Dunlop, first corporal ; A. C. Miller, second cor- 
poral; J. E. Jenn3\ teamster. The present officers are: C. T. Hull, chief 
of artillery ; W. H. Nutt, captain ; A. D. Gamson, first lieutenant , 
Barney Kain, first corporal ; P. M. Coolbaugh, second corporal ; F. P. 
Wolcott, surgeon ; J. E. Jenny, teamster. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
STATISTICS AND MISCELLANEA. 

Lisr OF Taxables by Districts — Census Statistics Including Popula- 
tion — Miscellaneous. 

BKADFOKD COUNTY, in its resources, shows the following list 
of taxables by districts : As3'lum township, 354 ; Albany town- 
ship, 445 ; Athens township, 583; Athens borough, 1,357 ; Armenia 
township, 197; Alba borough, 74; Barclay township, 258; Burlington 
township, 315 ; Burlingtonborough, 77 ; West Burlington township, 233 ; 
Canton township, 635 ; Canton borough, 477; Columbia township, 453 ; 
Franklin township, 215 ; Granville township, 438; Ilerrick township, 
306; Litchfield township, 356 ; Le Raysvilie borough, 753; Le Roy 
township, 354 ; Monroe township, 568; Monroe borough, 215; New 
Albany borough, 126 ; Orwell township. 400 ; Overton township, 247 ; 
Pike township, 465 ; Pome township, 358 ; Rome borough, 112 ; Ridg- 
bury township, 443 ; Smithfield township, 527; Springfield township, 
442 ; South Creek township. 330 ; South Waverly borough, 385 ; Sylva- 
nia borough, 100 ; Sheshequin township, 426; Standing Stone town- 
ship, 261; Sayre borough, 1009; Tuscarora township, 419; Terry 
township, 447; Towanda township, 410; Towanda borough, 1297 ; 
North Towanda township, 240; Troy township, 521; Troy borough, 
470 ; Ulster to^vnship, 382 ; Warren township, 358; Windham town- 
ship, 308; Wilmot township, 508; Wyalusing township, 444; Wyalus- 
ing borough, 166 ; Wysox township, 478 ; Wells township, 408. Cleared 
land as follows : 450,677 acres ; timber land, 202,737 acres. Value of 
all real estate,:$;21, 782,789. Number of horses, mares, geldings and mules 
over the age of 4 vears,ll,826 ; number of neat cattle over the age of four 
years,23, 188; aggregate value of all proi)ei'ty taxable for county purposes 
"at the rate of three and one-half mills on the dollar, $22,147,714; aggre- 
gate value of property taxable for State pur])oses at three mills on the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



383 



dollar, including monev at interest, household furniture and stages, 
$3,60:3,515. 

Receipts of the count}^ in 1891 from all sources, $97,518.13. 

There are 6,160 farms and 330 manufactories outside of Towanda 
borough. 

In the mercantile lists in the county, by districts, are the following: 
Athens borough, 39; Athens township, 5; Albany township, 2; Asy- 
lum to\vnshi{), 2; Alba borough, 1; Burlington borough, 3; Burling- 
ton townsliip, 2; West Burlington, 1 ; Barckiy, 2; Columbia township, 
4; Canton tow^iship, 3 ; Canton borough, 32 ; Franklin township. 3; 
Granville township, 4 ; Merrick, 2 ; Litchfield, 3 ; Le Roy township, 4 ; 
Le Raysville borough, 11 ; Monroe borough, 9; Monroe township, 6; 
New Albany borough, 6 ; North Towanda township, 1 ; Overton town- 
ship, 3 ; Orwell township, 8 ; Pike townshij), 5 ; Rome borough, 6 ; 
Ridgebury townsliip, 4 ; Rome townsliip, 1 ; Sheshequin township, 1 ; 
Springfield township, 2 ; Standing Stone township, 4 ; Smithfield town- 
ship, 8 ; South Creek township, 3 ; Sylvania borough, 2; Sayre bor- 
ough, 20 ; Terry township, 3 ; Troy borough, 34; Troy township, 3; 
Towanda borough, 76 ; Towanda township, 1 ; Tuscarora township,3 ; 
Ulster township, 6; Wysox township, 5: Wyalusing borough, 'lO; 
Wyalusing township, 3; Windham township, 6; Warren township, 
4; Wilmot township, 4; Wells township, 3. There are 49 licensed 
hotels in the county ; also 2 licensed restaurants, 4 merchant dealers, 1 
wholesale bottler and 1 brewery. 

Creameries in the countv T Wvalusing — II. L. Case, built 1888; 
Camptown, 1890; Ballibay, "1888; Herrickville, 1889; Le Raysville, 
1886; Orwell Hill, 1886 (built by stock company; D. D. Jones, man- 
ager; J. P. Coburn, secretary; S. N. Bronson, treasurer); North 
Orwell, 1887 (proprietors. Baker Bros.); Pottersville, 1889; Troy, 
1882 (S. H. Hey wood, proprietor; S. W. Lester, manager;) Columbia 
Cross Roads— Grover— 1889 ; Pike township, 1884, by H. L. Case 
(now owned by W. C. Brister and Orwell Ellsworth; superintendent, 
Steven Lewis). 

Pojndation, etc.: The county of Bradford is forty miles long, and 
-twenty-eight wide ; contains 1,174 square miles ; in 1820 had a i)ODula- 
tion of 11,454: 1830, 19,746; 1840, 32.769; 1850, 42,831; 1860, 48;735. 
In 1880 this reached within a few hundred of the present population, 
given below : 

POPULATION OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1880. 1890. 

Alba borough 189 163 

Albauy township 1,464 1,433 

Armenia township. . 410 460 

Asylum township 1,247 1.043 

Athens borough 1 592 3 274 

Ward 1 1,053 

Ward 2 995 

Ward 3 1,326 

Athens township 2,403 4,748 

Barclay township, includ- 
ing Barclay village. . . 2,634 1,436 

Burlington borough 3 '0 166 

Burlington township 1,094 946 



1880. 

Canton borough 1.194 

Canton township 1,837 

Columbia township 1,304 

Franklin township 703 

Granville township 1,302 

Ilerrick township 935 

Le Raysville borough .... 324 

LeRoy township 1,106 

Litchlield township 1,159 

Monroe borough 383 

Monroe townsliip 1,388 

New Albany borough. . . 233 

North Towanda Iwp 746 



1890. 

1,393 

1,835 

1,245 
626 

1,224 
813 
374 

1.003 
946 
496 

1,596 
287 
753 



384 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



1880. 

Towiiiida township 1,142 

Troy borough 1 ,241 

Troy township 1,558 

Tuscarora township 1,295 

Ulster township 1.168 

Warren township 1,336 

Wells township 1,148 

West Burlington twp 915 

Wilmot township 1,680 

Windham township 1,160 

Wyalusing borough 

Wyalusing township .... 1,531 

Wysox township 1,406 



1890. 

1,091 

1,307 

1,525 

1,357 

1,053 

1,124 

985 

892 

1,511 

1,000 

433 

1,273 

1,247 



Total 58,541 59,233 



1880. 1880. 

Orwell township 1,307 1,021 

Overton township 503 775 

Pilie township 1.496 1,308 

Kidgebury township ... 1,489 1,189 

Rome borough 236 226 

Rome township 1,045 919 

Sheshoquin township 1,460 1,272 

Smithtield township 1,826 1,630 

Soulh Creek township. . 1,113 935 

South Waverly borough. 854 1,082 

Springfield township. . . 1,516 1,359 

Standing Stone township 815 758 

Sylvania borough 227 241 

Terry township 1,286 1,295 

ToAvanda borough 3,814 4,169 

Ward 1 1,262 

Ward 2 1,653 

Ward 3 1,254 

Miscellaneous. — There are thirteen boroughs, thirty-seven town- 
sliips, and many postoffices. There is not a city in the county, nor is 
there an exchisive manufacturing- town. At Athens, Troy, Canton, 
Grover and Greenwood are tlie largest tanneries in northern Pennsyl- 
vania. The latter is one of the largest in the world. There are over 
500 acres cultivated in tobacco, in the river valley mostly, and this 
profitable industry is rapidly extending. The current year (1891), the 
largest fields are estimated to yield an average of 1800 pounds to the 
acre, and the prices range from twenty to twenty -three cents per 
pound. The heaviest expense in raising a crop of tobacco is the annual 
application of fertilizers — about $100 per acre is often used with profit. 

All over the county grow the sugar trees, but the largest orchards 
are now east of the river ; they ai'e numerous from Towanda to the 
northeast corner of the county^ In the northeast part of the county is 
the potato district, where the valuable tubers are largely cultivated, 
and hauled to the railroad at Nichols and Owego. 

Railroads. — Miles of railroad in the county: Lehigh Valley Railroad. 
45.61 miles; D. W. & W. R. R., 0.01 miles; G. I. & S. (branch of 
Lehigh Vallev), 1.35 miles; S. C. branch (branch of Lehigh Valley), 
2.06 miles; Barclay branch (branch of Lehigh Valley), 1.42 miles;* 
State Line & Sullivan Railroad, 12 miles; Barclay Railroad and 
A^alley branch, 16.50 miles; Northern Central (estimated), 38 miles. 

Ti"]e Lehigh Valley road is double track through the county on the 
main line, entering the county from the south, at a point -^-^ of a mile 
southerly from the northwest corner of Wyoming county, following 
the east"^side of the Susquehanna river, through the corner of Wilmot, 
Tuscarora, Wyalusing, Standing Stone and Wysox townships, to the 
Towanda bridge, where it crosses to the west side, and continues along 
the river through a corner of Towanda borough, into North Towanda, 
Ulster, and- Athens townships to the Chemung river bridge, again cross- 
ing the I'iver, and to Savre, entering New York -^^ of a mile easterly 
from its junction with the N. Y., L. E. & W. R. R. 

The Geneva Ithaca, & Sayre branch, has its junction with the 
Lehigh at Sayre, and runs northerly through Sayre, entering New York 
a little west of the 59-mile post. 



HISTORY OF nitADFOKI) COUN'TV. 387 

The Southern Central branch also has its junction at Sayre, and 
runs northwesterly through the borough of Sayre, and one and one- 
half miles of Athens township and enters New York between the 57 
and 58 mile stones. 

Barclay branch of the Lehigh joins the main line at the east end of 
Towanda bridge, and runs soutlierly througii the borougli to its junc- 
tion with the Barclay Railroad. 

State line and Sullivan branch of tlie Lehigh has its janction with 
the Barclay Railroad at Monroe Station, then southerly up the south 
branch of Towanda creek through Mpnroe and Albany tow^nship, 
entering Sullivan countv one mile south/of Laddsburg. 

The Northern Central Railroad enters the county from the south, a 
siiort distance below Grover, passes tlirough Canton. Minnequa, Cowley, 
Troy, and passes into New Yoi'k a short distance nortli of Fassett. 

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western enters the State near the 
59-mile stone, and runs \vesterl\" through the borough of Sayre and 
leaves the State, passing into New York near the 65-mile stone. 

The Bradford County Agrieultural Society was first organized in 
tlie spring of 1853, with the following officers: Gen. Darius Bullock, 
president ; Chauncey Frisbie and Charles Wright, vice-presidents ; 
Edward Overton, corresponding secretary ; William Scott, recording- 
secretary ; Ileury Booth and Guy Watkins, assistant secretaries; 
William Elwell, treasurer. Managers: Emanuel Guyer, G. F. 
Iledington, Eli Baird, J, F. Means, W. C. Bogart. Joseph Towner, 
Jessie Brown, B. Laporte, E. W. Hale. The first annual fair was held 
at the court-house and on the Public Square, in Towanda, October 6 
and 7, 1853, and ])roved a surprising success. The fairs in 1854, 1855 
and 1856 were all held in the same place. During the fair of 1856 
Hon. Horace Greeley delivered an address entitled " Science in Agri- 
culture." In 1858 no fair was held. In 1859 ground was leased just 
south of Towanda, and fairs were held thereon in 1859-60. The 
breaking out of the Rebellion disrupted the Society, and no fairs were 
again held until 1874, wlien the Society was reorganized, and a fair 
was held that year at the Rutty Driving Park, in North Towanda, as 
was also the fair in 1875. In 1876 the Society took possession of its 
present grounds, under a lease of five years, and in 1889 purchased the 
grounds. 

Col. M. Laning was one of the early and prominent organizers, and 
for several years was president thereof. The officers for 1891 are as 
follows: R. H. Laning. president; P. W. Morey, L. J. Culver, E. J. 
Ayres, Louis Piollet, Norman A¥hite, vice-presidents; Wm. E. Lane, 
Towanda, Pa., secretary ; Wm. J. McCabe, corresponding secretary; 
George W. Blackman, treasurer. Managers — Geo. A.Wood, Mercur; 
Hugh McCabe, N. Rome; N. V. Weller, Athens; J. A. Decker, 
Towanda; Myron Kingsley, Standing Stone; Frank Aloore, Orwell; 
E. J. Ayres, Macedonia; Louis Piollet, Wysox ; J. O. Nichols, 
Mountain Lake. Executive Committee — R. H. Laning, president, 
ex-officio; Louis Piollet, Hugh McCabe, Myron Kingsley,' Geo. A. 
Wood. Superintendents — Frank Moore, horses ; Geo."^A. Wood, 
sheep and swine ; Louis Piollet, cattle ; J. O. Nichols, poultry; Hugh 



388 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

McOabe, domestic and educational ; E. J. Ayres, farm and dairy; N. 
y. Weller, machinery and manufactures ; J. A. Decker, R. H. Laning, 
Myron Kingsley, entrance, exits and forage ; Myron Kingsley. super- 
intendent of buildino:s and grounds. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ALBANY TOWNSHIP. 

THE south line of this township rests on Sullivan county. The 
State line and Sullivan road pass through the township, follo^y- 
ing along the valley of the south branch of Towanda creek. The 
first settlers located on the Fowler branch of Towanda creek in 1800. 
They were: Ephraim Ladd and his sons, Horatio, Charles W. and 
John; Joseph Langford, Jonathan and Rodgers FoAvler, brothers. In 
1801 Shefliield Wilcox and his sons, Freeman, Rowland and Sheffield, 
Jr., Edward Warren, and a man named Granger came. Ephraim 
Ladd cleared the first spot in the township. Horatio Ladd settled 
near New Albany in 1805, up to which time there had never been a 
wagon up the creek. Charles W. Ladd built a stone house at New 
Albany in 1819. The same year Horatio Ladd and Daniel Miller 
built. Charles W. was the first postmaster at Albany, in 1820. 
Joseph l.angford, after a short stay, left the settlement. 

Sheffield Wilcox, Sr., improved the Araazi Ileverly place in 1801. 
His children were : Andrew, Thomas, Louis, Freeman. Rowland, Eunice, 
Sheffield, Jr., Desire, Amy and Jeremiah. Capt. Brockaway owned the 
Connecticut title to the township. Joseph Priestly had the Pennsylvania 
title. There was but one house between the Fowlers' in Monroe, and 
Mr. Wilcox's place, wliich was Joim B. Sanders'. Mr. Granger, who 
came with the Ladds, settled on the top of Wilcox hill, cleared a 
piece of ground, went back for his family and died. His sons, Calvin 
and Dorus, came on, but after a year or two went back to Vermont. 

Daniel Miller came in 1801, and located where his son Russell after- 
ward lived. John B. Hinman was one of the early settlers, a son of 
John Hinman, of Wysox. A sawmill was built on the place where he 
settled. He sold to Humphrey Gofi' in 1810 ; Goff sold to Freeman 
Wilcox. 

Jonathan Frisbie came in 1803, and settled on a tract near the 
Eilenberger pond, building on the knoll just above the spring... 
William Lee came in 1810, stopping with Jonathan Frisbie until he 
built his own cabin. He removed to Hibbard Hill in 182;:^... Amzi 
Kellogg came in 1812, and builta log-house south of the Wilcox tavern ; 
afterward he went farther south in the township . . . Archelus Luce 
came and settled west of the turnpike, beyond Kendall's mills . . . 
Wiliiam Miller game in J81T? and improved the Stevens farm , , , John 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 380 

Forggerty came in 1819. His name was said to be William Eowlin ; 
he deserted from the English army and took his mother's maiden 
name... John Nicholas came in 1810, and settled on the hill east of 
New Albany, on the George Lenox farm. Nicholas was a basket- 
maker . . . Simeon Chaplain came in 1813, Avhen a lad sixteen years of 
age, and worked on the Berwick turnpike. He afterward married Mr. 
Nicholas' daughter, and settled on the hill east of New Albany .. . 
Peter Steriger came in 1824, and settled on the farm that became*^ the 
Russel Miller farm .. . Hugh Cavanaugh came in 1830. Previous to 
any of the settlements above named, the French had made several 
clearings, and j)ut up several cabins. These were all in ruins when the 
Ladds and Wilcoxes came in 1801. 

Henry Hibbard came in 1827, and settled at what became Hibbard- 
town ; cleared a large farm, and built good buildings. . . . David 
Sabin, Silas Moon and James Allen were early settlers. 

The first sawmill was built a little below Wilcox's Tavern, in 1820, 
by the Wilcoxes ; a sawmill is still on the same site. . . . Mr. Miller 
built one about the same time, where the old French mill stood. The 
heavy timber along the creek soon caused a number of sawmills to be 
built. . . . The old Berwick and Elmira turnpike road passed through 
this township, and was largely built through this locality by some of 
the settlers above named. This road was built through Alijanv town- 
ship in 1819-20. It was projected by those who owned large bodies 
of land, for the purpose of reaching" them. The State had made a 
grant of 287-J acres of land to aid in its construction. The company 
forfeited their charter in 1847, and it became a public road. . . . Louisa 
Alden taught the first school in 1812. 

New AJhmiy Village is the most important point in the township, 
and is a shipi)ing point on the railroad. Here are a postottice, store, 
church, Odd Fellows' Hall, and about twenty-five buildings. 

LadcUhurr/ is a station on the railroad, and has a large sawmill. 

Emr green is a station four miles north of New Albany. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

ARMENIA TOWNSHIP— ALBA UOKOPdH. 

^'T' ATE in the afternoon, May 29, 1803, Alba became pernuuientlv 
J_J settled," writes Dr. Irad Wilson, son of Noah Wilson. Noa'ii 
Wilson came on horseback, in 1802, on an exploring expedition to 
where is now Alba, and the beautiful, pellucid stream that runs through 
the place suggested to him the name " Alba," and so it was christened. 
This lone horseman spent the summer at the place that had looked so 
enticing when he first beheld it, and he planted and raised the first 
orop of corn grown in th?it settlement ; he mado his clearing by 



390 niSTOHY OF iniADl'OKD COUiNTY. 

simpl}' setting tire to a " windfall" at the base of Armenia mountain 
(which he also named), and after burning it over, planted his corn 
with a shoe hammer — the only farming implement he had. He raised 
about forty bushels of corn and stored it for his family next year. 
This corn was raised on the Watson-Freeman farm. Mr. AVilson 
cleared four acres and sowed it in wheat, within what is now Alba 
borough. During the summer he lived in his cabin, about "'the size 
of a common bedstead," open at the end, and covered with bark; 
his bed Avas hemlock boughs, and his horse blanket was all the 
bed-covering he had. A man named Linzey then lived on a farm that 
became the Allen Taylor place. In the fall Mr. Wilson returned to 
his old home in Vermont, and spent tlie winter there. He had 
purchased 3000 acres of the Susquehanna Company, the track includ- 
ing Alba l)()rough and the surrounding country. He sold to Elisha 
Luther and Kil bourn Morley each a farm, and Luther came on 
with him the next year. When the titles failed Mr. Wilson refunded 
each what they had paid him, although he never recovered from the 
company a cent. David Palmer became the owner of Morley's pur- 
chase. In 1804 Jeremiah Smith and Samuel Rockwell came to Alba 
in sleighs, Smith settling on the Horace Welsh farm, and Rockwell 
coming to the ownershi}) througli his grandson, Jacob G. Rockwell. 
David Pratt came in the fall of 1804, and stopped on the Nelson 
Reynolds place; at the same time came Levi Morse, who stopped 
on the Perry Elliott farm. Mr. Wilson described Troy as he found it 
on his way with his family to Alba in 1803. Elihu Smead had a little 
log cabin with about an acre cleared, and John Barber had his 
place, where is now the steam mill, and this was all there was of Troy. 
South of Troy they came to a small opening of Caleb Williams and 
Reuben Case — the latter was the homestead of Gen. Elihu Case — 
and then to the Sam Case clearing, afterward Edwin Williams's; 
then to Aaron Case's place, afterward Shepherd Spalding's and Dr. 
Reuben Rawle3''s. now William A. Thomas's. All these early set- 
tlers turned out and helped cut a road to Alba for the Wilson family. 
Irad Wilson remembers that the house was barely large enough 
for his mother and father to sleep in, and so he slept under the 
wagon, and the two men with them, by the side of the log where was 
a fire. The next day all hands fell to, and before night built a 
new house, and all slept in that royally. The one-legged bedstead 
was a forked stick driven into the ground, and poles laid from that 
to the cracks between the wall logs, and bark for a bed rope. In 
time a bass-wood floor was laid. 

The first school in Alba was taught in 1800, by Martha AYilson, 
sister of Irad. The first child born in the jilace was a daughter of 
Noah Wilson, and she became Mrs. Chester Williams. She was boi'n 
Jul}^ 17, 1804. During this year Patty Luther, a child, died, and soon 
thereafter her mother, Cynthia Luther, died, and these deaths estab- 
lished the Alba burying ground. The first marriage was a double one, 
in 1807, by Nathaniel Allen, Esq., the parties being Robert McKean 
and Martha Wilson, and the other was David Soaper to Polly Luther, 
both the brides being of Alba, and the grooms of Burlington. All 



IIISI'OUV OK liRADroiil) COUNTY. IV.H 

were married in tlie woods in sleighs, where they had driven to be 
sure the\^ were in L\-coniing county, in order that tlie ceremony would 
Ije legal. 

AL13A BOROUGH. 

Alba is an incorporated borough, the principal phice in tlie town- 
ship, wliich is covered by the Armenia mountains. There three of 
Trad Wilson's sons are living. Yolney M. and Addison live in tiie 
borough. There are four general stoi'es, one physician, a Disciple 
church and Miller 6c Bros.' large lumber business. Seeley Larned 
resides tiiere — the m>ted horse trainer, and lover of that faithful 
animal, and who has done much for the improvement of the horse in 
western Bradford. 

Though the country is quite broken in Armenia, yet there are 
farms reaching to the mountain toiis. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

ASYLUM TOWNSHIP. 

STEPHEN DUEELL located at the mouth of the creek since named 
O in his honor — Durell creek — in 17S9 or 1790, and built a house and 
sawmill there. In the fall of 1787, Benjamin Ackla, Richard Benja- 
min and Amos Bennett came to what was afterward called Bennett's 
creek, and built some log houses. Amos Bennett came to Wyalusing 
as' early, probably, as 1783-84, and lived there some live or six years. 
He built a little tub-mill at the falls, just below the road on Bennett's 
creek. The ruins of a sawmill now mark the site, lie had a house on 
the Hats below the present residence of Wdliam Storrs. 

Richard Benjamin lived where II. L. Ilaight now lives. His chil- 
dren wei-e Jonathan, Jolin, Patty, Polly, I'eter, David, Jesse, Sally, 
Hetty, Betsey, and Joshua, besides two who died in infancy. Jonathan 
married Leah, daughter of Benjamin Ackla, and lived on the Seeley 
hill, and died February 1, 1847, aged seventy-seven years. The prop- 
erty is now owned by William Storrs. 

Deacon Reuben Wells and a Mr. Shaw came to the Gilbert place at 
an early day, and planted a piece of corn. They lived in a log house 
near the spring, a few rods below the residence of Richard Gilbert. 
Samuel Gilbert came about 1790 and lived a year or two at Kingston, 
and then moved to the fai'm now occupied by Richard Gilbert. Charles 
Ilomet emigrated fi-om France to America in January, 1793, and set- 
tled in Asylum in 1796. He was one of the French families who 
remained in Bradford, and did not return, after the restoration, to his 
native land. He died December 29, 1838, in the seventieth year of his 
age. His wife, Theresa (Schillinger), preceded him January 3, 1823, 
aged sixtj'-three years. Mr. Homet married, for his second wife, 



392 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Cynthia Sickler, in 1827, by whom he had one daughter, the wife of 
E. T. Fox. 

Anthony Vander Poel came about 1790, to Bradford county. He 
was the ancestor of the large family of that name now in Bradford. 
His first stopping-place was Aquaga, where he remained a year or 
two and then came to Durell creek, and from thence moved into the 
French settlement and engaged in the emplo}^ of that colony. He 
built a small log mill on Fowler creek, and lived there four or five 
years, but, being despoiled of the title to his land, removed to Wyalu- 
sing, and after a short time moved to the hill near Moody's pond, 
where he died, aged ninetN^-nine years, in the spring of 1838, and was 
buried on Ellis hill. . Isaac Wheeler came into Asylum along with 
Anthony Yander Poel. . Nicholas Johnson, a brother of Isaac 
Wheeler's wife, came some time between 1797 and 1800, but located 
at first at Towanda, where he lived for several years, and then 
settled in Asylum. . About two years after JSTicholas Johnson came 
into the county his brother Richard also came, but never gained any 
permanent location, and, with his wife, is buried at Frenchtown. 
Richard Wheeler, a brother of Isaac Wheeler, also came about the 
time the Johnsons did, but returned to New York, and finally came 
back again, and died here. Ambrose Vincent, who married a sister 
of Mrs. Isaac Wheeler, came about 180-1-6. Henry Cornelius married 
another sister of ]\Irs. Wheeler, was a Revolutionary pensioner, and 
came into the count}^ soon after the Johnsons. He died on the moun- 
tain below Towanda, on a little farm he bought there. 

Samuel Seeley was a Revolutionary soldier. He came to the Con- 
necticut grant before the war. After the war he came back to look 
after his famil}', but could not find them. Thinking they were killed 
or had died, he went back to Goshen, N. Y., from whence he originally 
came, where he married Miss Deborah Benjamin, a sister of Richard 
Benjamin, and in 1802 came to Wyalusing creek, where he lived a few 
years, and then removed to the Ilerrick place, where he remained 
some seventeen or eighteen years, then to where Keizer now lives, in 
1827. In 1815 he built a sawmill near Myron Frisbies', but ere it 
was scarcel}'^ finished Hollenback served an ejectment on him, and he 
abandoned the place. 

The Chilson family were early settlers in the town. Samuel and 
Albert were the heads of the family, but Albert, after two or three 
years, moved west. Samuel Ciiilson lived on the Ackla place, and 
died February, 1840, at the age of eighty -five years. Samuel Chilson 
(2d), Jehiel and Joel, nephews of the elder Samuel, came to the county 
about 1811; a brother, Asa, coming in 1809. Robert, George, Anson 
and William were also brothers. Robert came in 1814, and Anson 
soon after the War of 1812 had closed; he serving therein. Robert 
lived and died on the farm occupied by his son Benjamin, his death 
occurring about 1860. William came in 1813 ; removed to Smithtield, 
where he died. He lived with his brother Samuel, in Asylum, a num- 
ber of years. . Nathan Bailey, Harry Ellsworth, John Stringer 
and Joseph H. Ellis were all among the early settlers. 

Macedonia. — Solomon Cole was probably the earliest settler in this 



JilSTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 393 

part of the township of Asyhim, and came thereto first before the 
battle of Wyoming. His son, Samuel, was killed in that massacre, and 
he himself was also ))resent there. Molly Cole's husband was also 
killed at the same time. Mr. Cole owned at one time all of the land 
lying in the bend of the river at this point. A son, Solomon, suc- 
ceeded to a part of the tract in or about ITDG. Philip Fox, who mar- 
ried a sister of Solomon Cole (the second), was residmg in this place 
when his brother-in-law came. Three brothers of Solomon also came : 
Elisha, Abishai and John. Abishai lived on the Kellum place, John 
lived near Solomon, and Elisha owned the farm where Warlord resides. 
He subsequently removed to Towanda creek, a little below Monroeton, 
where Salisbury Cole now resides. Abishai and John moved out of the 
State. Solomon died on his farm and was buried in Macedonia. His 
children were: Samuel, Sally, Daniel, Benjamin, Solomon and John, 
who grew up to maturity. Samuel died in the town; Sail}' married a 
Mr. Richards and lives in Warren; Daniel owned the Bishop farms; 
Benjamin died in Genesee at his grandfather's. Rev. Elisha Cole, of 
Towanda creek, was a son of Samuel Cole. Moses Warford and Ben- 
jamin Coolbaugh were among the earliest settlers. 

Sartile Holden came from Vermont. He had pursued an abscond- 
ing debtor into the State of New York, and, by taking lumber and 
staves, had secured his debt. These he attempted to run down the 
river (Susquehanna), but his raft lodged on Cole's island. He then 
removed his lumber to the shore, near Mr. Birney's, in Standing 
Stone, and, being a cooper, worked up his staves into barrels. While 
engaged on this job he became acquainted with the countiy, bought 
the tract on which he afterward lived, and moved his family here in 
1802. His family consisted of four sons and three daughters. 

Jabez Sill came into the town in 1816, with his son Jabez. He was 
at the battle of Wyoming, though but fourteen years old, and stood 
sentry at the fort during the light. He died at his son's house (with 
whom he had lived since 1830) in July, 1838, aged seventy-live years. 

Ricliard and Charles Townley were early residents of the town. 
They conveyed their interest in lands to M. de Noailles. 

A " Macedonian Cry." — The name of Macedonia was given to the 
Cole settlement by reason of a sermon preached by Amos Akla, in 
which the words " Macedonia," "Macedonian cry," " Come over and 
help us," etc., were used very freely. The boys took up the phrases, 
and called the settlement Macedonia, a cognomen which has ever since 
clung to that jmrt of the town. 

Asylum, was laid out on the Shoofelt flats nearly opposite Rnm- 
merfield, in Asylum township; platted about 1794, and several 
improvements were placed on it in 1795 ; it contained about 2,000 acres 
in the bend in the river ; it was intended b}^ the French refugees to 
found here a city, and at one time there were over fifty houses, a horse- 
mill, and a still ; a cemetery ground was laid out on what is now the 
Gordon property. Surveyer John A. Ijiles, of Ilomet's Ferry, has 
found among the old records a plot of the okl town. The land is all 
now private property and cultivated. 



394 HISTOIIY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

ATHENS TOWNSHIP — ATHENS, SAYRE AND SOUTH 
WAVERLY BOROUGHS. 

WHEN Ulster townsliip was formed, it was supposed its northern 
line was the State line ; hence, that being the most nortlierly, 
it was called the "Seventeenth township," the north line of which 
crossed the river east and west a short distance above " Mile Hill." 
But after the survey of the State line in 1786, it was found there Avas 
an interval of two or three miles between that line and the supposed 
north line of Ulster. Therefore, the township of Athens was surveyed 
the May following, and the north line of Ulster was removed to its 
present position, a little below where the two rivers meet, and this 
formed tlie "Eighteenth townsldp," or Athens. Prior to that Tioga 
Point was supposed to be in Ulster township, and for years letteis for 
this place were directed to Ulster postolfice. Col. John Jenkins 
surveyed the lines of the township in 178f5. His notes describe it: 
"Beginning on the Tioga north, running five and one-half miles south ; 
then east five miles; then north five and one half miles ; then on the 
State line five miles. On each side are converging ranges of moun- 
tains, and along the base of each flow the two beautiful rivers, and 
then mingling their waters the\^ go singing to the sea. 

" There is not in the wide world a valley more sweet 
Than this vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet." 

Prospect Hill and Spanish Hill present as delightful landscape 
views as ever greeted the eye of beholder. 

Athens is tli6 oldest platted village in northern Pennsylvania, that 
remains substantially as laid out by its founders. There were Indian 
and Missionary villages that were laid out in the early part of the last 
half of the eighteenth century, but these had a brief existence, or were 
so changed as to have lost all original identity. An ancient i-ecord, 
not all now legible, but mostly so, reads as follows: "Athens and 
Tioga Point, as laid out in 1786 by John Jenkins, under a grant to 
Prince Bryant and others, from the Conn.-Susquelianna Company, 
May 9, 1796; also Milltown, between said town and State line." A 
careful and accurate copy of the original town plat was made in 1886, 
by Z. F. Walker. This old town plat is historical, it is now one 
hundred and Ave years old, and on its margin is a complete list of the first 
proprietors or lot-holders, with some account of the chain of title in the 
earliest transfers thereof. The map is Athens township in its entirety, 
an exact square, and the system of water courses within its limits— the 
two rivers, " Great," or Susquehanna, and the "Tioga Branch" and 
their junction near the south line of the township; the location of 
" Queen Esther's village" on the west bank, just below the river 
junction, and on the map, is the information that the " Queen's village '' 



ins'i'oKY ui' |{|^M)^'()l;l) countv. ;jl).') 

was " burned by Col. Hartley, September 28, 1778.'' It was claimed 
by Prince Bryant, Elisha Satterlee and their associates, fifty others, 
that theirs was the original grant from the Susquehanna Company^ 
although there was a claim made of ;in earlier gnint of August 28, 1775, 
to Asahel Budd, and others, to the '^ Point " as a part of Ulster. The 
map shows the locati(m of Sullivan Fort— a triangle reachino- from 
river to river, at the narrowest point in the penins^da, on the sti'eet 
leading to the bridge, giving a port face to the two rivers above and 
below, and at the point where the rivers came nearest together and 
about the center of the island in the Susquehanna river. This old fort 
site is now near the southern extreuiity of the built portion of Athens 
borough. In the first division of the old town })]at, the lots are 
divided by a main street running nearly north and south, and fronting 
respectively on the two rivers, shortening and lengthening as the 
rivers approached or widened from each other — ^the^^ passed below the 
fort a short distance. They numbered, commencing in the north line 
and west side, "No. 1," and continued on down to " JSTo. 27," and then 
commencing on the south line, at " No. 28," they reached to "No, 53," 
when the remainder on the east side was made a buryingground; ground 
for a public scpiare ran from I'iver to river, and lay between lots 14 and 15 
on the west side, and the corresponding ground between 40 and 41 
on the east side was given for an academy, and known as "Academy 
Square." The following were the original village proprietors: John 
Franklin, John Jenkins. Elisha Satterlee, Prince Allen, William 
Slocuin, Elisha Matliewson, Christopher Hurlburt, William Jenkins, 
John Swift, Reuben Cook, Abram Nesbit, Nathaniel Cook, Benjamin 
Allen, Ti'a Stephens, Waterman Baldwin, John Hurlburt, Oliver Bige- 
low, William Jack ways, Elijah Harding, William Jones, Nathan 
Cawrey, Uriah Stephens, Thomas McClure, Benjamin Gardner, Abra- 
ham Miller, Asahel Buck's heirs, Phineas Ste])hens. Mathias Hollen- 
back, Joiuithan Burwell, Nathan Dennison, Joel Thomas, John O'Neal, 
Thomas Handy, Mason F. Alden, Solomon Bennett. Eldad Kellogg, 
Gideon Church, Benjamin Smith, Ethan Allen, Ebenezer Slocmn, 
Thomas I]ald win, John Hagerman, Ishmael Bennett, Duane O. Patrick, 
liichard Halsted, and William Hyde. 

Lot No. 45 was James Irvin's" hotel, built in 1791, and in 1818 con- 
veyed to J. F. Sattei'Iee. On lot 40 was the famous old Red Tavern 
built in 1795— owned by John Franklin in 1786; he sold to Elisha 
Mathewson ; Stephen Hopkins built a residence on lot No. .'58 in 1790 ; 
David Paine on lot ^ o. 87 in 1794 ; Enos Paine on lot No. ;30; on lot No. 
35 was Samuel Hepburn, merchant, his tavern built in 1784, and the same 
year was the store of David Alexander on lot No. 34; he had also a 
distillery ; George A. Perkins lived also on lot No. 34, just north of 
the fort ; John Reddington sold lot No. 32 to Austin Forbes in 1817. 
On the west side, and facing Tioga river, Elisha Mathewson owned 
lot No. 1, and George Welles had his distdlerv on lot No. 2, and his 
homestead includedlots Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9; Clement Inline buiit 
his new house and store in 1802 on lots Nos. 10, 11 and 12 ; Edward 
Ilerrick lived on lot No. 13 ; John Miller built a house and store on lot 
No. 14, in 1812 (Stephens lived and died in this place). The public square 



396 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

was deeded to Athens' trustees, July 21, 1812. Mathias Hollenback had 
his hewed log house and store, and' his wharf and store built in 1780, on 
lot No. 15; this was torn down in 18-19, and was eventually built on by 
A. Budd ; Justin Forbes occupied lot No. 18, and L. S. Ellsworth was on 
lot No. 19. As early as 1784, Samuel Hepburn built his store and 
tavern on lot No. 19 f Noah Murray lived on lot No. 22, a part of the 
old fort ground, and Abner Murray was on lot No. 23, also a part of 
the fort ground. A. Decker occupied lot No. 27, the south lot on the west 
side in the original plat of the village. A street or road at this south 
line ran from river to river, and in 1801 John Saltmarsh built on the 
south side of this roadway ; then came the house of Hon. Horace Wil- 
liston, built in 1819; then Obadiah Spalding's residence; next was 
Brazilla Cook's and then Joseph Hopkin's residences, latter built in 
1811, and the last house on the west side was that of Jeremiah Decker. 
From Obadiah Spalding's, south for some distance on the west side, the 
land belonged to Eichard Canton. These lots, from No. 1 to No. 53, 
were the first division ; then was added on the south the second divis- 
ion, still divided only by a roadway or street in the center and contin- 
uing down to the junction of the rivers. These were numbered second 
division, and commenced on the north line and west side "' No. 1," and 
reach to No. 45, as the last north lot on the east side, opposite the 
starting point. They were simpl}?^ irregular " out lots " or acre prop- 
erty. Lots No. 1 and No. 2 were Richartl Canton's. Henry Welles' resi- 
dence was on lot No. 30. The old ferry road to the Susquehanna river 
ferry was nearly east of Jeremiah Decker's. Two circular lines in the 
point below the regular town are written : "Indian town of the Sus- 
quehannock and Iroquois, which was burned by Col. Thomas Hart- 
ley." This line runs with the Tioga river and circles near the point of 
junction. The other line bends the opposite way, and reads: "Land 
set off to George Welles in the partition of Canton and Welles, Septem- 
ber 1, 1802 — 350 acres. From these indications it is to be inferred that 
originally all the land south of Jenkins belonged to Welles and Canton. 
Aprd 13, 1789, Solomon Bennett deeded to Andreas Budd Nos. 6 and 
40 in the second division. 

The land north of the old tow-n plat, and between the two rivers, 
which is now the main center of the borough of Athens, was laid off 
in irregular lines, and sold by the Susquehanna Company, by numbers. 
These were still divided by a roadway in the center, equi-distant and 
running with the rivers. The first lots north of the old village plat 
was intended for the " minister's " residence ; then came Elisha Sat- 
terlee's purchase, made in 1768, on the east side, and John O'Neal, 
Shephard and Joseph Tylerson, on the west side ; then following up 
the west side or Tioga river front came Francis Tyler, Dan and Hugh 
McDuffie, Samuel McDuffie, Joseph and Charles McDuffie ; returning 
to the south, and going up the east side we came to Julius Tozers, and 
then to Guy Tozer's; next was Samuel Queenshire and A. H. Spald- 
ing; then Cornelius Quick. The next improvement was that of Jon- 
athan Harris, who came in 1789, and built here in 1791, Then going 
to the northeast corner of the old Athens township, and east of the 
Susquehanna river, the grants commence at Number 1, John Jenkins; 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 39''/ 

JSTos. 2 and 3, John Franklin ; Nos. 4 and 5, William Slocuni ; No. (i, 
Richard llalsted ; 'No. 7, Abram Kesbitt; No. 9, Benjamin Allen 
Nos. 10 and 11, Elisha Satterlee ; No. 12, Elisha Mathewson ; No. 18, 
Eldad Kellogg; No. 1-t, Waterman Baldwin; No. 15, McKinstry ; No. 
16, John Franklin ; and No. 18, Waterman Baldwin. 

Commencing at the south of the township and west of the Tioga 
and Susquehanna down to Queen Esther's, the tracts or grants are 
again numbered, commencing at No. 1, purchased by Theodore Loomis ; 
the Indian village was on the west eml of this tract ; No. 2, Erastus 
Loomis; No. 3, Peter Garrington — he sold to John Griffin; No. 4, 
Daniel Satterlee, sold in 1788 to Ben Green ; No. 5, sold by Dan Sat- 
terlee in 1788 to Henry Green; No. 6, John P. Green and Thomas 
Lane; No. 7, Ludwig Green; No. 8, Isaac Morley, Sr., in 1800 trans- 
ferred to G. H. Morley ; No. 9, Alvin Morley ; No. 10, Isaac Morley ; 
No. 11, Joseph Spalding, in 1791 sold to John Spalding ; Nos. 12 and f3, 
Abner Murray, sold in 1791 to E. A. Murray; No. 14, Stephen IIo[)- 
kins, sold to Chauncey N. Shipman ; No. 15', Elisha Satterlee sold to 
Alanson I). Whitmarsh. The next five tracts were those of John 
Abram, Jacob and Henry Snell. On lot No. 18, Jacob Snell's son was 
born, Abram Snell, July 5, 1785, the first white child born here. Then 
there was an unoccupied strip, and then came the tracts of Daniel and 
Hugh McDuffie and Col. Tozer, who made his improvement in 1795. 
The next was No. 21, William Scott, and on the east end of his lot, on 
the Tioga river bank, was the ancient Turtleloe village. The place 
had been wiped out com()letely by Col. Hartley, and Mr. Scott built 
just west, a few feet from wliere it had stood { No. 20, Samuel Shoe- 
maker; No. 19, Albert and J. M. Tozer. 

Matldas HoUenback, of Wilkes-Barre, was one of the earliest to 
establish himself in business at this place ; he was a brave defender of 
the Yankee claimants, but submitted to the decree of Trenton. He 
was one of the heroic Revolutionary soldiers ; a stocky Dutchman, 
and a vigorous, strong man m body and mind. At the close of the war 
he was Indian supply agent in treaties with those people, and was 
stationed at Newtown. His clerk was John Shepard, father of Mrs. 
George A. Perkins, author of '' Early Times on The Susquehanna.'' 
Soon after the Avar he built his store in Athens, 1780, but had 
really located here in 1783. He first occupied a small house of Mr. 
Alexander, near where Samuel He])burn afterward had a store, near 
the old fort. He built his new store in 1786, on the corner of the 
public square, a two-story, of hewed logs, and in time it wasclapboarded 
— house and store together. This was a noted first building in Athens. 
His clerk, when the new store was opened, was Daniel McDowell. So 
important was " Hollenback's Store " that often letters sent to men in 
this section of the State were thus addressed — this was for some time 
the only name Athens had. Hollenback's was a truly historical house ; 
he dug the first well, and planted tlie first apple trees at Tioga Point, 
some of which trees are still living ; he built a warehouse on the bank 
of the Chemung river that accommodated, many years, the merchants ; 
when a boat arrived bringing new goods the horn was blown to 
announce the fact. Hollenback's house and store was torn down in 



3U8 IILSTOKY Ul-' BltADFOIil) (X)UNTV. 

1849. In 1793, when the revolution in France was raging, CoL Hollen- 
back was employed, by the Governor of Pennsylvania, to procure a 
place of retreat for the royal famih^ of France, at some secluded spot on 
the Susquehanna, and he purchased Asylum township, Bradford 
county, to which place came the French colony, a few of whose de- 
scendants are yet with us. The royal family never came — for the good 
reason they had lost their heads. 

The contention over these lands is given in full in another chapter, 
and it is only necessary here to give the chain of title fi'om Pennsyl- 
vania in order to preserve historical accuracy. 

In 17S6 Andrew Elliott, on the part of Pennsylvania, and James 
Clinton and Simeon Dewitt, on the part of the State of New York, 
were appointed commissioners to ascertain, run out and mark the 
boundary line between the two States. This duty was performed m 
1786-87 by running a line due west from a small island in the Delaware 
river to Lake Erie, a distance of 259 miles, 88 perches. 

In 1784 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania bought a large tract 
of land of the Indians at Fort Stanwix. The land office was opened 
for the sale of these lands, May 1, 1785. Under the law, applications 
filed within ten days should have priority of location. 

"No. 1" was drawn from the Avheel, and the name of the applicant 
was Josiah Lockhart. This gave him the first choice. He applied for 
1038 acres, and made his selection on the point of land between the 
Tioga and Susquehanna rivers — or Tioga Point (now Athens . His 
land commenced at the point and extended a little above " Mile Hill," 
from river to river. The Indian name for the "Point" was Ta-ga-o- 
gah, meaning " at the forks." This land cost Mr. Lockhart about 
twenty -six cents per acre. In the early part of the century Mr. Lock- 
hart sold to Charles Carroll, of Carrollion, one of the notable signers of 
the Declaration, as well as one of the last survivorsof these immortals ; 
he was ninty -five years old when he died. From Carroll these lands 
fell to Eichard Caton, his son-in-law, and from him to "Welles. He 
made easy and generous settlement with the most of the Connecticut 
claimants in their " paying twice for their lands." A notable mark 
of these lands was the heavj^ growth of yellow pine that covered the 
ground. This timber was all killed off by the worm that attacked i 
in 1796, and the tall dead trees towered as ohastly sentinels many 
years. The other purchasei's at the same time as Lockhart were 
l*ficholas Kiester, Arthur Erwin, Joseph Erwin, Timothy Pickering, 
Samuel Hodgson, Duncan Ingraham and Tench Cox. Erwin sold to 
Duffie, and Pickering to John Shepard. It was under the company 
of the Susquehanna that the village was platted and the lots laid off. 
The upper end of the okl original village plat is indicated by the grave- 
yard. There was no cross street in the place until you reached this 
point, and only one roadway north and south, equi-distant from the 
two rivers. Prince Bryant owned 600 acres, and on his land built a 
grist and saw mill, and in 1788 sold to Nathaniel Shaw. Paine island 
was named for Clement Paine. 

Guy Maxwell came in 1778, and in company with Samuel Hepburn 
sold goods in HoUenback's store building. Jonathan Harris, grand- 



HISTORY OF UliAhl'OKI) f'OL'NTV. IJOO 

father of N. C. Harris, came in 1789, and located on lot No. o7, now the 
Leggett farm in Sayre boi"ovig'li; his brother, Alpheus Harris, came in 
1780, and purchased of S. Swift; he was ejected in 1810 by J. L. Kean. 
Col. Julius Tozer came in 1794, and first settled at Tozer's Cove. 
Daniel McDuffie settled on lot No. 33 in 1788. Noah Murray came 
in 1791 and located west of the Chemung river. At the mouth of 
Satterlee creek J. V. Nathan Cantlin settled. Noah ]\[urray in 1791 
settled on lot 13. 

Capt. Joseph Spalding came in 1791, and made his im]>rovement 
on lot 12, he was succeeded by his son, Jolm Spalding. Ja.mes Irvine 
came in 1794. and built the once noted '' Pike Tavern " on lot 43; this 
was burned in 1875; during its time was kept lirst by Irvine, in 1798 
by George Welles, in 1809 by David Paine; the last named, with his 
brother Clement, came to the place in 1794 and settled on lot 37 and 
built the "new store" and dwelling in ]8(»2. Daniel Elwell came in 
1798 and built on lot 18. Nehemiah Northrop came in 1795; his 
widowed mother, at the age of ninety years, walked six miles, to 
Squire Gore's, Shesliequin, for the purpose of being married to Mr. 
Howard, and returned the same day on foot. The nuirried life of this 
couple lasted sixteen years, and the old lady died at the age of one 
hundred and six. The Northrops came in 1830. The old " Ked 
Tavern," mentioned previously, was put up in 1795, the first thing of 
the kind from Elmira to AVilkes-Barre. 

Tiie noted Tioga Indian treaty was held on the banks of the Sus- 
quehanna river, JSovember 23, 1790, on the ground now back of the 
Episcopal church. This was a red-letter day in the village. Indians 
in great numbers were here, and their big and little chiefs and heads 
of tribes were all liere, and their followers came in swarms — all rigged 
out in barbaric splendor, paints, feathers, red l)lankets, etc. 

The township, as surveyed in 1777, and re-adjusted in 1786, contained 
twenty-five square miles; was located and laid out by John Franklin 
and John Jenkins at the request of Prince Bryant, Elisha Satterlee and 
their associates. The two rivers, Susquehanna and Tioga (in New 
York, the Chemung), meet within the confines of the township, and 
these streams divide the township into nearly three equal parts. 
It has more broad fertile valleys in it than has any other township in 
the county. The present township includes the grant to Satterlee, 
Franklin and others, and a strip about three-fourths of a mile wnde on 
the north, which was made by carrying the north line to the State line, 
and also "the gore" which was added on the west side and taken from 
Durkee township, and a point, taken off the south line and given to 
Sheshequin, extending up the river nearly to the junction; this change 
in the south line was a matter of convenience in working the road run- 
ning along the east side of the river. 

Tills fertile spot attracted the earliest attention of the whites. In 
1768 Penn purchased the land lying east of the river, of the Indians, 
and as early as 1773 Charles Stewart surveyed this purchase, and that 
year there were three warrants laid in Athens by Jacob Wetmore, 
John Stover and David Trisler; these embraced all the level land 



400 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

east of the Susquehanna. These titles subsequently passed to Joseph 
Wharton, of Philadelphia, and finally this became the source from 
which title was derived by the settlers. Tlie land west of the Susque- 
hanna was purchased of the Indians, in 1784, at Ft. Stanwix. The 
first purchase here was by Josiah Lockhart, of Lancaster, whose first 
choice took the land on the point lying between the rivers; this is the 
source of title to most of the land within the borough of Athens. 
AYhen platted, the lands within the point were laid off into smalltown 
lots in the lower portion, ten acre lots above, and on both sides of the 
rivers, east and west of the point, were one hundred acre lots. 

The smoke of the guns of the Ilevolution had hardly passed away 
when the first settler, after the war, came here — Benjamin Patterson 
— and located east of the Susquehanna river, in 1783. He was from 
Stratford, Conn., where he was born January 15, 1752, and the sup- 
])osition is he was in Sullivan's expedition, and while soldiering selected 
iiis future home ; he sold to Robert Mcllhoe, and kept moving west 
until he reached Missouri ; he died in New Madrid, in 1840. 

Thomas Maclure came here in 1786, and two years after he was 
licensed to keep a tavern, and whether he really kept a tavern or not 
(for nearly every cabin in the land would entertain the weary trav- 
eler), yet he renewed, it seems, his tavern license in 1789, but soon 
after left the place and went to New York. 

Col. John Franklin built in 1786 on lot 40, just south of the public 
square and near the bank of the Susquehanna. He was carried a pris- 
oner the next year to Philadelphia, and therefore could not make his 
home here until 1789. 

The Satterlees, who figure prominently in the early history, were 
the children of Benedict Satterlee, who was killed during the Revo- 
lution in the Wyoming country, leaving a widow and six chiklren, of 
whom Elizabeth (Mrs. Major Elisha Mathewson) was aged thirteen at 
the time of the Wyoming battle; the other children were Elisha, EHas, 
l^enedict, Nathaniel and Samuel ; the mother fleeing witii her children 
from the valley, after the massacre, perished in the wildei'ness of 
exposure and fatigue — ^no aid, with her infants, no protection from the 
elements, and scarcity of food — no words could add to this brief state- 
ment, to this sad tale of suffering and woe. Elisha, the elder brother, 
had to assume charge of the younger cliildren ; he married C3^nthia 
Stephens, sister of Capt. Ira Stephens. John F. Satterlee, a son from 
this marriage, and for years a prominent citizen of the county, died 
February 11, 1856. He was twice married, first to Julia Prentice 
(daughter of Amos Prentice), who died December 12, 1823, aged thirty- 
seven ; and his second marriage was with EHzabeth, who died Decem- 
ber 5, 1871, aged seventy-seven. Benedict Satterlee taught school in 
Athens, in 1791, in the log house on "school lot" in the original vil- 
lage plat ; he married Wealthia, daughter of Capt. Joseph Spalding, 
and died at Mount Morris, N. Y., January 8, 1813. Ehas Satterlee 
commenced in Athens as a shoemaker, and is so mentioned in the 
assessment of 1796; he afterward studied medicine, removed to 
Elmira, and practiced witli great success; was killed by the accidental 
fliscjjiirge of a gun November U, 1815 , Samuel and KatJianiel settled 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 401 

at Smithliekl. Natlianiers son, Samuel, was colonel in the War of 1812, 
and a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Elisha Mathewson, 
who married the only daughter, was the son of Winciiester Mathew- 
son, who was born in Rhode Island in 1774, and exchanged valuable 
property in that State for ''Connecticut rights,'' on the Susquehanna, 
and came to Wyoming, w^here he died, in 1778, leaving sons, Elisha, 
Constant and Nero, all of whom were in the Revolutionary War. Nero 
Avas killed at Wyoming; Constant was killed at the battle of Mud Fort, 
near Phi]adel))liia; Elisha served through the war in Capt. Spalding's 
company ; discharged in 1783, after Seven years' honoral)le service. 
He was one of the original proprietors of Athens, and made his per- 
manent home here in 1788; was elected major in the militia soon after 
his arrival, and was one of the overseers of the poor of Tioga town- 
ship. On arrival he moved into Col. Franklin's log house, on lot 40 ; 
in 1795 he built the old "Red Tavern," and kept it until his death, 
April 11, 1805. His children were Constant, born in 1792; Elias S., 
born June 16, 1796 ; Cynthia (Mrs. Hammond) ; Fanny (Mrs. White) ; 
Clarissa (Mrs. John Duffie), and Lydia (Mrs. Means). The widow of 
Major Mathewson (Satterlee) was one of the last survivors of the 
Wyoming massacre; died December 14, 1851. 

' Ira Stephens was another grand old Revolutionary soldier ; a native 
of Connecticut, born July 24, 1760; son of Jedediah Stephens, who 
married Sybil Ransom, a tiaughter of Capt. Samuel Ransom, who was 
born in Connecticut February 1, 1764. He was also a soldier in Capt. 
Spalding's company. 

Col. Julius Tozer and Jonathan Harris were brothers-in-law. Tozer 
was born in Colchester, June 16, 1764, and accompanied his family to 
the Wyoming valley. After the battle they returned to Connecticut, 
where Julius, though quite young, enlisted in the Colonial army. After 
the war he married Hannah Conklin, daughter of Ananias Conklin, 
and came to Athens, from Luzerne county, in 1794. He was colonel 
of a regiment of militia of this State; during the War of 1812 he 
raised a company, of which he was captain, and served during the 
war; his two sons, Samuel and Guy, were in his company. His chil- 
dren were: Hannah, born October 4, 1788; Alice, March 5,1789; 
Elizabeth R., August 28, 1791 ; Samuel, August 1, 1792 ; Julius, March 
7, 1794; Lucy, Januarv 25, 1796; Dorothy, January 28, 1798; Guy, 
March 7. 1799; Albert, May 30, 1801 ; Susan, March 1, 1803; Joel 
Murray, August 11, 1805; Mary Ann, January 21, 1807, and Cynthia, 
May 1, 1809. Col. Julius Tozer died December 7, 1852; his wife died 
March 5, 1832. His sons, Albert, Murray and Guy, lived long and 
honorable lives in the vicinity where they were born. Guy was elected 
sheriff in 1837; his wife was Wealthy Kinnev, and they were married 
October 4, 1827. Sheriff Tozer died September 20, 1877; his wife, 
August 18, 1868. 

Chil Proceedings and Titles. — The town was laid out, as said, 
under warrants of Connecticut, and in 1786 Pennsylvania had sold 
these lands to speculators, not one of whom was a settler, and hence 
the conflict of titles. This contention went on until March 19, 1810, 
when the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act for 
adjusting the title to the lands in Ulster cind Bedford townships, 



402 HISTORY OF BRADFOKIJ COUNTY. 

Luzerne countv, and this included Athens. This act gave the settlers 
prior rights, if in actual possession, and they could perfect title by the 
legal price of "seated hinds'' prior to the act. Under this act the 
lots were in time paid for and })atented to the claimants. The pro- 
prietors set apart certain lots for public use — the public square in the 
middle of the village, and also a little over twenty-one acres, known 
as the " Public Plat," in the modern borough ; these were duly 
patented to John Franklin, Eiisha Satterlee and John Shepard. 
trustees of Athens township — the stewardship of whicii trust is to this 
day maintained, and the trustee's record book is quite a connected 
history of the acts and doings of the people; however, it should be 
stated that their record book from 1TS6 to 1815 is lost. 

The trustees, Franklin, Satterlee and Shepard, called a meeting 
of the people, April 15, 1815. The meeting" voted to employ a sur- 
veyor to survey the public lands into town lots and offer the same for 
sale. Five acres of the land were to be reserved from sale at that 
time; conditions of sale to be ten dollars in hand, and balance on ten 
years' time. The meeting elected John Franklin, Edw^ard Jlerrick and 
David Paine, new^ trustees. The proceeds of the sale were to be paid 
the Commonwealth in payment for the Athen's lands under the 
settlement; the interest on sales to be appropriated to the Athens 
academy fund for its support. Maj. Zephon Flower, who was the 
survevor, laid off 30 lots, and these wxre sold as follows: Lots 5 and 
to 'Obadiah Spalding, JSlOO ; 9 and 10, Daniel Park. $100 ; 12 and 
19, George Ilallock, $100 ; 2 and 24, Nehemiah Northrop, $146 ; 23, 
John Redington, S57 ; 14 and 15, Isaac S. Board man; $155; 1,2, 29 
and 30, Michael R. Sharp, $219; 13 and IT, James Hoxton and E. 
Shaw, $100 ; 16, James Parks, $130 ; 3 and 4, David Briggs, $100 ; 
8, Uriah Wilson, $50. 

On June 18, 1829, the trustees reported as due $1,498.24. This 
day a public meeting of the taxables of Athens township was con- 
vened — to consider the subject of the sale of the public lands by the 
trustees on the public square, wdiich had been made to Guy Tozer. 
The people voted to rescind the sale — 58 votes against and 28 for. 

On July 25, 1829, a public meeting on the same subject convened at 
the store of D. A. Saltmarsh — Steplien Ilojikins, chairman, and William 
Robb, clerk. 

On August 29, following, trustees Franklin, Shepard and Thomas 
Wilcox called another meeting to consider matters relating to the 
public lots in said village. At this meeting it was unanimously 
resolved: "We wholly and totally disapprove of the pretended sale 
by the trustees of the township of the public common in the center of 
the village of Athens; that the said commons having been surveyed as 
such, more than forty years ago, and so ajipropriated fi-om tiiat time.'' 
A resolution was passed removing ti'ustees John Franklin. John 
Shepard and Thomas Wilcox, and Henry Welles, Horace Williston 
and Francis Tyler wei'ea]i])ointed, by the meeting, trustees of the town- 
ship. 

Some evidence of the acrimony of feeling engendered in the dispo- 
sition of the subject is to be found in the resignation of David Paine, 





^ G^,.^oc^<.yi.^^ 



niSTOIlV Ol' I'.KADI'ORI) nOl^NTY. 405 

trustee. He tenders his resl<^nation and adds: " I l)e^ to recommend 
the trust to the fostering care of the mob, wlio sanctioned the recent 
riotous proceedings in wantonly destroying the fences and culling 
away the trees around the pubhc scjuare.'' 

On January 13, 1836, the qualified citizens held an election of Athens 
townslii}) and borough, at the house of Jason K. Wriglit, and elected 
Francis Tyler, Nathan Clapp and L. S. Ellsworth, trustees. 

June 23, 183(), on settlement it was found there was due on sales 
$2,333.82. 

July 9, 1836, at a meeting, it was resolved to divide it into eight 
lots and offer the same for sale, " the lot now in the occupancy of N. 
Flower; also the two reserved lots at the north side of tiie public 
l)lat, to be staked out as soon as the present crop is off.'' 

June 27, 1837, at the annual meeting of the qualified citizens of the 
township, Thomas Wilcox, Julius Tozer, Jr., and Clark McCall were 
acting judges of election ; J. F. Satterlee, clerk, Charles Comstock, 
elected trustee. July 10, 1837, a public meeting assembled for the 
purpose of effecting a division between the township and borough of 
the respective interests in the lot sales. A committee of five was 
appointed — three from the township and two from the borough — to 
make the settlement. Members of this committee : On part of town- 
ship — John Watkins, Robert Spalding and J. F. Satterlee; on part of 
borough — L. S. Ellsworth and George A. Perkins. The committee 
reported to an adjourned meeting Saturday, xVugust 26. Thcv preface 
this report by saying they hail obtained the opinion of Hon. Judge 
Williston, and proceed as follows: "The patent from the Common- 
wealth vested the title to the land in Messi-s. Franklin, Sliepard and 
Satterlee as trustees for the township of Athens. No provision by law 
was made for the disposition of this land until the act of March 27, 
1827." This law, they say, authorized the trustees to sell and convey. 
But no provision was made by law for the election of trustees to sup- 
ply vacancies, and the act was so defective that in 1835 an amending 
act was passed ; this act authorized the trustees to sell, except the pub- 
lic square. 

Under the law, and the action of the people in 1815, it is supposed 
there is really nothing to-day to prevent the trustees from selling the 
public reserved lots and square. 

The committee reported tliat, '' first, the funds now in the hands of 
the trustees of sai<l township be divided, the township to have two- 
thirds and the borough one-third ; second, that the two reserved lots, 
or Boardinan lots, on the north side of the public lot, and also one-half 
of the four-acre lot on the front or west end, be sold and the proceeds 
divided as above; third, that the residue or one-half part of the four- 
acre lot, being the east half, be divided into two equal i)arts, the town- 
ship to have one-half and the borough the other; fourth, that the 
debtj that has accrued in re-l)uilding and re-furnishing the acad- 
emy, ought in justice to be paid at present, as that debt bears hard and 
to the manifest injury of a few individuals, who in good faith and 
with a public spirit worthy of imitation, made advances necessary to 
complete the building, under a confident belief that their advances 



406 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

would be refunded b\' a liberal, generous public." * * " The com- 
pleting and furnishing the academy has resulted in great credit to the 
village and a benefit and convenience to the public generally, provid- 
ing a suitable building for all public meetings necessar\^ for the town- 
ship and borough, as well as a convenient house for public worship, 
free to all denominations of professing Christians without molestation. 
From this view your committee consider that the township has a rela- 
tive interest in common with the borough in the academy, consequently 
ought, upon every principal of fair dealing, pay her proportional part 
of the expenses." The committee then recommended that the borough 
pay two-thirds and the township one-third of the academy debt, and 
conclude by recommending that the interest arising from the unsold 
land be specifically appropriated for the benefit of the district schools. 
The report was unanimously adopted and approved. 

July 20, 18-iO, the books show total resources from lot sales, 
$3,234.27. Of this, $244.95 were paid for rebuilding academy, and 
$701.12 additional was paid to the borough. The township fund, from 
year to year, in 1846 amounted to $3,000. The interest on this is paid 
annually to the township school treasurer. Thus the township has 
carried out, and is carrying out the intention of the proprietors. 

It is doubtful if the borough has kept a like faith, and no fixed fund 
can now be found that has come from the sale of the public land. The 
land where the new brick school-house stands, as well as the $2,000 
appropriated by the State to the academy fund (in which the township 
had a common interest), a fund donated before Athens became a 
borough, and given exclusiveh^ in support of the academy school, and 
there is grave doubt if this fund is 3'et intact, and was not put into the 
high school building. 

Postoffice. — The first postoffice established at Tioga Point was in 
1800, William Prentice being first appointed, and his office was in 
Mathias Hollen back's store. After serving five years, he suddenly 
died. No appointment was made for two \'ears, Col. Samuel Satterlee 
officiating ^>/v> tern ; David Paine was then appointed postmaster, in 
1808, and served until 1824, when he resigned and D. A. Saltmarsh 
was appointed ; in 1827, Ebenezer Backus; 1831, Lemuel Ellsworth; 
1840, John Judson; 1841, O. D. Satterlee; 1844, C. S. Park ; 1845, 
C. II. Herrick; 1848, N. C. Harris; 1853, W. Olmstead ; 1856, C. H. 
Herrick; 1861, William Fritcher; 1864, S. B. Hoyt. 

Cayuta Mill. — " The old stone mill " is the outcome of the first mill 
in Bradford county, built in the other century by John Sliepard, and 
was the beginning and gave the name of Milltown, now in the borough 
of Sayre. Its present owners are F. J. Philips and Levi Curtis. The 
old frame mill stands near the " stone mill," and lately was a plaster 
mill. The present mill is water-power, on Cayuta creek, has a capacity 
of about 1,700 bushels daily. The present firm has operated it the ))ast 
twenty-two years. They purchased of Simon Morley and Iloi-ace 
Shipman. 

The Shingle and Planing Mill of Campbell Bros, is in North 
Athens. 

Cayuta Axle Company. — President and general manager, H, B. 



IILSTOKY OK lUiADFOlU) COUNTY. 407 

Stirapson; secretaiy and treasui'er, B. F. Taylor; have thirty 
employees. Company incorporated in 1882. 

MVItoimi was laid out by John Jenkins in 1786, also "under a 
grant from the Susquehanna company to Prince Bryant and tlfty 
others." It lies " between said town (Athens) and the State line." 
These tracts were settled under tiie Pennsylvania title, as follows: 
Lot 1, Theodore Morgan, August 21, 1824:'; Lot 2, Reuben Hatch, 
September 2, 1824; Lot 3, Peuben Muzzy, August 21, 1824; No. 4, 
Silas C. Perry, March 16, 1825; No. 5, John Shepard, September 2, 
1824; No. 6, school-house, same date; No. 8, Clement Paine, same 
date; No. 9, Reuben Muzzy, September 30, 1826; No. 10, Samuel 
Chapman, same date ; No. 11, Judson Griswold, same; No. 12, John 
Shepard, same; No, 13, James Elmstead, March 15, 1826; Ho. 14, 
Moses W, Wheelock, same; No. 15, George Haddock, October 20, 
1829; No. 19, M. Shepherd's homestead; No. 20. W. B. Swain, May 
20,1825; No. 21, Samuel Warner, March 16, 1825; No. 22, Solomon 
Fuitts, September T, 1825 ; No. 23, Adam Crause, 1816; No. 24 
AVanton Rice, April 27, 1815 ; No. 25, William W. Rice, June 15, 1815 ; 
No. 26, Jere Adams, June 26, 1819; No. 27, Joseph Crocker, April 
24, 1816; No. 28, Francis Snackenberger; No. 29, Daniel Elwell, April 
23, 1816; No. 30, Ozias Spring; No. 31, Theodore Wilcox, 1800; No. 
32, Dr. Ozias Spring; No. 33, school lot ; No. 34, Ozias Spring; No. 
35, burying ground ; No. 36, Benj. Jacobs. March 31, 1816; No. 38, 
L. Hopkins; No. 39, L. Strait; No. 40, Henry Welles. June 4, 1817, 
Then came Muzzv's, Griswold'sand El well's lots, 1826 ; Dennis Fuller's, 
1828; M. B. Wheelock's, 1827, and Samuel Wheelock's. 

These lay along Mill creek on each side. Prince Bryant had built 
a mill on the creek on the east side, and this important improvement 
was the nucleus of Milltown. He sold to John Shepard and Nathaniel 
Shaw in January, 1788. Lot 1 was an island, just below the old mill. 
Tract No. 36 was sold by John Jenkins to John Shepard in June, 1790, 
and he sold to Benjamin Jacobs, March 21, 1816. The tract adjoining 
west of the last-named was sold by John Harris to Simon Spalding, 
September 13, 1828, and No. 38, just south of this, was owned by 
Charles D. Hopkins. The tract abutting this and fronting on the 
Tioga river originally belonged to Sybil Stephens, who sold to Elias 
Mathewson. The tract of John Harris, just north of this, was origin- 
ally S. Swift's, who came and occupied it in 1786 ; he was ejected by 
the Pennsylvania authorities in 1810, and it came into the possession 
of Alpheus Harris, June 19, 1811, and north of this to the State line 
was purchased by Samuel Harris, July 4, 1815. In this tract is Span- 
ish Hill. Across the river opposite Spanish Hill, is the John H.Avery 
tract; he sold to Edward Herrick, April 26, 1826; adjoining this on 
the south was Levi Spalding's ; he sold to Francis Tyler, A]>ril 26, 
1826. The next going south belonged to Daniel and Hugh McDuffie, 
who sold to Eben Dunham. Passing to the north-east corner of the 
township is the xYdam Crause tract. No. 23, purchased in 1816 ; No. 22 
is west of this, by Solomon Evits, September 7, 1825; Nos. 21 and 20 
adjoin this on the south-west; the former owned bv Samuel Warner in 
1826, and the latter by William B. Swain, May 28,' 1823; No. 19, John 



408 HISTORY OF BHADFOKI) COUNTY. 

Shepard's, who moved into his new house on tliis tract in 1817. Just 
north of Prince Bryant's mill were the houses of William Rice and 
Dr. Amos Prentice, and Prentice's tanneiy. As alread}^ stated, Prince 
Bryant sold his mill to Shepard and Shaw in January, 1788. This 
John Shepard came to this country a clerk for HoUenback. He was a 
nephew of Capt. Simon Spalding, and came with him to the new^ 
country soon after the w^ar, when eighteen years old, first stopping in 
Sheshequin. After much experience in trading with the Indians, he 
purchased Bryant's mill — a saw and grist mill and two dwelling 
houses, purchased under the Connecticut title ; the land embraced 
both sides of Cayuta creek, or Shepard's or Mill creek, and included 
about all that eventually became Milltowm — 600 acres. The gristmill 
was the only one within a range of fifty miles. John Sliepard mar- 
ried Anna, daughter of Judge Gore of Sheshequin, and made his per- 
manent settlement on his Milltown property. He bought of John 
Jenkins three huntlred and forty acres opposite his mills, across the 
creek. He w^as a large land buyer, and at one time owaied all the land 
on which is AVaverly. The first interment in the Milltown cemetery 
was a youth of eighteen, Chester, a son of Josiah Pierce, who had 
been thrown from his horse and dragged to death. In December, 
1798, Shepard's gristmill burned, and with difficulty the sawmill was 
saved. The whole population turned out and helped rebuild it; in the 
meantime the people had to go to Wilkes-Barre, one hundred miles, to 
mill. About the beginning of this century ISfr. Shepard had a grist- 
mill, sawmill, fulling-mill, oilmill and a distillery, and was one of the 
leading business men of northern Pennsylvania. An entry in his 
diary in 1804 says : " Began to build my large house in Milltown, and 
made preparations to build my new mill near the river." Under date 
of September 7, 1805, he says : " The wife of my youth w\as taken from 
me by death, by a fall from a carriage." Tlie preceding February 7, 
his first-born son. Prentice, died, and August following his uncle and 
next-door neighbor, Dr. Amos Prentice, died. In 1809 Mr. Shepard 
sold his old mill to Samuel Naglee, of Philadelphia. That year he 
sent to Stonington, Conn., for his sister, Mrs. Grant, and two daugh- 
ters, to come and keep house for him. These daughters became Mrs. 
Stephens and Mrs. How^ard. In 1809 Mr. Shepard received the first 
commission from Gov. Simon Snyder, as justice. 

The Wolf Invasion.— Isiv. Shepard's diary, 1814, says: ''This year 
there w^as heavy snow and a hard winter. The wolves were driven 
down from the mountains in search of food, and many sheep were 
devoured bv them. They could be heard howling at all times of the 
night; the "inhabitants were much in fear of them and were afraid to 
pass from Milltown to Athens, even in the day time. There was no 
traveling after dark, so great was tiie fear and danger. The sheep were 
often called into the door-yard and lights, w^ere kept burning for their 
protection. Bears and panthers were sometimes seen between the 
rivers." 

ATHENS HOROUGII. 

Athens Borough was incorporated March 27, 1831, and David Paine 
was elected first burgess. It was still but little more than the hum- 



Ilisrnuv ol' i:ir\ l»l'(>Kl> coL'N'lY. 409 

blest hamlet, but its people had ambitious ideas for both their country 
and their '' Tioga'' town. When men lirst sent letters here by private 
hand they directed them to Tioga Point, and even its circle of juris- 
diction extended far into New York. After a time letters for this 
place were directed to Ulster, and this went on some years, and then 
some classical turned mind insisted on Athens as the baptismal name 
for the young "future great."' These liigh-sounding classical names 
for back stations and places, possessed of more ambition than i)opula- 
tion or wealth, often remmd one of a family, who knew something of 
Bonaparte and named their favorite first-born " Napoleon Bonaparte," 
and when he was nearly grown and was attending the cabin school, he 
was only known as " Boney," he was so thin and meager, and during 
all his school-life he never mastered the alphabet, so it was supposed 
he had taken his name among the other children from his mental and 
physical conditions, and in that view there was great fitness in the boy and 
name. The original boundary lines included all the land between the 
rivers from the north line of the Public Land, now Ferry and Paine 
streets, and tiie north line of what was the late Henry Welles's, now J. 
O. Ward farm. The limits were first extended southerly, taking in the 
Welles or Ward farm between the rivers; it was extended afterward 
northerly, including all the land between the rivers as far north as the 
north line of old Ulster, know^n now as the south line of the Guy M. 
Tozer homestead, and the late E. C. Herrick's farm. The third exten- 
sion took in all the land north of the south line of J. F. Ovenshire's 
farm, and from the Suscpiehanna river west to the east line aforesaid 
of Herrick's farm. 

The record book of the borough of 1S62 opens with the following: 

At the burning of Patrick's tirst brick block, June 10, 1862, all boro records and 
papers tliat were tlien iti the office of J. B. ileeve and io his care, were lost; or in plain 
fwtK, burned up. In 1866 a copy of boro cliarter was received from Harrisburg through 
the hands of H. W. Patrick, Esq. 

May 14, 1874, it was decreed by the court of Quarter Sessions of Bradford county, 
that the borough of Athens be subject to the restrictions and possess the power and 
privileges conferred upon boroughs by the act of April 3, 1851, and that the provisions 
of the charters be amended so far as they are in conflict with said act. The name and 
style shall be " The Burgess and Council of the Borough of Athens." 

The burgesses that can now be recalled by the oldest inhabitant or 
rather the best memoiy, which it is conceded is that of Attoi'ue}' H, 
C. Baird, were : Aaron Tibbits, Richard Durbin, Geo, A. Perkins, Mr. 
Conklin, H. C. Baird (1848), Geo. Merrill, C. H. Herrick and E. H. 
Perkins [?]. 

The records from June. 1862, are complete and full, and the offi- 
cials in their order were as follows: 

i56.^— Burgess, E. White; council: C. Comstock, .J. B. Reeve, J. A. Bristol, H. W. 
Patrick, C. C. Brooks. 

ISf'iS — Burgess, George Merrill; council: Charles Comstock, C. O. Huntington, J. 
B. Reeve, John Drake, C. Hunsicker. 

ISGi — Burgess, James A. Bristol; council: J. L. Drake, J. L. Corbin, H. W. 
Rockwell, H. Williston. Ed. White. 

i.s'6'5— Burgess, S. W. Blood; council: II. Williston, C. W. Clapp, L. McMillan 
John Drake, D. F. Park. 

i5C6'— Burgess, S. N. Blood; council: A. H. Spalding, C. W. Clapp, J. D. Hill, 
G. H. Welles, G. M. Angler. 



41(1 IIJSTOKY OF BRADFORD C'OUXIY. 

iw; — Burgess, John Salcmarsh; council: William Hancock, E. S. Kerrick, George 
Merrill, A. O. Snell, William Durrant. 

ISGS — Burgess, E. Herrick; council: H. Williston, Squire Northrup, Jolin P. 
Blood, George Merrill, George H. Voorhis. 

1869 — Burgess, E. Herrick; council: A. A. Kinner, M. Foley, A. O. Snell, James 
Bristol, J. S. Middaugh. 

1870 — Burgess, C. Hunsicker; council: William Hancock, H. C. Smith, T. P. 
McEvoy, William Kiff, Edwin Drake. 

1S71 — Burgess, C. Hunsicker; council: William Hancock, H. C. Smith, C. T. 
Hull, William Kiff, Edwin Drake. 

i.V7i^— Burgess, F. II. Pike; council: G. M. Angier, Charles Kellogg, E. N. Mer- 
rill, J. W. Comstock, Joseph M. Ely, Jr., Michael Foley. 

A97o— Burgess, Charles T. Hull; council: Charles Kellogg, D.. F. Park, J. B. 
Reeve, Artemus Weller, Thomas McEvoy, Isaac Gregory. 

1874- — Burgess, A. A. Prince; council: John Carroll, E. D. Peck, F. T. Page, 
George H. Mead, George Jordan, F. B. Welch. 

i<*?75— Burgess, D. F. Park; council: F. A. Allen, J. M. Pike, George H. Mead, 
J. S. Middaugb, F. T. Page, H. C. Smith. 

;6'7«— Burgess, Edward Herrick; council: J. M. Pike, E. G. Fitch, I. N. Evans, 
F. T. Page, G. F. Sawyer, J. M. Ely, Jr. 

1S77 — Burgess, J. Leroy Corbin; council: J. M. Ely, C. S. Maurice, I. N. Evans, 
George Pendleton, Fred. B. Welch, Ed. H. Perkins. 

ii'7<S'— Burgess, T. D. Woolcot; council: F. M. Welles, John Carroll, M. R. 
Heath, James Bristol, C. S. Maurice, J. M. Ely, Jr. 

1S79 — Burgess, F. T. Page; council: John King, D. T. Park, Joseph Hines, G. 
A. Kinney, J. L. Middaugh, J. A. Bristol. 

i,v<S'(y— Burgess, F. T. Page; council: Joseph Hines, T. P. McEvoy, F. M.Welles, 
D. F. Park. ^N . Osborne, J. A. Bristol. 

1881 — Burgess, A. A. Prince ; council: John Carroll, M. P. Murray, John King, 
F. B. Welsh, E. M. Frost, D. F. Park. 

i55^— Burgess, A. A. Prince; council: E. C. Spalding, M. R. Heath, M. P. Murray, 
George Vail, F. A. Gillett, Mark Thompson. 

i<?55— Burgess, C. S. Maurice ; council: J. L. Elsbree, F. A. Gillett, Mark Thomp- 
son' Cornelius Knibbs, H. F. Maynard, G. T. Ercanbrank. 

i.y.S'^— Burgess, C. S. Maurice; council : E. T. Fitch, Joseph Hines, C. Knibbs, 
H. F. Maynard, E. W. Kellogg, M. P. Murray. 

i<?,§5— Burgess, E. M. Frost; council : M. P- Murray (three years), J. W. Carroll 
(Fitch's unexpired term), Joseph Hines, W. G. Demiston (three years), C. Knibbs, 
(two years), E. W. Kellogg (one year). 

i.sw;— Burge.ss, George E. Davis; council : M. P. Murray, N. J. Knarlesboro, 
W. T. Demiston. E. W. Kellogg, C. Knibbs, J. W. Carroll. The latter resigned in 
March, and G. F. Ercanbrank was elected to fill vacancy. 

i,?.??— Burgess, George E. Davis; councilmen elect: Mark Thompson, C. Knibbs, 
A. C. McCaslin. 

i^(5'<s'— Burgess, George A. Kinney; councilmen elect: D. W. Tripp, C. W. Prince, 
C. Knibbs, M. P. Murray. 

18SU — Burgess, George A. Kinney; council : M. W. Nevins (three years), James 
Lowman (three years). 

iS'.iO — Burgess, Geo. A Kinnej^; council (city now divided into three wards) : J. E. 
Sivzers, C. W. BuUard, John H. Alberts, Jas. Lowman, M. P. Murray, M. W. Nevins. 

In addition to these councilmen, the officei's elected at the February 
election, 1890, are the following: High constable, James Bennett; 
auditor, J. F. McKean ; tax collector. James I>ennett; Second Ward, 
school director, H. L. Towner; Third Ward, school director, John Sim- 
mons. Judge of elections, First Ward, E. Mills ; inspectors, W. K. 
Park and Jesse Barber; constable. First Ward, A. C. McCaslin. Sec- 
ond Ward, judge of election, George Pendleton ; inspectors, J. T. 
Corbin, E. AY. Campion ; constable, Charles Fitzgerald. Third Ward, 
judge of election, John McNamara ; inspectors, W. H. French, A. 
Kirkpatrick ; constable, A. Groat. 

At the June meeting, 1876, on motion of J. M. Ely, it was unani 



HISTORY OK BIIADI'OHD (.'OLrNTY. 41 1 

mously resolved tliat the borough would subscribe $1,000, jirovlded the 
citizens would subscribe $500, and would ])a3'^ $900 of tliis amount to 
the Chemung Bridge Company in full for their bridge, and make the 
same a free bridge. Tiie people were clamorous for free bridges. 

In the early spring of 1890 an electric company sent an agent to 
the borough to arrange for electric lighting. His propositions were 
accepted and all conditions fulfilled; but he "disappeared," as the 
minutes put it, and now the good people are waiting for " next." They 
will not have to wait long. 

In connection with Sayre, an active movement is on foot to build 
electric street railways to pass from Athens to South Waverly, and by 
the early part of 1892, it is confidently expected, this improvement 
will be in full operation. 

Fire Department. — A record of nearly fifty years is that of the 
Athens Fire Department. Like all or most of the efficient institutions 
of men, it had its early small beginning, and its time of trial 
and days of cloud, but has struggled, lived and now, at all events, 
flourishes. About the first fire in Athens, whether it was the one that 
suggested organizing a fire company or not, was that of an incen- 
diary Indian, who playfully entered a habitation, kindled a fire in the 
hall, and stood over it until the building was in fiames, the family 
looking on in silent fear. When these noble red fire-bugs were driven 
out of the country, there was more of a show for insurance and fire 
companies. 

It is said by some elderly Athenians that they can remember when 
Dana Park and Squire II. C. Baird constituted the borough or village 
fire department — Dana with his ladder and Baird with his bucket, and 
to see them race at the first alarm tap was a sight indeed! The Athens 
Gazette has transmitted a striking woodcut, taken by an instantaneous 
camera, of this original company going to a fire. Dana is in the lead 
with his ladder under one arm and an ax on the other shoulder, and 
Bairtl is carrying his bucket as though it was full of milk and he had 
on his Sunday clothes — stately, sure and determined, with a " git there " 
expression on each face — "if it takes all summer ! " 

The first fire company originated with the Junction Iron Wo)'ks in 
1855. This important manuifactory was operated by C. W. Shipman 
and Col. C. F. Welles; the plant stood on the ground now occupied by 
Fitch & Kinney's store and John Merritt's house; their chief products 
were steam engines and fine machinery in iron, steel and brass; at the 
time this was the most important factory in the county. In the fall 
of 1855, Mr. Shipman purchased at a fair at Elmira a small fire engine 
he found there on exhibition, and brought it home with him; his entire 
idea was to have something to protect his iron works. The remains 
of this little old first engine in the county are to be seen yet at the 
rooms of Protection Company No. 1. There is a claim made by the 
Naiads, of Towanda, that they purchased their engine a little before 
this one arrived in Athens. AYhen Mr. Shipman arrived with his pur- 
chase, immediate steps were taken to form a compan\^ The first idea 
was to form one exclusively of the employes of the iron works. Alfred 
B. Couch was elected foreman in the machine shops; Daniel Bradbury, 



412 Hl.STORY OF HKAJ)FUK]) COUNTY. 

assistant foreman; Lucien McMillan, clerk, and George E. Lambert, 
treasurer. A committee on constitution and by-laws was appointed, 
who reported October ;^0, and it was resolved to restrict membership 
to the iron works employes. In 185(5 a new rule was adopted, allow- 
ing others outside of the works to become members. Uniforms were 
procured, and the "laddies" would meet and take the ''pet" out for a 
little exercise. A cistern was built in the rear of the machine shop, 
and now the exercises consisted in manning the brakes and forcing 
the water through the two hundred feet of rubber hose to the top of 
the works. When the boys had all in turn blistered their hands, a 
resolution was passed that the men in Wheeler & Overton's tm shop 
be allowed to join them, and the same privilege was extended to the 
men in Stevens' wagon-shop. They were now busy recruiting men; 
in November the ranics were full, and it was declared a public institu- 
tion for the equcll protection of all, and the engine and liose were given 
over by Mr. Shipman to the company for the use of the borough. A. 
P. Stev^ens presented a hose jumper, a hose company was selected and 
the affair was now a complete borough fire company; the next move 
was the first fireman's ball — a great event. Time went on, and, fortu- 
nately, the winter passed with no alarm bell to call out the boys. May 
28, 1856, the first regular business meeting of the new organization 
took place, and the following officers were elected: Daniel P. Merriam, 
chief; Emmott Harder, foreman; Mark Bramhall, assistant; L. S. 
Keeler, treasurer; C. T. Hull, secretary, and L. A.Lewis, James Nolan, 
Edward Welch, J. T. Johnson, W. B."'Hosford, T. M. Harder, W. W. 
Wilkinson and Hubert Corner, suction hosemen. The boys said they 
selected Daniel P. Merriam because he was the heaviest man in the 
crowd, weighing three hundred and upward, and was an Old-School 
Presbyterian, who always stood up at prayers. 

As this was really the first organization, it was in order to give it 
a name, and the one selected was the " Protection Engine Company 
No. 1," and the boys resolved to parade on the coming Fourth of July 
in full uniform. A blue silk banner was secured, and the ladies 
embroidered on it in blazing letters : " Protection Engine Company, 
Athens, Pa. — Always ready," and a gala day it was in Athens " when 
the band began to pla3^" Ike Snell carried the proud banner, and no 
prouder man ever went marching down the street. The Company, in 
their new uniforms, marched over the bridge, led by Jabez Stone's 
martial band, to where is now the SmuU tannery, where they received 
their visitors, the Towanda companies, which came up on the canal 
packet boat "Gazelle" that had braved the perils of the raging canal. 
AVhen the " Franklins'' and " Naiads" had been thus received, all joined 
in procession, and marched back to the " Exchange Hotel," and at 10 
A. M. the procession formed ; the town was gaily decorated and from 
every house and every window fluttered welcoming fiags to those 
brave and scarred fire-fighters in their resplendent uniforms. The 
parade over, they marched to the foot of Ferry street, to test the 
engines. 

The Junction Iron Works were moved from Athens in August, 
1856, and this caused Merriam and Harder to resign, and C. T. Hull 



llixroi;^ oi i;i; A rn'oKI) coiN'l'S. 4I;) 

was made foreman, antl Noble Ruggles, assistant ; A. II. Spalding', 
ciiief, and J. II. Wilson, secretary. 

At the annual election, January 3, 1857, the following were chosen: 
James H. Wilson, foreman; T. ll. Davis, Jr., assistant; C. T. Hull, 
secretarv; A. II. Spalding, chief engineer, and L. W. Burchard, assist- 
ant. After the closing of the Junction Iron Works, the Company 
found quarters at ,1. il. AVilson s, and their place of practicing was the 
tall chimnev of Gillett's brewery, which was destroyed by fire. 

Dissensions arose in the Company, and interest began to Mag. On 
xVugust 3, 1857, a resolution to disband was passed. At the same time 
a recjuest was made to C. T. Hull to call a public meeting to organize 
a new company ; a meeting was held, and an informal emergency 
company was enrolled, but a general demoralization on the subject 
prevailed. 

To this time the principal fires in Athens were: J. 13. Brockway's 
house in 184:7, which stood where is now J. L. Ellsbree's residence; 
adjoining and burned was Hiram Merrithew's small shoe-maker's sho}), in 
which Merrithew hustled out in such a hurry that he lost his wooden leg. 

In 1851 the row of wooden business houses that stood where is 
nowtheohl brick block, down town, were burned. In this fire passed 
awav the old "'Eagle Hotel'' building; Billy Wilson's store, William 
Mier's cabinet shop, and Grant SnelTs new frame store, not finished; 
the Methodist church, '' Barrack Row" — tenement houses— and the 
Episcopal church building. This fire swept away all the business 
houses on Main street, churches, and Barrack Row, clear to the river 
on Chemung street, a great calamity to the town. 

In 1856 the "Exchange Hoter' barns, sheds, and Dr. William 
Kiff's house were burned. It was one of the hottest days in July. 
This was onlv a few days after the great parade of "Protection" 
Companv, and the engine was worked mightily, and soon pumped the 
cistern dry, so a bucket brigade leading to the river was put in force. 
Soon after this Patrick's old brick block was burned. It was 
rebuilt in its present form. Then the Page store and John Drake's 
residence went up in flames. Drake's resilience was one of the 
old Clement Paine buildings, and stood where is now the Salvation 
Army barracks. 

In the order following were the fires that destroyed Dorsey's 
liverv stable: Pike's hotel and the wooden row of buildings on 
the east side of Main street; Edwin White's tin shop, which stood 
near where is R. N. Lowe's residence, and with it went the Presby- 
terian church ; then F. R. Lyon's cabinet shop and the second brick 
Presbvterian church building. 

The Junction Iron Works buildings were burned in 1872. unoccu- 
pied at the time. In the vicinity where is now the heavy part of 
the business on Main street were " hot grounds." The Hemlock row 
was burned, but other buildings took its place, and they too were 
burned. 

In the meantime the continued indifference to having a live 
fire companv finally paved the way to its rehabilitation. Periodical 
attempts, at' all events renewed efforts after every fire, had been made 



414 HISTORY OF BRADFORD (JOUNTY. 

to this end, and 1877 witnessed the hour and the men when the 
Athenians should once more become active fire-fighters. A meeting 
was held at Mitchell Bros/ store, and at this meeting appeared Joseph 
M. Ely, who was fresh from an extended experience with the noted 
Excelsior Hose Company Xo. 14, of New York, and he and C. T. Hull 
took the matter in hand. The old hand engine and cart were pur- 
chased that had fallen into the hands of Blood & Co., a committee 
was appointed, and six months after the council provided laws and 
regulations that resulted in the ]iresent Fire Department. A lot was 
j)urchased on Bridge street at the request of all the leading citizens. 
A company of eighty members, composed of the best citizens, was soon 
organized, and Protection Company, No. 1, was revived, and the name 
changed to Protection Hose and Engine Company No. 1, and at 
all these preliminary meetings J. M. Ely was secretary and one of the 
moving spirits. June 7, 1878, an election was held and the following 
officers chosen : Joseph M. Ely, chief engineer; Charles T. Hull, first 
assistant chief; David F. Park, second assistant chief. 

At the special meeting, June 8, 1878, the following general officers 
were elected : T. D. Wofcot, president ; M. R. Heath, vice-president, 
M. W. Nevins, secretary ; George T. Ercanbrack, financial secretary ; 
F. T. Page, treasurer ; George A. Kinney and Joseph Hines, trustees ; 
E. G. Fitch, member of fire board; Charles Morse, foreman ; John 
Carroll, assistant foreman ; H. Carpenter and Ard Crous, pipeman. 
A new and elaborate uniform was prescribed. "With their new com- 
pany and new uniform they were ready for invitations, and went to 
Waverly in September, accompanied 'by the Athens Cornet Band. 
New hose, 200 feet, had been secured by a public subscription, and 
the next year the borough purchased a leather hose. The first build- 
ing was provided as follows : Mr. Ely knowmg the borough could do 
nothing/found a man who could furnish the lumber and wait three 
years for his pay ; it was purchased and tlie members volunteered to 
do the work, several put in as much as two month's steady work on it. 
It was put up in the fall of 1878. The ladies gave a festival, and 
raised funds to complete and furnish the building. 

For 1879 Ely, Hull and Park were re-elected. During tliis y em- 
there had been three fires, and this made it plain that a fire alarm was 
needed. Seventy dollars were subscribed, mostly by the company, a 
bell purchased, a'nd the present tower-house and belfry put up and the 
bell swung. 

After tills thorough re-organization, the principal fires, in addition to 
those given above, were : October 15, 1879, F. II. Lyon's cabinet fac- 
tory, and John Carroll's residence and the Presbyterian church— losses 
$12,300; May 19, 1880, Novelty Furniture Works, fire room ; May 2G, 
following, frame dwelling foot "of Chestnut street ; December 27, 1881, 
John Merritt's livery stable, Mrs. Stone's dwelling and Dr. Towner's 
barn ; May 27, 1882, the old toll-house and Chemung bridge ; March 
10, 1883, Mrs. Murray's new frame dwelling, loss $3,000; May 13, 
1883, Seth Ellsbree's" three-story building. Main street, loss $5,200; 
October 26, 1883, Estabrook's three-story double brick, conrer Elm and 
Main streets, loss $10,500 ; November 4! 1883, barns in rear of Patl 



IIISTOUY Ol' r.KA l»l-(»i;l) COUNTY. 4\n 

P\ictorv ; J une, ISS4, Novelty Furnitui'i; Wofks, Ualpli Tozer's co;il 
office and sheds, Dana McAfee's oi-ain l)arn and contents, Dady's 
wagon storage, and tlie Furniture AVorks' lumber yard — loss $120,300, 
insurance, $45,000; December 27, 1884, two and a half story double 
store building on Main street, belonging to N. C. Harris and occu))ie(l 
bv Pike cV: Lowe ; November 28, 1885, contents cellar under Pad Fac- 
tory ; July 3, 1886, W. Garner's dwelling, pai-tial loss ; July 18, 1880, 
kitchen of D. II. Park's dwelling; December 18, 1880, the frame 
hammer shop of Pridge Works. 

February 4, 1801, tiie old " Exchange Hotel" burned. This was a 
notable old building, once the very heart and center of the village, but 
now in lower town, and the business has passed away from its locality. 
It had stood for sixty years, and was at one time a noted stage stand 
on the great southwest thoroughfare through the county. It sheltered 
in its (Fav most of the notable men of Pennsylvania or Xew York 
— Buchanan, Fremont, Van l>uren, Greeley, Wilniot, Clraw, "Dick" 
Johnson (Tecumseh's slayer) and a host of others— a land mark, truly, 
in northern Pennsylvania. For fifteen years or more it was "too far 
down town," and when it was built it was thought " it is too far up 
town." It burned at the dead of night, and to some the greatest loss 
was the destruction of the old tavern rounded sign that swung so long 
before the front door. 

Ely, Hull and Spalding ccmtinued by re-elections in their respective 
offices without change until 1885, when Hull and P]ly changed places. 
The Fire Department and G. A. K. hall are now the same, and Athens 
can boast of a most efficient lot of fire-fighters. 

Keturning a little to the story of the founding and growth of the 
town, which may now be said to be one hundred and five years old, 
we refer to the description of the ])lace, the oldest one now known, 
made in 1795 by Duke de la Rochefoucauld. He describes it as eight 
or ten rough cabins, one of them a tavern " crowded with travelers 
going to settle near the lakes "—the year before, so great was this 
travel, that three of the cabins called themselves taverns. He 
described the merchants trading with Indians mostly, but dealing in 
hemp which was ol)tained from the valleys above. The Duke was not 
pleased with his accommodations; had to sleej) in the "loft" that 
was entered by an outside ladder; his bed or pallet was as rude as 
possible, and " not clean ;" he slept, therefore, with his boots on, and 
the food, according to his notes, was not any better than the other 
accommodations. Choice business locations at the beginning of the 
centurv were rated in the market nearly as high as the average lots 
on Broadway, New York. In 1802 George Welles had become the 
possessor of'Lockhart's ]>urchase, and he emjiloyed a surveyor to 
resurvey the place, which he called " Lockhartsbui-g," but the people 
would not so have it, and the old names and streets prevailed. 

Welles was the fairest minded of men; his name deserves the 
brightest future in the history of the county. When he purchased 
Lockhart's title to the point, he came on and located in the place. 
For fourteen years previously the Connecticut people were settled 
here, and supposed they owned the land by a good Connecticut title ; 



416 11I8TUKY Oh- BRA])K()H1) COUNTY. 

they had bought and sold without let or hindrance. Mr. Welles' first 
act on arriving was to purchase James Irvine's tavern, and claim that 
was on Welles' land, paying- him $6,000 ; and he moved into the tavern 
and continued it as a publie. On the lower part of the point were 
Isaac Cash, Ira Stephens, Nehemiah JSTorthrup, David Faine, Henry 
Decker, Jonathan Harris, Nathan Bull and Mr. Beebe. These were 
all in peaceable possession, and had made houses and fences, and were 
cultivating their fields. Mr. Welles bought these all out, and paid in 
the aggregate about $3,000. Elisha Mathewson had purchased lots on 
the Welles or Lockhart tract, and Mr. Welles offered to buy his interests, 
but Mathewson refused to sell on any terms, and, as his lots were 
scattered about promiscuously, affairs soon became vexing. Mr. 
Mathewson died in 1805, and Gen. Henry Welles succeeded to the 
ownership of his father's interests in the Lockhart lands. He tried in 
vain to purchase the Mathewson interests, and finally commenced suit 
in the Federal Court. Mrs. Mathewson had given a deed to Welles, 
but she claimed it was as a compromise, and she was to have a clear 
and fee simple deed to her house and lot. Under this deed the sheriff 
put Welles in possession. In 1809 Gen. Henry Welles was elected to the 
Legislature, and he secured the passage of what was known as the 
Bedford and Ulster Act, by which these townships were allowed the 
benefits of the provisions of the Compromise of 1799. Mrs. Mathewson 
commenced suit for her entire land and lots. Her claim was against 
Satterlee, from whom her husband had obtained title. These were 
deemed the most important cases in connection with the history of the 
"Seventeen Townships." The cases were twice carried to the supreme 
court ; finalh^, before the House of Representatives, at Harrisburg, 
asking for special legislation. Constant Mathewson, son of Elisha, 
had, in 1827, been elected to the Legislature, and finally secured the 
appointment of a commission to examine the question and appraise 
the land, and in the end Mrs. Mathewson was paid by the State 
$10,000. Thus happily ended the long land controversy, involving 
about 127 acres on the point; land questions that had disturbed 
social and political life throughout this portion of the State for nearly 
half a century. 

In 1842 Athens was described as a very pleasant and promising- 
village, and, as a business place, one of the most important in northern 
Pennsylvania. "It is on the isthmus which extends across the point 
of junction between tiie Tioga and Susquehanna rivers, and about two 
miles above the junction ;" and, with this brief notice of the place, the 
visitor proceeds to say : "Above and below the town the land widens 
out into meadows of surprising fertility. The long main street of the 
village runs lengthwise of the isthmus, and is adorned by delightful 
residences and shade trees and shrubbery. There is an academy here, 
a substantial bridge over each of the rivers ; that over the Susquehanna 
has been recently built ; that over the Tioga was built in 1820. Pop- 
ulation, 435." The marked eras in the place were the first mails 
carried on foot from Wilkes-Barre to this place; then the weekly coach 
mails, the canal, and, finally, the railroad. 

The small stores of Ilollenback, David Alexander and Hepburn 



HISTORY OF lUiADFOKI) ('OrNTV. 417 

had in a way met tlie trading wants of tlie peoi)le, but wiien Mr. 
Welles came he brought the first real store, for that da}^ a large ven- 
ture indeed, containing no less than ^11,000 worth of goods, and he and 
his partner, Canton, occupied the building nearly opposite tlie ''Irvine 
Hotel." After the store was abandoned the building w^as made a 
dwelling bv Judge llerrick, in 1813. 

From the time of its lirst discovery, thoughtful men regarded Athens 
as in manv respects a favored ])()int, and believed in its destiny, 
especially as a great future manufacturing and shipping point. It had 
long been the Indian's "door" between the north and the south, and 
the^white man could also see that it was " the center," and he dreamed 
of a time when it would reach out its long arms of commerce that 
would be backetl l)y great factories, supplying a needy world. They 
built for home supply the first saw and grist mills — the enterprise of 
such men as Prince i3ryant and John Shepard, and Shepard's old stone 
mill stands to-day on Cayuta creek, near where he first built one of 
the finest mills in the country, with all the latest improvements, with 
a magnificent water power; and viewing this mill and ground, on the 
beautiful stream and the romantic spot, one can almost fancy that the 
shades of the men who came here one hundred years ago and selected 
this place might yet be seen flitting about these leafy bowers. As an 
evidence of the supreme importance to the people the mill of John 
Shepard was, it may be mentioned that it was burned in 1Y98, 
and the people voluntarily met and by volunteer labor mostly rebuilt 
it in six weeks, and over this there was joy in every cabin for many 
miles about. Shades of the great departed ! The writer was an eye-wit- 
ness to the burning of the old " Exchange" tavern, mentioned above. 
It was one of the never-to-be-forgotten resorts of northern Pennsyl- 
vania, built in 1830 by William Briggs, who kept it several years, and 
about 1840 was succeeded by S. & G. Park, who had it enlarged and 
finished, the third story and veranda being added; then kept by Olm- 
stead & Burchard, Hon. G. W. Kinney, Jacob Ercanbrack, Sloan Jor- 
dan. A. J. Noble and J. S. Patterson, and when burned, by Mr. 
Phelps. In the old stage-coach days this was a famous "stand." Fat 
barns, stage horses, and those great whips — "Old Sam Wellers" all of 
them, and the old Concord coaches, were in the r(fyiil court yard — the 
long whips of the drivers and the stage horses' " ra-ra-ra-ta-ta-ta-tat ! " 
were the signals for the jaded horses to prance and pretend to plunge, 
and the peojile to rush to the front to see the great arrival — the school 
children, and many of theii- grandparents, gave open-mouthed, daily 
attendance on these events. The g-re-a-t man of the long, slim whip and 
horse is gone — faded away as though drowned Iw the roar and scream of 
the locomotive whistle, and the old "Exchange" was his fitting memorial, 
with its older sign that swung in front with its highly colored " Coach 
and Four" rampant. " Mine Host" inside, usually in his shirt sleeves 
and big, loose carpet slippers, the very impersonation of fat larder and 
the yet fatter feather beds and snow-white linen in rows in the great 
one room above the entrance floor. His heartv, cheery, welcome to 
the newly-arrived guests, and the delicate oft'er of a little "suthin'" 
to clear the weary traveler's throat— a sweet activity that was probably 



418 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

just six days less than a week from the distillery near by — was freely 
handed out from the dark corner, and every drop seemed to say and 
sing, "o'er all the ills of life victorious!'' On the early morning — 
2 o'clock — of February -i, 1891, this good old land-mark passed awa}' 
in smoke and flame to the horrid midnight melody of the fire-bells. 
And the next morning the aged Athenians lingered about the smol- 
dering ruins, and many an honest regret escaped their lips — more over 
the loss of the old sign than of the ijuilding. 

Early in the "fifties," C. F. Welles and Chauncey Shipman built 
the Iron Works — foundry and iron machinery of all kinds, especialh^ 
engines. It was situated on the block west of Fitch vfe King's store. 
After some time it was chancred to the " Aofricultural Works ,'' and was 
operated by Blood & Co. In time it ceased as iron works, and fell 
into the hands of Charles Clapp who converted it into a shingle factory, 
and successfully operated it some time, but it was eventually burned as 
mentioned above. 

D. Alexander built the first distillery on lot 34, now the property 
of Mr. Maurice. But the ideas of a distillery then and one now arc so 
wide apart as to have hardly the shadow of a semblance. They first 
made whisky of rye and then of corn — but a still in the way of a 
factory then was not of much more significance than the housewife's 
spring soap-making, usually in a borrowed kettle — it is said the whisky 
was mostly made to be polite to the preacher in his weekly visits, a 
kind of sacramental obsei'vance, as well as in lieu of his cash salary. 
The average man of that day was fai" more religious than he is now, 
but he had less prejudices on some subjects. 

The first school in the village was in the house of David Alexander, 
taught by a man named Thompson. The first school-house was 
built on the old Cross street, near the distillery. It was a general pub- 
lic house for church services, ]mblic meetings and school. 

William Miller and Daniel Moore, in the latter part of the other 
century, started the first ferry at Athens. It is said that the first 
liouse built in what is now Athens was in 17S3, by Andreas Budd, on 
lot 34. In 1814, Michael R. Thorp improved his property, and in time 
sold to Judge Herrick. At the time this was the finest improvement in 
the county. Among the earliest practicing physicians was Dr. Amos 
Prentiss who opened shop in 1797, near old Milltown ; he built a room 
for a druo- store and kept it as such several years. He taught the first 
school in the first school-house built near Milltown burying ground ; 
the succeeding teachers were Amos Franklin and then Daniel Satterlee. 

Francis Sneckenberger, with an Irish wife, camein 1799, and located 
on lot 28. Thomas Wilcox, in 1800, and located near the State line 
and sixtieth milestone. The old Simon Spalding place is now the 
possession of Minier, Morley, Griffin, Lane and Green. 

Joshua R. Giddings was born on Queen Esther's field, now (ireorge 
Page's farm. In the year 1800 Stephen Tuttle came and opened a 
small store in Ilollenback's block-house. George Welles, in 1799, built 
on tiie west side of Main street on lots 8 and 9. Elisha Satterlee owned 
a twenty-acre tract or lot. The price he paid for it was a French 
crown piece and a bandanna handkerchief. 



HISTORY ()!■ I!KA DI'OKl) COINTY. 419 

The Hi'st fulling mill was built in 1808 by John SliepanI and Josiaii 
Oi'ockei'. This was a great inipi'ovenient for the good ol' the people who 
came here to mill or to the woolen mill for many miles through the 
trackless woods, and at first on foot because there were no paths even 
a horse could follow. One man, toward the southwest corner of the 
county, went to mill at Athens on foot, was lost three days and nearly 
})crishe(l. 

A j)ostofIice was established in 18<>3at Athens, and William I^ren- 
tiss was the first postmaster. The pi-esent incumbent is E. W. Davis, 
with ,1. Jlenry Price, assistant, and Miss N. A. Doran, money clei-k. 

,Iosei)h Buonaparte came down the river, and it is said was a guest 
at llejiburn's first log taven kept in the place. Stephen C. Foster, 
who will live in memory while the sweet and simple songs of "Old 
Dog Tray,'' " Suwanee River." "jMelly Bly " and others of his carols 
will ever continue to be sung by lovers of simple melody, was a school- 
boy in Athens, attending the old academy, lie, when a lad, would 
])lay his flute and compose music, and while here he wrote the "Tioga 
March." His brother was one of the su[)erintendents in the construc- 
tion of the canal. 

First National Bank. — This was organized and opened its doors to 
the public for the transaction of business in 1865. Capital St^lO0,000. 
First officers were : H. W. Patrick, president, and E. A. Spalding, 
cashier. Mr. Spalding continued in the office until his deatli in 1807, 
when the present officers, N. C. Harris, president, and C. T. Hull, 
cashier, took charge. Mr. Hull was elected treasurer of Bradford 
county in 1890, and in assuming his official duties he was succeeded in 
the bank by his assistant cashier, F. X. Harris. The men in control 
have, from the first, given unlimited public confidence in the institu- 
tion, and its business and credit, at home and abroad, arq A 1. Its 
recent statement shows : Capital $100,000 ; surplus $50,000 ; deposits 
$175,000; discounts $240,000; undivided profits $5,000. 

Union Bridge Company. — In the way of a small beginning these 
impoi-tant works, among the most important now in northern Penn- 
sylvania, came into existence in 1869, under the direction of Charles 
Kellogg. Was a small affair at first, and three men could easily do 
all the work, but it was a gi-owing plant. Mr. Kellogg continued his 
operations until 1872, when C. S. Maurice l)ecame a partner, and a 
strong company (unlimited) was formed, including these two gentle- 
men, L. C. Clark and the members of the present compan3% who are 
as follows : C. S. Maurice, C. McDonald, George S. '^Field and 
Edmund Haynes. The increased company was formed March 4, 
1884, continued three years, and expired March 4, 1887, when Kellogg 
and (Mark sold to the present comj)any. All the realty of the works 
belong to Maurice and Macdonald, as well as all the old machinery ; 
but the Union Bridge Company own all that has been added as new 
machinery, etc. A portion of the plant is on leased ground. While among 
the largest works of the kind, it is alwavs j)rosperous — occupying about 
fourteen acres, and employing about five hundred hands, avei-aging the 
year round 475 employes. The monthly pav-role is over $17,000 in 
the Athens shops alone, and not including their great works in build- 



420 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ing or constructing- at distant points, the material for which is the out- 
put of the Athens shops, which averages yearly about ] 5,000 tons. 
Their construction of great iron works extends nearly ail over the civil- 
ized world. Among others of their building we note the Kentucky 
and Indiana bridge at Louisville, the great Eads bridge, St. Louis, the 
Ilawkesbury river bridge, NeAv South Wales, the Poughkeepsie bridge, 
the Illinois Central Haiiroad bridge, Cairo, 111., the Merchants' bridge, 
St. Louis, the Winona bridge, across the Mississippi at Winona, and 
are now constructing a bridge across the Mississippi at Memphis, Tenn.; 
this last work alone requiring over 7,000 tons of steel and iron. 

i^chooU in Athens are in a most prosperous condition. A new 
high school building is now occupied, and under the care of Prof. Lin- 
coln E. Itowle_y ; the public schools of the place are widely known and 
considered among the best in the State. The corps of instructors is 
as follows : Lincoln E. Kowley, principal ; William II. Kindt, vice- 
principal ; Marietta Gregg, preceptress. Graimnar Department. — 
Sarah F. Clark, eighth grade; Honor A. Sheridan, seventh grade. 
Intermediate Department. — Cora L. Finch, sixth grade ; Augusta M. 
Park, fifth grade. Primary Department. — Sarah M. Tabor, fourth 
grade ; Carrie B. Lynch, third grade ; Ida B. Fuller, second grade ; 
Ilattie G. Shepard, first grade. 

Willow Street Building. — Aronette B. Spear, supervisor, third and 
fourth grades ; Kalista S. Bitting, first and second grades. 

The Athens Academical Society was the first important educational 
movement in the county of Bradford. February 11, 1797, a public 
meeting was called and articles signed looking to the erection of a 
house of learning, and subscribers to the stock thereof were secured, 
as follows : Xoah Murraj^, Chester Bingham, Joseph Spalding, Levi 
Thayer, David Alexander, John Shepard, David Paine, Joseph Hitch- 
cock, Elisha Mathewson, Ira Stephens, Elisha Satterlee, Samuel Camp- 
bell, John Spalding, of Ulster; Nathan Bull, Clement Paine, Julius 
Tozer, Jonathan Harris. Joseph Furlane, Daniel Satterlee, Simon 
Spalding, of Ulster; Thomas Overton, John Jenkins, of Exeter; 
George Welles, John Franklin, Wanton Rice and Stephen Hopkins. 

The little old yellowed book containing these original signatures is 
a valuable and precious relic. It was recently gathered from the old 
waste papers that were to feed the flames, b3"'Jose])h Hines, of Athens. 
Here is the sign-manual of nearly every one of the men who were the 
leading spirits of the times that tried men's souls, in this land of great 
events before any of us now living were born. These great men in the 
midst of the transcendent events in which they lived, thought of us, 
and for us were laying the foundations for a splendid civilization. Let 
us not ])rove to be degenerate sons of noble sires. 

Thursday, March 2, 1797, the stock subscribers had another meet- 
ing, and their first act was the adoption of the name "The Athens 
Academical Society," and resolved to establish "a seminary of learn- 
ing," at Tioga Point (or Athens), and also to petition the Legislature 
for an act of incorporation, and to ask the Susquehanna Company for a, 
grant of land for the same, and as soon as the buildings were up to 
secure a person of " literary abilities and exemplary character to be 




/t- 1 lypfiy^^^^ /< 




HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 423 

principal instructor." Joseph Hitchcock was appointed buihlinf!^ in- 
spector, and Chester Bingiiani, David Paine, Noah AIurra3% John Slic])- 
ard, Ira Stevens, David Alexander and John Spalding were appointed a 
committee to select a location for the building. Of this meeting Noah 
Murray was president, and Clement Paine, secretary. At a future 
meeting the committee reported that the lot of land adjoining lot JSTo. 
26 had l)een selected. This was on the '•])ublic lot." The building 
was inclosed but not completed in 1805, it seems, and the recoids show 
that in 1808 a motion was made to advertise the building for sale ; but 
at a meeting at E. and D. Paine's store, July 1, 1808, this order was 
rescinded, and it was resolved to repair the building. Clement Paine 
advanced |f^ 140 to repair the building, and the trustees acknowledged 
that as a lien on the same. 

June 21, 1811, the proprietors of the Academy transfori-ed to the 
Freemasons' Lodge No. TO, all their right and title "to the upper 
room," for which they were to pay $80 in five annual payments. 

February 27, 1813, Hon. Henry Welles, member of the Legislature 
from this county, secured the passage of an act to incorporate the 
"Athens Academy," with nine trustees : Clement Paine, George 
Welles, John Franklin, Julius Tozer, Stephen Hopkins, David Paine, 
John Saltmarsh, John Shepard and Abner Murray, and a fund of 
$2,000 was donated by the State, the interest thereon lo go to the 
Academy ; the Academ}' to school four poor children, two years each, 
gratis. 

After many preliminaries in searching for a teacher, April 25, 1811:, 
Sylvanus Guernsey, of Philadelphia, opened the Academy — salary $500 
a year — the price of instruction was fixed at $2.50 per quarter, each 
pupil ■ to furnish his share of fuel. It took all kinds of cutting and 
twisting to pay the "preceptor" his year's salary. The next year, 
1815, it seems from the records there was a new "preceptor," Mr. Tal- 
madge. This significant entry appears: "Reading, $2.00; writing, 
$2.50; arithmetic, $3.00; English grammar, $4,00; higher branches, 
mathematics, languages, etc., $6.00." 

The building was now ordered "lathed and plaistered." Mr. 
Brush was recommended to take charge of the school the next quarter. 
After a few days' trial he quit. Mr. Wellington, a graduate of Dart- 
mouth, took charge of the school in the fall of 1816. Robert McKee 
was teaching the common school in the building. Miss Chubbuck was 
"preceptress." February, 1820, it Avas resolved to invest the $2,000 
Academy fund in the Toll-bridge (/ompany (a bridge over Tioga 
river). In 1822 Mr. Z. Butler was invited and accepted the ])osition of 
preceptor of the Academy. The next year James Williamson became 
principal. April 19, 1824, David Paine resigned all ofticial connection 
with the Academy ; he had served ten years as secretary without pay. 
In March, 1839, C. A. Baldwin was chosen principal at a salar}?^ of 
$600 per year, and Miss Pierce as assistant teacher. In 1843 J. G. 
Merchant retired from the position of principal. F. B. Hendricks was 
employed to teach in 1844, at a salary of $450. At a, meeting of the 
trustees in May, 1853, the position of principal was offered to Jonas 
French, and the teacher in the lower room was Miss Mary Parry. Mr. 

38 



424 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

French continued in charge until 1856, when John S. Hopkins was 
employed. For the school year 1859-60 Theron K. Bixby was 
employed as principal. In 1862 Miss C. S. Eglin and Sarah W. 
Perkins were teachers. Miss Eglin died that year, and the school was 
closed June 4. J. M. Ely was employed to finish the term ; he was 
dismissed from the school April 21, 1865. The next year there was a 
move to reinstate Mr. Ely, which called out a vigorous remonstrance 
from many leading citizens. It seems Ely determined he would not 
be dismissed, and took and kept forcible possession of the school. The 
trustees commenced suit against him as trespasser. An amended act 
was passed in 1866, providing for nine trustees. In 1867 Mr. Loutrel 
was principal, and unpleasant rumors concerning him were spread 
abroad, whereupon the trustees appointed Messrs. Thurston, Elsbree 
and Herrick a committee " to investigate the conduct and moral char- 
acter of Mr. Loutrel, both in and out of school." At the next meeting 
the committee reported and the teacher resigned. In January, 1868, 
there was no principal, and Miss Mary Merrill was allowed to teach a 
three months' school. Col. Mullock was employed as principal, and 
Mrs. S. J. Gibson was allowed to teach a select school in the 
building. 

The minutes of the trustees at this meeting, March 1, 1872, recite 
as follows: " Talked over the matter of a graded school, and requested 
Mr. Reeves to look up some laws in regard to it." March 18, 1873, it 
was voted to " give the use of the Academy to the school directors 
until the winter term." April 14, following, it was resolved to transfer 
the Academy and all its interests, funds, etc., to the school directors of 
Athens borough, for the purpose of making the same into a graded 
school, and to have and hold the same as long as used for school pur- 
poses. And this was the end of the " Athens Academical Society," 
the alma mater of many of the most prominent men and women of 
Tioga Point. It served its day and purpose, and there are now many 
of its once pupils scattered over the' face of the earth that will turn 
to this chapter of Athens history, and linger along its pages of blessed 
memories to them. 

The old Academy, great is the pity, was burned to the ground in 
1842, and the little old building that was so long a public-school build- 
ing, but now stands empty, was erected in 1843. Bright, ambitious 
bo^vs, and blooming and beautiful girls of fifty— of nearly a hundred- 
years ago, have measured themselves with a selfish world and passed 
awav forever— a hundred years, pitiless in its changes for them, so 
hopeful for the youth of to-day, and the same ceaseless grind of fate 
awaits us all— the most hopeful and despair-ing alike— "death levels all." 
Athens Found n/ and Machine *S'/ioy>.— This was established in the 
early " forties " by Chauncey Shipman, M. Thompson and John Kucher ; 
was' situated on 'Main street, where is now Fitch & Kinney's store. 
K.n account of the burning of the ohl building is given previously. It 
was rebuilt by Blood & Co., who made it an agricultural implement 
factory, and was opened as such in 1878. This firm ran it about fif- 
teen years and failed. The present foundry and machine shop is the 
successor of the original, was built on Harris street, back of the Pres- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 425 

bj'terian church, in 1890, by the pro})rietors, Shipman & Thompson. 
It is quite an extensive and prosperous concern ; output about $15,000 
annuall3% and consists of foundry and machine shop, pattern room, 
engine and boiler room, vvitli thirt}^ horse-power engine, average of 
ten employes. The concern had a large woodwork department, which 
was burned in February, 1890, and now works iron exclusivelv ; has 
four lathes, tw'o j)laners and three drills. 

Sheridan's Iron Worls. — Built by Jiobei't E. Sheridan in 1890, on 
Elmira street near the railroad track ; biiikling 24x70, with ten horse- 
power engine, a No. 5 Sturdevant handling power, di-ill. and all 
modern improvements; a well-fitted jobbing foundry. 

Athens Farniture Company. — E. G. Fitch &, Co., the "C(j." being 
F. K. Harris. This is a fine plant, and one of the prosperous indus- 
tries of the county. Its construction was commenced in 1884 — orig- 
inally two large two-story bricli buildings, to which was added on the 
north an ''L'' in 1887. The main building is 56x125, and the north 
addition is 109x49 — all two stories. A one-story boiler-room 20x32, 
and another 12x32 ; a shaving room 14x16, and a dr3'-kiln with capa- 
city of 65,000 ; 115 horse-power engine, and the other eighty horse- 
power. Annual output $100,000 ; 100 employes ; a weekly "^pay-roll 
of about $3,000, and a main and side-track. 

Mattress Factory. — Proprietors, Stimson (L. F.) & Ellsbree (F. P.) ; 
was established in 1888 ; is situated south of the furniture factory, on 
west side of the railroad ; a wooden building 230x60, and two stories ; 
fully equipped for the business in every respect, and gives employment 
to an average of fifteen hands. 

Athens Car and Coach Covipany. — A joint-stock company, organ- 
ized in April, 1889; capital stock, $20,000', subscribed for altogether 
by citizens of Athens. Officers: Charles Kellogg, president ; Joseph 
Harris, vice-president; Edward Mills, secretary; James L. Dyer, super- 
intendent, and M. P. Murray, treasurer. Manufacture all kinds of 
omnibuses, coaches, drays, iierdics, milk and delivery wagons ; twenty- 
five employes, output $40,000 annually, and supply"^gooils to all parts 
of North America and South America. Occupy "six two-story build- 
ings : 130x125, 95x40, 75x125, and rent the second story of an 
adjoining building that is 30x90. Have a fifteen horse-power engine, 
and all the shops are equipped with the latest and best machinery. 

Planing Mill. — Campbell Bros.; was started, in the spring of 1887. 
as a saw and planing mill by these gentlemen, who sold tlie next 
spring, and bought it back in the spring of 1890. The mill l)uilding 
is 34 X 50 ; engine house, 16 x 30 ; shingle mill, 18 x 20. These gentle- 
men now have their sawmill at Barkiey, that is supplied with a sev- 
enty-five horse-power engine. The capacity is 20,000 to 30,000 feet per 
day. 

Flexible File Factory. — Proprietors, Sweet & Primrose. Tins 
industry was started in Athens in May, 1890. First one machine was 
equipped and put to work. It is the only manufactory of the kind in 
the world to-day, and the world's supply of these goods must be had 
here. At present the goods are handled by a Philadelphia house. 
The little machine can cut $2,000 worth of files each month. The 



426 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

secret is in the process of tempering, which was the discovery of Mr. 
Sweet in 1889. In the factory is a large machine for making the 
ordinary files for jewelers and machinists. These are represented to 
be the hardest files made, and will readily cut tempered steel. Of the 
flexible files there are six sizes of dental instruments. Considering 
that this important industry — the invention in tempering steel, by E. 
g-^yeet — has but just been commenced, a most important future out- 
come is looked for. 

SjnnJVs Tannery.— ¥oY many years one of the leading industries of 
the county, because of the inexhaustible supply of hemlock, has been 
tannine-, and every year the industry still grows. A\'hile this factory is 
not in the corporate limits of the borough, yet being on the opposite 
bank of the Chemung river, it may well be rated .a part of the com- 
mon town industrial plants. This was commenced in 1870 by Under- 
hill vfc Maurice, who operated it about one year, and Charles E. Maurice 
became sole owner, and then it passed to Underbill <Sz, Noble, and in 
1876 Thomas L. SmuU ])urchased the plant, and has operated it since. 
The annual output is 1,250,000 pounds of leather, principally shipped 
to the English market; the raw hides are purchased and shipped from 
all parts of the Western World. The covering is 750 feet long, and is 
filled with the best machinery and appliances for carrying on the work. 
About liftv men are employed. 

Butter Package Factory.— Y. T. Page and R. D. and IT. C. Yan- 
Duzer, proprietors, is situated in East Waverly, and was put up in 1880. 
They make a general assortment of baskets for all purposes. 

Morley's Grisimill was burned, rebuilt, enlarged and fitted with 
all modern improvements. 

Athens in 1861. — From some of the clearest-headed of the Athen- 
ians who were here, the following birds-eye view of the place in 1861 is 
obtained: In the central part of the business (or Main)street were the gro- 
cery and provision store of Charles Comstock ; G. A. Perkins, druggist ; 
Harris 6z Saltmarsh ; Page & Bristol (Bristol retired and Welles took 
his place); John Jones, tailor ; Edward Averill, grocer ; C. Park & Son, 
general merchandise ; Michael Welsh, liquors ; Horace Conner grocer; 
Page & Ackerman, hardware, and three very fair hotels — " Exchange " 
by Col. Sloan, "Athens' Hotel," by J. M. i?*ike, and where is now the 
" Stirason House" was Thomas R. JDavis' hotel. 

Of the present hotels, the "Stimson House" was built in 1882, by 
Stimson, Harris & Ellsbree, and Avhen ojiened was kept by Mr. Stim- 
son ; then by Sherman ifc Middaugh ; then by Curtis, then by Mehan, 
then, in the spring of 1891, by Daggett, and in the summer of that 
year it was sold to its present proprietors, D. D. DePue and Lew 
Morris. 

A summary of the present industrial and commercial life of Ath- 
ens is as follows: First National Bank; iron, wood and tanning 
industries above enumerated; five book and stationery dealers; eight 
boot and shoe stores and makers; three blacksmiths; soda bottling; 
one brick yard; two house movers ; one carpet dealer; four carriage 
factories; twenty carpenters; one cigar factory; four clothiers; one 
bridge works; one coach factory; three coal dealers ; four confection- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 427 

ers ; four crockery dealers ; three civil engineers ; four dry goods ; four 
drugs; two express; one feed mill; one florist; three fruit dealers; 
one grain elevator; ten grocers; two harness makers; two hardware 
stores; one herdic line; two hotels; two ice dealers; three insurance 
firms; two jewelry houses; two printing offices; one laundry ; three 
liverv stables; four lumber yards; two market gardeners; ten 
masons ; four meat markets ; four merchant tailors ; one millwright ; 
four milliners; one music store; one news stand; one opera house; 
two photographers; two planing mills; two real estate firms; one 
sawmill ; one mattress factory ; one tannery ; two telegraph com- 
panies; one undertaker; one furniture factory ; one furniture dealer ; 
seven physicians ; eight lawyers. The churclies and schools will be 
found in their appropriate chapters. 

The census returns of 1890 show a greater increase in population 
in Athens than any of the old boroughs in the county. Total popula- 
tion, in 1890, was "3,229, an increase over 1880 of 1,637. New addi- 
tions have been laid off. and the lots have commanded ready sales at a 
constant increase in price. The number of new buildings going up, 
and the wide expanse of new roofs greet the eye on every hand 
in riding from Athens to South Waverly through Sayre. 

Tioga Point Cemetery — Ten acres were donated by Chas. F. 
Welles in 1871, and ten more acres were afterward bought. The otfi- 
cers are: A. C. Elsbree, president; J. A. Bristol, secretary. Trustees, 
N. C. Harris, D. F. Park, Alex. Elsbree. F. T. Page, J. L. Corbin, 
E. N". Merritt and F. A. Allen. 

Tioga on The Whisky Insurrection. — AVe learn from the " Penn- 
sylvania Archives" that the good people of the Point, even in the 
midst of all their other cares and troubles, were considerate patriots, 
and ready to express themselves in no uncertain terms on the Whisky 
Insurrection of 1794. On October 3 of that year a meeting was con- 
vened in Athens to consider the disturbance in the four w^estern coun- 
ties of the State, and the measures then pursued by the Government 
against them. Gen. Spalding presided at the meeting, and Obadiah 
Gore was clerk. Matters were fully discussed, and the sense of the 
meeting was taken by vote. The resolve was to stand firmly by the 
Constitution ; that the act laying an excise tax on whisky was consti- 
tutional, and that it was the duty of all good citizens to maintain the 
law and authority of the Government. The meeting condemned all 
violent measures on the part of those opposed to the law in the west- 
ern part of the State, and finally by vote announced their readiness (if 
required) " to turn out personally " to maintain and " support that free 
Government under which we live." 

SAYRE BOROUGH. 

Howard Elmer determined to divide between Waverly and Athens 
the benefits that would arise in making the junction of the branch 
roads that converge at this place. AVav^erly was at one time the north- 
ern terminal of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and the building of the 
branch road was the beginning of Sayre. In May, 1870, Charles 
Anthony, Howard Elmer and James Fritcher purchased the plains 
between Waverly and Athens, between the two rivers. This purchase 



428 HISTORY OF BRADFORB COUNTY. 

incliuled tlie Morley, Hopkins and W. H. Thomas farms— 321 acres — 
and they proposed to build a town upon these farm lands. All that 
was done that year was to simply cut out the timber growth of what 
is now Keystone avenue, and this new broad highway materially 
shortened the distance between Athens and Waverly, making it three 
miles. In May, 1871, the same parties purchased the Leggett, Harris, 
Obenshire and portions of the Hayden and H. Thomas lands— tllT 
acres— embracing wiiat is now the junction of the Lehigh Valley, 
the Geneva, Ithaca & Southern Railroads. In the aggregate, 
their purchases included 738 acres. The same year the Pennsylvania 
& New^ York Company purchased eighty -live acres of this tract, 
where is now the depot, "^junction and shops, and soon after built an 
elegant passenger depot ; the transfer of passengers was moved up 
from Athens in 1863, and the new station was named "Sayre."in 
honor of Robert H. Say re, president of the Pennsylvania & New 
York Railroad. In July of the same year a round-house was built 
and occupied. The town was laid out and platted, and the proprietors 
had expended large sums in opening, grading and making good streets, 
and also in putting up many substantial buildings. A postoffice was 
established m 1874. In September, 1878, a beginning was made in 
building the small repair shops that have so rapidly expanded to their 
present proportions. 

The vast shops and railroad buildings at Sayre were the small 
concerns at Waverlv that were moved down in 1871, and but little 
added to until 1881. The first shops were completed in 1881. At. 
present the area occupied by the railroad buildings is nine and four- 
tenths acres. The round-house is 273 feet in diameter, has 32 stalls; 
there are twenty railroad tracks in the yard, and seven tracks extend 
to Waverlv. Five hundred men are employed in the shops. The 
main machine shop is 275x125 ; car shop, 204x140; blacksmith shop, 
200x70; locomotive shop, 160x60; foundry and carpenter shop, 
160x60; paint and tin shop, 160x60 (two stories). Roster of rail- 
road officials at the Sayre offices and shops, connected with the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad T Gen. Supt. Northern Division, William 
Stevenson ; Asst. Supt. W. A. Stevenson ; chief clerk, J. W. Bishop ; 
assistant clerk, R. M. Hovey ; assistant general freight agent, Bert 
Hayden; his chief clerk, D. St. Clair; train-master, R. M. Badger; 
assistant general car agent, F. J. Krom ; master mechanic, J. N. 
Weaver. In the shops: C. H. Welch, general foreman; D. K. 
Hamilton, chief clerk power department; W. H. Flory, foreman in 
erecting department; H. Weidow, foreman machinery shop; Aaron 
Ilamm, foreman blacksmith shop ; James Pritchard, foreman in boiler 
department; John Thomi)son, foreman in carpenter shop; George W. 
Lentz, foreman in foundry ; George Kear, foreman in pattern shop ; 
C. C. Wood, paint shop ; A. Strauss, foreman, and Charles H. Strauss, 
assistant in car department. 

Sai/re Arhor Association was organized in 1879, and planted over 
one thousand trees the first year, 800 the next, and, continuing, are 
beautifying the place with ornamental trees. Robert A. Pack built 
his fine residence, in Sayre, in 1875-76. He was president of the 



HISTOHY OF KUADKOUI) OOrNTY. 429 

Pennsylvania A: New York liaili'oad. lie died, February 20, 1883. 
His splendid residence and twenty acres of ground became the property 
of Mary Packard Cummings, and by her donated to the Packer Asso- 
ciation, chartered April 30, 18S5, and to it was transferred the I*acker 
residence, for a hospital — a noted hospital of northern Pennsylvania. 

Sayre Water-Works were built in 1886; near the river is the 
reservoir into which is pumped the river water. The pipes extend to 
Waverly and Athens, and supply both these places, having fourteen 
miles of pipes. 

Sayre Fire Board. — Chief, John P. Murray ; assistant, James 
Brown. P. A. Packer Hose Company — President, Patrick McNeirny; 
foreman, John Hammond ; secretarv, Fred Cole; forty-five members. 
The Wilbur Hook and Lackler Company — First officers : President, 
C. C. Wood ; foreman. Arch. Williams ; assistant, Ed. Smith ; secre- 
tary, Henry Colt — thirty-two members. 

In 1879 Sayre became division headquarters for the railroad, and 
was soon one of the most important railroad points between Wilkes- 
Barre and Elmira, and is now, in this respect, rapidly developing. 
The town has had recently a phenomenal growth in population and 
wealth, which is not a " boom " but a healthy, consistent increase that 
bids fair to continue many years. The census of Bradford county, in 
1890, shows a slight increase in population over 1880, solely because of 
the increase in Athens and Sayre, otherwise the decrease in population 
would have run into four figures. The peo))le the last decade have 
been '' going West,'' still lured by the fairy tales told by land specu- 
lators and town boomers. Sayre was incorporated February 1, 1891 ; 
including a territory two and a-half miles in length, from north to 
south, and making the three boroughs — Athens, Sayre and Waverly — a 
continuous town or borough from the south line of, Athens to the State 
line. The first officers of Sayre, elected in 1891, were : James N. 
Weaver, burgess; J. C. Horton, clerk; A. Strauss, treasurer; Joseph 
Wheelock, street commissioner ; P. Mercur, attorney ; N. F. Walker, 
engineer ; Charles Codett, chief of police. Council : J. N. Weaver, W. 
H. Flory, L. Eighmey, D. A. Utter, George M. Peters, G. A. Kennedy, 
A. Zeeler. 

The (Jayida Wheel and Fotindry Company. — President, Howard 
Elmer; treasurer, F. E. Lyford ; superintendent, M. C. Chapman. A 
joint-stock company; capital $75,000; organized 1871, and buildings 
erected on eight acres of ground donated by the Sayre Land Com- 
pany, the pioneer factory to locate in Sayre. " In 1881 bought the axle 
works, and consolidated the two adjoining factories. They turn out 
200 wheels (railroad) a day, and employ seventy men. Have five 
buildings, steam-power in three buildings, equal 120 horse-power. 
One of the important industries in the county. 

In 1876, the time the place began to grow in earnest, there w^ere 
six business houses and a hotel, kept by Samuel Briggs, on the east 
side. This house was burned in 1877. There were four merchants 
and of these Charles Wheelock kej^t the principal store ; three of the 
stores were east of the track. Mr. Boss had a planing mill ; just 
north of where is now the postoffice was a hardware store. The first 



430 HISTOEY OF BRADFOED COUNTY. 

postmaster (in 1874) was H. G. Spalding. The appointee (1889), Sid- 
ney Ilayden, died in office in March, 1890, and Isaac M. Burk became 
acting postmaster ; then was appointed, and is the present incumbent. 
Tlie population in 1880 was 700, and at this time (1891) is 3,200. The 
present " Wilbur Hoter' was the first large first-class hotel in the 
place, was first called the "Packer House," and was built with the first 
railroad improvements of the place. It was named eventually for Mr. 
AYilbur, whose wife was a Miss Packer. The finest building in the 
place is the Eighmey opera-house, built in 1882-83. The auditorium is 
51x80. The ])lace is supplied with gas from the Waverly works. The 
celebrated Kobert Packer Hospital was built as the Packer residence 
in 1879-80, and after Mr. Packer's death, it became the property of his 
sister, who donated the grounds and building for a hospital, chiefly for 
railroad employes, but is free to all, without regard to nationality or 
religious creed. It is one of the most inviting homes for the unfor- 
tunates in northern Pennsylvania. The resident physician and sur- 
geon is Franklin M. Stephens, M. D.; executive committee: "William 
Stevenson, E. P. Wilbur, J. W. Bishop, Hovv-ard Elmer, C. S. Maurice, 
Bert Hayden, Eev. John Costello, I)r. W. E. Johnson, James W, 
Weaver ; secretary, R. M. Hovey; treasurer, Joseph W. Bishop. The 
report of the treasurer for 1890 shows that $5,8-11.73 were disbursed ; 
receipts $7,009.17. In 1890-91 there were 123 house-patients, and 643 
dispensary cases treated. The hos)ntal is now in the sixth year of 
active existence, and is in a most prosperous condition, a steativ 
advance from year to year in the good work being one of its marked 
features. 

Sayre Water- Worhs furnish Athens with w^ater, and have abundant 
capacity to supply any future increased wants. 

Sayre ScJiools are deservedly very popular, and new buildings are 
being erected to meet the growing demand upon their accommodations. 
They have an enrollment of over 800, and have fourteen regular 
teachers and one supply. The following are the names of the officers 
and teachers: 

Board of Directors: L. M. Morton, R. B. Stevens, W. H. Flory, 
A. McVaugh, Lewis Eighmey, Charles Bowman. 

Board of Instructors: High School: C. P. Garrison, principal of 
schools; Mary E. McCarty, assistant; Candace Brown, assistant; 
Annie Flynn, intermediate department; Lizzie Presher, secondary 
department; Villie Mercereau, primary department. Plains School : 
Emma L. Bush, secondary department ; Lena McCarty, primary 
department. Elmer Avenue School: Ida D. Bedford, secondary 
department ; Ida L. Stevens, primary department. East Side School : 
Lida Hornet, secondary department ; Louise A. Brooks, primary 
department. Milltown School: Miss Knight, secretary; Miss Styres, 
principal. They have an enrollment of over 800, and have fourteen 
regular teachers and one supply. 

south waverly borough. 

This is to some extent the outgrowth of what was, " Factory- 
vilie," so called because here John Shepard and others built saw and 
grist mills, fulling mills, and others put up different industries along 



HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY. 431 

Caj uta creek. But more properly of to-day, South Waverly is simi)]y 
Waverly, N. Y., where it has grown south of the State Hue, and is of 
necessity organized under Pennsylvania law. The State lino is not 
even a street, and in nian3' places runs through houses, even without 
regard to partition walls in the same. 

The borough of South Waverly was incorporated in 1878; the 
boundary limits being defined as follows : Beginning at a point on 
Wilcox street at the crossino- of the State line alon<): the center of that 
street, thence southerly to the junction of Bradford street, thence 
along the center of Bradford street to the junction of Keystone avenue, 
thence to the south line of the borough. First officers: John Thomp- 
son, burgess; council, Willis Howard, William Dunham, John J. Pal- 
mer, (t. W Smith, Fred Bachle, John Mahoney and Charles C. Tozer, 
secretary. 1879: Fred Bachle, burgess; council, John Mahoney, 
Patrick Falsey, James McArdle, Willis Howard, Jeremiah Cleary, 
Ephraim Duljois. 18S0 : Alvin Strauss, burgess ; council, E. E. Du- 
bois, John Mahoney, George Blizard, John H. Murray, Thomas Warren, 
Lee Northrup. 1881: T. Hireen, burgess; council, Lee ISTorthrup, 
John Lawn, Thomas Warren, James McArdle, Sr., Alexander Zolto- 
wiski. 1882 : Cxeorge Barnes, burgess ; council, Lee Northrup, D. L. 
Clark, S. D. Barnum, Michael McCarthy, John Post, J. W. Storms. 
1883: Same. 1884: S. D. Barnum, buroess; council, John W. Post, 
Lee Northrup, Lawrence Curry, D. L. F. Clark, J. W. Storms. 1885 : 
W. H. Plumb, burgess ; council, D. L. F. Clark, John M. Post, Lee 
ISTorthrup, J. W. Storms, Griscomb Hay. 1880: John E. Faulkner, 
burgess ; council, John M. Post, Lee Northru}), Griscomb Hay, J. W. 
Storms, Thomas J. Moore, Lawrence Curry. 1887: Same. 1888: J. 
11. Murray, burgess; council, J. M. Post,"William T. Clark, Thomas 
Moore, Lawrence Curry, Jr., John Boyce, James Glynn. 1889: 
Murray re-elected ; council. T. J. Moore. J. P. Glvnn. John Boyce, 
E. House, William T. Clark. 1890 : Lee Northrup, burgess ; 
council : T. J. Moore, J. P. Glynn, John Koyce, E. House, 
Sid Matterson, David Hand. 1891 : P. R. Ackley, burgess. 
The borough is supplied with gas and electric light ; has "free postal 
delivery, and of course the largest portion of the business is in the 
main town across the line; no saloon license in the ])lace ; two hotels 
and one grocery store. The Erie Railroad runs only about ten rods 
north of the State line. Two Herdic street-lines are constantly run 
from Waverly to Athens, ]mssing through Sayre. The population 
of South Waverlv is 1,288, beino- an increase over that of 1880 of 434. 



432 HISTORY OF BRADFORD (,'OUiNTV 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

BAEOLAY TOWNSHIP. 



GEOGRAPHICALLY, the township of Barclay is situated between 
tlie townships of Franklin on the north, Le Roy on the west, and 
the Schrasder branch of Towanda creek, w^hich separates it from Over- 
ton on the south, and whatever of eastern boundary it has is Monroe. 
Topographically, it ismountainous; theSchrieder branch of the Towanda 
creek being its only stream of water. Geologically, it is coal-bearing, 
being essentially and specifically a raining town. Historically, it is a 
recent organization, being formed from Franklin in 1867. Its entire 
area is owned by the coal-mining and Barclay Railroad companies, and 
it is said that it'^has not within its limits a solitary resident freeholder. 
Its chief interest lies in its coal mines and their development, which 
are fuUv described in the general history of the county. 

The*^first settlement, or movement, therefor, in the township was 
made in the fall of 1856, by the Towanda Coal Company. There are 
at the present time five settlements in the town, the most northern one 
called Graydon, next South Dublin, Barclay postoffice still further 
south, FallCreek a little way east of the postoffice, and a settlement 
at the foot of the incline of the railroad. 

Graydon has a school-house and store ; at Barclay there are a post- 
office, a Presbyterian church, a school-house, stores, the works of the 
Towanda Coal Company, and freight and engine houses of the Barclay 
Railroad Company. At Fall Greek there are a school-house and store, 
and in the settlement at the foot of the incline there is a school-house. 
Foot of Plane is a station on the Barclay Railroad. 

Coal was discovered in the Barclay mountains by Edsal Carr, who 
supposed he had found iron. Jared Leavenworth was the first black- 
smith to use the coal, which was first brought down the mountain side 
on sleds. John Fox, father of Miller Fox, hauled the first load to 
Towanda. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

BURLTNOTON TOWNSHIP— BURLINGTON BOROUflH. 

WHEN first organized Burlington comprised the territory now 
included in Burlington, West Burlington, Troy, and the greater 
part of Granville and Canton. The election was held at the house of 
Ezra Goddard. The first election board were : Noah Wilson, Nathaniel 
Allen, Mr. Campbell, James McKean, and Mr. Case. 



HrSTOKY OF BIIAOKORI) COUNTY. 43'.) 

The first bold adventurers that ever came to this part of the county 
were two men and a boy, in 1790, from Jolinny Cake Hollow, on an 
exploring tour to the wilds of northwestern Sugar creek — Oscoluwa, 
then known aSfiucidsburg township, Luzerne county. Their names were 
Isaac J)eWitt, Abraham DcWitt, and the lad was riarnes McKean, 
aged nearly twenty. They came down the Susciuchanna to the mouth 
of Sugar creek, and up that to the Indian quarters of the noted Tomjack, 
on the south side of the creek, near where is now Burlington borough. 
From this Indian comes the name of Tomjack creek, tliat runs nearly 
through the village. Here these explorers made a stoj)i)ing, and 
examined the country around. They then proceeded uj) the creek to 
near East Troy, or 1). W. Allen's farm. This was as far up the stream 
as they traveled. Retracing tlieir steps they selected their future 
homes. Isaac DeWitt chose his land near West Burlington, after- 
ward the O. P. liaihird place. Abraham DeWitt chose what was the 
J. B. Pratt and Thomas Blackwell farms; and McKean selected that 
which was always known as " The McKean Farm,'' but in modern 
times owned by B. H. Taylor. These men built a hut on ^NfcKean's 
selection, and here was the first wliite man's clearing and working on 
the waters of Sugar creek. These men bought corn and salt of Tom- 
jack till they raised a crop. After their crop was matured the}^ shut 
up shop, returned to Johnny Cake Hollow, and took specimens of the 
fruits of their farming, not foi'getting some fine wild grapes and 
plums. This summer's experience advertised the new country, and 
there was great excitement in Old and New Sheshequin, and a big- 
force of the leading men organized a sappers' and miners' corps, and 
commenced to cut out a road from the river to the new settlement. 
This new road took nearh' the direction now followed by the public 
highway. 

On April 1, 1791, five families started for this land of milk and 
hone}', from Chemung, including the three pioneers of the previous 
year, and also William Dobbin and a half-breed, Yoras. The women 
and children were put on horse-back to come across the country, and 
the men, with goods on a raft, to go to the mouth of the creek, and 
there the women were to send the horses, after reaching their destina- 
tion. But neither party could exactly keep the time-card. The women 
consequently suffered for provisions, and in mortal fear of the wolves 
and panthers. It was not till the first of May that the raft reached the 
mouth of the creek, and now they soon were with their families — all in 
McKean's log cabin. The first night, when all were safe together, 
Mrs. McKean and Mrs. Dobbin resolved to have a prayer meeting to give 
thanks over the event. This was the first of the kind ever in the town- 
ship, and it no doubt was as good and effective as any ever held in the 
six-million-dollar modern cathedral. The next improvement was a 
stump mortar mill with a spring pole to pound out their meal that was 
sifted through a hair sifter; and now pioneer life was launched in the 
Avilderness. 

The increase to this settlement that summer were the families of 
Ward, Campbell, Miller, Dunbar and perhaps a few others, all from 
Connecticut. These people all had implicit faith in the Connecticut 



434 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

title to the land. They sent one of their number to Wilkes-Barre and 
procured from the Susquehanna Company title deeds to their land. 
They had hardly more than done this when a Pennsylvania agent 
appeared and informed them that all the land belonged to Pennsyl- 
vania, and their titles were worthless, and offering each one who would 
take 424 acres to sell to them at an English shilling per acre. This 
the purchasers would not agree to. This was a damper to the new 
settlement, and the " Pennamite and Yankee war" soon broke out, and 
blood was shed, and men were ill-treated, tarred and feathered, etc. 
The next year, however, the Swains, Nichols and Noble families came 
and made settlements, also the Bratfits and Joquas. There was dis- 
tress throughout the country, while those vexed land title questions were 
on foot; and in 1803, when they were settled, there still lingered very 
much of the heartburnings and ill-will. In 1794 there was a good 
crop, and Mr. Ward, a carpenter, built a mill on what is now Mill 
creek, near the residence of the late Gen. McKean, a son of the lad 
McKean who first came; the neighbors all turned out to help build 
the mill, and it was soon u]), but the whole was so rude and imper- 
fect, especially the dam, that the thing would not grind when it was 
completed — and the failure was a wide disappointment. 

In the spring of 1796 Ezra Goddard and his sons, Luther and Ezra, 
came. They brought much wealth and money (for those times) with 
them from Connecticut. They set about clearing a. large tract of land, 
and soon built a gristmill and then a sawmill on the site of tlie Rock- 
well mills in West Burlington. 

An incident of this time is told that is an index of the people in the 
early pioneer times. The young folks had met at the cabin of a family 
that were away from home, and had kissing plays and some say actu- 
ally danced, fiddle or no fiddle. When they were getting a little 
tired, some one suggested, partly in sport, that they close with a 
prayer meeting. No sooner said than it was put in motion, a psalm 
was sung and one led in prayer, another song and then all fervently 
kneeled, and in a few moments all were simultaneously praying with 
intense earnestness. Some one went for " Mother McKean," and on 
her arrival, she took in the situation; in a short time she had the 
whole under deep conviction, and nearly en masse they joined the 
church. From that extem]iorized prayer-meeting went out Andrew, 
an Episcopal Methodist preacher for forty yeai's, who died in the har- 
ness at the extreme age of ninety years. About this time they secured 
a missionary preacher, named Newman, who preached here and at 
Muncy and Sheshequin. In 1798 a congregation was formed at Bur- 
lington, and Bev. Jacob Gruber was sent as preacher. 

For some time the settlement got along well enough by referring 
all disputes to arbitration— a chosen committee — but about the begin- 
ning of the centurv Nathaniel Allen was commissioned a justice of 
the ])eace. He then lived on the Philo. Pratt farm, and this was then 
Lycoming county, and the new township was called Burlington, 
because a number of the settlers had come from Burlington, Yt. At 
this time came a Connecticut settler named Kendall, all the way on 
foot, and in his knapsack were some apple-seed and cuttings of the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 485 

apple called " Westfield-Seek-No-Furthei-" — tremendous name, but 
these fine apples are still grown here. He fii-st grafted them in 
Thomas IJlackwell's orchard. Another important arrival was Deacon 
JNToses Calkins, blacksmith, of Yermont, and he was much needed ; he 
plied his trade while his sons cleared away the forests. He linall}^ 
built a sawmill on Leonard creek where Salisbury mill now is. The 
'•Old Church" was built upon an acre of i>round given by McKean, 
on which was also the graveyard, and to this day it is used for that 
])urpose. This " Old Church '' was built in the fall of 1794 ; ever}^- 
body was invited to come to the "raising,"' and they came and in a 
few days the building was com])leted. It was burned in 1799; but 
rebuilt in better form in 1800 (this was hewed logs), and manv good 
people said the fire was a good thing.and there was great pridei n the new 
building, as it was ceiled on the inside, and had a pulpit, with a long 
double desk down the center for the school children. It v/as, fine as 
it was, torn down in 1822 to give place to the present building which 
is used on funeral occasions only. The first person buried in this 
ground was Robert McDowell, an Irishman ; the next was James Mc- 
Kean, who had donated the ground. The Pratt families came, in 
1796, from Massachusetts ; they wei-e poor but strong and industrious. 

The wolves and panthers made it unsafe to leave a shee]) out in 
the pen over night, and the most of the women were terrified by day 
at the numerous snakes that abounded everywhere. One day Mrs. 
Joseph Ballard was carrying a lunch to her husband in the field, and 
in passing through some tall grass was attacked by a black snake. It 
coiled about her body and tried to thrust its head in her mouth, but 
finding the food in the basket commenced devouring that ; her screams 
brought the men, and it was killed, still coiled about her person. 
James McKean, Jr., and Paul DeWitt were hunting and killed a deer, 
when they heard a fearful human-like screech. They were not fooled, 
but knew it was a panther, and one of them circled and came upon 
and killed the animal, which measured nine feet in length. 

In the winter of 1802 a series of prayer-meetings resulted in add- 
ing to the church, among others, two young men, Henry B. Bascom 
and James Gillmore, who were from 'New York. TheiV after-lives 
became national in the church. 

The present road from Towanda to Troy was authorized, and an 
appropriation made therefor in 1804, but no work was done until 1810, 
and very little then, and it was not finished until 1817; there never 
was much done on it under State supervision. 

The pioneers brought but few dishes, and these were mostly jjewter. 
Ezra Goddard, one of the earliest arrivals in Burlington township, 
when he came brought a slave, a black man named Otho, whom he 
had owned in his native New England State. This slave was a turner, 
and he made most of tlie plates, turned of butternut wood, for the 
surrounding families for many miles. The people made their own 
spoons, mostly fi-om clam shells, and a handle made and fitted to the 
shell from the leg bone of a turkey; their most difficult want to till 
was knives, for which they could find no substitute for iron. They had 
to get along without chairs, which they could readily do ; but Jesse 



4:0<\ HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Marvin came, a chair and window-sash maker, and it was a great da}^ 
in Burlington when he set up his little slow-going foot lathe ; and soon 
all the moi'e prominent families were the proud possessors of tliree 
chairs. About this time came Mr. Ferris, a shoemaker, and settled on 
the farm owned of late years by Mrs. Lydia Patrick and Jesse Beach. 
Timothy and 'Jesse Beach were sons of Mrs. Ferris, by a former 
husband; they were sturdy, industrious boys, and long before they 
were grown tiie}' could swing an axe " like grown men," and at night 
by the log fire would study their books; while x'outhsthey were noted 
as the best in figures and history in the township, and others often 
went to them to solve difficult "sums" that were too deep for them — 
such as telling how much 31^ bushels at 37i cents would " come to." 

In the fall of 1807, a family named Durand came with a sick child 
to the house of Mr. Braflfit. Dr. Alexander was called in, and at once 
pronounced it a case of smallpox. The greatest alarm seized the peo- 
ple; they knew nothing of vaccination, and the three physicians in this 
part of the county were in active demand "inoculating " and attending 
upon the sick and frightened. The only death, fortunately, was that of 
the child that first had it. These phj'sicians were Alexander, liowle and 
Westcott. In 1813 Dr. Ira Lee came into the county, bringing vac- 
cine matter, and told the people they should all be vaccinated. But 
he was an Englishman, and we were at war with that countrv; the 
people did not like the English, and he was suspected of being an emis- 
sary, who, for "British gold," was sent to the country to poison good 
patriots; and as every man in Burlington knew he was a patriot they 
rose up as one, and it was by the skin of his teeth that the Esculapian 
escaped lynching; he fled the township and afterward settled over in 
Ulster. One of the first active opposers of the English doctor and his 
"pizen" was a Dr. Albert Russell, but in a little while the people 
found out he had duped them, and he iiad to hunt out new pastures 
for himself. 

A disease called the " Cold ])lague" made its appearance in 1814. 
A case w^ould commence with o^reat cold and shaking- for ten or twelve 
hours; tlien a slimy matter of yellowish tinge would exude through the 
skin from the loins and abtlomen, when the ague would subside and 
a lethargy would follow, and the patient would die in about forty 
hours. It is said that not one in twenty, so seized, recovered; that 
more men than women were attacked, but none under fifteen years of 
age of either sex. This dreadful malady disapj)eared when the cold 
weather of midwinter came. Dr. Stephen Ballard was esteemed the 
most successful physician of his day, especially in fevers, scrofula, 
cancers, etc. 

Late one June afternoon, in 180G, a queer looking, Quaker-dressed 
traveler rode into the neighborhood and })ut u)) at the house of Mrs. 
Jane McKean; he immediately announced there would be ameetingin 
the new church tli;it evening. The a{)pearance of the odd-looking 
creature helped to fill the house; he was a total stranger in a strange 
land. When the people had assembled, he rose brusquely and said: 
" My name is Lorenzo Dow; my business here is to save souls from 
Hell; my credentials are these (producing a Bible), which says ' Go ye 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 437 

into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; he that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall 
be damned,' '' 

Betsey Ilagar was one of the most remarkable llevolutionary char- 
acters that ever came to Burlington. She was born in Boston in 1750, 
and at nine years of age was left alone in the world to shift for her- 
self. She grew up on a farm, was of a strong muscular frame, and 
learned to do all rough farm work, as well as being an expert at the 
loom. When the llevolution broke out she was at work for a man 
named Leverett, in his blacksmith shop ; he was very ingenious, and 
he and Betsey were secretly busy fixing the old match-lock guns for 
the patriots. She would file and grind and scour the work, and fit it 
as fast as he would turn it out. The two, it should be remembered, 
were working gratuitously — solely for the cause of freedom. At the 
battle of Concord the British fled, and left six nice brass cannon, but all 
spiked. They were taken to Leverett's shop, where he and his helper 
drilled holes opposite the spikes and then they could punch them out 
and stop up the hole with a screw. She worked hard at these cannon 
six weeks. She also made cartridges, and Avhen ner supply of flannel 
for this i)urpose gave out, she took off her underclothes and used them. 
At night, after the battle, she helped care for and nurse the wounded. 
Thus she helped during the seven years' war. In 1813 she married 
John Pratt, and they were on a rented farm at the time the "Shay 
rebellion " broke oui, when she said : •' John, you go and help kill 
Sha}^, and I will look after the crop." John went, and she made a fine 
crop. Her son was Thomas Pratt. In 1816 the family came to Bur- 
lington township, and settled on the G. A. Johnson farm. Among 
her other gifts was much knowledge of medicine— the herbs, roots and 
flowers of the country, and she often ministered to the sick, and was 
as much respected and " looked up to " as any person in the settle- 
ment. She lived to a green old age, dying in Granville in 1843, aged 
ninet\'-three years. 

In the year 1814 Samuel McKean brought goods from Philadel- 
phia, and opened a store in Burlington — the largest and finest stock 
then ever brought to this part of the county. lie took in pay the 
only currency of the country — ^honey, deer skins, maple sugar, furs, 
flax seed and whiskey. All these went to Philadelphia via the Sus- 
quehanna river down to Chesapeake Bay, and around to the city; 
Meansville (Towanda) was the port of entry for this part of the 
county, and on the water were the Durham boats, managed by poles 
and rudder, and pushed slowly back. The whole people rejoiced 
when this store was ojoened, and it was crowded all day long. Tlien 
commenced the evil system of trading on credit. Persons would buy, 
much foolishhr, and agree to pay the next spring when the sugar crop 
was gathered. Many of these debts laid over from year to year, until 
they outgrew all means of payment, and their little farms had to go. 
Then rye would not pay a store debt, but whisky would, and distil- 
leries sj)rung up rapidly — they soon far outnumbered the churches and 
school-houses. 

Samuel MoKean was born in Kishoquoquillas valley, Huntington Co. , 



438 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Pa., and came north with his parents when quite young; when sixteen 
he went with an uncle to Maryland, and there received a good educa- 
tion. He lived with this uncle till the latter died, and he then inher- 
ited a part of his estate, and this was his capital to open the store. In 
1816 he was elected to the Legislature, and he was re-elected sev- 
eral times. He went to Philadelphia, a typical backwoodsman from 
Bradford, and the city members thought to have some fun with 
him ; he was invited to a fashionable dinner, and at the table was 
placed at the head with the carving knife and requested to help the 
guests "farmer fashion." He gracefully rose, took the carving knife, 
helped his own plate bountifully and remarked : " Gentlemen, as I 
have done, so do ye," and sat down. It was all so gracefully done that 
the " funny fellers " looked at each other with a kind of a " sold " 
expression on their faces. He was elected to Congress in 1822 from 
the ten counties composing this district, being one of three members 
from the ten counties — the other two were George Kramer and Espy 
Van Horn. He served the district eight years, until it was changed. 
In 1830, immediately upon his retirement from Congress, he was 
appointed secretary of the Commonwealth, and served three years. 
While in this service he urged upon the members to pass a free school 
law, and drew the bill that was passed. In 1833 he was elected to the 
State Senate and during the term was elected United States Senator ; 
he served in the National Congress until 1838 when his health gave 
way, and he was given heavy doses of opium to relieve his neuralgia, 
and while in a fit of delirium he attempted suicide, inflicting a severe 
wound on his throat with a razor. He slowly recovered from the 
wound, but his mind was never right again, and he died in 18-10 of 
sofiening of the brain. His widow, Mrs. Julia Mclvean, sister to 
Judge McDowell, of Elmira, survived him man\^ years, and lived on 
the Burlington farm. In connection with the account of Samuel 
McKean it is proper to state that in 1811 a mail route was established 
from Towanda through Burlington and on to the west, and Mr, 
McKean was the first postmaster at Burlington. One Needham rode 
the pony mail, and had a tin horn with which he always announced 
his a])proacli — an exciting event. 

In 1806, Ezra Goddard wjis killed by a falling tree. In 1808, 
Ephraim Blakesley was trying to put the first saw logon the carriage of 
his sawmill, when he slipped and the log caught his head against the 
carriage and killed him instantly. In 1813, Ezra Goddard, Jr., was 
going up the ladder in his mill from the basement, and being old and 
ckimsy ho fell backward, and died in consequence in a few days. John 
Ballard, Sr., was attem])ting to drive a dog fi'om his house, and was bit 
on the lip. It was feared the dog was rabid, but the wound soon cured, 
and in his old age it appeared as a rose cancer, which resulted in his 
death. Luther Goddard was killed by the falling chimney of his mill. 
He was a bnfther and joint-owner with Ezra Goddard. This last 
happened in 1814. The heirs soon after sold the mill to William 
Stevens, and his son, Hiram K., became the owner. James McKean,with 
others, was chopping one day, when a bent limb was loosed and flew 
back, striking him on the head, killing him. He was one of the early 




s^J^.f^A^^ a^V/ ^ 





^ 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 441 

settlers who came to seek a home for liis fatlier's familv. John Pratt 
was killed in 1827 by the limb of a tree falling and breaking his back. 
In May, 1820, his brother Avas chopping in the timber, and cut his foot 
so severely he had to be carried home ; lockjaw supervened and he died 
in a few days. 

Ancient GianU. — Some men in digging a cellar for Gen, McKean 
came to a rock-enclosed tomb, nine feet below the surface, and over nine 
feet long by two and a half wide. The soft bones of the skeleton, as 
it lay, were carefully measured by Josejih Williams, of Troy, and it was 
eight feet and two inches in length. There were two of those graves 
within the space of the cellar, and one was overgrown by a pine tree 
over three feet in diameter. 

William McKean, of Troy, made a statement that, in 1841, in cut- 
ting down a noted old dead stump of great size, he found unmistakable 
marks of some sharp, ax-like instrument near the heart. It was 
carefully split and examined, and there could be no mistake of the 
nature of the cuts. ITe was assisted in the examination bv the Rev. 
Moses Ingalls ; they counted the rings and came to the conclusion that 
the marks had been made over four hundred years ago ! 

County Pool' Farm is situated al)out one mile west of Burlington. 
The land cost $11,500, and the buildings were erected thereon in 1880- 
81, the cost thereof being $38,500. There are about 175 inmates. 

The first school-house in Burlington was on Sugar cr^sek, in 1701. 
Mr. McKean gave an acre of ground for a graveyard and church site, 
and to this day the old church (not the first) stands on this ground. 

A road was cut through along the creek from Towanda in the 
winter 1700-91. by Jeremiah Taylor, Mr. Moffat and Benjamin Sax- 
ton. A mail route was established through Burlington froiii Towanda 
in 1811, and Samuel McKean was appointed postmaster at Burlington. 

Lutlier's Mills is a small settlement at the crossino; of the Sugar 
creek by the Towanda and Troy highway. It contains a^saw and g-rist 
mill, postofHce, one or two stores, a blacksmith-shop, and a school- 
house, and a number of pleasant residences. 

BURLINGTON BOROUGH. 

The borough of Burlington was established in 1853. It lies on 
the north bank of the Sugar creek, its western boundary being also 
that of the township. The Tomjack creek runs through"^ the village 
from the northeast, taking its rise a'shorttlistance north of the northern 
boundary of the borough, which includes in its limits about two hun- 
dred and fifty acres. Tomjack's cabin was situated just above the 
mouth of the creek named in his honor, on the south side of the Sugar 
creek. The business of the borough is chiefly confined to an edge-tool 
and hore-srake manufactory, carriage, wagon and sleigh manufactory, 
cabinet-ware and pumps, cooper, carpenter and blacksmith shops, 
general stores and drug-store, one hotel, two physicians and surgeons, 
and a postoffice. There are one good school-house and two churches 
in the boroueh. . 



24 



443 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

CANTON TOWNSHIP— CANTON BOEOUGH. 

THE first settlement made in what is now Canton township was 
probabW in 1794, by Isaac Allen. Zepheniah Kogers made his 
possession in i796, on the Hubbell Manley farm, built his floorless log 
cabin, 14x18, and put up his one-legged bedstead, simply a forked stick 
driven into the ground, on which were poles running to a crack 
between the wall logs, and those poles were threaded with bark for 
bed cord — the magnificent furnishing of many an old-time first cabin. 

Same year came Ezra Sjmlding, alone, on a tour of observation ; 
and, selecting his future home, he stuck down his Jacob-staff on 
what became the farmed " old S]mlding place," and " bached " and 
worked hard during the summer; then, next season, brought his 
farail}'. He built a double log house, and opened a tavern in the 
wilds. To one now-a-days this smacks of the man who, being a little 
demoralized, wished everybody was dead but himself, and he would 
then go to Philadelphia and keep a hotel. 

Spalding found, when he came, Jonas Geers on the Daniel Innes 
farm, once the Grover farm. Geers left in 1800. Jonathan Prosser 
was on the C. S. Sellard place— Capt. Calvin Spencer Sellard, whose 
daughter, Mrs. W. Levitt, resides in Canton borough. Prosser's cabin 
was near and below the bridge crossing Towanda creek. Same spring 
a man named Coon came ancl also settled on the Sellard farm. Ezra 
Spalding remembered these as the three cabins in Canton when he 
came in 1796 ; but the same year came Gashum Gillett and stopped 
on the now Capt. L. D. Landon farm, and his son, Wilkes Gillett, 
settled on the James Metier place. Zepheniah Rogers, Jr., settled the 
Lindley farm, and Rogers, Sr., set off, to his son Roswell, the farm on 
the east side of the creek, owned by the grandson, William. 

Elisha Knight and George Brown came in 1797. The same year 
came the Cashes, who improved the Loomis farm. John Newell 
came in the spring. of 1797, and settled on the L. N. Rutty farm; he 
was an uncle of II. S. Newell, now of Canton, on the farm left him by 
his father, Oliver Newell; this farm was first settled in 1799 by Orr 
Scovel, whose house, it is said, was the first frame in Canton town- 
ship, which eventually became Squire Bassett's barn. Same year 
Moses Emmerson settled on the now Ichabod Sellard's farm, and the 
next spring Daniel Bagley built his cabin on the Enoch Sellard farm. 
In the spring of 1797 a man named Stratton built a cabin on the flats 
(now owned by G. W. Griffin), but never occupied it, as he went back 
to Sugar creek; but Ebenezer Bixby came that spring, and, finding it 
6mpty, took possession and lived there three years. Loban Landon 
settled on the farm afterward owned by C. P. Spalding and O. B. 
Grantier. Joel Bodwell came in 1800, and settled the Taber farm; 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 443 

he sold to Abraham Taber, father of Nathan B. Taber.. Taber, a 
Ttevolutionary soldier, came in 1802. Nathan B. Taber married 
Nanc\^ Grantier. 

In 1797 or 1798 Isaiah Grover built on what is known as the Grif- 
fin farm, owned recently b\^ George Golf; Grover sold to Samuel 
Griffin in 1800. In 1797 Benjamin Ba.bcock settled the Reuben Loomis 
farm, and, at the same time, Nathaniel Babcock settled the John Van- 
Dyke farm, owned more recently by Jacob Beardsley. At that date 
there was no other settlement in this direction until you reached the 
Walter farm, in Le Ro\^ township. The Van Dyke farm was settled in 
1798; same year Elihu Knights came, and he sold to the Segors and 
then settled the George P. Manley farm. In his last years Mr. Spald- 
ing could not remember the name of the first settler on the Wilcox 
farm, but thinks, whoever it was. he sold to a man named Hinman, in 
1798, and from this it is named Hinman Hill. Dennis Kingsbury set- 
tled the Stone farm in 1796, it is supposed, which farm is now owned 
by E. Lilley. At this house were held the township gatherings 
and public meetings. Kingsbury thought of making a village of the 
place. He sold, in 1805, to Capt. Rice, and Rice sold to Joseph 
Wallace. 

Mr. Spalding thought that Sterling and Hugh Holcomb located their 
claims in 1795, but did not occupy them until,l796. These' were hard- 
working, thrifty men, who accumulated property. Hugh'Holcomb built 
one of the very first sawmills in southeast Bradford, on the little creek 
that runs through the town ; soon he built a gristmill, and for nearly 
one hundred years this has ground away. Mr. Holcomb soon after 
built a distillery, as whisky was then deemed, as much a hecessa^ry as 
bread or milk; this distillery opened a market'for all the surplus corn, 
and was really an important enterprise. Mr. Spalding thought that 
Seeley Crofut located here in 1795, but did not move out his family 
until 1796. In 1799, Isaac Chaapel, of Massachusetts, came and set- 
tled on the j)lace near where is Chaunce}^ Chaapel's house. Isaac was 
a prominent man, and was justice of the peace quite a long time. A 
man named Gordon settled the Aaron Knapp place. ' 

The above reminiscences were dictated by Horace Spalding, when 
he was ninety-three years old, and therefore any slight mistakes should 
not be carped at. Horace Spalding was the last surviving son of Ezra 
Spalding. He remembered back in 1805, when this was Towanda 
township, Luzerne county, and their supposed voting place was Wil- 
liamsport, as they believed they were in Lycoming county. Horace 
Spalding cast his first vote in 1804; he was "return judge in 1809, and 
carried the vote to Wilkes-Barre ; and remembers that, in 1805, the 
county line was run here, and they found tiiey were in Luzerne and 
not Lycoming county. Something'^more of Ezra Spalding's recollec- 
tions during the last. year of his life were published in the Canton Sen- 
tinel, in January, 1876, as they were written out by Sylvanus I). Ken- 
dall, substantially as follows r The Alden farm was" settled in 1796 
(he could not remember by whom). A man named Knapp lived at the 
mouth of the north branch of the creek. Knapp sold to Cramer, who 
came up and bought where Aaron and his son lived and died. The 



444 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Daniel Wilcox farm was settled before 1796 ; how long he did not 
know, but remembered there being a log-house and several acres 
cleared when he first came. The noted earl}^ place called the " Allen 
Mills" he thought Isaac Allen must have settled as early as 1794 or 
1795 ; that David and Stephen Allen built their sawmill, and soon 
after their gristmill, finishing the latter in 1797. Isaac Allen, he sup- 
posed, came first. These mills have been operated right along to the 
present day. 

Returning to the point of the borough of Canton, and going up the 
road to Alba: In 1799 Yan Valkenburg settled on the Levi Stullfarm, 
and his son-in-law, Wedgeworth, located the " Minnequa Springs " place, 
that in time came to the hands of Peter Herdic, a genuine " hustler" of 
modern times, whose push and vim did so much to develop this part 
of Bradford count3^ Mr. Wedgeworth built his house on the flat 
between the "Minnequa House" and the farm house recently erected. 
1804, after leaving Canton, on the road to Troy, was settled by David 
Pratt. This was the man, who, in 1804, made the nails for Ezra 
Spalding's barn, afterward the widow Wheat's property. The next 
was Schuyler Elliott's farm settled in 1805 b}^ Levi Morse, a tailor; James 
Rockwell, grandfather of Jacob Rockwell, settled the Rockwell farm, 
it is supposed in 1802. And Jeremiah Smith located on the Israel 
Moore farm. In 1804 Elisha Luther and a man named Hurlbut settled 
between Smith's and Alba borough. In 1805 Kilbourne Morley settled 
the David Palmer farm. Eban Wilson, Dr. Rowlaaand Jacob Thomp- 
son came about the year 1803. 

A quaint old account and ledger book that Ezra Spalding brought 
to this country with him is well preserved. It dates back to 1774, but 
what is written in it seems, on the blank spaces, to be Spalding's 
accounts with his neighbors after he commenced business here. These 
old accounts commenced with his Canton neighboi's in 1797, and are 
now of the greatest interest. 

The first page has an entry (1799) against Elihu Knight, among 
other things, seven bushels of corn at fifty cents a bushel ; then John 
Griffin is charged seven cents for a pint of whisky; March, 1807, 
paid Hugh Holcomb five quarts whisky in full for work; 1808, 
Kilbourne Morley is charged five items at different dates, but all for 
whisky ; December, 1808, Sela Crofoot (the way he spells it) is 
charged with several items, but mostly whisky ; November, 1813, 
David Pratt, Jr., is charged fifty cents for two gallons of cider. In 
1807, Benjamin Stone bought during that and the next year the 
amount of |7.25 worth, chiefly whisky ; in 1809, Samuel Wilcox is 
charged twenty-five cents for a quart of whisky ; then we come ,on the 
next page, where it goes back to 1799, Joseph Vansickle purchased 
some sugar; in 1801, Jonathan Prosser bought some hay; at the 
same time Jesse Drake bought two bushels of corn ; the next charge 
(no year given, but supposed 1801), John "Granidier " is charged wnth 
several items of whisky. In the year 1800, Dr. Joseph Vanseck is 
credited by "two potions of salts;" by a book "Father Leguay to his 
Daughter" and "Revolution in America," another, the "Book of 
a Man of Feeling," and the "Letter Writer" and " Sans Cullots Mor- 



IIISTOKV or llltADI'OlM) COUNTY, 445 

ality "and "The Sentimental Traveler throuoh Italy anil France." 
With all these books Mr. Si)akling' must have hail the leading library 
in northern Pennsylvania. On the next leaf Roswell Kogers is 
charged 25 cents for a quart and $1.40 for a gallon of whisky. In 
May. 1799, Charles Reeder is charged 25 cents for a hall' bushel 
of seed corn, and 40 cents tor tliree quarts of hay seed. In 1808, 
Nathan Wilcox is charged $2 for 2 gallons of whisky and for three 
bushels of "rie," by Orr Scabel, Jr., $2. In 180(5,^ IJenj. Mead is 
charged 6 cents for " 2 gills." In October, 1799, Nathan Roberts is 
charged for corn and several items for horse and ox teams to do 
his hauling, and twice for tobacco. During 1807, the same man made 
a bill of )5^4o.80, the largest single bill the books so far show. Tlie 
man is credited with one heifer $7 ; one steer $16; milling 27 bushels 
of " rie " at Pratt's IVEill, and by 'vOilly going to mill." In May, 1808, 
Freedom Bennett is charged 50 cents for 2 quarts whisky ; in 1807, 
Simeon Power makes quite a bill, and is credited by " Fanna 2 weeks 
and 4 days' spinning 50 cents." In August, 1800, Stephen Latimer is 
charged 'with '"sugar 50 cents," and on the line below is this grim 
entry : "credit by death." In 1807, Nancy Strickland bought a gal- 
lon and five quarts of whisky, and paid the bill by one calf $2.75; in 
1807, Henry Segar bought whisky several times, '"to be paid in "rie' 
after harvest;" in 1801, a man named Bular is credited on his account 
with seven weeks' work $4.06.6 — they were very particular to carry 
out the mills and cents; in 1797, Moses Emmerson is charged $30.66.7 
for 23 weeks board. He marks John Crandall's bill in 1801 as "' set- 
tled the above accompt." Follou'ing this '"accompt" is a year's 
venison deal in 1797 with same Crandall: first is by 100 pounds veni- 
son $2, then is " 84 pounds venison in the woods, 84 cents." In 1798, 
Benjamin Babcock, account and due bill $13.91 — running through the 
months, there are credits, " 2^ bushels rie" $1.66; 24^ bushels corn 
$1.25 ; 2 bushels potatoes 45 cents; 6 bushels wheat $6 ; 3 pigs $1.20, 
and then timothy seed to square the "accompt." 

In 1797 Joseph Kinney is charged with "a gallon of whisky by 
Mr. Hammond." June 24, ISOO, is this entry: "Received Capt. 
William Benjamin's horse from Albert Wells, and requested to keep 
well." Then, April 15, "Capt. Benjamin took his horse away by the 
hand of Mr. Williams." In 1807 Benjamin King made an account for 
whisky and venison ; he is credited by " three baskets, boting 5 chairs ; 
making neat house," etc.; in 1807 Isaiah King bought several quarts 
of whisky, and is credited by "one day's hoeing, 50 cents; one mar- 
tin skin, 40 cents." In 1799, Samuel Grifiin is charged with " 1^ days 
oxeens work, 60 cents" ; " to horses and oxeen drawing load hay from 
Beaver's Meadows;" April, 1799, he has several charges against 
Isaiah Grover for " meat and potatoes lent," and for " Billey and the 
oxeen ^ day, 30 cents" ; " to the oxeen five days to go to Mr. Board- 
man's, $2.00;" " to the oxeen one day to draw logs for his house;" 
this was August 30. Polly Luther (year not given) made an " accompt " 
of $8.16; among the items was " one hat, $4.00 " (Polly w\ns a little 
vain); "cloth for shortgown, 40 cents;" "five yards tow cloth, 
$2.67;" "i yard muslin, 42 cents;'' to " soals to 1 pair slips and 



44G JflSTORY OF BRADKORU COUNTY. 

making 25 cents;" then, "settled with roily," by the following 
account: " 10 days work on tow yarn ; 6 days on linnen yarn ; 6 days 
on tow yarn ; by 2 weeks and 2 days spining Imnen; two weeks on 
linnen tow and picking wool ; by one week and one day on tow ; by 
eight days spining tow ; by three weeks and four days work on linnen 
and tow, and finally by five weeks and five and a half days work." A 
girl now would consider this right smart work for $8.16. In 1810 he 
credits Aurilla Ilurlbut with "31 weeks and 5 days work, $21.23." Dur- 
ing the year 1803 George Brown runs an account, $1.63. In 1803 
Dr. Prowlan run up a long bill for whisky ; only that each item 
is generally for one or two gills at a time, one would conclude that 
there were" a great many snake bites that year among his patients; 
one entry is "2 gills whisky, lodging and breakfast, and my horse 
to ride home." In 1800, AVheeler Hinman runs up a long store account, 
in which is "a days work by Horace," "leather, and soal leather for 
1 pair shoes," sugar, whisky; the sugar is charged at about 13 cents a 
pound, and whisky one dollar a gallon; then Hinman is credited with 
making quite a number of pairs of shoes, "half-boots for Billey," 
and shoes for Betty antl Horace and " topping Horace's boots," etc. 
Then tlie next page goes back to 1797, and gives Nathaniel Babcock's 
"account," among numerous items is, "Horace and oxen, 1^ days, 
$1.25," and he is credited by day's work, "use of saddle, one day 
choping, one day hoeing, one day reaping," etc. Then in 1801, 
Hezekiah "Arrants," and, on opposite page it is written "Arrand," is 
charged for sugar, potatoes, wheat, corn, gallon of soap, candles, but 
no whisky. Hezekiah must also have been a cobbler, as he is credited 
with making and " half-soaling " many pairs of shoes; these are shoes 
for "Ceasar," Polly, Betty, Horace, Billey, Mrs. Spalding and by 
" one pair shoes for Horace by agreement $2.25 " — this v.-as pretty 
extravagant for Horace as the average price of shoes is 6Q cents. In 
1797, Jonas Geers has quite an "accompt," and among other items is 
" one iron kettle, $5.20," by " daughter's making cap for wife 40 cents." 
On the opposite page he is credited with "fetching 2 loads of goods 
from Ehhu Knights," and by " 6^ yards cassimer, $14.00," and by "a 
half stack of hay $3.33^." In 1797, Jonathan Prosser's account fills a 
page, and the whole foots up $17.00, mostly for teams to haul, provi- 
sions, and one item is " i bu. potatoes and 26 pumpkins, 40 cents." 
The price of pumpkins was one cent each. The same year, 1797, 
Ebenezer Brigsby has quite an account, and among other items is one 
for the "hire of his kettle to sugar in, $1." In 1798 John Newell 
runs a long account — potatoes, corn, wheat, hauling, etc. He is cred- 




ip _ - 

Delight's shoes and " toping Cesars," and many and much shoemakmg 
and mending. In 1799 Laban Landon opened an account ; three bun- 
dles of straw, beans, wheat, flax, "a pullet 12 cents" and "soal leather 
for Laban." lard, and cash to Eleazer Ellis, etc. His credit is by a 
"bushel of salt from Williamsport, $2.50;" by " 1 dog, 82 cents," by 
" turning bedstead posts," by " one hive," " by leather for Horace and 



History of kradkord (JoirNTY. 447 

Cesars vamps and quarters,'' and Jinally "by the verdict about the old 
horse $5.'' In 1801 Henry Van Valken burg's name opens an account 
and it is spelled " Van volcan borough," that is very good indeed, 
"burg'' means borough when 3'ou write, though pronounced "burg" 
in common parhmce. Van got seed wlieat, a pig, corn, potatoes, etc., 
and is credited by tallow, venison, deer skins, etc. Orr Scovel in 1800 
tills a page; it is all potatoes, wheat, corn, rye, etc., and in his credits 
is an order on Ebenezer Tuttle for $^5. 00, and another " by his sawmill 
to saw 720 feet." In 1800 Eleazer Allis makes a long account, which it 
seems he paid mostly in whisky and work. It should be born in 
mind that then whisky was not only the vernacular drink, but the 
legal tender of the realm. In 1S03 Jesse Roberts made an account, 
and the next year paid it off in r3'e. In 1800 Uriah Loper bought 
about §12.00, and is credited "one wash tub, a shawl, silk handker- 
chief, by an order on Thomas Caldwell, and by hauling to Robert's 
mill." In 1811 " John Granidier [this means Granteer] bought 1^ 
bushels apples 75 cents." 

In 1801 Jacob " Granidier" [Granteer] is charged with many items — 
sugar, potatoes, work by Horace, etc., and is credited by many days' 
work. Zepheniah Rogers makes a long store-bill in 1803. Jesse 
Drake has a larger one in 1802, but he is credited with "eighteen 
bushels of apples." Among other items charged to Jesse is " keeping 
horse nine nights, ninety cents." In 1803 Koah Wilson (mayor of 
Alba) came down to Spalding's to trade, and bought cider, salt, 
whisky, potatoes, etc. This open account ran along until 1822, when, 
under date of July 1, appears this: "Settled all the above amounts 
and all other deals to this date in full," signed by I^oah Wilson and 
Ezra Spalding. In 1809 Benjamin Landon opened an account; it 
ran until 1812 when they settled and signed the account. In 1804 Eli 
McNitt opened an account, and this open account runs to 1810. The 
same year Augustus Loomis commences to trade with Spalding, and 
the same year again appears the name of Wilkes Gillett on the 
books, every item of liis account being whisky. In 1805 Levi Morse ran 
a bill, which he paid in tailoring; among other items is "making great 
coat, $1.50," "turning Horace's — $2" (supposed "pantaloons"). 
March 21,1813, is this entry: "Zuba N^elson came to my house 
to work," and in 1812 is this: " Sabra Green came to my house to 
work." In 1805 John IS e well, Jr., begins an account, whiskv, beans, 
potatoes, and paid by work and deer skins. In 1805 appears the 
account of Thomas Updegraflf, who paid in leather, it seems (probably 
the first tanner). In 1805 Samuel Waitman opened an account. In 
1808 Zoroaster Porter's name appears; in 1811 he, too, bought apples 
of Spalding, and in 1812 they settle up the account. 

Ezra Spalding's family were himself, wife, and sons Horace and 
William, and daughters Lucy, Betsey and Delight, and two slaves, 
Bulah and her boy, "Cesar," who were slaves in Connecticut. Bulah, 
having her freedom after a year here, went back to Sheshequin, but 
" Cesar" remained. Ezra Spalding was born in Connecticut, and was 
aged forty -two when he came : he had a good education, had surveyed, 
and had studied navigation. He was a Revolutionary soldier ; he first 



448 HISTOKY OF BKADFORD COUNTY, 

came to Sheshequin in 1T95, and next 3^ear to this place. His cabin was 
between where the road now runs and Towanda county, nearly a mile 
from the borough where his son Horace lived. They built a cabin, 
16x32, and the next February he brought his family in sleds. When 
he came he brought about $300 worth of cow-bells, which he soon sold 
to his neighbors. Groceries were " dear bought and far fetched" at 
first, as they all came from Athens, but the trade soon changed to 
Williamsport, simply following down the stream to that place, which 
old-timers said they crossed thirty-eight times going from Canton. In 
the above accounts appears an entry against Emmerson, who was a 
spy, it seems, of Pennsylvania, and who tried to rob Spalding of his 
land. 

John Newell, Jr., settled the L. N. Kutty farm in 1Y97, and sold 
in 1799 to Samuel Rutty. 

Government sent out viewers to locate a road north from Williams- 
port to Canada, and, after much contention as to the two routes, it 
was finally surveyed and located much as it now runs through the 
county. It was sixty feet wide and completed, except three miles in 
1811. 

The slave "Cesar " was given his liberty bv Mr. Spalding when he 
was t wen t}^ -one; he lived to be quite old, and was never accused of 
being wholly, as his namesake would have his wife. 

Spalding's mill on his farm was a small affair, but a great improve- 
ment to stump pounding. It would run all day and grind about three 
busliels of corn. 

Reference has already been made to the burning of Spalding's 
house. In further explanation it may be said that this was all caused 
by this traitor in his house, Emmerson, and was another attempt of 
the Pennamites to ruin the Connecticut settlers. Spalding was 
arrested under the " intrusion law," fined ^200 and sent to prison two 
months. He served out his terra, and then an executive took and sold 
all his personal property and the rascals burned his house. These 
were some of the drastic measures against these poor settlers, who, 
one woidd suppose, had enough natural obstacles to contend with 
without such horrors as Pennsylvania agents inflicted ujion them. Is 
it any w^onder there was in time bloodshed between these paities ? 
Mr. Spalding had purchased of Col. Spalding and Elisha Satterlee, 
but finally completing his title by purchasing of the Asylum company. 
This ruin came to Mr. Sjmlding in the fall of 1800. He was com- 
pelled to move his family into a small cabin that stood where J. W. 
Griffin lived; at that time owned by Ebenezer Allis, where he lived one 
year and then built a new house, and in a few years he was again 
prospering and running his hotel. He died in December, 1828. His 
son Horace succeeded him, and died on the old place at the ripe age of 
ninety-six. Mrs. S. D. Kendall, of Canton, is a daughter of Horace 
Spalding. 

Early elections in Canton township were held at the house of Daniel 
Stone. An early justice was Isaac Chaapel, and in time he was 
succeeded by Seeley Crofut. 

The lirst schoolin the new township was taught by Isaac Chaapel, 



HISTORY OF HRADFOKl) (■ollNi^. 44'J 

near Pratt's Mill. In 1799 some ol" the most pi-ominent people, amoii<^' 
others Ezra Spencer, were arrested under the " intrusion law,'' for set- 
tling on lands under Connecticut title, and sentenced to two or three 
months' imprisonment and fined $200. In 1800 Mr. Spaldinj^-'s house 
was burned, while the sheriff was in the act of dispossessing him, to put 
a man in it by the name of John Schrader, Sr., ;ind about the time lire 
was descried, a bullet '' whizzed " close by the heads of the sheritf and 
Schrader. This was one of the incidents of that disturbc;d time ami 
disputed land titles. 

In November, 1814, Michael K. Thorp made his appearance in the 
settlement with blank deeds, etc., and claimed to be an agent of " The 
Bank of North America," which claimed the land of the settlers, and 
he urged the people to buy. Many did so; took a deed and mortgage 
at the rate of |2.50 per acre, a few lost or gave up their claims and 
took other land. 

The first division of Canton township was striking off Fi'anklin 
township — about one-half of its territory ; the next change was that 
of making Troy township. The jieople in the confusion were, many 
of them on North Sugar creek, called on in two to\vnshi])s to pay 
taxes. Canton toAvnshi]:f originally comprised Leroy, Franklin, Alba 
borough, and a large part of Granville. 

In 1820, in the split in the Methodist Churcli by those "protesting " 
against the " episcopacy," a society of the new order was formed in 
Canton township, of which Uriah Baxter was the chosen leader, and 
Elder David Randall, of Burlington, was an active and influential 
member. This society still keeps its organization. 

Jacob Gran teer settled what isl-anton borough in 1800. He came 
that spring and purchased 440 acres, including all the east part and 
west limits of the incorporation. He bought of Jonathan Prosser, 
built a nice hewed log house on the ground on which stands Ezekiel 
Newman's house. Granteer, who was born in Lorraine, came to Amer- 
ica two or three years before the breaking out of the Kevolution, and 
settled in the Mohawk valley. lie volunteered into Moi'gan's Rifle- 
men, and served during the war. After that he removed to Newtown 
(Elmira), and from there in pirogues floated down the river to the 
mouth of Tow^anda creek, called '•' Fox's ferry," or sometimes " Fox's 
fishery," and finally '" Fox's chase." He built the first sawmill on 
Mill creek a short distance north of Canton borough. He was killed 
by a fall in his mill in 1804 or 1805. He left three sons and four 
daughters, all now deceased. His eldest son, Jolin Granteer, cleared 
the ground on which the borou":h stands. John was twice married, 
first to a Heverly and then to Mary Moore; he died in 1870, aged 
eighty-six; his wife died in 1861 and was buried in the ground he had 
given for a church and graveyard, where was built the first Union 
church; this old church building was moved to Centre street, and 
became a residence. John Granteer left one son by his first marriage, 
and two sons by his last marriage, viz: Jacob ;i,nd John. 

Graver is a station on the i-ailroad south of the borough of Canton, 
and nearly on the south county line. The most important industry 
here is the extensive Innes tannery; there are two stores and some 



4o0 MlSTOK^ OV BKAin<'OKI) COUNTY. 

small shops; also a gTistiuill operated by James 11. Eastgate, and the 
extensive planing mill of S. S. Vermih'e. 

Minnequa Springs. — This is a lovely spot, and a most noted health 
resort of northern Penns^dvania, from whose remarkable springs 
burst forth the cold, pure, health giving waters. It is tradition that 
the Indians were led to this spring following the game that came for 
the sweet water. The early pioneer learned of it from the Indian, 
and, in the course of time, Peter Herdic, by the advice of his physi- 
cian, came here and found the fountain of health, if not of perpetual 
youth, and, in 1S69, he made it a health resort for the public. Guests 
and visitors and cottage-builders have been a steady, increasing stream 
to the present. In 1870 Judge Maynard purchased sixty acres, and 
built his residence near the sj)ring. A commodious hotel was built, 
and, when this was overtaxed with increasing guests, a large room 
annex was put up. The main building was burned in 1878, and the 
present brick was opened in 1884. 

Were there nothing here but the sweet dreamland that it is — the 
wide, smooth sweeping valley at your feet, the surrounding swelling- 
hills and the afar, dreamy blue lines of the Armenia, and the South 
Mountains overlooking Canton, and the green velvet valley of the 
Towanda — it would be an enchanting place for the city visitor fleeing 
from the roar and dust and dirt of the city, to rest and renew life and 
vis^or for the future struo'ole. Here is oreat Mother Nature's sweet 
bosom, where her weary and sick children ma}^ cuddle and sleep and 
dream, and regain strength and health. 

Mr. L. J. Andress, who has for many years kept the hotel, is a 
famous caterer, and so is his able assistant, Mr. Hinckley. From all 
the Eastern cities are representative families with cottages lining the 
sides of the surrounding hills, while others are constantly being built. 
Among the earliest to select this as a summer home were E. L. Daven- 
port and Fanny Davenport and Frank Mayo, of theatrical renown, 
whose " Crockett Lodge" is a marvel of beauty. Other notable places 
are " Maynard's Hill." Miss F. A. Smith's cottage, Henry A. Oakley's 
and those of Kev. Stephen W. Dana, D. D.; Dr. Saylor, Dr. Franklin 
Hindale ; Dr. Arthur Brooks, rector of the Church of the Incarnation ; 
besides, "Beech wood," the charming summer home of Mrs. C. M. Par- 
ker, and others. Some of the most elegant cottages are now in course 
of construction. 

The Northern Central Kailroad stops all trains at this point during 
the season. Minnequa is about half-way between Elmira and AVil- 
liamsport, and two miles north of the borough of Canton. Analvsis 
of the water: Total solid contents in one U. S. gallon (grains in one 
U. S. gallon), 7.652 ; calcium, 0.994 ; magnesium, 0.207 ; sodium, 0.722 ; 
lithium, trace; aluminum, 0.127: iron, trace; manganese, 0.226; chlo- 
rine, 0.140; silica, 0.700; zinc, 0.028; carbonic acid, 2.053; boracic 
acid, 2.132; oxygen (with silicates), 0.138; loss, 0.145. Temperature 
of spring, 47 degrees Fahrenheit. 

CANTON BOROUGH. 

Canton borough was incorporated May 23, 1864, with the following 
as first officers : Burgess, John A. Mix ; J. E. Bullock, secretary ; 



II I STORY OK nKADKOKD CO I! N'T Y. 4o I 

justice of the pence, J. W. \'aiulyke uiid Thomas B(?iinett; couik;!!, 
Ilerinan Towiisend. E. AV. (yoolwell, Daniel Wil(;ox, John A. Jlooper. 
and II, F. Beardsley. The recoi'd of the l)ii)-oessesand seci-etaries f I'om 
ISG-J: to 185)1 is as follows : 

Burgesses. — 1804-05, John S. Mix; 1800, Cha)-les Stockwell ; 
1867, James O. Ilan(hill ; 1808, Charles Stockwell ; 1809, Chark'S 
Stockwell; 1870, Marcus Porter; 1871, A. I). Williams; 1872, E. I.. 
Manley ; 1873, II. B. Parsons ; 1874. Theo. Pierce; 1875. Samuel W. 
Owen^; 1870, A. D.Williams; 1877, B. W. Clark; 1878, J. H. Shaw; 

1879, J. II. Shaw ; 1880, G. H. Estell ; 1881, G. II. Estell ; 1882, II. 
B. Parsons; 1883, E. A. Jennings; 1884, E. A. Jennings; 1885, E. 
A. Jennings; 1880, W. C. Crippen ; 1887, W.C. Crippen; 1888, J. W. 
Parsons; 1889, J. W. Parsons; 1890, J. ^Y. Parsons. 

.%r'/'g^«7v't^^.— 1804-65. J. E. Bullock ; 1800. J. E. Bullock ; 1807, J. 
E. Bullock ; 1808, James D. Tvler; 1809, II. N.Williams ; 1870. Ed. New- 
man ; 1871. M. P. Lewis; 1872, J. W. Stene ; 1*^73, G. W. Griffin; 
1874, G. W. Griffin; 1875, Pv. M. Manley; 1870, P. M. Manlev ; 
1877, M. P. Lewis ; 1878, John S. Griffin; 1879, Frank A. Owen; 

1880, W. W.Whitman; 1881, W. W. Whitman ;. 1882, Charles E. 
Bullock ; 1883. G. W. Griffin ; 1884, Newton Landon ; 1885, Charles E. 
Biggs ; 1880, Charles E. Riggs ; 1887. A. 1\ Hackett ; 1888, Charles E. 
Ji\^^^\ 1889, Charles E. Riggs; 1890, Charles E. Riggs. 

The present borough officers are as follows : Colin A. Innes, bur- 
gess ; llollis H. Taylor, vice burgess ; Michael F. Wynne, treasurer ; 
Charles E. Riggs, secretary. Street Committee — Michael F. Wjmne, 
Harry E. Griffin, Richard J. O'Donnel. Sidewalk Committee — Hollis 
H. Taylor, Robert E. Rockwell, Walter G. Newman. Street Commis- 
sioner — Almeran D. Biddle. 

Citizens'' Water Works (incorporated), Canton, was established in 
1876 and reorganized in 1883; capital stock, $25,000. The first sup- 
ply was from Mill creek, and the second was from Lake Nephwan, in 
1889. The former was about one and one-fourth miles, and the latter 
one-half mile distant. The officers are: G. W. Maynard, ])resident; 
J. E. Cleveland, treasurer ; L. E. Manley, secretary ; G. E. Guernsev, 
manager. The pii)es liave been extended to Minnequa, and supply 
that place as w^ell as Canton. The water from the creek has a fall of 
300 feet, and from the lake about 250 feet — an unlimited supplv. and 
altogether Canton may be said to have the best water supply in 
northern Pennsylvania. 

Canton Schools have an enrollment of 400 pu])ils, and employ eight 
teachers. U. G. Palmer is principal. The board of education consists 
of W. S. Lewis, M. D., president; William C. Sechrist, Esq.. secretary ; 
W. C. Crippen, treasurer ; L. R. Gleason, M. L. Rockwell, T. Burk. ' 

Caledonia Tannery was established in 1870, and began operations 
in 1871. The tannery is owned by A. Innes & Son, and has a capacity 
of 55,000 hides a year. The number of men emploved is from thirtv- 
five to forty. 

Steam Flour and Feed Mill was built in 1870, and owned by 
Samuel Strait. Geo. B. Rile}^ bought it in 1890, and continues to 
operate it. 



462 History of BRAbFORi) county. 

11. Sheldon & Co., Map Hollers and Mountings, was established in 
18Y1 ; capital stock about $9,000. They emplo}^ from thirteen to 
egihteen men. 

Gleason cfc ClarA's Canton Tannery was established in 1869, by 
Gleason & Irving. In 1881, Mr. Irving sold his interest in the plant. 
The product is about 350,000 pounds of leather per year ; they employ 
sixteen men. 

Hockctt Bros.'' Sawmill, Carding-mill and Bee-hive Factory.- — The 
firm bought the mill of C. O. Ilazleton, October, 1882, and added the 
Bee-hive Factory in the spring of 1889. They manufacture bee-hives 
principally in the summer, and last year's product was over 2,000; and 
$500 worth of wool was carded. 

Htigh Craioford's Roller Feed Mill. — The firm buy about sixty 
carloads of grain a year, and grind for customers, besides what is 
bought in Canton ; employ about twent3'-five men. 

G. M. Coorus Planing Mill, was built in 1887, and employs from 
four to six men. The mill Jias a 45 horse-power engine and runs plan- 
ers, lathes, board and jig saw, etc. 

A. M. Wilson's Fotindry and Machine Shop was established over 
thirty years ago by N. H. Harris. The present owner bought it in 
1888. The machine shop is 40x4u feet, and the foundry 30x60 feet; 
employs from three to five men. 

Rockwell *& Son^ s Canton Steam Mills were started in 1879; con- 
tain seven grinding buhrs. They do a business of about $20,000 a 
year. 

H. H. Taylor''s Planing Mill has been established about twenty 
years. The present owner has been running it seven years: employs 
five men, and does a large business. 

Miller Bros.'' Saw and Feed Mill was established in the spring of 
1883 ; was started first in 1876 as a wagon aud repair shop ; does an 
extensive business. 

Canton has the following business concerns : Dr}^ goods, three ; 
clothing, three ; hardware, four ; furniture, two ; jewelry, two ; banks, 
First National Bank; three hotels — " Packard House," "Canton" and 
" Mountain View " ; grocer}'" stores, eight ; agricultural stores, two ; 
bakery, one ; meat markets, two ; livery stables, four ; boot and shoe 
store, one; planing mills, two; gristmills, two; foundry, one ; tannery, 
one ; sawmills, two ; blacksmiths, five ; wagon shops, three ; undertaker, 
one. 

The First National Bank of Canton was established March 1, 1881, 
with a capital stock of $50,000. The capital stock is $50,000; the 
surplus fund $23,000 ; the undivided profits, $5,672.44. National bank 
notes outstanding $11,700 ; individual deposits subject to check 
$69,086.97; demand certificates of deposit $48,693.35. The first officers 
were Adam Innes, president ; Geo. B. Guernsey, cashier. The present 
officers are Daniel Innes, president; Geo. B. Guernsey, cashier. The 
directors are A. D. Foss, Geo. E. Bullock, Jno. A. Innes. 

Churches. — There are five churches in Canton : Methodist Episcopal, 
Baptist, Presbyterian, Disciple and Catholic. 

Union Agricultural Association was organized August 24, 1880. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOUD COUNTY. 453 

The first officers were: J. Whitehead. P.; Cyrus Taber, V. P.; II. 
Cathin, Sec; W. M. Watts, Treas.; capital stock $5,000; purchased 
twenty-one acres of hind of George J. Goff, situated on Towanda road, 
one mile east of the borough, and proceeded to erect the necessary 
buildings and lav out a one-half mile tract, which is one of the best 
in the county. The first fair was held in October, 1881, and lasted 
three davs. It now holds in September and lasts four days. They 
have plentv of good spring water on the grounds, and everything is in 
good condition. The present officers are: J. H. Brown, P.; F. A. 
Owen, V. P.; G. A. Guernsey, Treas.; Mr. Derrah, Sec. 

Farmers' Institute was organized in 1889, and had their first annual 
meeting in 18!)0. It has had help from the State Board of Agricul- 
ture, and is altogether a thriving association. Its secretary is Charles 
I). Derrah. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

COLUMBIA TOAVNSIIIP— SYLVANIA BOROUGH. 

IN the vear 1705 Nathaniel and John Ballard (twins), born in Far 
mington, Mass., December 27, 1777, came up Sugar creek from 
Burlington, and, taking the left-hand branch of the creek, which runs 
through the Porter farms, followed to the source near the foot of 
Bailey Hill. They took up the farm owned eventually by James H. 
Nash, and commenced a fallow where Nash made his orchard. This 
was tlie first settlement in Columbia township. The young men were 
eighteen years old when they arrived, and had started from Burling- 
ton, where they had been a short time as exploi-ers, and came carrying 
on their backs their small stocks of provisions and worldly possessions. 
Their only weapons or implements were the axes they carried in their 
hands. The country was so densely timbered the only way they could 
keep from becoming wholly lost was to keep near the stream. There 
were no marked trees to guide them, and it is highly probable 
they were the first white men that ever looked upon this part of the 
world. They afterward told of meeting two panthers that seemed 
disposed to stop them ; they parleyed and tried several ways to 
frighten off the beasts in vain, and finally each cut a sturdy club 
that they could handle better than axes, and then they made a 
determined rush and the panthers fled. When they got to where was 
afterward Long's mill, they suddenly came upon several bears digging 
roots — not a great distance from where they encountered the panthers. 
They charged these with their clubs and scattered them easily. When 
near the foot of Bailey Hill their ears were dinned with the most 
hideous screams of another ])anther ; it was soon visible, and seemed 
furious at their approach. They concluded it must have young near, 
and finally they, in charging it, struck a pile of leaves, and, scattering 
tbera somewhat, they found a deer the panther was guarding. They 



454 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

left the beast to his feast and returned a short distance and commenced 
chopping. After laboring a week their provisions were exhausted, and 
they returned to Burlington for more, and on their return brought 
their rifles, having learned the necessity of these. On their way up 
they killed two panthers. It seems they were to have one hundred 
and fifty acres and a bonus of ten dollars each if they cleared 
two acres each, but tlie place was so far from their base of sup- 
plies that they finally concluded to sell their claims; and their posterity 
reported that the pay they got was "a black dog and a piece of a 
black hog." They returned to Burlington and settled, but on their 
premises was a rattle-snake den, that for a while nearly made life a 
l)urden ; they killed seventy -five snakes one afternoon. (These men 
it should be remembered Avere teetotalers.) Nathaniel Ballard mar- 
ried Susan Dobbins, January 27, 1709, the ceremony being performed 
by William Jayne, of Burlington. He died at John Ballard's in 
Burlington in 1859. From reliable tradition it is learned that soon 
after the Ballards came to Columbia — the same year — a man named 
Doty arrived'with his family, and built the first log house in the town- 
ship on the Scouten farm. What became of this family is not known. 
Among the early and prominent names are those of Oliver Tinkham, 
Stephen Palmer, Chapman Morgan, Charles Keyes, Maj. Isaac Strait, 
Philip Slade, Hon. Myron Ballard and Joel Stevens. 

Cabot Township. — In 1799 Nathaniel Morgan purchased of the Con- 
necticut Company sixteen thousand acres of land, and came on at 
once and surveyed out a township which he called "Cabot." from 
which came the name of " Cabot Hollow," afterward called "Morgan 
Hollow" and finalU'' "Austinville." He commenced his survey from 
the southeast corner of his township, on the top of the hill south of 
Mial Watkins' house. Two sets of surveyors started from this point, 
one going north and the other west; they went on Pickle Hill, and 
they were to meet at the northwest corner of the township. Mr. 
Morgan built a cabin, planted potatoes, dug and buried them in the 
fall, and returned to Connecticut. In March following he came and 
brought his family, and acctmipanied by five of his neighbors, to each 
of whom he gave fifty acres of land. These were: David Watkins, 
Oliver Canfield, Silas Patterson, Lamphierand Soper. The proprietor 
moved into the house he had built the previous year, afterward the 
farm of his son Chapman Morgan. David Watkins built on the land 
that became the farm of his son Mial ; his cabin had a back roof and 
no fioor, and here his daughter Laura (Mrs. Philip Slade) was born 
in 1801, and cradled in a sap trough — the first birth in the township. 
The next birth was Herman Soper — the first white male child. Mor- 
gan's purchase was decided worthless and his land taken from him by 
Pennsylvania, and lie was ruined financiall}^, and had to repurchase 
any land that he might get. 

Without this calamity it would seem that the prospect was dreary 
enough when Morgan came here in the spring of 1800; what a dense 
and eternal wilderness sui-rounded him on all sides — not a path, not a 
mark of civilization anywhere I The people came, following the blazed 
trees they had marked when they went away the fall before. When 



HISTORY OF BRAOFOKl) COUNTV. 455 

they finally reached the lonel}' cal)in, they found the door ajar, and 
the skeleton of a deer hanging- from a beam; hunters had killed a 
venison, and hung it up there, and the ravenous beasts had forced open 
the door and picked the bones clean. An old man has described to 
the writer what he had been told by David Watkins when he landed 
here with Morgan. His total possessions were a wife, an ax, and $7.50 
in cash. But all went to work, and soon each family had a cabin — 
generally back roof, and no lloor ; but some made flooi'ing of split 
basswood — of course no "lights'' in the windows — this was what they 
made doors of; wooden pins were used for nails, huge stone fireplaces 
were made in one end of the cabin, outside the walls. Fuel and water 
were the only two things of which there was no scarcity ; a cord of 
wood, if the cabin was tolerably well "chinked," would keep a family 
tolerablv comfortable during even a cold night. 

In 1804 David Palmer came from Burlington and settled on the 
Scouten farm; he purcliased the possession of Ebenezer Baldwin, who 
had })urchased of Doty. When Mr. Palmer moved into his house it 
had been some time unoccupied ; sprouts had grown up between the 
basswood cracks as high as the beams overhead, and he had to have a 
"clearin"' before he could move in. Shortly after this, Abraham 
Weast made a possession on what became William Moshier's farm, but 
about 1807 he sold to a man named Sprague. This Weast was a noted 
chopper and hunter, but as smart a woodsman as he was, he once 
attempted to go to Mill creek, but became lost and wandered in the 
woods three days, and having no gun he nearly perished ; on the even- 
ing of the third day he suddenly found a turnip patch, and fell to 
eating the turnips ; fortunately the owner discovered him, and took him 
to his house, and judiciously fed him on venison soup and brought him 
around. 

In 1807 Calvin Tinkham came from Vermont, and Charles Keyes 
from Burlington ; Keyes was a hatter, which trade he followed for 
years, and died in the winter of 1856 ; Mr. Tinkham and his wife 
(Theodosia Thomas) lived happily to a great age ; they were married 
in 1810, celebrated their golden wedding; and at that time (1860) were 
the oldest couple in the county ; he was aged eighty-four, and Mrs. 
Tinkham was entirely blind. 

In 1808 Carter Havens and famih^ came and settled on the hill, a 
mile north of Austinville — a numerous family, there being twenty-two 
children, enough to fill pretty full an ordinary pioneer cabin. John 
Bixby came in 1808, and cleared the farm on which he lived and died, 
in October, 1866, aged ninety. In clearing about his cabin there 
accidently fell a tree that bore down one end of the cabin and made 
quite a wreck of it; but this was repaii-ed and the work went on. 

In 1806 ilurlbut and Murray Ballard built a sawmill where was 
afterward the Waldo mill, and this furnished the people the first sawed 
lumber in the township. Charles Keyes put up the first frame house 
in Austinville, in 1808, near Harry Smith's. David AVilson kept the 
first store— ])rincii)ally for the sale of whisky and tobacco. An old- 
timer assures us that he was told many years ago that [)reachers and 
doctors were scarce antl whisky and tobacco far more plentiful, and 



456 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

yet both the health and morals of the people were elegant. The first 
death was that of a 3^oung child of Capt. Chapin, sometime previous 
to 1810 ; the second burial was that of a Mr. Wright. 

The first preacher was Elder Rich, a Baptist ; Elder Simon Powers 
succeeded him and subsequently Elder Rich, Jr., succeeded him (the 
latter was a one-legged man and preached sitting). 

The first settlers had to go to John Shepard's mill, at Milltown, now 
Sayre, to get their bread, and the way they went was for a man to 
take a bushel on his back, and trudge over the long way, through the 
unbroken wilderness twenty miles. About the year 1806 Mr. Eowley 
built a small log gristmill near the site of Long's mill. This was 
hailed as the geatest improvement ever made in the country. 

Nathaniel Merritt came from Vermont in 1807, and settled on the 
James McKean farm ; one of his five sons was Curtis, who lived to be 
an old man in Sylvania. When he was a lad, the family made maple 
sugar, and he would take a lot of this on horse-back to Chemung Flats 
and exchange this for pork — pound for pound. At that time there was 
not a house between Springfield Centre and Bentley creek, and he 
would travel a bridle path. When Merritt came, Samuel Baldwin lived 
on the Smead farm, and Ephraim Cleveland on the John Calkins farm. 
In 1808 Deacon Asa Howe settled near Helen Budd's, and the place 
became Flowe Hollow. Comfort Peters settled on the Pettibone farm, 
same year, and next year (1809). Sheldon Gibbs came to the neighbor- 
hood. The two last men were basket-makers, and would peddle their 
wares for miles around, even going as far as Oswego after they were 
enabled to have a sled to haul them in, from which circumstance the 
road on which they lived was called "Basket street," and it retains the 
name to this day ;" it leads from C. H. Ballard's to Austinville. 

It is said on'^jDretty good authority that Moses Taylor was the first 
settler, but it can not be learned the exact year he came. It was 
between 1800 and 1803. He came from Tioga Point (Athens) and 
settled on the Monroe farm^built a double log house, farmed and 
kept a hotel. His main customers at first were the agents of the 
Drinker lands. Taylor's son Charles was born August 21:, 1773, and 
was a young man when the family came; after his father retired 
he kept the log house tavern sometime, and was a prosperous citizen 
as was his father before him. He married Miranda Canfield, December 
29, 1807, and they had twelve children. One of the sons, Alanson, 
lived on the old homestead, and with him was his mother when she 
was nearly ninety years old. Mrs. Taylor's father, Canfield, came 
from Spencer county, N. Y., in 1800. Every family made their own 
clothing, "home markets" as it were, and the girl that could card, 
spin and weave the best was the first choice always in the matrimo- 
nial market, and the girl made her own dower — a chestfull of linen, 
and a pillow case full of stockings. The wool was carried often on a 
man's back to Factoryville, and carded, and when spun and woven at 
home was taken back to be dressed or finished, and the proudest groom 
in the land was satisfied with such a suit. Moses Taylor, principally, 
caused a log school-house to l)e built soon, the first in this section, and 
on the spot where Alanson Taylor's residence afterward stood, and 





ex 




:v 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUNTY. 459 

here such men as Cliapnian and James Morgan got all their " book 
larnin." Moses Tavlor died February 12, 1824, and Charles Taylor 
died December 3, 1837. 

Snedeherville. — The ]:)rinciiml concern here is Snedeker's mills. 
Snedeker is a station on the Northern Central Kailroad. 

Austinville has a sawmill belonging to Warren Smith. 

Columhia Cross Roads is a station on the Northern Central Rail- 
road ; has two stores, one blacksmith-shop, one hotel and a church. 

SYLVANIA BOROUGH. 

The borough of Sylvania was organized in 1852. Is but a small 
hamlet, and since the lumbering has declined is not considered of 
great importance. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP. 



BURR RIDGEWAY was one of the first settlers of Franklin town- 
ship. His name will remain with us while the civil division of 
Bradford county lasts. He was the first county commissioner of the 
county, and the second editor and publisher of the first newspaper. 
The Bradford Gazette. He was living in Franklin township as late as 
1867, a very old man, with his son, David Ridgeway. Other names of 
the early settlers were William Spalding, Gilbert Gay, William B. 
French, Allen Rockwell, Nathan Wilcox and Major Dodge. 

Mr. A. S. Hooker in his paper, the Xorthevn Tier-Gazette, of July 
18, 1867, publishes a most interesting letter from "one of Bradford 
county's oldest inhabitants " — Burr Ridgeway — from which we make 
interesting extracts : "I am now in my eighty-eighth year, and have 
been a resident within the boundaries of Bradford county since 1803 ; 
first in Wysox, and when the county was organized removed to 
ToAvanda, which then contained three log huts and two small buildings, 
except what was called ' Mean's Red Tavern,' built the year before. 
I was elected the firstcounty commissioner, was acquaintetl with almost 
everybody in the county, but have neglected to make notes of them. 
I was three years deputy prothonotary under C. F. Wells, and thi-ee 
years under Governor liilster, and over thirty years an active justic(; 
of the peace, first by appointment and then W election. I published 
a paper, but not being a printer myself, and political differences 
springing up between Gen. McKean and Wells, made the paper unpro- 
ductive, and I abandoned it. * " * We have a person in our 
neighborhood, Timothy H. Lewis, widely known as ' Harry Lewis,' 
who never forgot anything. J will try and see him and get him to 
refresh my mind of those old times.'' In a postscript he' adds : "I 
established the first post routes in Bradford county, except that up 
and down the river carried by Mr. Teetor, the one from Towanda to 



460 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTT. 

Canton by Job Irish, Jr., son of the celebrated Job Irish, of much law 
memory ; the one from Towanda through Burlington to Canoe Place, 
in Tioga county, and then back to Bradford, through Columbia, 
Springfield, Smithfield to Athens by my sons, on the east side of the 
river I had many riders." Burr Ridgeway died at his son's, James 
D. Ilidgeway, Augnst 19, 1876, aged ninety-seven 3'ears ; his wife had 
died June 8, 1858, uged seventy-nine years, and side by side they peace- 
fully sleep in Franklindale Cemetery. 

Barclay formed a portion of this township until 1867. Towanda 
creek passes centrally through it, receiving several small tributaries. 

David and Stephen Alien were the first settlers, in 1795, at 
what is now known as Franklindale. The next season their brother 
Daniel Allen settled further up the creek at West Franklin. Benja- 
man Stone came in 1800. . Daniel Wilcox, or as is sometimes said 
"N^athan'" Wilcox came, it is supposed, before the Aliens, and settled 
on the place called " Preacher brook." Elder Thomas Smiley, at a 
very early date, improved the Dorson Stone farm, afterward owned 
by Clay Fairchilds. 

- — John Knapp, William Damer and the Spaldings came as early as 
1799, and afterward came Samuel Wilcox, Absalom and Ezekiel Carr, 
Widow Lattimore, William Blaincher, Ahran Cook, Daniel Stone, 
Truman Ilolcomb, Gilbert Gay, William B. French, Allen Rockwell, 
N^athan Wilcox, and Maj. Oliver Williams Dodge. The Spaldings 
were three brothers: Horace, William D. and Noah. The two latter 
bought the mill property, at Franklindale. There were three of the 
Lattimores ; Stephen, Peter, and Elizabeth, latter of whom married 
David Smiley. . Alphens Ilolcomb came to the township in 
1832, and settled near the Ridgeways. He had formerly liv^ed in 
LeRoy. 

FranTdindale is the principal village, sitnated on the Towanda 
creek, has a general store, a gristmill, sawmill and hotel. West FranTi- 
lin is in the west part of the township on the Towanda road ; it con- 
tains two churches, one hotel, one general store, and several smaller 
shops. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

GRANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

DURING the winter of 1798-99 Jeremiah Taylor, with his family, 
left his native Berkshire, Mass.. home, and with a Connecticut 
title to a piece of land in what is Bradford county came and first 
stopped in what is now West Burlington, where he stayed one season, 
and in a way worked a piece of land, afterward Amasa Greeno's. 
While here, he put in his odd time in clearing and preparing his future 
farm home. In March, 1800, he raoved to his place with a joke of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 4(U 

oxen and a sled, a distance of about four miles to Towanda creek, now 
Leroy township. Their only neighbor was Lewis Moffit, who came the 
same year and settled about a mile west, up the main stream on the 
Harrison Ross farm. .• The next arrival, in 1801, was Scovil Bailey, 
who was down the stream_soine fifty rods, on the Lume D. Taylor 
farm, lie was a carpenter and a noted hunter. . Then came David 
Bailey and his father and mother, who settled east on the Robert 
Bailey farm. Then came Ezra Bailey, who settled between Scovil 
Bailey and David Baile}^ on the Elam A. Bailey farm. Then came 
Thonias Bailey, who settled north of them on the John Vrooman 
farm ; then Uriah Baxter, on the Benjamin Baldwin farm. 

The first white child born in the settlement was Sylvester Taylor, 
third son of Jeremiah Taylor, the latter of whom died Se}itember 17, 
1827. Sylvester lived to be an old man oji the old farm at Granville 
Centre. The first death was that of Mrs. Lewis Moffit, who was buried 
on the old Crofut farm on Towanda creek. The first wedding was that of 
Hugh Holcomb (the first settler in Leroy township) with Prudence 
Bailey, daughter of Oliver Bailey. One of Holcomb's sons was Hon. 
Judson Holcomb, of Towanda. 

The first school was taught in the summer of 1807 by Miss Delight 
Spalding. The patrons of this school were Jeremiah Taylor, Benjamin 
Saxton, Scovil Bailey, Ezra Bailey, David Bailey, Thomas Bailev, 
Uriah Baxter and Oliver Nelson. The last and Benjamin Saxton came 
that year. There were fifteen pupils in the school, embracing a terri- 
tory of about three miles square. Lewis Moffit left, and Ijenjamin 
Saxton settled on his ])lace. The latter, who was the first blacksmith, 
soon built his shop and went to work. Kelson settled on the John 
Vrooman farm. This was the total for Granville for some years — all 
were old New England acquaintances. 

From 1807 there were but few additions to the settlement, but 
about this time a change was made in the road from Sugar creek to 
Towanda creek; commencing from near the present road from West 
Burlington to Granville and Le Roy, which crossed Sugar creek at 
Goddard's sawmill (the gristmill was added several \'ears after); the 
road then ran further up the hill south and fur-ther north on the side 
of the hill, and intersected the present road near George Shattuck's, 
then continued near the same to Bailey's, and then crossed the North 
branch and ran south near the present road until it intersected the 
" Taylor road," about a mile from Towanda creek. 

The first religious wave struck Granville in 1805, when Jeremiah 
Taylor and wife joined the Baptist Church on Towanda creek. Under 
Elder Thomas Smile}' a church was built on this creek. It was this 
Elder Smiley that was visited at night, and tarred and feathered by 
the Connecticut land claimants. They took him away from his house 
and greatly maltreated him. Of this circumstance a contemporary 
account sa3's: "The men came fi'om the north country" (tliis i)robably 
means Athens or Tioga Point), " rode fast horses and had fiei'ce counte- 
nances." 

About 1810 the Methodists had preaching appointments in this 
section, and did organize a society in the settlement, and had two 



463 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

revival meetings, and showed some activity until 1856, when it all 
ceased. The next year, 1811, a road was opened from Towanda creek 
(now West Franklin) to Irad Wilson's, near Alba borough — eleven 
miles. On this road the settlers began to build and remove from the 
first houses along the stream. During this year new comers arrived, 
among others, Philip Packard, Abraham Parkhurstand Charles Butter- 
field; Packard settled the farm afterward Joseph Pratt's, Parkhurstat 
Bailey's old place, and Scovil Bailey where David Bailey had settled. 

During the years 1812-15 a draft was ordered in the State, and 
Ezra Bailey was drafted from his township ; he went to headquarters, 
but was soon allowed to return home again, discharged. 

In the winter of 1814-15 an epidemic prevailed in the settlement, 
and Abraham Parkhurst and his two sons, Luther and Asa, died. Mr. 
Parkhurst had believed in his ability to hold converse with departed 
friends, which was the earliest case of spiritualism in the county, no 
doubt. 

In 1816 there was the severe frost, in August, that in all parts of 
the county destroyed corn, and a famine among the people was 
threatened. A sniall supply was had by going to Lycoming creek — 
then called Egypt. 

The first frame barn was built in Granvi'lle in 1815, by Jeremiah 
Taylor; the first frame dwelling, in 1819, by Jeremiah Taylor, Jr.. 
and the next year the latter built a small gristmill, which could grind 
only a little corn. In this some time afterward a turning-lathe was 
erected, and a chair-wheel factory was cai-ried on for some time by 
IS^athaniel Phelps. Afterward Jeremiah Taylor, Jr.. built a saw and 
grist mill which did a good business until the early "sixties." 

There was quite an influx of settlers in 1817, among others being 
John Putnam, Alvord Churchill, John Pratt, Josiah Yrooman and 
David Ross. 

About this time a new settlement commenced about three miles 
from '• Centre " on what was called the " Windfall,'' where the timber 
had been blown down by a hurricane and then burned over, it is sup- 
posed bv hunters. The first here were Abijah Ayers, Zoroaster Porter, 
Mr. Avery, Packard, Clark, Chesley, Shoemaker and Ferguson. These 
people soon erected a log school and church house in one, and 
Elders Pentacost, Sweet and Asa Dodge preached therein, and in a 
few years these people erected the "Union Meeting House," where 
five or six denominations held meetings. 

In 1828, through the exertions of Gen. Samuel McKean, then a 
member of Congress from this district, a mail route was established 
through this settlement from East Burlington to Alba, pony mail, once 
a week, and in 1829 a postoffice was established in the settlement, 
called " North Branch." 

At the February court, 1831, Granville was set off from parts of 
Canton, Troy, Burlington and Franklin. Tliis was hotly o|)i)osed by 
many good people; however, it prevailed, and the name of the post- 
office was at once changed to Granville. The township is eight miles 
long, east and west, four and three-ciuarter miles in width on the west, 
and three and a half miles on the east. 



HISTORY OF BUADFOUI) COUNTY. -iiWi 

A Disciple Church was organized in 1832, called "Disciples of 
Christ/'' through the efforts of Dr. Sihis E. Sliepherd, of Troy. This 
church gi-e\v in a few years to a congregation of 120; when tlirough 
dissensions it ceased. It was revived, liowever, in 1862, and regained 
its former' vigor. 

The first pubHchouse was opened in 1849 by Levi Taylor, and 
about the same time B. F. and L. D. Taylor opened the first store in 
the township. In 1852 public-houses for the sale of liquor were all 
closed by the vigorous action of the " Sons of Temperance," then first 
organized. 

In 1852, on the building of the Elmira S: WiJliamsport Kaiiroad, 
" Summit depot" and postolfice were established — called "Summit," 
because it is the highest place on the road. At this time Albert and 
Wilson Nichols came from New York and bought larg-e tracts of land, 
and erected a large steam sawmill. In 1856 a large and commodious 
church was built at Granville Centre, dedicated as a " (Jhristian 
Church," and had a bell on it to ring out to the good people " Come, 
let us worship God! " In a few years two other churches were erected 
in the western Dart of the townshij) — a Disciple Ciiurch and a Free 
Will Baptist Church. 

A large tannery was built at Centre ; the builder failed, and it was 
purchased by C. G. E. Martin, who successfully operated it until his 
death, November 14, 1862. In 18<;5 it was i)urchased by Adam Innes. 
In 1865 a postofiice with a daily mail was established at Granville 
Centre, daily, except Sunday. The Innes tanneries at this place. Can- 
ton and Grover, were among the most important and fiourishing in 
the county. 

(xraihvlUe Centre is near the center of the township, and once had 
considerable trade. 

Graiirllle Summit is a station on the railroad in the northwest 
earner of the township. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

HERRICK TOWNSHIP. 

THIS township was organized in December, 1837, and was named 
in honor of Judge Edward Ilerrick. In it are the little hamlets 
of Herrick, Ballibay, Birney and Herrickville. 

Zopher- Piatt and his son, Nathaniel, settled in East Ilerrick about 
1813. . The next settler was Fred us Keed, who came with his 
wife, who was a (hiughter of Asa Mattson. He was a dish-turner by 
trade, and came to Ilerrick and ])ut up his lathe in the year 1811. " . 
Asa Mattson, with his family, came in 1813. His wife was a tailoress, 
and cut and made garments for the people around. ... A man 
named Townsend built the third house in the township, in 1816, east 
of Herrickville. The same year a blacksmith, named Haywood, set- 



464 HISTOUV OK BRADFOIU) COUNTY. 

tied near Townsend. . Elihu Buttles, a Methodist preacher and 
dish-turner, came in 1818. He wrote back to his old home and 
induced Isaac Park to come. The latter was a tanner and learned his 
trade with the Bolleses, a numerous family in Herrick township. 

The first clearing in the forest between Park's place and Camp- 
town, was made on the Hiram Camp farm, by Mr. Park and Robert 
De Pue in 1821. . James Hines came in 1818 and settled on 
the Widow Piatt farm. . Calvin Stone came in 1820 and settled 
on the W. W. Haywood farm. . In 1825 Reuben Atwood set- 
tled in East Herrick. . In 1822 Charles Squires settled on the 
farm now occupied by his son, Penbroke S. . The same year 
Isaac Camp built a sawmill and house, whither he moved his family 
in 1825. . Albert Camp settled near his father, and Lacy Camp 
made a small improvement where is now the Crawford farm. 

Deacon Charles Stevens, Mica.jah Slocum, Ezekiel Mintz, Daniel 
Durran, Adam Overpeck came in 1824. . Nathan B. Whitman 
came in 1828, and settled on the Ephraim Piatt farm. 

Balllbay Settlement was begun in 1826, and the earl}^ settlers were 
William Nesbit, Nathaniel JSTesbit, Alexander Dougherty, James Lee, 
James Wood, WilHam Hillis and Richard Hillis. They were all natives 
of Ballybay, Ireland. 

The first white child born here is supposed to have been one of 
Charles Squires', . The first death, was that of Daniel Durran, 
and the first wedding was that of Mathew Wilding and Lydia M. 
Camp, in 1829. . The first school was taught in the first school- 
house, built in 1829. . The Baptists had the first religious services, 
at the house of Mr. Durran. 

HerricTcville. — The first merchant here was L. II. Bronson, in 1847. 
The place has two stores, a planing mill, built in the ''fifties," and a 
Union church building. 

Hon. George Landon is among the early settlers of Plerrick. He 
came, a Methodist preacher from Boston, where from much pulpit and 
rostrum talking his throat had given out, and he was compelled to flee 
from the city and go west, coming to Herrick for a short visit to a 
relative; this resulted in his purchasing the farm, where he has since 
lived. 

This man started in life a poor boy, and by his own efforts forged 
his way through college and, until his voice failed him, was rapidly 
extending his fame as a lecturer and orator. He settled on his farm 
and labored afield, regained his health, and in the exciting times of 
war he was called upon often to address the people on the current 
topics of the day. He was twice elected to the State Senate, and for 
some years his reputation as a popular orator brought him to the front 
rank of the most eminent men of the Commonwealth. It is little or 
no disparagement to the living eminent men of the county when the 
writer asserts that he regards Mr. Landon as one of the strongest and 
brightest men, intellectually, he has met in this part of the State. 



HiSTOKi'' OF IJRADFOKI) OOUNI'Y. 4G5 



CHAPTER XXXV. 
LEROY TOWNSHIP. 

CG. OAKLEY is reported to have settled in LeRoy about the year 
1800, on Towanda creek, at what is called LeKoy cornei-s. He is 
regarded as the first settler, thougli this is not very positive. The 
brothers Hugh and Sterling Holcomb it is known came about the same 
time, and some say they were before Oakley ; they came from old 
Sheshequin, as Ulsler was then called, and also settled near the corners 
on what has always been known as the " Holcomb farms/' 

In 1850, the following is authentically given as the settlements in 
LeRoy : At the east end of tlie township, William Cole, Isaac and David 
Wooster, Isaac Chaapel and Seeley Crofut, George Head, Jesse Morse, 
Hugh Holcomb, Sterling Holcomb, Ste))hen Wilcox, Mr. Granger, 
Joseph Wallis, Daniel Ingram, William Hinman, William Hays, Mr. 
Cobb, Mr. Knight, Mr. Segar and David Andrus. This constitutes a 
full list of the first settlers, and the particular locations of the original 
arrivals can be generally fixed by the residences of their descendants. 

It is said the first school was taught in the house of Sterling 
Holcomb, but just who the first teacher was is not known. 

Elder Thomas Smiley was chiefly instrumental in organizing the 
first church. He lived near where is now the Baptist Church. Elder 
Smiley soon after left the county; he was a vigorous Baptist preacher. 
Among other names associated with this church are those of Elder 
N. H. Ripley and Levi Baldwin. 

LeRoy was set oft' from Canton and Franklin townships, and first 
elections were at LeRoy Corners, embracing about eight miles in length; 
the division line ran near Davis Van Dyke's. 

In 1812 Hugh Holcomb built the first sawmill on the small stream 
at LeRoy Corners. About 1840 the same man built a grist and saw mill 
on the main stream. 

In 1810 the Disciple Church was organized at the Corners by 
members of the church from Granville Centre, and in 1851 they erected 
their house of worship, naming it '• Christian Church," ami in the 
course of time put a bell on it. In 1855 the Baptists built their church 
at LeRoy Corners.and shortly after this the Methodists built theirchurch 
in the western part of the township. . Soon after this a public- 
house for the sale of liquor was o[)ene(l at LeRoy Corners b}^ P. Morse. . 
The first store was by Samuel Bailey, and thus the Corners became the 
leading and most active village or hamlet, rather, in the township. 

1867 " Gazeteer " writing to the Northern Tier-Gazette, of Troy, 
says : " It has become a matter of notoriety that mountainous western 
Bradford has become noted for its quantity and quality of butter, as 
well as the productions of its soil, and our hills and valleys are being 
prospected by men having ample means." It is needless to say, at 



4G() HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

this day, that this industry is still prosperous, and Bradford county 
butter has wide and merited reputation. 

In 1818 a settlement was commenced on the south side of Towanda 
creek, and among the settlers were Alpheus Holcomb, Buckley 
Chaapel, Eli Holcomb, Isaac Parkhurst, Ansel Tillotson, Samuel 
Hoagiand, Benjamin Stone, Orison Royce, Thomas Harris, Isaac Wil- 
cox, Amos Bennett and Esau Bagley. 

In 1823 a road was opened, commencing near Nathan Tabor's in 
Canton township; and running on the south side of Towanda creek to 
W. B. Spalding's, in Franklinlownship. It was surveyed by Howard 
Spalding, of Trov. On this road, nearly opposite LeRoy Corners, Eli 
Holcomb built a' log gristmill, in 1823, on a small stream having its head 
in a large swamp of about forty acres on Towanda mountain. He 
built a dam at the outlet of this lake, about sixteen feet high. This 
log building was torn away, and he built a frame in its place with two 
run of stone. 

In the year 1848 the Millerites had preached the sure coming of 
the end of "the workl ; some believed, sonie shrugged their shoulders, 
while others laughed outright at the nonsense. But one dark and dis- 
mal night, after it had rained and rained for days, and the sun had 
quit shining, and at the hour of night when graveyards are wont to 
yawn, the inhabitants in the vicinity of the mill ^vere startled from 
their slumbers by an awful rumbling, roaring and quaking — the brav- 
est said " hurricane ! " some said " earthquake ! " and others said, " put 
on your ascension robes." Some got up and hurriedly dressed, others 
fled to their storm cellars, and others thought just as well to die in 
bed. But after matters had quieted a little, the boldest ventured to 
see what was up, and they found the dam had given way, and the 
waters were pouring down the mountain side, candying all before them; 
great rocks and trees were carried headlong in the awful rush of 
waters. The foundations of the mill were washed out, the building 
swung around, and was W'helmed in the stream, some cattle and prop- 
erty were lost, but no human lives. The mill and dam were rebuilt. . . . 
In 1856 Mr. Mott built his tannery near the mill. 

LeRoy is the principal village"^ in the township, and has two large 
country stores, two small concerns, and a church.' It is on the 
Towanda and Canton road. 



HISTORY OK l!HA DKOKK (.'OITNTY. 4<J7 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

LITCHFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

THIS was made a townsliii) in 182L; taken fi'oiii Athens, adjoining 
it on the east, and its northern line is tlie State line; its western 
line is Windham, and on the south is Home and Sheshequin. Surface 
broken and high table land mostly, and its largest valley is along the 
Susquehanna river, which touches its northwestern border. 

Thomas Park, who was the iirst settler, built his house on the river 
bank, in 1800, near the State line. This man, faithful to the best 
pioneer precepts, had a jolly houseiiold of children: Daniel, Samuel, 
James, Amos, Joseph, Elijah, Benjamin, Sally, Mary, Elizabeth and 
Susanna, by the first wife; and by his second wife he had three chil- 
dren. His son, James, was the first white child born in the tow^nshi]). 

Two years after Park's arrival, 1803, came Eleazer Merrill and his 
son, Hiram ; first stopping at the Shoonover place, and next February 
he built and moved into his log cal)in, where he permanently remained. 
Mr. Merrill reported that, in addition to Parks, he found here, on his 
arrival, a man named William Drown, who, soon after his arrival, 
perished in a snow storm. Hiram Merrill made his farm in the south- 
east portion of the township. So wild was the country, for a long 
time, that one of the Merrill children, about three years old, was lost 
and was not found, though hundreds were hunting, for forty -eight 
hours. 

Solomon Merrill, brother of Eleazer, came in 1806 and settled the 
Shoonover place, but only lived on it about three years, then went to 
New York, but in time returned and bought the Thomas McAfee place. 

In 1805 Silas Wolcott came from Ithaca, and settled on the 
Satterlee creek, and for two years operated the Satterlee mill, when 
he purchased of Park and imjjroved the Wolcott farm. 

Thomas Munn married Molly Wolcott, who bore him twelve 
sons and one daughter, all of whom grew to maturity. Mr. Munn 
settled the Herman Morse farm. . . Josiah White was the next, 
coming in 1808, when eighteen years old. He served in the War of 
1812-15. He cleared a large farm and became a prominent citizen. 

Two brothers, Ruloff and Samuel Campbell, had preceded this 
White, coming in 1807. Samuel settled on the Kowen Munn farm, 
where he built a sawmill, the first in the township. 

Daniel P^ush, an early settler, built the first gristmill in Cotton Hol- 
low, near David McKinney's. . There were four of the McKinney 
boys who came soon after White — Harry, Joseph, David and 
Samuel. , About the same time came George Headlock. 

It is supposed Alsop Baldwin came about 1807, and improved the 
farm where he died an old man, and tlie farm passed to his daughter, 
Mrs. Evans, in 1873. . Samuel Ball came near the same time as 



4G8 HISTORY OF BKADFORl) COUNTY. 

White. . Christopher and Doane Shoonover settled near Mr. 
Park's. . Henry McKinney settled in the township in 1824; pur- 
chased Mrs. Hewlett's farm. His sons, John, Ira, Lewis, Samuel and 
Benoni, came with him. 

James Brown and "William Loomis were early settlers, as were 
John Moore and Joseph Greek. . William Cotton came when a 
lad, and lived in the township over seventy years. . Peter Turner 
and Kichard Struble were early settlers. . Zenas Cleveland came 
in 1816, and lived to be ninety-four years of age — poor. Wind and bed- 
ridden, raan}^ years before he died — a soldier in the War of 1812-15. It 
was for this Cleveland family that Cleveland, Ohio, was named. With 
Cleveland came Nathaniel Ilotchkiss, Joseph Nichols and Kussell 
Marsh, who settled Litchfield, in 1816, and soon after, Paul Apgar 
settled near them and opened a blacksmith shop. . At South Hill, 
John Moore Avas the first settler. . Absalom Adams came to what 
is now Litchfield soon after Ajigar started his blacksmith shop. 

John Marks, Neff, Tappan and Beach were early comers. . 
Orsan Carner, a preacher, came in 1823, and settled the Henry Brink 
plare. 

There are two gristmills in the township: A. C. Hunt's, on the 
Wap])asening, and Snell's, in Cotton Hollow, jind at both Litchfield 
and at South Litchfield is a store. For thirty years th& increase of 
population has been no more than the natural increase from births.' 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

MONEOE TOWNSHIP-MONROE BOROUGH. 

PRIOK to the Wyoming battle, on theTowanda flats, Jacob Bowman 
had moved near Mr. Fox, while Capt. John Bartles had settled, 
or at least made a pitch, above them toward Monroeton, and probably 
John Neeley at Greenwood. John Neeley had taken ])Ossession of the 
tract of land above Mr. Fox, at Greenwood, and was probably there 
at this time, and aided Mr. Fox in his emigration. The Strickland 
family settled on the Cole place at an early day. The first grave at 
Cole's, as shown b}^ the inscrij)tion on the headstone, was that of 
"Hannah Strickland," whose death occurred January 21, 1791, at 
the age of eighteeen months and two days. Noadiah Cranmer, born 
in New Jersey, August 26, 1736, located"^ on lands east of those of his 
son John's, now included in the " Ilinman property." 

Usual Carter, a warm friend of Samuel Cranmer, came to Monroe 
before 1796; located on lands now included within the borough limits, 
and built his house near the residence of H. C. Tracy. . Peter 
Edsall and the Millers —Daniel, Shadrach, Jacob, William and Moses- 
migrated to Monroe at about the same time as did the Carter family. 



HISTORY OF nii.VDKOKI) COUNTY. 4'i'.l 

John Neeley purchased a tract occupied by Mrs. l>i'o\vn and 
others at Greenwood. It is stated that, "as early as 1787 he came on 
and had liis hmd surveyed and made arrangements preparatory to 
settlement. Undertaking to swim ahorse across the river at tlie mouth 
of Towanda creek, he was drowned in Bowman's eddy. . Timothy 
Alden came to Monroe in 1800. He was a blacksmith, and worked ;it 
his trade for some time after coming into Monroe. In 1827 he built 
the stone house yet standing on the place where he settled. 

The Korthrups came to Monroe before the year 1800, and Xehe- 
miah was a property owner in Athens at or before the year 1795. 
John and James, like Bijah, were " watermen,"' and employes of the 
Meanses for some years before becoming land owners. . Henry Salis- 
burv was a soldier in tlieEevolutionary AVar, and lost liis right arm, with 
a wound in his left hand, at the sui-render of Cornwallis. He migrated 
when his son Henry was seventeen years old, which would make his 
adv^ent into Monroe in the year 1797. His purchase included the land 
held b}^ the Coles, and his house, the largest in the neighborhood, 
stood near the ])ublic road between Samuel Cole's and the watering- 
trough. 

John Schrader came to Greenwood and settled where the tannery 
now is, soon after Dougherty, ])erliaj>s as early as 1801-2. 

Daniel lleverl\% a native of Lehigh county, came to Greenwood m 
180G, and remained there until 1810, when he and his sons moved into 
Overton, being the first settlers there. . James Lewis came to Mon- 
roe prior to 1806, and settled the Shultz place. . Reed Brockaway 
was an inhabitant of the township for a short time, as early as 1800. 

Abner C. Rockwell, a native of East Windsor, Conn., born May 4, 
1783, migrated to Monroe not far from the year 1800. , James Law- 
rence, born February 15, 1814, was associated with Wm. H. IL Brown 
in the mercantile business at Monroeton for about twenty years. After 
the dissolution of the firm he purchased Park's mills, now Rockwell 
Bridge mills, which he operated until the time of his death— Novem- 
ber 2J, 1875. . Rev. Elisha Cole, born August 15. 1709, came to Mon- 
roe in about 1810-11. Jared Woodruff, born August 14, 1789, made a 
trip to the A\^est a-foot and alone in 1812 or '13. With no ])articulai' 
point in view he drifted into Monroe, and after having lived there for 
a short time, a brother, Urial, came in, and they purchased the improve- 
ments which had been made by John Northrup. 

Timothy Alden came from Otis, ]>ejkshire Co., Mass., to Moni-oe 
in 1801. . . Andrew Irving settled in Monroe as early as 1812, and 
induced his brother George to come also from Northampton county, 
their former home. Andrew was a tanner, and had a tannery in the 
town. Soon after Andrew and George came, their brother, Welch 
Irving also came. . . Noadiah Cranmer came to Monroe from 
Sussex count}', N. J., at an ear'h' day. He owned the property where 
the village stands, and up as far as Mason's ]\rills. His sons, John and 
Samuel, had log houses and improvements. The fathei- was an old 
man of about eighty years when he came into the country, and he 
lived alone. He was the ancestor of a large and important family in 



470 HiSTOKY OF lUIADFORl) COUJ^TY. 

the township, who have been identified with its history and interested 
in its progress from the beginning. 

Peter Edsall came in before 1800, and lived next above Mr. Cranmer. 

The Tabors were in the town in 1800, and lived on the old Scott 
place. . . Mrs. Pladnor lived on the property owned by Joseph 
Hornet, in Monroeton, the house being near Mr. Brown's, in 1800. 

The father of Nelson Gilbert moved up the creek m 1813, and lived 
in one end of a double log house, the other being occu|)ied by William 
Dougherty. . . John Schrader was a Hessian soldier, who was one 
of thirty who deserted the British army at the battle of Trenton, 
joined the American ranks, and remained in the service until the close 
of the war. Then lived for a time at Milton, Northumberland 
count V, and finally settled on the lower end of the flats just below 
Greenwood, where he died at an advanced age. . James Lewis 
settled above Schrader's. He had been a captive to the Indians in the 
last French-Indian war, being then twelve years of age. After the 
conclusion of peace he Avas retui-ned to his parents. He first settled in 
Wysox, where he owned land on the Little Wysox, and built what 
were afterward known as Hinman's mills, he having sold to John 
Hinraan, Dec. 13, 1793, and moved into Monroe, his house standing 
nearly on the site of the present Greenwood cottage. 

Amos y. Matthews was among the early settlers on the Schrader 
branch. Vincent A. Matthews built a tavern in what is known as 
Northrup Hollow, on the farm now occupied by Nathan Northrup. 

Henry Salisbury was an early settler in the lower part of the 
toAvnship, on the farm now occupied by Salisbury Cole. . Elijah 
Head moved out on pack-horses, and settled on what was afterward 
known as the Daniel Bowman place. . Jared Woodruff was early 
in Monroe, and a pioneer on the hill east of the village. 

John D. Sanders, a native of Maryland, came to Monroe in about 
1802-3, and settled the Ridge way place. . Daniel Gilbert set- 
tled at Greenwood in 1812 or *13] He was a son of Samuel Gil- 
bert, a native of Connecticut, who migrated to Pennsylvania in about 
1790. . William French, or '' Bill French," as he was more com- 
monlv known, came in from the East as early as 1813, and settled on 
the hills above Monroeton, near the Franklin line. . The Hewitts 
were lumbermen. They came to Monroe before 1813, and had a 
mill in operation at Masontown for several years, and did quite an 
extensive business. . Thomas Cox was an early settler, and for 
a time he lived within the limits of Monroeton, then moved to the 
hills back of the village, in Towanda tow^nship, where he died. 
He married Susan, daughter of Usual Carter. U. M. Cox and Mrs. 
Nathan Northrup are children, and reside in the township. 

Charles Brown came to the township and settled the Philo Mingos 
place, before 1813. . Edsall Carr was an inhabitant of Monroe in 
1813. . Job Irish was an early settler. . George Arnout came 
in 1816, and purchased with his son, Jacob, the farm generally known 
as the '• Salisbury place." . Simeon Bristol, or " Uncle Sim Bristol," 
as he was familiarly called, was among the more interesting char- 
acters of Monroe, not far from 1818. 



HISTORY OF rUJADI-ORD COUNTY. 471 

Among the names of those containecl in the first assessment of 
Monroe (1821) are tlie following : James Crooks, William Day, Abra- 
ham Hess, John and Norman Stone, Solomon Tallady, Daniel Lyon. 

Libeus Marcy, a native of Connecticut, migrated to Monroe in 
1822. . Thomas Lewis, or " Uncle Tommy Lewis," as he was more 
generally known, a native of Lebanon county, J*a.,came to Monroe in 
1822 from McKunesville. . Dr. lienoni ]\randeville, a native of 
Granby. Mass., came to Bradford county in 1813, at first settling in 
Orwell township, where he practiced liis profession, and preached for a 
rime. In 1822 he came to Monroe, and purchased what is now the 
W. W. Decker property. 

Elizer Sweet, a native of Khode Island, born July 9, 1778, found 
his way into Pennsylvania not far from the year 18(»0. 

In 1825, the following were assessed in Monroe: Adam Beam, 
Samuel Campbell, Marcus Campbell, Sherman Havens and William 
Cox; in 1820, William Black, clothier and spinner; in 1827, Joseph 
Ingham and John Black, both clothiers; in 1828, Orrin Galpin ;-in 
1829, Gashun Harris, George A. McClen ; in 1830, Clark Cummings, 
Moses Coolbaugh, Jose})h Griggs, Elisha Harris, John E. Ingham 
(physician); in 1831, Fisher and Wilson, mei'chants; in 1832, Francis 
Bull, John Gale, Harrison A: Warford (merchants) ; in 1833, Thos. T. 
Smiley; in 1831:, Joab Summers, John Campbell (miller), D. M. Bull ; 
in 1835. Nicholas Wanck, Jeremiah IloUon, Elijah Ilorton ; in 1838, 
James Blauvelt and Coonrad Mingos. 

Joseph Griggs, a native of Windham, Conn., came to the township 
in 1830. . Dr. John Ellicott Ingham, whose father was one of the 
first settlers in Sugar Ilun, after having graduated in medicine, located 
at Monroe in 1830. . John Gale, a native of Orange county, N. 
Y., and grandson of Selah Arnout, became a permanent resident in 
the town in 1832. . Joah Summers settled at Liberty Corners in 1834. 

Liberty Corners has one store and a postoffice. The place was 
formerly called " Llollon Hill." 

JSIorthrup Holloii was named after Nathan Northrup — the name 
also of a beautiful valley in Monroe. 

Weston is a station on the railroad, made notable by the coal-oil 
excitement of 1884, when a conij^any was formed, and a well put down 
1,805 feet; they found sand, rock and greasy odors, but no oil, 

Masontown is really a continuation of Monroeton along the high- 
way. Here are the Salisbury Mills. 

Greenioood is two miles, on the Canton road, beyond Monroeton. 
The Barclay road passes through it. It was platted by E. T. Park in 
1884, on the old Higby place, and has 327 acres in the plat; 35 acres 
were sold out in lots. Adjoining this plat is a portion of the villnge 
and the hotel. In 1800 William Dougherty kept a house of entertain- 
ment here ; sold to Jacob Bowman, wlio in turn sold to David Gilbert. 

Greenwood Tannery^ by Tlioinas P]. Procter and ,Ionathan Hill. 
They have seventy-five acres of ground connected with the plant, own 
15,000 acres of timber land in Bradford and Sullivan counties, also 
contracts for the bark on 11,000 acres at the Foot of Plane, and have 
10,000 cords of bark on band. There is but one larger plant of the 



472 HISTORY OF BEADFOKD COUNTY. 

kind in the world — the one at Ralston, Pa. They have 458 tan vats, 
13 coolers, each 8 feet deep and 8 feet in diameter; 16 leaches that 
will hold 16 tons of ground bark each ; employ 100 men in the tannery 
and 50 men all the time in the woods ; ship 3 car-loads of leather a 
week ; their supply of hides, known as the African buffalo hide, comes 
from Calcutta, and the exclusive make is sole leather. They consume 
12,000 tons of bark a 3'ear. G. B. Griswold, is bookkeeper and cashier ; 
M. E. Sarvay is mercantile manager. The tannery was established, in 
1867, b}^ Towanda parties, with a capacity of 25,000 liides a year. In 
1881, it was purchased by the pi-esent proprietors, and enlarged to its 
present capacitv. Connected with the tanner}^ is a general store which 
does a large trade. 

MONROE BOROUGH, 

Monroeton, which is at the junction of the Barclay Railroad and 
State Line & Sullivan Railroad, is an im])ortant shipping point. The 
town originally commenced to grow at the time of the building of the 
turnpike in 1819. In 1820 a number of mills were started, and at one 
time fourteen of these were in the township. The trade reached its 
highest mark in 1844, and practically ceased in 1859. Matters stood 
stationary until 1871, the time of the building of the State Line & 
Sullivan Raih'oad. The village was plotted in 1828 by G. F. Mason, 
and was made a borough in May, 1855; in its limits are about 250 acres, 
once the property of Timothy Pickering. In 1840. E. F. Young built 
a foundry and machine shop; swept away July 19, 1850; rebuilt the next 
year. The foundry at that place was joined to the Towanda foundry in 
1871. In 1882 it became the property of Rockwell & Cranmer. 

Monroe Manufaciurmg Co^npany was established in April, 1885, by 
O. M. Brocic, H. M. Mullen and E. F. Fowler; they manufacture 
lumber, nail-kegs, lath, etc. In 1888 it was sold to an incorporated 
company, and in 1890 began making toys, etc. They employ about 
200 men. Their entire product is completed in the factory. 

The first officers of Monroe borough were: Burgess, W. H. H. 
Brown ; council, H. S. Phinney, E. B. Coolbaugh, Anthony Mullen, D. 
L. Lyon, John Hanson, Abraham Fox; secretary, L. L. Terwilliger; 
treasurer, C. M. Knapp. The ]n'esent officers are: J. T. Sweet, burgess ; 
council, Bernard A. Cranmer. F. 11. Dodge, G. II. Smally, Thomas 
Ackley, Henry Walborn, J. A. De Voe ; clerk, Hobart N. Mullen. 

Monroeton has the followino- industries : Two dru": stores, two hard- 
ware stores, four dry goods and groceries, one coal dealer and one 
meat market. Col. Rog'ers Fowler erected a sawmill and gristmill in 
1803, on the creek, at Monroe, and Anthony Vanderpool built, some 
time before this date, a little log tub-mill, which was the first mill in 
all this country. In 1800, Dougherty and ISTeedham built the first 
mill at Greenwood. "Kino- Pool" built a gristmill, with a single run 
of stone, at Monroe, several 3'ears before the Fowlers came. Jacob 
Bowman built the first frame house in the townsliip. There were 
twelve distilleries within four miles of Bowman's; among them, Reu- 
ben Hale's, Thompson's, Ebenezer Tuttle's, Means' Widow Pladnor's, 
Stephen Wilcox's, Joseph Wallace's, and Johnson's, 



HISTORY OF BRADI'ORI) COUNTY. 473 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

ORWELI; TOWNSHIP. 

IN April, 1801, the council of Luzerne county appointed Ezekiel 
Hj^de, Josiah Grant land William Spalding, commissioners, to erect 
a township embracing this territory: "■ From the lift}' -second mile- 
stone, on the north line of the county; thence south twelve miles, 
fifty-one chains and 11 ft}' links to the south line of Tioga district; 
thence east eleven mdes; thence north twelve miles; thence west 11 
miles to the point of commencement." The report was approved and 
the new township was called " Mount Zion." In April, 18U2, on peti- 
tion of E. Coburn antl others, the name was changed to Orwell. 

The first settlement in Orwell township, as it is now, was in 1790, 
near Ransom's corner, by Francis Mesusan and David Russell. The 
following year they were joined by Asahel Johnson, Josiah Grant and 
Samuel Wells. Daniel Russell lived just below the forks of the road 
fi'ora Rome to Orwell hill, on the place occupied by his grandson, 
Stephen Russell. Edward Gridley occupied the Mesusan place. Mr. 
Russell was born in Tolland county, Conn., September 26, 1770; was 
married November 21, 1791, to Folly Chubbuck, and came to Orwell 
in 1794, on the Wysox creek, where he made a clearing and a farm, 
and reared a famiU^ of eleven children — five sons and six daughters. 
He made the clearing in 1794 and 1795, but lived at Sheshequin a year, 
until the summer of 1796, where his second daughter was born. 

Two brothers of his wife, Ebenezer and Nathanial Chubbuck, came 
and settled near him afterward; the latter had ten sons and two 
daughters. His children, with one exception who died single, were all 
married and settled within five miles of his homestead. They in turn 
cleared awav the forests and reared families, until the number of his 
posterity had in his life-time become more than one hundred souls. 

Asahel Johnson and Zenas Cook came first to Sheshequin in the 
winter of 1795-96, and made that settlement their headquarters while 
they explored the country for a location. They made their selection 
in Orwell, Mr. Johnson purchasing on Towner hill. Their report was 
so flattering, several of their neighbors determined to come also; a 
com]>any was formed, and Marks and Cook were sent to view the land 
more thoroughly. Their report being favorable, the company pur- 
chased the township, which was to be divided among its members. 
Mr. Johnson remained a year at Sheshequin, and came into Orwell 
permanently in 1797. The town was six miles square, and Avas called 
Menden ; Mr. Johnson owned 3,000 acres. He lived where Albert 
Conklin iu)w lives, and his l)rot!ier Truman, who came in 1796, lived 
on the farm now owned by Albert Allen and Lewis Darling. His 
brother William lived where Zebulon Frisbie lives. The family came 
from Burlington, Litchfield Co.,, Conn, 



474 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY 

Capt. Josiah Grant settled in the town in 1798, from A^ermont. 
He was a captain in the Continental array during the Revolutionary 
War, serving- under Col. Ethan Allen, whose cousin he was, in his 
brigade of '"Green Mountain Boys." Capt. Grant lived about one 
huntlred rods west of the present site of the Presbyterian church in 
Orwell. . . Samuel Wells, who married a sister of Asahel Johnson, came 
from Burlington, Yt., and settled on the farm just south of Johnson, 
in 1799. His eldest son, Theron, now owns the propert^^ Capt. 
Samuel Woodruff came also in 1799 ; a Revolutionary soldier from 
Litchfield, Conn. He was a brother of Capt. Grant's wife, and had 
four children, Nathaniel, Benjamin, Clarissa, and another daughter, 
who married Adarine Manville, one of the early settlers of Orwell. 
Clarissa married Dr. Seth Barstow, who settled on the Pool place in 
Wysox. Capt. WoodrulBF settled on the farm occupied by Josiah 
Newell. He sold to Josiah Grant, Jr , whose daughter married James, 
the father of Josiah Newell. Capt. Woodruff then went to reside with 
his daughter, Mrs. Barstow, and died there. 

Levi Frisbie came to Orwell from Bristol, Conn, in February, 1800. 
His wife was the daughter of Aaron Gaylord, who was slain in the 
battle of Wyoming. After the battle the widowed mother with her 
three children went back to Connecticut, where Levi was married to her 
eldest daughter. Levi Frisbie, Richard Marks, Asahel Johnson, Will- 
iam Johnson, Truman Johnson, Zenas Cook, Asa Upson, and perhaps 
one or two others, formed the company, which, at the solicitation of 
Col. Ezekiel Hyde and Elisha Tracy, agents for the first Delawai'e 
company, purciiased of these agents a townshi}) of land six miles square, 
extending north and east from the present Orwell. Mr. Frisbie came 
on the place where the Hon. Zebulon Frisbie resided. There had been 
a small clearinfj of some two or three acres made, and a log house 
rolled up b}^ Deacon William Johnson, who had removed into Pike. 
This log house sto^d a few rods from the residence of Z, Frisbie. 
Levi Fi'isbie was born in Bristol, Conn., January 31, 1758, and died 
October 5, 1842. He married Phebe Gavlord, who was born in Bristol, 
Conn., November 19, 1769 ; married December 20, 1786 ; removed to 
Orwell, Pa., 1800; she died October 5, 1851. They had six children, 
Chaunce}^ Laura, Catharine, a son who died in infancy, Levi, and 
Zebulon. Chauncey, married Chloe Howard, and after her decease 
married Eliza, relict of Dudle}^ ILimphrey, M. D.,and died May 4, 1864. 

In 1801, Theron Darling and his father Abel, John Pierce, and 
Alpheus Choat came in. Col. Darling was from Litchfield, Conn., and 
Mr. Pierce and Mr. Clioat from Vermont. Mr. Pierce's wife was a 
sister of Mrs. Josiah Giant. They lived where formerh' was the 
Gridley farm, and left about 1804-5, and went to near Owego, N. Y. 
Mr. Choat married a daughter of Mr. Pierce, and subsequently moved 
into Wysox. ,loel Barnes came with Levi Frisbie from Massachusetts, 
and settled near Mr. Eastman. He married a daughter of Capt. 
Grant, and died in Orwell, . Deacon William Ranney settled where 
Mr. Pay son lives, and Lebbeus Roberts on the Woodruff corners, in 
1802, Capt. John Grant was a brother to Capt. Josiah, and came to 





<^i^1U 





^^^^r^ 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD OOUNTY. 477 

Orwell about 1804-5, and located on the farm of Carlos Chubbuck, 
about tliree-fourths oC a mile from Orwell hill. 

Zeuas Cook located a farm in the hollow in which Potterville is 
now situated, but abandoned it after tindinL>- his claim was worthless. 
Joel Cook, a brother, came to Orwell after 1800. Ilis father, Joel Cook, 
wasasoldier for three years in the Revolution, and was at the siege of 
Mud Island, and in the battle of Germantown. lie and hisson,Uri. came 
to Oi-well in 1814, and settled on the farm adjoining his son Joel's. A 
daughter married Truman Johnson . . . Nathaniel Chubbuck was the 
first of his family who came to northern Pennsylvania. He was born 
in Tolland county. Conn., and came from there to Orwell, in the 
summer of 1811, and purchased the possession-right of 800 acres on 
AVvsox creek ; on a portion of which he resided until his death, and a 
portion of which tract is owned by his son, L. S. Chubbuck. The pur- 
chase was made of William Keeler Oct. 2, 1811. Nathaniel returned 
to Connecticut, and on January, 28, 1812, married Hannah Lovet, and 
at once proceeded to his new home with her. His brother, Aaron Chub- 
buck, came to Orwell two years later, in the winter, traveling the whole 
distance with oxen and sled. He located on the creek about a mile 
below Nathaniel's, on land adjoining Dan Russell, where he resided 
until about 1854. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1819. 
The father of these two gentlemen, Nathaniel Chubbuck, with his wife, 
Chloe, and a daughter of the same name (since the wife of Levi Frisbie), 
came from Ellington. Tolland Co., Conn., in the spring of 1818, and 
selected several hundred acres on the hills of Orwell, in preference to 
lands in Wvsox, now owned bv the Piollets. 

On October 10, 1803. Revs.^ Seth Willotson and James M. Wood- 
word, under direction of the Connecticut Missionary Society, organized 
a church at the house of Lebbeus Roberts, on ''the Robert's corners'' 
[anv cross-roads at that time were called ''corners"]. This was 
named the Church of Orwell, but afterward was moved to Le Rays- 
ville, and became the Church of Pike, and Rev. Benoni Mandeville 
was pastor from 1812 to 1814. 

The first justice of the peace in Orwell township was Jarvis 
Buttles, appointed by the governor, and, as recited, "to have and to 
hold so long as you behave yourself well." He was postmaster over 
fort}^ years at South Hill, and since it was opened the office has been 
in the Buttles family. 

Among the "old boys" of this township is yet living a num who 
split 200 rails to secure his marriage license, and who is the living- 
testimony that marriage is not a failure. . The first couple married 
in the township were Archibald Coleman and Miss Walker. 

The three-story Avoodon school building in Orwell was built by 
subscription in 1859 or '60, at the time with a hall above for public 
meetings, shows, etc. One room in second stor}^ for school, and resi- 
dences below. It was sold at public sale, and now is the property of 
Daniel Dimmick ; center room for school, and upper hall for exhibi- 
tions ; two graded rooms in school, . Orwell township has five post- 
offices and four villages. 

Orwell village has two stores, hardware, and grocery, an incorpo- 

36 



478 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

rated public library, tin, blacksmith and wagon shops. . Pot- 
tersville has two stores, one gristmill and one saw and planing mill. 
The gristmill is owned by E. & C. Workhiser, and the sawmill is 
owned by D. F. Barstow. . North Orvjell has two stores and a cream- 
ery. . Allis Hollow has two stores. 

Orwell Hill had some im|)ortant industries established as early as 
1839. The big "black building" was built that year by Hezekiah 
Dunham, a carpenter, as a distillery and feed-mill. In 1840 one room 
was used for a school. Then a tannery was built and a shoe and 
trunk factory started. Mrs. Maynard's present dwelling was built for 
a tavern, and ran several years; a carding-mill and bedstead factor}^ 
were built " up the hill." 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

OVERTON TOWNSHIP. 

THIS township was named in honor of Hon. Edward Overton, 
and is separated from Barclay by the Schrjeder branch of 
Towanda creek. This stream with its small tributaries is the chief 
drainage. The north portion of the township is mountainous. The 
settlers are mostly of German and Irish descent, noted for their 
industry and frugality, and their farms, once covered with trees, 
stumps and stones, are now smooth and well-cultivated fields. Much 
lumbering is carried on in the northeastern part, where were built the 
Means and Mercur extensive sawmills. Immense quantities of tanning 
bark are still shipped to market. In point of territory this is the 
largest township in the count}'. It was formed in 1853, taken from 
Monroe, Albany and Franklin. 

One of the first and most prominent families to settle here was 
that of Daniel Heverly, who came in 1806, and spent here the 
remainder of his life. He was born in 1764, and married Catharine 
Ott ; both were Pennsylvania-Germans. Mr. Heverly came here 
through the solicitation of a man named Minch, who lived above 
Towanda. He had informed Heverly that here was a beautiful 
valley, more than ten miles wide, that none of the settlers had yet 
found. After a toilsome trip, he reached the point of destination, 
looked upon it and returned to Greenwood, and contracted to work on 
his farm. In 1810, in consequence of the work on the turnpike, Mr. 
Heverly took up 640 acres of land, and cleared 65 acres, which farm 
has passed down to his descendants to the present time. A stone- 
cutter, named Kissell, came to Mr. Heverly 's in 1810, and made an 
improvement on the Widow McCann farm. He was a soldier in the 
War of 1812. 

The next person that came to the township was Leonard Streevy, 
who married one of Mr. Heverly's daughters, . Henry Shermau, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 470 

a native of Milflin, Pa., came into the township in 182-1:. . Jacob 
Hottenstein arrived in the town in 1829. 

The Urst attempt for a gristmill was that of Daniel Ileverly, Sr., on 
the Henry Slierman farm ; but depression of money matters, caused 
by the War of 1812, compelled him to abandon his work before its com- 
pletion. . Tlie first sawmill was built in 1820, on Black creek, by 
Daniel Ileverly, Jr. It was afterward destroyed by fire. . The 
first store was opened in 1856, by William Waltman. 

The first school-house was built in the town in 1827. . The 
first teacher was Anna Kellogg, of Monroe. . The first church 
built in the town was the Roman Catholic, b}^ Edward McGovern, in 
1814. . The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1873. . 
The Reformed and Lutheran church was built in 1855. 

OmHon village was platted, in 1856, b\' Henry Sherman, and black- 
smith Joseph Mosbacker purchased the first lot. The place is pleas- 
antly situated in the southeastern corner of the township, and has 
three general stores, three blacksmith shops, one wagon shop, two mil- 
liner shops and a hotel. 



CHAPTER XL. 

PIKE TOWNSHIP— LE EAYSVILLE BOROUGH. 

THIS tow^nship was named in honor of Gen. Pike. Its principal 
stream is Wyalusing creek, and the smaller creeks are the Ross and 
Rockwell creeks ^vhich empty into the Wyalusing. About LeRays- 
ville is high table land while other portions are rough and hilly, except 
along Wyalusing creek, where there is a fertile soil. The chief prod- 
ucts at present are p(^tatoes, cattle and butter. There are mau}^ large 
sugar orchards in this township. 

Long before the coming of the whites, an Indian trail, from Wj'a- 
lusing town to the present city of Binghampton, passed up along 
Wyalusing creek. The Connecticut settlers enlarged this trail and 
used it as a bridle path. 

The Bos worths w^ere of the first settlers in Pike township. Josiali 
came in 1798. He was a son of Joseph Bos worth ; settled in the deep 
forest about three miles south of where is Le liaysville, and in a few 
years his cabin became the noted " Half- Way House" on the road 
from Towanda to Montrose; then the place was called Newtown. In 
1817 Mr. Bosworth built his tavern, and kept it many years. He 
raised a company for the War of 1812 and proceeded as'^ far as Dan- 
ville, Pa., where they met the news of peace declared, and returned. 
Josiah was a native of Litchfield, Conn., born November 25, 1779 ; 
died September 22, 1858. He was one of Joseph Bosworth's eleven 
children, and to him were born thirteen children ; one of his grand- 
sons now occupies the old homestead, Josiah Bosworth was one day 



480 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

returning- from church, and discovered a bear and treed it; took off his 
shirt, tied it around the foot of the tree, and thus kept the bear on his 
perch until he returned with his gun and shot it. 

Dimon and Benajah Bostwick, brothers, came from Connecticut 
and took up four hundred acres near what is now Stevensville. Dimon, 
with his newly married wife, Lois (Olmstead), came in 1796, and 
Benajah came with his wife and a sister-in-law^ sometime afterward. 
Dimon was an admirable surveyor and draughtsman, a fine mathema- 
tician, a man of wide reading and varied culture. These brothers 
lived to be old men. Dimon died in 1856, aged eighty-eight years. 
Benajah died in 1864, aged eighty-eight. 

James Rockwell settled a little below Stevensville, in 1790. He 
raised the first tobacco and established the first brick manufactory in 
northern Pennsylvania. . Seth P. Rockwell came in 1791, and 
settled on the creek that bears his name. He established the first tan- 
nery, using wooden troughs for vats, pounding the bark with an axe, 
and thus made the leather that shod himself and family. He put up a 
mortar and spring-pole mill that was used by all his neighbors. This 
man chopped his road to the place where he settled, which he called 
"Newtown," where for seven years his only and nearest neighbor was 
Nathan Abbott, on what w^as known as the Ranson Colbaugh farm. 
Nathan Abbott and Darius and Elijah Coleman came about the same 
time as Rockwell. 

Eleazer Russell came in 1792 with a pair of oxen and a sled, float- 
ing down the river to Wyalusing ; he poled the canoe up the creek, 
driving- the cattle along- the bank. Mr. Russell located on the Keenev 
farm. He was killed by the falling of a tree he was chopping down. 

Ezekiel Brown was the other arrival in 1792, and he settled 
below Russell on the flats. . Then Ephraim Fairchilds came in 1793, 
and located on the Aden Stevens place. The same year came Elisha 
Keeler and family, John Bradshaw and Capt. Isaac Bronson. Mr. 
Keeler in 1 804 established a small store in his house. In companj' wdth 
Guy Welles,he established the first wool-carding machine in the county. 

Nathan and Aden Stevens settled where is now Stevensville, in the 
spring of 1794. They cleared a small spot of ground when Nathan 
returned to Connecticut for his family. This famih' report that soon 
after coming they passed three months without a dust of flour in the 
house. . Samuel Lucky came in 1793, and cleared a little spot of 
ground, then returned for his family. He bought his possession of Alva 
Bos worth, who it is supposed settled there in 1790 or 1791. 

Salmon Bosworth, in 1795, settled above Stevensville and built a 
blacksmith shop. For many years he made scythes and axes for the 
settlers. The other Bosworths were Josiah, Alva, Reed and Joseph. 
The latter it is supposed came in 1806. In company Avith the Bos- 
worths was Ezekiel Mowrey. 

John Ford came in 1792. His brother, Bela Ford, came sometime 
after ; made a small clearing and in 1805 sold it to James Brink. 
Thomas Brink came in 1797 ; his brother Nicholas had come at an 
early day but had been driven off by the Pennamite troubles. James 
Brink came in 1798, settlmg near Wyalusing, and in 1805 went to 



niSI'ORY Ol' niiAltl'OKIi COUNTY. 481 

Pike and coinmencetl a farm just south of Le liaysville. lie bought 
the possession of Eela Ford, and moved into the cabin. . Jesse 
and Daniel Koss were sons of Lieut. Perrin Frost, killed at Wyoming; 
they came to Pike in 1796. . William Johnson came to LeRays- 
ville in 170S from Sheshcquin. and improved tlie Zebulon Frisbie 
farm. 

TlieWelsh Settlement. — Tiie first to come was Joseph Jenkins, in 
1824, he having purchased a large body of land of T. Mitchell. In 
the fall of the same year, Ed. Jones, Sr., came and settled near Jen- 
kins. \\\ 1825, David Thomas, Sr., and family, and Reese GrifHes 
commenced an improvement on the David Tliomas farm. . . About 
1827. David Morris came. . The next year came David Williams. 
Mr. Williams revisited his native AV^ales, and on his return brought his 
motlier, two brothers (Philip and John), Ilev. Daniel Jones, Samuel 
Davies and William Evans. Thomas Jones, a brother of Ed. Jones, 
Sr., settled north of David Morris. . In 1833, Henry James and 
Thomas Walters, John Morris, Richard Williams, Daniel P. Jones, 
and John Davies came. In 1831 John Thomas, Mrs. Elizabeth Davies 
and Samuel Thomas settled at Neath. . Same year came Israel 
Evans, John Jones, David J. Thomas, Jenkins Jones, who also settled 
near N^eath, and David Davies, Thomas J. Thomas, Rodgers Griffies, 
Thomas Williams, Evan Evans, Dr. William Roberts, David E. Davies, 
and Ilenrv Davies were all prominent people in the Welsh settlement. 

TheWelsli Congregational Church, Neath, was organized in 1831, 
when several persons who were members of the same church in Wales 
came to Neath, bringing their minister. Rev. Daniel Jones, with them. 
Soon the congregation increased, making the membership twenty, and 
they held their first meetings in log houses and barns. The first 
church and school-house combined was built in 1833, another, which 
is still standing, in 1848, and the present neat and beautiful country 
church in 1872. There are now ninety members. Rev. Jones was 
pastor from 1831 until 1849; Rev. Samuel A. Williams from 1849 to 
1869; Rev. E. J. Morris, from 1869 until 1885, and Rev. John I). 
Jones, present incumbent, from 1885. 

Ah^a Posworth built a sawmill at Stevensville in 1815. He and 
his brother Salmon built the gristmill in 1819, in which was the first 
buhr-stones used in the county. The first school-house was erected in 
1806, a log building where the Congregational church now stands. 
Patty Sill taught the first school ; Zernah Northrup taught the 
second ; Polly Canfield then taught a school in the old sawmill near 
Van Guilders. 

Stevensville was named in honor of Co). Abram Stevens. He 
raised a regiment for the War of 1812-15, and was elected colonel 
thereof. On their waj'^ to the seat of war they were met by the 
announcement of peace, and returned without seeing any active ser- 
vice in the front. The |)lace has two general stores, the gristmill of 
William II. Jones, and Eastabrook tfe Stevens' sawmill. 

The Phalanx, in Pike townshij), was a remarkable institution. 
There came, in 1844, about fifty pco})le who ])urchased 600 acres of 
land, a part of which is now the farm of George M. Brink, on the 



482 HISTORY OF JMiADFOKI) OOUKTY. 

Owego road. Their temporary buildings were soon replaced by large 
solid stone structures, dwellings for all the members, store rooms, a 
school-room and chapel. Everything was in common, men working in 
the field, and women in the house, and the}^ had a large dancing hall. 
The career of the affair was ended in four short years, when the 
founder left the country. A part of their old buildings are now dwell- 
ings and barns. They started a publication called ih.Qjyo7'th Ameoncan 
Phalanx. 

LE RATSVILLE BOROUGH. 

This borough was incorporated May 16, 1863. It was named in 
honor of Le Ray de Chamont. The first officers were : Burgess, M. B. 
Porter ; council, George 11. Little, Nelson Ross, Trumball Benham, 
Daniel Bailey, Stephen Brink; C. P. Hodge, Sec; Benjamin Pierce, 
Treas. Present officers: Burgess, Samuel H. Davies ; clerk, G. W. 
Brink; council, George N. Johnson, Le Ray Coleman, L, P, Black- 
man, O, G. Can field. G. W. Brink has been clerk of the borough ever 
since it was incorporated, thirty-two years ago. 

Le Ra3'sville has the following business concerns: E. M. Bailey & 
Son's foundry (first built nearlv opposite the hotel by Daniel Lewis; 
was first run by horse-power. This was established during the "fifties." 
After five years it was moved to where it now stands. They manu- 
facture plows), two drug stores, two cigar factories, two wagon shops, 
one boot and shoe store, two blacksmith shops, one grocery store, one 
furniture store, two hardware stores. 



lCHAPTER xll 
ridgebury township. 

THIS township, which lies on the north line of the county, was organ- 
ized in 1818, and was taken from Athens and Wells. A large 
number of the inhabitants were foreign born. Isaac Fuller and Joel 
Campbell were the first settlers, in 1805, on Bentley creek near the State 
line. It is said that Adam Ridenbar was living here wlien the two 
above mentioned families came. . Samuel Bennett came in 1807, and 
gave the name to the township. He was a prominent man, the first 
tailor in the township ; the place where he settled is known as Durkee 
Hill. Vine Baldwin came in 1808 with his family. 

Griswold Owen came in 1809, and settled on the upper part of the 
creek near the town. His father-in-law, Rowsold Goff, came in 1812 
and settled the John Thompson farm. . Capt. Calvin West came in 
1813 and settled about one-half mile below Centreville. 

Jonathan Kent came in 1813 and settled ata place known as Bentley 
Creek, sometimes called " Pennyville," because there was once a small 
grocery there. . James Covell came in 1812 and bought out 



IIISTOKV OK HI.'A hl-'Olil) CO UN TV. 48;{ 

Silas Campbell, where his j)ostei'ity are still living. , Maj. 
Alpheus Gillett, a Itevolutionary soldier, came in 1826, and settled 
about one mile and a half from Fenny ville, and with him came his son- 
in-law, Aaron Marcellus. The laiter made the improvement afterward 
owned by Vincent Owen. Henry AVells built a house for a tavern. 

John Buck came in 1826, and his land includes the D. 11. Bui-nham 
place, lie was many \^ears postmaster. . Sturgis Squires came 
in 1827; his brother Peter had been here twelve or thirteen years. 

Among other early settlers was Joseph Batterson, on the hill 
where is the Lawrence Amy farm. . A nuin named Pierce im- 
proved the Widow Griswold far'm. 

John J^. AVebb was an early and prominent settler, was elected 
sheriff of the county. . Job Stiles, a Revolutionary soldier, settled 
the William Dickison farm. . Green Bentley was the tirst settler on 
the creek that bears his name. . Samuel Green settled on the hill 
east of Cenlreville. He was nicknamed "Durkee, " and from that the 
hill took its name. . Peter Evans came in 1842. The Irish settle- 
ment is in Ridgebury, extending over into Athens and Smithtield. This 
settlement was commenced bv Cornelius O'DriscolI, who came in 184u, 
followed by Ricliard O'Connor and his two sons; then James White 
came in 1811 and bought out John Downs, one mile south of the 
Catholic church. George O'Leary was the fourth settler with his 
large family of sons, in 1842. To these families were added those of 
Daniel Desmond, with his sons John and Timothy, and Richard 
Hurley, John Mahoney, Patrick Butler, Daniel Chambers, George 
Chambers, Thouuis Chambers, Daniel Kane and James Crowley. 

Vine Baldwin built the first frame house. . Abial Fuller built 
the first sawmill, in 1826, on the W. J. P\iller farm. . Calvin T. 
Covel built a sawmill at McAfee's, which was burned, and he replaced, 
it with a gristmill. . David Buck cut the first road through to 
Smithfield. The old Berwick turnpike road was built through the 
township in 1820-21, and was the first good road the people ever had. 

Centremlle is a postofiice and village on Bentley creek; j)ostoffice 
name is Ridgebury; tlie place has two stores and a Methodist church. 

Bentleij Creek^ a postofiice and village above Centreville on the 
same creek, has a store, a Baptist church, a school-house and a hotel. 

Middletown, a hamlet still further up the creek, has a grist and 
sawmill and a store. 



CHAPTER XLTI. 

ROME TOWNSHIP— ROME BOROUGH. 

KOME TOWNSHIP takes its name from the "Eternal City," 
because it is situated on the same parallel of latitude. It is well 
watered bv the Wysox creek and its smaller streams, Bullai-d, John- 
son, Park, Hicks and Bar creeks. The surface is divided by hill, 



484 HISTORY OF HHADFORD COUNTY. 

table-land, and valley. The largest valle}^ noted for its fertility is 
along the Wysox creek. 

It is supposed that Xathaniel Peasly Moody was the first settler, 
in the year 1795, coming with his ox-sleds, in which were conveyed 
his wife and three children, all the way from Massachusetts. Moody, 
assisted by Levi Thayer cut a road from Sheshequin to the head 
waters of Wysox creek, that passed through the borough of Kome. 
Moody had purchased a piece of land of Thayer near the confluence 
of Bullard creek with the Wysox. Just below them were Henry Tal- 
lady, Peter Florence, Mathias Fenceler, '• tlie Hermit,'' and Mr. Hath- 
aw^ay, whom they found camped while on a hunting expedition. 
These were about four miles below where Moody settled. . In 
1Y98 Godfrey Vought, Henry Lent, and Fredrick Eiklor came with 
their families; Vought and Lent located near the present north line 
of Rome borough, and Eiklor about half way between A^ought and 
Moody on the John Passmore place. About 1800 it was discovered 
that the title to all these lands belonged to Penns\'lvania. In 1801 
John Parks made his improvement on the D. C. AVattles farm. The 
first settlement on Towner hill was made by Elijah Towner in 1806. 
Mr. Towner had purchased 400 acres of Mr. Thayer. The title prov- 
ing worthless, he moved to Oak hill, cleared 100 acres and built a dis- 
tillery ; afterward, in 1806, he traded his improvements for what is 
now Towner Hill, where he spent the remainder of his days. His 
eldest son, Elijah Towner, married a daughter of Leonard Westbrook, 
who came at an early day with George Murph\\ John Hicks settled 
in the hollow west of Towner's. George Murphy commenced his 
improvement on Towner hill in 1803, and John Hicks settled in the 
hollow west of him, in 1804. 

William Elliott, with a large family of boys, came in 1805. Elliott 
had fourteen children ; his son Thomas commenced merchandising in 
1813. . In 1806 Reuben Bump and Russell Gibbs settled in the north- 
west part of the township, and the settlement was called "Bump- 
town." Bump was a great hunter, and could tell some tall hunting- 
stories. . Achatius Vought commenced his first improvement on 
Park's creek, north of Rome vdlage, in 1807. . Rev. C. E. Taylor 
came from Connecticut in 1817; his family consisted of his wife, two 
sons and one daughter — ^ Ed win W., Delaraar and Abby Jane. 

Martin Van Buren Moore was an early settler on the hill. He was 
relative of his namesake. 

The first wheatfield was the ground now the Judge Passmore 
orchard. The seed to sow the ground was carried by Nathaniel P. 
Moody, one bushel, and each of his sons a half-bushel. He planted 
the first orchard. Some of the old apple trees still stand in front of 
T>. H. Rice's residence. . . Godfrey Vought built the first frame 
house, in 1804. . . Burr Ridgeway built the first mill in 1808, 
which he sold in 1818 to his brother David, who disposed of it to 
Sylvester Barnes. Previous to this the nearest mill was Hinman's, at 
Wysox, the present Robert Laning place. . . Jacob Myer built 
the first mill where is the Mver & Frost mill. . . Silas Gore was 



HISTORY OV liUADI'OKI) COUMTY. 186 

the first blacksmith, in 1812. . Godfrey Yougiit and Andrus Eiklor 
built a sawmill near the confluence of Bullard and Wysox creeks. 

Benjamin Moody was the first white child born in the township, 
born in 1708. . The first deatii was that of Mrs. Fredrick Eiklor, in 
1800. . . In 1801, Henry Lent went to Sheshequin, but attempt- 
ing to return throui^h the dee]) snow, he perished. His body was 
found near tiie dividing line of the farms of Prof. J. G. and Washing- 
ton Towner. . The first we(Uling was in tlie year 1803, the [)arties 
being James Lent and Cldoe Park. The first school teacher was 
Fredrick Eiklor who taught in the first log school-house, built in 180;^>, 
near the O. F.Young farm. 

In the townshij) are a gristmill, owned by Charles Barnes, two 
miles south of Rome borough, William Cypher's steam and water 
grist and saw mill, located three-fourths of a mile north of Home, and 
Seneca Russefs steam sawmill four miles north of Rome. There is a 
steam sawmill near North Rome. North Ivome, situated in Centre 
valley, has one store. 

ROME BOROU(tH. 

Rome borough was incorporated in February, 1860. It is situated 
in the south-eastern part of the township, about one and a half miles 
along Wysox creek, and about one-third of a mile wide. For a good 
many years it has been an important business point. It has a 
hardware store, drug store, a general store, and a shoe store, two 
miscellaneous stores, Byron Wilmot's planing mill, two blacksmith 
shops and a wagon shop. 



CHAPTER XLIIT. 

SHESHEQUIN TOWNSHIP. 

TIIE name of this township is derived from the Indian, and is said 
to signify " the place of a rattle." It is one of the loveliest 
valleys in Bradford county, extending along the Susquehanna river a 
distance of seven miles, beautiful and fertile. It was taken from old 
Ulster. The first settlement was May 30, 1783, the colonists being pre- 
ceded by Gen. Simon Spalding, who came up from the Wyoming. 
The party consisted of Gen. Spalding and his wife Ruth, their children. 
John, Ruth, Rebecca, Mary, Anna and George. Their son Chester 
Pierce Spalding was born in Sheshequin in 1784; the others were 
Joseph Kinney and wife, Sarah Spalding, Benj. Cole, Col. Fordham, 
Thomas Baldwin and Stephen Fuller. Gen. Spaldin»- came from 
Connecticut in 1774, first locating at Standing Stone in 1775. He 
was in command of a company in Sullivan's ex|)edition in 1779, and in 
passing through Sheshequin valley he beheld the beautiful land, and 
resolved to make it his future home. 

Col. John Spalding was a son of Gen. Simon, and was a fifer in his 
father's company at fourteen years of age ; was also in the Sullivan 



480. ntSTORY OP BRADFOKl) COUNTY. 

expedition. Joseph Kinney was also a Kevolutionary soldier; was 
wounded at Long Island, and for a period was in the Jersey prison- 
ship. His first child, Simon Kinney, was the first white child born in 
Sheshequin, 

Vine Baldwin, son of Thomas, is said to have been the first white 
child born in Sheshequin valley after the war. In 1784 Obadiah, 
Samuel Gore and Arnold Franklin came from Wyoming-. The old 
homestead of Obadiah Gore is described in the old records as a tract of 
land called " Indela Mooking." situated on the east side of the north- 
east branch of the Susquehanna river, opposite an Indian settlement 
called " The Sheshequamung." 

Judge Obadiah Gore w^as the son of Obadiah and Hannah (Park) 
Gore. He was commissioned judge at the organization of Luzerne 
county ; removed to Ulster in 1783, and to Sheshequin the next year; 
opened a store in the latter place (the first in this section) in 1796, and 
continued it until 1803. He built a gristmill on the river opposite 
where is now the " Valley House," in 1807, the first gristmill in the 
township. He also built the first frame house m the township, in 
1787, and also the first distillery ; was appointed the first justice, in 
1782. On his record the first marriage is that of Mathias HoUenback 
and Miss Sarah Hibbard— April 20, 1782. Arnold Franklin was a mem- 
ber of one of the distinguished Franklin famifies of the Common- 
wealth. Seven of the Franklins were killed at the Wyoming battle, 
and John, Jonathan, Roswell and Jehiel were of these seven brothers. 
Arnold, the settler mentioned above, was a son of Jonathan Frankfin. 
Arnold was captured at Wyoming, but after three months' captivity 
escaped on the Genesee, and made his way back to his brother, Uncle 
Roswell Franklin, at Kingston, where he and his cousin, Roswell, Jr., 
when abont twenty years of age, were captured by the Indians and 
taken to Canada, where they were kept three years. 

Moses Park came to Sheshequin about 1785, and taught, probably, 
the first school in the township. In 1786 Jeremiah Shaw, an old Rev- 
olutionarv soldier, came to Sheshequin, with his son, Ebenezer, then a 
lad ; this\vas the Shaw that lived to be over 100 years old. . Peter 
Snyder came in 1798. . Daniel Brink came in 1790; his father, 
Benjamin Brink, a Revolutionary soldier, improved the David Horton 
place. . Abel Newell, who married a daughter of Ethan Wilcox, was 
an early pioneer. . Col. Joseph Kingsbury came in 1793, when aged 
nineteen ; was a surveyor, and he married a daughter of Gen. Spaul- 
ding. Col. Kingsbury was for many years one of the most distin- 
guished men in the county. . Ichabod Blackman, and three sons, Frank- 
lin, Elishu and David S.'^, were prominent among the early pioneers. 

Hugh Rippiths, an Irishman, an early comer, improved the Patterson 
farm at the lower end of Breakneck. He married Hulda Frankfin. 

Elihu Horton came to Sheshequin about 1794, and resided on 
the Ed. Brigham farm; his sons, who came with him, were William, 
Joshua, Elihu, Jr., Stephen and Gilbert ; his son Richard came two 
years afterward, and purchased Arnold Franklin's improvement. The 
Hortons were a strong and splendid race of sturdy pioneers. Elihu 



HISTORY OF I'.KAni'Olll) COfN'IY. IH. 

llorton, Si\, gave a raniily party in ISIT), at which eighty grandchil- 
dren were present. 

Joshua Tuttle tirst settled in Ulster, but passed over to Sheshecjuin 
in 179S, and purchased of Josiah N^ewell. ;Iesse Smith came in lb02. 

Capt. Jabez Fish came in 1801). Zehulon l>utler and Harry Spalding- 
at that time had a small store near WilLam Snyder's phice. 

Capt. Fish is a. prominent ligure in the history of Wyoming. Liv- 
ing near him in Shesliequin w^as an old comrade in arms and sudering, 
Capt. Stephen Fuller. The two men were prisoners in Wyoming. 

Eliliu Towner and sons — Enoch and Joiin — im]iroved the Cyrus 
Wheeler farm. Daniel Moore was a soldier in the War of 1818. . 
Christopher Avery was a brother of Judge Gore's wife. 

Otlier early settlers were the Kennetlys, Peter Bernard, James 
Bidlack, Timothy and Samuel Bartlett, Henry Boise, the Brokaw 
family, Lodowick Carner, Silas Carnei', Henry Cleveland, John Dett- 
ricb, "Christian Forbes, Dr. Zadaz Gillett, Jerome Gilbert, Freeman 
Gillett, William Preshier, Edward Griffin, Samuel Hoytt, Isaac S. 
Low, Samuel Thomas, Josiah B. Marshall, Mathew Rodgers, and David 
E. Weed. 

Sheslieiiuhi^ a village across the river from Ulster, has a large grist- 
mill, a hotel and four stores. . Ghent is a postoffice in the eastern part 
of the township. . Black is a village south of Client. . Horn- 
brook is a postoftice in the southern part of tlie townshij). 

Franklin Blue Stone Company are located about four miles north 
of Towanda, having one of the best and finest quarries in this portion 
of the State. The headquarters of this concern are in Philadelphia, 
and operations were actively commenced in August, 1889. The quarry 
was worked first extensively in 1874 by the Philadelphia Blue Stone 
Company, which failed, ami the property passed to the present own- 
ers. Thirty-five men are emplo3'ed, with all the latest impi'oved 
machinery for cutting and handling the stone by the company. It is 
a strip-mine, and the product is used in all parts of the country — 
south as far as the Gulf. The output of this plant is about $25,000 
annually. Among other excellencies of the stone is the facility with 
which it splits, as well as its beauty and durability. 

J. D. Morris' quarry, in Sheshequin township, in what is called 
"Quarry Glen," is a great blue stone quarry, where are employe<l 
twenty-five men ; it has an annual output of about 200,000 tons, 
marketed largely m Philadelphia. 

The first steam aristmill in Sheshequin towniship was built l)y F. S. 
Aver in 1870. . (). F. Aver built his sawmill in 1868. 



488 JIISTOHY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

THIS township is supposed to liave been named for David Smith, 
who first purchased the title of the Connecticut Compan^^ The 
surface is very broken; several streams pass through the townshiji 
emptying into Sugar and Towanda creeks. The township was setoff 
from Ulster in 1809. In 1814 it was divided into three equal parts, 
forming Sraithfield, Springfield and Columbia. This same territory 
had previously formed the townships of Smithfield, Murraysfield, and 
Cabot. 

The first settler was a man named Grover, near what is now the 
Daniel Carpenter place, in 1792. . Reuben Mitchell, who may besaid 
to be the first permanent settler, came in 179-1, and for the next four years 
himself and three members of his family were the total population of 
the township. He located just east of East Smithfield, and purchased 
David Smith's improvement; Mr. Mitchell left the country in 1840. 

About 1798 several men, among them being Foster, Baldwin, 
Watterman, Wheeler, and a negro named "Caesar," came and made 
small improvements. James Satterlee came in 1799; located near 
East Smithfield. His wagon was the first that passed from Athens to 
Springfield; the}' were two days making the journey, a distance of ten 
miles. CoL Samuel SatterWcame in 1799, and settled three miles 
northwest of the village, afterward the Crittenden farm; he was an 
eminent soldier in the War of 1812, a member of the LegisTature of 
Pennsylvania, and a very valuable citizen. . Oliver Hayes also came 
in 1799; located on the Simon Mattison farm place. . Michael Bird 
came from Boston in 1801, and undertook to make a living in the 
woods, farming. He had a severe experience; the entire family for 
some time made wooden brooms, which he carried on his back to the 
river. However, in time, he cleared and opened a fine farm, and 
eventually became a prominent citizen. 

Jabez Gerould came in 1800, built a little log-cabin, raised a small 
patch, and in 1801 brought his family. The next year he was taken 
suddenly sick and died, leaving in "the woods his widow and eight 
small children. The heroic little woman kept her family alive mostly 
by spinning fiax, taking meal as payment. Phineas Pierce came from 
Vermont in 1800, and settled two miles northwest on the Edgar Wood 
farm. He enlisted in the War of 1812, and was killed near Niagara; 
his comrade from Smithfield was Joshua Ames ; he died in the serv- 
ice. Col. Samuel Satterlee was in the same command ; his wife, 
Eunice Pierce, was in Wyoming in July, 1778, an infant. She was 
carried across the mountains, sixty miles, to the Delaware river by her 
mother. 

In 1800 Solomon Morse and Samuel Kellogg, both from Poultney, 
Vt., settled in the township; Kellogg was a Kevolutionary soldier. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOUn COUNTY. 480 

Neheniiali Tracy came in 1805; he was a relative of United States 
Senator Ui-iahTrac}', of Connecticut. . John Bassett came in 1806. In 
1807 Noah Ford and Elihu Needham came from New York, In 
1806 Alva Stocking and Alpheus llolcomb came to the township. 

In 1809 Samuel Wood came from Vermont; he had ten sons and 
eleven dauc'hto's; nine of the sons came to Smitlilicld. Tlie same 
year Ashael and -lolin Scott came from Vermont. Judt^'e Bullock gave 
the date of John Scott's coming as 1803. Between 1809 and 1811 
Maj. Jared Phelps, Sloan Kingsbury, Isaac Ames, John Phelps, David 
Titus, Abner W. Ormsby, Zephaniah Ames and Isaiah Kingsley, all 
came from Massachusetts, and settled the " Becket " neighborhood. 

In 1813 Austin and Chauncey Kellogg came, their brother, *Luman, 
following in 1816. David Forrest, a lievolulionary soldier, came in 
1814. . About the same time came also Stephen Wilcox, Rufus 
Ilalsey and Abner Thomas, all settling in the northwest part of the 
township. 

In 1812 Asa Hacket came. In 1813 Asa Farnsworth and his family ; 
in 1814 William Farnsworth, Stephen Califf, Seth Gates, Daniel 
Forrant and Tartus Rose came with their families. . In 1815 came 
Benjamin Hale, David Durfey, Joseph Ames and Cyril Forman ; 
in 1816, Abraham Jones; in 18\T, Asa Allen; in 1818, Joel Allen ; in 
1819, Cromwell Childs, Edward A. Childs and Daniel Allen; in 1820, 
Geo. Thomjikinson. A very worthy man, who had once been a 
Hessian soldier, Conrad Hartman, came to the township in 1816; he 
had been taken a prisoner at Trenton, and became an American 
citizen. Nehemiah Beech came in 1818. 

The first sawmill was erected by Phineas Pierce, in 1806 ; the 
second was built by Mr. Tracy. . The first gristmill was by Solo- 
mon Morse in 1808, about one-fourth of a mile west of the village. 
The first school-house was built in 180T, a small log building, which 
answered for every purpose until 1818, when a frame was erected. 
Lyman Durfey opened the first store, in 1833, and soon after Shelden 
Tracy opened the second one. . The first death was an infant child 
of Reuben Mitchell, who was also the first white child born. 

The first church building (a log one) was put up in 1811, and used 
until 1861, when thev built their present church; pastor. Rev. John 
Bascom. In 1810 a Baptist Church was organized, and in 1819 a 
church building was put up. In 1821 a literar}' society was organized, 
chiefly by David Farnsworth, Ansel Scott, Harry Bird, Buckley Tracy, 
Darius Bullock and others. 

East Smithfield is built on Maj. Phillips farm. 



490 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XLV. 
SOUTH CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

THIS township lies in the northwest part of the county. The 
Northern Central Railroad passes nearly through the center from 
north to south. Its principal streams are South creek, Buck creek 
and Roarino- run. Philo Fassett settled in the township in 1834. The 
early settlers were: Asa Gillett, John Morrison, Gideon Andrus, Isaac 
Baker and Samuel Pettingill. These came prior to 1833, except Mr. 
Gillett. . . Isaac Baker built a mill on South creek. . . Ezekiel 
Baker was the first settler at Gillett Station. Jessie Moore was a 
very early comer. George Dunham and M. Y. Glines were early 
prominent citizens. 

The town of Gillett was made by the Glines, Fassett, Thomson, 
Jesse Moore and Gillett. The stage route from Williamsport to 
Elmira passed down South creek, and Gillett's was the " half way 
house" between Elmira and Troy. There were nine public-houses on 
the road between the two last-named points, three of which were kept 
respectively l)y Ezekiel Baker, Heryv Jones, and Mr. Gillett. Hervey 
Jones settled at Gillett about 1830, and opened a tavern. Aaron 
Stiles lived south of John Gillett's place. 

Evan Dunning came in 1837, and built a mill, afterAvard Jesse 
Moore's, and did an extensive lumber business. From him the station, 
Dunning, takes its name. 

■The Berry settlement, in the south part of the township, derives 
its name from a large family of that name. In 1834 there was quite 
a cluster of houses there, onl_y a part of which, however, were included 
in the boundary of the township. 

Gillett Station is a shipping point on the Northern Central Rail- 
road. There are two stores, a hotel and a few small shops, and a 
sawmill by John F. Gillett. 

Fassett is a station on tlie Northern Central Railroad, near the 
northern boundary of the county, and was formerly called "State 
Line." There is a sawmill here and one store. 




HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 491 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

SPKINGFIELl) TOWNSHIP. 

rj^IIIS township was orig'inally called MiirraN^s field, and received its 
I present name because a majority of the first inhabitants were 
from Springfield, Mass. The only change in the original boundaries 
occurred in the southwest corner, where the line followed in a westerly 
direction and passed through Ezra Long's little gristmill, where 
afterward was built II. F. Long's mill ; then followed tlie line of the 
road to the village of Troy where it cornered just west of the Presby- 
terian church ; tlience north, including that part of Trov township, 
along the road leading to Columbia Cross Roads. The surrounding 
hills, however, and growth of Troy necessitated transferring a portion 
of Springfield to Troy township, which leaves it in its present shape, 
nearly a square which drops down, including a part of Leonard creek. 

At the opening of this century Springfield township was a wild and 
uninhabited waste, with no other human marks than those made by 
])assing Indians. In June, 3 803, Austin and Ezekiel Leonard started 
from AVest Springfield, Mass., under the auspices of the Susquehanna 
Company, to make a home in northern Pennsylvania, and they journeyed 
till they came to Sugar creek, near East Troy, where they stopped with 
Nathaniel Allen, and began prospecting for " a thousand acres of 
level land ; '" but they were soon discouraged, and made up their minds 
to return. But just then they met a man who claimed to known all 
the country well, and under his guidance they went up the stream 
to where it emptied into Sugar creek. He deceived them, by leading 
them around and around, into the belief that the}^ were on the " 1000 
acres of level land" — near where are the Isaac Doaneand Paul Furman 
farms, and tiiese they concluded to locate and make their homes, and 
they returned to Esq. Allen's and arranged with him to clear some of 
the land and build cabins for their families, for wh(mi they set out for, 
to Massachusetts, to bring them in the fall. 

Capt. John Harkness came in March, 1804, and settled the farm 
occupied by O. P. Ilorton. . . In April, same year, William and Abel 
Eaton following the Leonards, arrived and located where is now Leona. 
The Ilarkness and Leonard families knew nothing of each other's pres- 
ence for nearly a year after their arrival, when one family found the 
other while hunting their cattle. 

Ichabod Smith came in ISO-t and Josephus Wing came in 1805. . 
In 180G came James Mattocks, Len. Pitch, Joshua Spear, Stephen Bliss, 
Oliver Gates, Henrv Stever, Amaziath Thayer, Joseph and Gurdon 
Grover. The last two located near where is now Springfield Centre. 
James Ilarkness, with his large family, came in 180G. . Next year 
Joseph Grace settled where is now J^eona ; and Nehemiah Willison and 
^el Fuller, same year, settled north of the Centre. . In 1808 Isaac 
Cooley and Gaines Adams improved the properties, afterward owned 



492 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

by Eodney Cooley and Joel Adams. . About the same time came 
Samuel Kingsbury, Thomas Pemberton, Samuel Campbell, E. F. Park- 
hurst and Alfred Brace. . In 1810, it is estimated, there were 160 
persons in the township. . William Brace, who came in 1804-5, 
lived to be the oldest man in the township. . Many new comers 
arrived between 1810-20, among them being Maj. John Parkhurst, 
David Brown, Lemuel White, William Evans, the Parmeters, Evan 
Bennett, Quartus Greeley, Amos and John Searjant, Elishu Fanning, 
Alexander Kennedy, Chas. Burgess, Josepli and Wakeman Brooks, 
Williams, Faulkner and the Graces. 

The first white child was born to Hiram Harkness, April 20, 1825 ; 
the first death, a Mrs. Morey, in 1809 ; first weddinir, Abel Leonard and 
Abigail Leonard. The first school teacher was William Nevens, who 
taught in a weaver's shop in 1808-9 ; first frame building was b}^ John 
Harkness ; first sawmill was by Austin Leonard in 1808 ; first grist- 
mill was by Luke Pitts, in 1813, situated where Dr. William Carey's 
mill stands, first school-house, of logs, was in Leonard's Hollow (now 
Leona), in 1813 ; about the same time a frame school-house was erected 
on Grover hill, and soon after another on Harkness hill. . Samuel 
Campbell built a distillery in 1810 ; James Manix was the first justice, 
same year. . The Methodists had the first religious organization 
in 1813; the Baptists followed in 1819. The Methodists now have 
two buildings, one at Leona the other at Pleasant Valley ; the Univer- 
salists have a building at Springfield, and the Methodists in the 
northern part of tlie township. 

Mount Pisgah, the highest point in Bradford county, and the 
second highest point in the State, is in the southern ])art of this town- 
ship. From here our early Moseses are supposed to have "viewed the 
promised land." It is a singular mountainous formation, cone-shaped, 
and has recently been improved, having a nice large hotel, with 
pleasant grounds, and is quite a summer resort. Mr. Kellogg, of 
Towanda, is now proprietor of tlie hotel, to which he has added, re- 
cently, many improvements. 

Springfield^ which is situated in about the center of the tow^nship, 
on the head-waters of Leonard creek, contains one hotel, two stores, 
one cooper shop and two churches. 

Leona contains a gristmill, store, two wagon-shops, one Methodist 
church. It was named in honor of the Leonards, and was for a long- 
time called "Leonard's Hollow." It is in the beautiful valley on 
Leonard's creek. . ^Yetona is a postoffice on Mill creek. . Big 
* Pond is a postoffice in the northern part of the township. 



J 





,,jrfitu.t«a,JltS'*«<«j^ 




E. C. Spencer 



HISTORY OF RRADFORD COUNTY. 495 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

STANDING STONE TOWNSHIP. 

ri^HERE has been a landmark for centuries before the white man 
JL ever looked upon it — a curious rock-formation standin": near the 
center of the Susquehanna river, nearly twenty-three feet above low 
water, sixteen feet wide and about four feet thick. The township was one 
of the first grants made by the Susquehanna Company. Among the 
purchasers were : Elisha Satterlee, Richard Fitzgeraid, James For- 
sythe, Richard Loomis, Walter and Nathaniel Walters, John Bigelow, 
Jr., Stephen Wilcox, David McCormick, Walter Westover, Capt. 
Peter Loop, Abraham Westbrook, William Jackson, Thomas Joslvn, 
Leonard Westbrook, and the heirs of Perrin Ross. 

Quite a number of families were in Standing Stone before the 
battle of Wyoming ; during the war the settlements were all aban- 
doned, and the two families who returned immediately after the war. 
or in 1791, were Richard Fitzgerald and Henry Burneys. Henry Bar- 
neys, who was an early prominent citizen, sold his farm to Jonathan 
Stevens in 1812. One of his daughters married Capt. Peter Loop. 
Mr. Fitzgerald had no children, but had a,do])ted his wife's ne))hew, 
William llouck. Anthony LeFever was a Frenchman who kept a 
famed house of entertainment in Standing Stone. 

Peter Miller was another early settler and a Revolutionary soldier ; 
a small garden spot was ever cleared around his cabin. He had bought 
his ground, the deed bearing date March 23, 1797. . Jaco!) Primer, a 
colored man, came at an early day ; his descendants were about the 
place for many years. . . Cherick Westbrook, a son of Abraham, pur- 
chased a half-share certificate in 1785, and soon after moved on to the 
same. . Henry YanCuren came in 1808. . The widow Hawley, wlio was 
in Wyoming in 1784, came and settled on the H. W. Tracy'place. and 
the little creek is frequently called " Hawley creek." 

An early comer was David Eicklor, who sold in 1815 to Mr. Ennis. 
George, John, Daniel and Whitfield Vaness came in 1820, and pur- 
chased the Henry VanCuren place. . . John Gordon had a distillery on 
Fitch's creek, near where the road crosses, which was operated" for 
many years, and was finally burned. . . A family named Tuttle settled 
on Tuttle's Hill prior to 1812. . A tailor named Daniel Brewster set- 
tled near the old man Huffs place. 

RuniDierfield, a station on the Lehigh \'alley Railroad, contains 
one hotel, two general stores and several small places. 

Standing Stone village is pleasantl}' sitiiatcnl on the bank of the 
river, and is an important shipping point on the Lehigh Yalley Rail- 
road. It has two stores and one hotel. 



27 



496 HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

TERRY TOWNSHIP. 

rj^^llIS township lies on the west bank of the Susquehanna river, 
i opposite Wyalusing, and contains about fifty square miles. With 
exception of the valley along the river, which is narrow, it is moun- 
tainous and hilly ; has much good grazing land and fine meadows. 
At one time this towmship had more valuable white pine than any 
other township in the county, and for many years immense quantities 
were annually shipped. The two postoitices in the township are Terry- 
town, lying on the river above Wyalusing, and New^ Era, in the west 
part of "the township on the head-waters of Sugar Run creek. This 
creek empties into a large pond near the south line of the township. 

Terrytoion is beautifully situated on a gravelly ridge, and the 
buildings are scattei'ed along near the bank of the river until they 
mingle with those of Sugar run. Beautiful scenery surrounds the 
place, and across the I'iver Vaughn's hill rises four hundred feet with 
varying escarpment. In the village is a Union meeting house, called 
"The Tabernacle," where worship the Baptists, Presbyterians and 
Methodists. It has been in use thirt3^-six years. In the place is a 
wagon factory and steam works, a shoe shop, two general stores, and 
the Ilorton Flouring Mill. 

This dreamy old village is one of the oldest places in the county, made 
immortal by Cnpt. Jonathan Terry, who w^as the first permanent 
settler, in 1787, and who founded the place. It is said that Benja- 
min Budd buiU a cabin here as early as 1774. 

Stephen Durell.had built a cabin in 1786, near the mouth of Steam- 
Mill creek. 

Israel ParsJjall, Maj. John Horton, Lebius Garner, Parshall and 
Jonathan Terry, all these with their wives were in Forty Fort the 
night after the "battle . . . Jonathan Terry was commissioned a justice, 
and for four generations, with but slight intermission, the office passed 
from father to son. Jonathan Terry had eight sons and three daugh- 
ters. His son Uriah was the first white child born in Terrytown, 
where he lived for nearly ninety years. 

About 1794 Parshall Terry "built a small gristmill on the small 
stream passing through a farm occupied by J. W. Van Anken. Par- 
shall and Uriah Terry were for many years the noted men of Terry- 
town. Parshall was a tailor and made very many good coats for a 
dollar each. He was once jailed by the Pennamites at Easton, but 
escaped to the woods. 

Uriah Terry was a schoolmaster and a poet of no mean ability. 
Maj. John Ilorton was a lineal descendant of Barnabus Horton who 
came to America in 1638. He settled in Terrytown in 1792 and im- 
proved the place, where he died in 1848, He built the first frame 



HISTORY OF I5HADF0IU) COUMTY. 497 

dwelling in the townshi]) and owned tlie tii'st two-horse wagon that 
ever came to Terrytown ; also the first fanning mil], and built the lirst 
frame barn in 1805. lie served in the Revolutionary war. 

Maj. John Horton, Jr., was born in Terrytown March 23, 1T93. 
He was a. prominent merchant and an active business man ; was a con- 
stable when quite young ; was also elected and served as county 
treasurer one term ; was a democratic elector in 1848; became a cap- 
tain and then a major in the militia, and was brigade inspector from 
1828 to 1835. 

A prominent feature of Terrytown is that for the number of in- 
habitants it contained, it turned out more eminent men than any other 
spot in northern Pennsylvania. 

JVew Era is a hamlet about five miles southwest of Terrytown. It 
was here the French refugees built a house for the purpose of secreting 
the king and queen of France when they should come over. 

Charles Ilomet, Sr,, settled at this point, and remained some time 
before he went to Frenchtown. Isaac Shoonover succeeded Mr. Ilomet. 
Jason Plorton was one of the earliest })ermanent settlers at New Era. 
John Morrow and IST. T. Horton had a store there in 1830-31, but soon 
left. . . Lawrence Williams and Henry Gaylord lived there 1839—13. 
Gaylord occupying the house where had lived J. A. Record. In 1837 
Jonathan Harrison settled beyond New Era. . . Jonathan Buttles, a 
manufacturer of wooden bowls, lived there many years. . . J. L. 
.lones was a justice and an early settler at New Era. . . Ebenezer 
Brock was for years the carpenter and joiner at New Era. 

John Dyer kept a furniture store and undertakers' shop. . . John 
Huffman was a farmer near New Era. . . There is a hotel in the 
place, two sawniiills, one grocei-y store, and an Odd Fellows Hall. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE TOWANUAS— TOWNSHIPS AND BOROUGHS. 

TOWAXDA is an Indian word from the Delaware Towandemunk — 
"burial place." There are other traditions, but this seems to be 
the most authentic. A century ago it was spelled " Towandee." but 
the modern way is more musical, and an Indian name once strip))ed of 
its euphony is a barren nothing. 

Claverack. — The first civil organization that is now the Towandas was 
a grant by the Susquehanna Company made to Col. John H. Lydius, 
Capt. Abraham Lansing, Baltaser Lydius, Peter Hogaboom and others, 
June. 17T-1-. The survey and location was made by Jeremiah Iloga- 
l)oom and Solomon Strong, and is described as on ''the East Jiranch 
of the Sus(piehanna river, beijinning at a, place called and known by 
the name of Wysox creek, about five hundred yards below where said 
creek flows into the East Branch of the Suscjuehanna liver at a white 



408 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

oak tree ; thence south 59® west five miles and sixty rods; thence 
north 31*^ west five miles; thence north 59*^ east five miles; thence 
south 30* east five miles to the first mentioned bound — containing 
twentv-five square miles, exclusive of the river." This embraced half 
of the present Towanda, a third of Wysox and a part of lower Sheshe- 
quin. The other half of Claverack, on the west side of the river, 
covered more than half of the present Towandas and the balance of 
these townships were embraced in the Company's towns called: 
" Bachelor's Adventure," " Bloomingdale" and " Bortle's Pitch." 

In the latter part of 1800 Col. John Franklin and Col. Benjamin 
Dorrance became the owners under Connecticut title to Claverack, and 
leased and sold to settlers as they could induce them to come here. In 
short, Claverack was one of the Seventeen Townships, the history of 
which is given fully in a preceding chapter. 

Township Organization. — Bradford county was formed from parts 
of Lycoming and Luzerne in 1812. The western third of that territory 
now' embraced in the Towandas, was in Lycoming county, and the 
balance in Luzerne. At the court held at Wilkes-Barre in March, 1790, 
it is ordered by the justices of this court that the county of Luzerne be 
divided into eleven townships, by the following names and descrip- 
tions, to wit: 

"1. Tioga, bounded north b}' the north line of the State; on the 
east by the east line of the county; on the south by an east and w^est 
line, -which shall stiike the Standing Stone, in the west line of the 
county." Tlie "2d" township was Wyalusing, which bounded Tioga 
on the north. "Tioga," as thus described, was sixty-seven miles in 
length from east to west, and a tritte more than eighteen miles in 
width from north to south. 

At the April sessions, 1795, a petition was presented to the court, 
asking for a division of Tioga township by an east and west line, pass- 
ing through a small stream on the east side of the Susquehanna, south- 
westerly of "Breakneck;" the north part to be called " Tioga." and the 
south part " Wisocks." The prayer of the petitioners was granted. 

A'^'-ain, in 18o7, at the April sessions of the Luzerne county court, 
upon the petition of Job Irish and other citizens of Wysox, setting 
forth that, owing to the inconvenience, and at times the im|)ossibility 
of crossing the river, and praying for a new township to be set oflf on 
the west side of the river, Jonathan Stevens, M. Minor York and 
John Taylor were appointed viewers, to examine and report in 
relation to the same. At the November court (1807) they report in 
favor of a new township, to be called Towanda. with the following 
boundaries: Beginning at the mouth of Durell creek, thence south 
forty-five degrees west to the county line (rather what now is); thence 
on said line west to the corner of Canton; thence north on the east 
line of Canton to the county line (between Lycoming and Luzerne); 
thence as said line runs to the Susquehanna river. The report was 
confirmed finally in January, 180S. The territory embraced within 
the foregoing boundaries included parts of Asylum, Monroe, Overton, 
Barclay, the Burlingtons, the Towandas and all of Franklin. Towanda 



HISTORY OK BKADFOKI) COUNTY. 400 

was one of '' the original ten townships," or one of tiie ten already 
formed within tiie limits of the county prior to its oi'ganization. 

After the incorporation of the borough of Towanda, the northern 
and southern parts of the township were so completely sepai'ated that 
it made a division practically necessary for the convenience of the 
inhabitants residing in the two portions of it. 

Accordingly, H. L. Scott and other citizens of the township, upon 
petition at the December term of court, 1850, " I'epresent that great 
inconvenience results to the citizens of the township from its present 
sha])e. and pray that Commissioners be appointed to view and inquire 
into the propriety of dividing the same.'' Whereupon the court 
a])point Geo. \\. Bull, E. C. Kellogg and Earl Nichols, who report in 
favor of dividing the township at the February session, 1851, "by a 
line commencing on the west line of the borough of Towanda, at a 
point near the northwest corner of lands of Henry S. Mercur, thence 
in a straight line west to the Burlington line, intersecting it immedi- 
ately north of the Overshot mill.'" 

The Commissioners report having been made, the citizens in a 
second petition "pray the court to confirm it, and further respect- 
fully ask that the new township lying south of said line be named 
Towanda township^ and the one north of it Sugar Creeks 

The report was confirmed finally December 15, 1851, " the town- 
ships to be called Xorth Towanda antl South Towanda." Subse- 
quently the citizens petitioned the ctnirt to have the word " South" 
dropped, and "South Tow^anda" was accordingly changed to Towanda 
township. 

The first settler was Rudolph Fox, of whom mention has been 
made, who settled on the west side of Towanda creek, about half a 
mile from its mouth. At the time of his arrival a few Indians were 
living about where is Maj. Hale's present residence, and of these Fox 
purchased his land and erected his cabin, covered with bark and prac- 
tically one end left open for a door. Fox did everything to keep the 
friendship of the Indians, but in March, 1777, while out hunting his 
cattle, he was seized and taken by the Indians a prisoner to Quebec. 
The family were kept in ignorance of Mr. Fox's whereabouts. He 
escaped, and traveled all the way from Canada and reached the opposite 
side of the river from his cabin December 19th, following. He called 
to his family; Mrs. Fox recognized his voice, but the Indians had 
stolen their skiff, and there was no way to cross. The poor man had 
to spend the intensely cold night on the bank, and by morning the ice 
was hard enough to bear him over. When the Indian party that 
captured the Strope family passed up the river they again took F^ox 
along a prisoner, as they said, lest he give the alarm; he escaped, 
how^ever, just before they reacheil Tioga Point. 

Jacob Bowman settled on Towanda creek prior to the Revolution. 
He sided against the "rebels" and became known as " Tory " Bow- 
man ; he went to Canada when hostilities commenced. After the war 
he returned and settled on the farm finally owned by his grandson, 
B. F. Bowman. "Tory" Bowman was a man of enterprise, and in 
1801 was licensed to keep a tavern. He had a store in addition to his 



500 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

tavern as early as 1809; established the first ferry near the mouth of 
Towanda creek, and built the first frame house. His place was a noted 
resort, and that and his brother-in-law's place by William Means, were 
rivals. Bowman died m 1845, aged eighty-six years; he had married 
Mary Fox, daughter of Rudolph Fox, and their children were: 
George, Jacob, John, Daniel, Mary, Rebecca, Hannah, Susan and 
Harry. 

Jacob Grantier, German, came from New York, and settled on 
Towanda creek in 1784, about eighty rods south of Maj. Hale's res- 
idence. It was here Rev. Thomas Smiley was tarred and feathered by 
the Yankees in 1801. March 7, 1802, Grantier transferred his claim 
to Reuben Hale, and removed to Canton township where are to-day 
his descendants. 

James, Silas and Orr Scoville came in 1788. James and Silas pur- 
chased of Smith, a farmer-preacher, and they made an improvement 
a little west of where the nail mill is, where Silas built the first frame 
house in the township, where he kept "bach" until 1796; James had 
returned to Luzerne county. In 1796 Silas married Abigail Harris, 
and then had hiin own housekeeper. Orr improved the H. L. Scott 
place and married Polly Rutty, daughter of Ezra Rutty, and removed 
to Canton township. Silas Scoville came to own three ox teams, and 
made trips to the lakes, takmg millstones and bringing salt, then 
worth thirteen dollars a barrel. He died in 1824. 

One early settler was Richard Gofi'; just how soon is not known, 
but the assessor's books show that in 1796 he had eleven acres 
improved. 

Joshua Wythe, who was an officer in the Revolution, located here 
about 1794. 'He bought land on Towanda creek of John Heath, 
known later as the George Bowman place; his wife, nee Elizabeth 
Brewer, died in 1805 ; was buried in the flats, and the railroad passes 
over her grave. Mr. Wythe emigrated to Ohio. 

Reuben Hale came among the early pioneers from Connecticut, and 
settled on the place now occupied by his son, Maj. Elias Wellington 
Hale. The fact that Isaac Tracy liad preceded Reuben was the cause 
of turning his course to this locality. He purchased land of George 
Wells, dated June 14, 1799, and became in time the sole owner of the 
old mill on Towanda creek. Reuben Hale married Wealthy Tracy, 
daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Rogers Tracy, of Tioga Point, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1803, and at once removed into the old Dougherty log cabin 
that' stood a short distance from Maj. Hale's present residence. He 
was appointed postmaster at Towanda in 1810, said to be the first in 
the place. 

Casper Singer, from Philadelphia, came in 1791, and took up land 
now in Wysox ; he built a sawmill " near the mouth of Towanda 
creek ;" this is the " Hale Mill." Singer made a deposition in Phila- 
delphia in 1796, and testified that living in this locality in 1795 were 
Orr Scoville, Joseph Gee, Jacob Bowman. Jacob Grantier, Joseph 
Wallace, Michael Krause and Stephen Strickland. 

A son-in-law of Rudolph Fox, Nathan Farr, was here at an early 



HISTOI'vY OF BF{.M)r'Oi;i» COfNTY. ."jO I 

date. James Davidson was here in tiie other cf^ntuiv : settled near 
the nail works. 

The first and one of the most important pioneei's to settle in wiiat is 
now North Towanchi townshij) was Ezra Rutty who came tVom New 
York in 1785. and located on Sugar cretjiv. He pui'chased on time 
500 acres, and im[)roved what is yet known as the "Rutty farm," on 
whicii his descendants remained. His son Ezra was a baby when the 
family came, and Ezra (third) eventually occupied the old homestead. 
Mr. Rutty died in 181;^), and iiis widow five years later; they were 
buried in Riverside Cemetery. 

Abial Foster settled on the E. H. Horton farm; he married, in 1795, 
Mary Means a sister of Williaiii Means. He built a sawmill, among 
the first if not the very first, on the site of "Myer's Mills," and for years 
this was the important milling point. Mr. Foster died on the place he 
improved, August 10, 1841, aged seventy-seven. Mrs. Foster die<l 
November 3, 1855. 

Joshua Bailey, from New York, settled on Sugar creek in 1792 ; 
he had come to Wyalusing in 1791, stopped there with the Bennetts, 
married Susan and moved to his pei'manent place. He passed through 
Towanda, and describes the place where there was "a man living in 
a log cabin a little south of the present court-house," and that he had 
about four acres cleared, which he offered him for $40. His nearest 
neighbor from his Sugar creek settlement was' his brother-in-law, 
Amos Bennett. Mr. Bailey died February 14, 1861, aged ninety-two 
years. 

Martin Stratton came in 1794, stopped with Ezra Rutty, and in 
time married Ezra Rutty's daughter; he was a mill-wright and 
carpenter; \vas five years in West J3urlington, where he built a grist- 
mill for the Goddards, and then returned to North Towanda, and in 
1805 bought an improvement of Amos Bennett, originally Seeley's. 
Martin and Cephas Stratton and Jonathan Ilolcomb erected a grist- 
mill on Sugar creek, near where is Mr. Barne's sawmill, and in 1809 a 
sawmill was added. Martin Stratton died November 3, 1821, aged 
sixty-three years, his widow soon after, and both sleep in Riverside 
Cemetery. 

Ozias Bingham, from New York, a Revolutionary veteran, came to 
North Towanda in 1795; he married Martha Rutty. He had been 
a captain in the Continental army and was in the battle of German- 
town, He was a widower when he came West, and left his five children 
behind. He afterward brought on his children, and one of his sons 
opened a trading store at the family home, and exchanged peltries fen' 
goods. Mr. Bingiiam, who lived to be ninetv-two vears of age, died 
February 9, 1845. 

Stephen Powell (brother of Joseph ('.) came to North Towanda, and 
purchased Dr. Baldwin's place. 

Settling the Tovmnda Hills. — William Finch, of Connecticut, a 
Revolutionary soldier, was the first to settle on the '• hills." He 
landed at " Bowman's eddy " in 1798, made a clearing on the Welles 
flats, and raised a crop of corn, but the overflows determined him to 
go to the hills. He built his cabin on the present William Welch 



502 , HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

place. During the war he was taken a prisoner to Montreal. He dug 
his way out of prison, and made his escape to the American shore, 
whence he commenced a long and perilous journey homeward, traveling 
by night and keeping secreted by day, accompanied, day and night, 
with an empty stomach. His only guide through the wilderness was 
the sun and the moss on the trees ; after untold sufferings he reached 
the array, and served faithfully until peace was declared. He had 
learned the tailor trade, and tanned the skins, and made the clothes, 
including shoes, of his family for many years. Pie died at the age of 
eighty -six, and is buried at Cole's. His wife, Mary (Huxley), lived to 
pass the age of eighty years. 

Andrew Gregg was in Sullivan's expedition up the river. After the 
war he married Nancy Santee, of Luzerne, then came to Ulster and 
from there to Towanda, in 1804, where he died April 25, 1846 ; his wife 
died. May 17, 1838. 

Benjamin Bosworth, a Revolutionary father, and a hatter by trade, 
came from Boston, and improved the Willis Fisher place. His neigh- 
bor was Williston West, who settled on the Harry Decker place in 
1812. West's second wife w^as Susan Bosworth, daughter of Benjamin 
Bosworth ; the last named died suddenly at the age of eight3^ 

Maj. Frederick Fisher came to Towanda in 1827, and was a prominent 
man of the olden time. He merchandised for a time at Monroeton ; 
died Mav 14, 1857, aged over sixtv vears; his wife, Dolly (Cole), died 
May 16,"' 1865. 

William McGill (Irishman) came in 1802, lived with Jacob Bowman 
and eventually mari-ied Mary Bowman. He was a stone-mason, and 
after some time removed to the hills back of Towanda, and improved 
the Philander Ward place. He died in 1855, aged seventy-seven 
years ; his wife had preceded him six years. 

Benjamin Davidson, a farmer and lumberman, lived to be the oldest 
settler of the Tow^anda hills; he was born January 31, 1807. 

Early Settlers in lohat is now the Borough of Toioanda. — Of these 
the name of William Means will ever stand first, and the destiny, indeed 
the very existence of the place as a borough, owes everything to him. 
The town was (and it most probably should never have been changed) 
called " Meansville." He was of Irish descent, a son of Samuel Means, 
of Northumberland county at the commencement of the Revolution. 
Samuel Means and one of his sons were in the army ; the father was 
fatally wounded in battle, and the son was never heard of after 
the battle of Wyoming, where it was supposed he was killed. The 
family fled from "Northumberland county from the invading savages, in 
which flight Mrs. Means carried, with "her other children, an infant 
only six weeks old ; they went by canoe down the Susquehanna river, 
paddling around the bend by the light of their burning house. The 
family returned, when it was safe, to their desolated home, but tiie 
brave mother survived only a short time, and the little children were 
scattered among different families. When Rudolph Fox fled down the 
river, tiiey fell in company with the Means families, and this was the 
cause eventually of bringing William Means to Towanda, and soon 
after the war he came to look at the country. Another account says 



HISTORY OF F.RADKOItn COUNTY. HOS 

that William followed boating, and in liis trips became acquainted with 
his future wife, Elizabeth Fox. In 171)4 lie had the contract to convey 
the French refugees from llarrisburg to their place in Asylum. The 
Frencli, when he met them in Pliiladelphiii, advanced hini money on 
his conti'act, and he purchased goods which be bi-ought along on the 
trip. On reaching their destination, he sold his bout to tliem, and on 
it they fixed a temporary shelter, and he hired as overseer of their build- 
ing, and his energy and^thi-ift soon cleared him $1,000 in addition to 
the goods he had brought. This was the foundation of his fortune. He 
settled on the river directly opposite the old dam, and for many years 
kept tavern and a ferry — built the famous " Old Red Tavern " on what 
is now the corner of Franklin and Main streets. He was licensed a 
" taverner" in 1797. His building was a two-story frame, and the store 
was in his old log house — his were the first store, tavern and distillery 
in Towanda. The '' Old Red Tavern " was the court-house until the 
county buddings were erected in 1816. The jail was at Monroeton. 

In 1810 Mr. Means built his commodious (then of the most stylish 
plan of architecture) residence, yet standing on the corner of Main 
and Bridge streets, and there lived until the time of his demise. 
About the same time he erected a small building, 18 x 20 feet, on the 
corner of Main and Bridge streets, on the same lot with and south of 
his house, and occupied it as a store till he went out of business, his 
son William keeping the hotel for a series of years after 1816. Mr. 
Means was an extensive land-holder. He owned about 600 acres 
adjoining on the south by the Fox-chase farm, and extending north- 
ward to about where Decker Bros', store now is. Besides he owned 
several hundred acres at Greenwood and other points. He lumbered 
extensively and shipped his lumber in rafts down the Susquehanna. 
In 1809 he built a sawmill at Van Gorder's on Towanda creek, and 
afterward a second one at Greenwood. In addition to his lumbering 
business he bought grain and shipped it in ark-loads to the lower 
counties. After the improvement of the public highways, lie 
would load an old-fashioned "Dutch four-horse wagon" with 'peltry. 
go to Philadelphia, and then return with a load of goods. It 
required nearly six weeks' time to make the trip. By means 
of his ferry, which was directly opposite the Red Tavern, com- 
munication was opened with tlie east side of the river and the 
place thus greatly benefited. He was the first magistrate of the 
town (commissioned Dec. 20, 1800), and was generally known as 
"Esquire Means." In 1812, he Avas appointed postmaster of Towanda 
village. He was ai)pointed county treasurer in 181.5, and served 
one terra. Mr. Means brought his sisters into the county, one after 
another, and gave them a home in his familv. The life of this active 
man was closed Oct. 3, 1829, at the age of 64 years. His body is 
entombed in the family burial ground on Second street. Mrs. Means, 
or "Grandma Means," as she was familiarly called, survived her hus- 
band many years. The children of William and Elizabeth Means 
were William, John, Samuel, Celinda and Eliza. 

Ebenezer B. Gregory came here through the influence of Mr. 
Means. At all events he accompanied liim on his return trip from 



504 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Northumberland where he had gone after his sister, Nancy (Mrs. Dr. 
Warner). He lived in a double log house near the river, a little north- 
east of the present residence of I. O. Blight, on the same lot. The 
building was used as a house of entertainment, and Mr. Gregory was 
licensed a ''taverner" in 1802. lie seems to have also engaged in the 
mercantile business for a short time, being marked "merchant" on 
the assessment roll of 1814:. Mr. Gregory was a man of education 
and "very much of a gentleman." His wife was an accomplished 
ladv, and'as early as 1810 or 1811 established a boarding school at her 
own house for young ladies and girls. Mr. Gregory was one of 
the original proprietors of Towanda, and donated from his portion two 
lots for an academy, which were subsequently appropriated to private 
uses. In about 1817 he removed to Owego, and died. ] 

James Lewis located in the borough before 1798. He occupied a 
log house standing on the gulf, near where the Episcopal church now 
is. In about 1806 he moved into Monroe, where he died in 1822. 

Frederick Eiklor was also one of the earliest inhabitants. He 
built and occupied a house where M. E. Eosenfeld's store now stands. 
While dressing flax one day, it caught fire, and burned the house. He 
then moved to Rome. 

John Schrader, a Hessian soldier, who espoused the American 
cause, came to Towanda in or before 1799. He occupied a small board 
house, used both as a residence and cooper shop, which stood nearly 
east of the Presbyterian church, near the site of McKean's hotel. 
After a few years he moved to Greenwood and settled where the 
tannery now 1*8. Nathaniel Talcutt was an early resident of Towanda 
and "kept a little store."' His name is found for the last time on 
the assessment rolls in 1809. . . Adam Conley, a blacksmith, came in 
from the West branch, and married Miss Betsy, sister of William 
Means. He built and occupied a framed house, near the corner of 
Main and Pine streets, where Tracy & Nobles' block now is. On the 
opposite side of the street, on the 'site of Stevens & Long's store, he 
had his shop. After Mr. Conley's death, his widow moved to the 
head of Seneca lake, with her son Clark, where she died. Their chil- 
dren were: Clark, Joseph, John, William, Eliza, Mary and Jane, 
Clark learned the tailor's trade and had a shop adjoining his father's 
house. He subsequently moved to Ralston, Pa., and died there a few 
years since. 

Abijah Northrup (familiarly " Bij") before the year 1800 built a 
log cabin on the ground now occupied by the First National Bank. 
He was one of the most noted pilots on the river. He afterward 
moved to an island near the mouth of Towanda creek, thence above 
Greenwood, where he died. His father, Nathan Northrup, a native of 
Connecticut, came to Athens at an early day with his family, whence 
" Bij " proceeded to Towanda. 

Col. Henry Spalding came to Towanda from Sheshequin in 1810. 
His store was*^ below where is now the Barclay depot; he then built 
his frame store, which was afterward occupied by Henry Mercur as a 
hatter's shop. In 1812 he built the Mix residence, and kept tavern 
there, and near it was his store. In 1813 the firm of Harry Spalding 



i 



HISTORY OI" rntADFOUD COUNTY. 505 

& Co. was dissolved; his associates were John Robinson and Stephen 
C King. Col. Spalding, who was the first treasurer of the county, died 
May 23, 1821, aged tliirty-seven. His children were : Franklin, Asa, 
Harry, James, Simon and Weltlia. 

James Woodi-utl" was the first tailor to locate in the place. He 
came from Wilkes-Barre in 1812. He enumerated tlie inhabitants as 
follows on his arrival: William Means, Harry Spalding, Adam Conley, 
Abijali Northrup, E. B. Gregory, Oliver Newell and the Watts family. 
Four frame houses and all others log cabins. lie opened his tailor shop 
in a log house west of Gregory's, and prospered so that in time he 
built a hotel, abandoning the "goose"; his was the "Tiger Plotel,'' 
afterward kept by Daniel Bartlett, to whom he sold. Then built the 
"Bradford House," where is now the Reporter- Journal office, and 
council rooms. This, in 1840, he sold Ira H. Stevens, and purchased 
a farm in North Towanda, where he remained until 1803; thence went 
to Battle Creek, Mich., and spent the remainder of his days with his 
daughter. His daughter Ceiinda married Edward Young, whose sons 
are in Tioy and Towanda. 

Francis Watts, of Scotch-Irish extraction, who had married Miss 
Jane, sister of Wm. Means, came in from the West brancli not long 
after his brother-in-law, and occupied about 400 acres of land, extend- 
ing from the Arcade block to Geo. Blackman's, and from the river a 
mile westward. He built a log house, nearly where Mr. Ilawes' 
residence now is, and the homestead was in the occupancy of the family 
for more than three-quarters of a century. Mr. AVatts died before 1809, 
and left a large family. Mrs. Watts only having a squatter's claim, 
gave one-half the possession to Harry Spalding for securing and 
advancing the money necessary to perfect the title. 

Andrew Irvine, the tanner, came in 1812. He had received his 
discharge from the army, and was returning iiome when he stopped at 
Towanda, and his keen eye detected an eligible spot for a tanneiy. 
He ])urch'.ised a half acre of ground of Esq. Means, and built a two- 
story log house, making a shop of the first Moor. Irvine's lot adjoined 
where is now Rosenfeld's store, and was back of Tidd's hotel ; he is the 
man who advertised " soal leather " for sale. 

Simon Kinney, Esq., the first white child born in the present town 
of Sheshequin, came to Towanda in 1813-14, to follow^ his profession — 
that of law. Fie was a son of Joseph Kinney, a soldier of the Revo- 
lution, and Sarah (Spalding), a daughter of Gen. Simon Spalding, of 
Revolutionary celebrity. His early life was spent in assisting in 
clearing up a heavily timbered farm, receiving, in the meantime, a 
careful and intellectual training. At his majority he married Phcx'be 
Cash, and removed to a farm, which his father owned in Scipio, 
N. Y., and commenced the study of law. Finding his means inad- 
equate to properly complete his studies and procure a library, 
the farm was sold and the proceeds used for establishing him in 
business at Towanda. He was a man of unquestioned legal ability, 
being the compeer of Mallory. Conyngham, Dennison, Strong, Wil- 
liston, Overton, Baldwin and Watkins, leaders at the bar of Bradford 
and northern Pennsvlvania. He was a member of the State Legisla- 



506 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ture for the sessions of 1820-21 and 1821-22, the district then com- 
prising- the counties of Tioga and ]'>radford, also county treasurer for 
1816-17. Mr. Kinney was a man of strong mind, and Ijis service is 
favorably remembered by active j)articij)ators in the political affairs of 
the time. Judge David Wilmot completed his law studies in Mr. 
Kinney's office. He was one of the most prominent and active men 
of the county. In 1834, he removed to Rockford, 111., with his family. 

Col. H. L. Kinney achieved an enviable celebrity by his dash, cour- 
age and enterprise, which made him at one time quite the lion of the 
country. He was the founder of Corpus Christi, Texas, and peopled 
the town by a denomination of his own settlers ; served in the Mexican 
War in Gen. Scott's army; supplied the commissariat with stores from 
the resources of the country ; and was deemed a millionaire at the 
end of the war. He spent much of his fortune afterward in Central 
American expeditions. During the rebellion, he served in Mexico as 
colonel in her army, fought against the French and Maximilian, and 
was killed at Monterey while leading a small troop in ferreting out 
guerrillas in the city. lie became one of the finest horsemen in Texas, 
taking lessons of the Comanches, and so far surpassing them that they 
were, to his mastery, but initiates. He won many victories over them 
in some of their sharpest fights. It will not be amiss, perhaps, to state 
that he married a daughter of Gen. Lamar of the " Lone Star" fame. 

Charles F. Welles, upon the organization of this count}^ received 
from the Governor autiiority to administer the oaths of office to the 
newly chosen officers, and himself was chosen prothonotary, clerk of 
the courts, register and recorder, ami the first records of the county 
are in his own neat and peculiar penmanship. For ten years he was a 
resident of Towanda, when he removed to Wyalusing in 1822. He was 
a son of George Welles, one of the first settlers of Athens, and was 
born in Glastonbury, November 5, 1789. In 1816 he was joined in 
wedlock with Miss Ellen J,.tlaughter of Judge Ilollenback. Mr. Welles 
was a man of varied and extensive reading. He wielded a busy pen, 
and contributed for the papers some of the best poetic articles which 
were published. Though never a politician, in the sense of aspiring 
for office, he took a deep interest in political questions. In early life he 
espoused the principles advocated by Jefferson ; later he became an 
admirer of Henry Clay, and a defender of his policy. During his res- 
idence in Towanda he exerted a well-nigh controlling influence in the 
politics of the county. His articles on political questions, written at 
this time, were marked by breadth of view and urged with a cogency 
of reasoning that carried conviction to the mind of the reader, while 
the corrupt politician received scathing rebukes from his trenchant 
pen. He became an extensive land owner and left a fine fortune at 
his death, September 23, 1866. 

The Vandykes. — John V^andyke, a native of Holland, came to 
America and at first settled near Trenton, N. J., whence he removed 
to Turbit township, Northumberland county, Pa. He married an Irisli 
lady, and remained in Northumberland, where he reared his family. 
In 1815, William Yandyke, a son, came to Towanda and purchased of 
John Leavenworth a tract of land on Towanda creek, including- a o-rist- 



HISTORY OF nUADFOKl) COUNTY. 507 

mill and a sawmill. Mr. Vandx'ke and the balance of the family came 
the same or the following year. In 1817, John Vandyke was assessed 
as follows: "Seven acres of land improved; seven town lots; two 
houses ; a tan-yard, and a horse and cow." His land extended from 
the Overton basin to State street. Mr. Vandyke's sons settled about 
him. Davis, " the saddler,"' occupied the James Ward place. He had 
a saddlery-shop on the ground where Dr. Pratt's residence now stands. 
After some years he sold out and moved to Granville township, where 
he lived until the time of his demise. AVilson, "the tanner," moved to 
Allegany, N. Y. and there died. John lived where Henry Porter now 
does. He sold out and removed to Canton, where he sjient the residue 
of his days. In 1825, Mr. A^andyke and his son William, traded 
their property in Towanda with H. W. Tracy for land in Ulster 
township, on what is now knoAvn as Moore's hill, and moved there 
while the locality was yet a wilderness. The farm on which they 
both spent their last days is yet owned and occupied by the family. 
William married Miss Susan, daughter of James Douglierty, whose 
mother's maiden name was Hammond. He was the father of G. II. 
Vandyke, of Ulster, ex-Democratic countv commissioner. 

Eliphalet Mason came to Towanda in 1810, "being the twelfth 
family within the borough limits." He built a house on the corner 
west of Main street, and north of State street, which he afterward sold 
to George Scott. In 1820 he erected a stone house, out of small stones, 
in front of the Public Square, standing where Jordan's meat market 
now is. The building was named the ''Stone Heap," but nick-named 
the " Stone-Jug." He built a stone buildino- adjoining:, and enoao-ed in 
selling groceries for about a year. In 1822 he erected a storehouse on 
the coi'uer of Court and Maine streets, opposite the Public Square, 
which he rented to Gurdon Ilewett. Of Mr. Mason's residence in 
Towanda he says: "In the spring of 1817 grain was very scarce. 
Corn had been ruined by the frosts of the fall before, and every kind of 
food was in meagre supply. It became evident that some one must 
undertake to supply the village with meat, and as I could best affortl 
the time, the task fell upon me. Indeed, so great was the dependence, 
that the villagers could not boil the pot without iiiy providing." For 
many years Mr. Mason was one of the most prominent men of the 
county. His early life was spent in teaching. In tlie fall of 1814 he 
was commissioned lieutenant of militia, and with others was drafted in 
the War of 1812. A company of 110 men was raised, and placed under 
his command and sent to Danville, awaiting oi'ders; but returned home 
after a month's absence. At the October election, 1814, he was chosen 
county auditor, being the only Democrat elected on the ticket that year. 
From April, 1815, he acted as deputy sheriff, under A. C Ilockwell, 
till the close of his term, and transacted nearly all the business con- 
nected with the office. In 1810 he was elected county commissioner over 
A. C. Rockwell, his brother-in-law, the Federal candidate. July 1, 
1818, he was commissioned by Governor Findlay, recorder of deeds, 
and in conjunction with the ])rotijonotarv to administer oaths of office 
to such persons as might be appointed l)y the Governor. In 1824 he 
was appointed a commissioner with Edward Eldred and Wm. iJrindle 



508 HISTORY OF BUADFORD COUNTY. 

to lay out a State road from Muncy to Towanda. Again, in 1829, he 
was "elected to the office of county commissioner, having a greater 
majority than his competitor had votes. In 1837 Mr. Mason and his 
son, Gordon F., purchased several thousandacresof land of the Asylum 
Company, lying in Bradford county. The investment proved a fruitful 
one. Mr. Mason continued in active and varied business till 1844, when 
he threw off most of his cares to enjoy his closing days. He found 
great comfort in making verse, reading" his papers, and in frequently 
contributing an article to the press. His writings will be remembered 
by many under the sohriquet of "Old South." Mr. Mason was a man 
of genius, indomitable energy and undaunted courage. His honesty 
and integrity were never questioned, and of littleness he was never 
accused. His life was a successful one and a noble example. 

Walter S. Minthorn, a mechanic, came to Towanda in 1817. He 
was a soldier of the War of 1812, and lost a leg. For a while he 
lived on the corner of Second and State streets, finally moving to 
Rome. 

Nathaniel Heacock, a carpenter, was assessed in Towanda in 1817. 
He lived at the terminus of Second street, with Lombard. From 
Towanda he went to Canton. 

William Kelly and sons, Lewis and William, mechanics, settled in 
Towanda in 1818. He established a ferry across the river, the w^harf 
being at the terminus of State street, and was known as the upper, or 
Kellv's ferry. His house stood on the corner of Water street, south 
of slate. He also kept a grocery for a while, on Court street, which 
he sold to Benjamin Hunt. Lewis Kelly lived on Second street, 
where Benjamin Northrup now does. He followed cabinet-making. 
Tiiinking Newton a more favorable place for his business, he moved 
thither. 

Dr. Charles Whitehead located at Towanda in 1818. His house 
stood a little south of N. N. Bett's residence, in the same lot, which 
he then owned. He was a man of ability and considerable eminence. 
From 1820 and 1823 he was register and recorder of the county. He 
was also a justice of the peace. He died in 1825 (aged thirty-one 
years), and was buried in Riverside Cemetery. Mrs. Whitehead taught 
school in the village after her husband's death. 

Lewis P. Franks, a printer, came to Towanda in 1817, and edited 
the Was/iingtonian, the first regular Federal paper in the county. 
After continuing the paper about a year he turned its management 
over to Octavius Plolden, who continued its publication only a short 
time. Franks is remembered as a central figure, with a keen intellect, 
but eccentric. He wielded an able and trenchant )>en. Upon leaving 
Towanda he went to Philadelphia, where he engaged in journalism. 

John Stower was a deputy sheriff and jailor under Lemuel Streeter, 
having removed to Towandci in 1819. Heat first lived in the base- 
ment of the old court-house, then built on his lot, the same as now 
occupied by Mercur's block. He sold out to Col. Harry Mix, and 
removed t(> Bingliamton, where a son had preceded him, and gvme 
into business. 

Charles Comstock occupied the lot of now Judge Benjamin M. 



HISTORY OF BliADFOHl) COUNTY. 509 

Peck, and liad a store a little south of his present residence. lie came 
to Towanda in 1819, and removed to Athens in about 1823, where he 
was a merchant for many years. 

Jacob r. Ensley, a shoemaker, was a resident of Towanda in 1819, 
and occupied the first floor of Jesse Woodruffs tailor shop. . . . 
James E. Haslet, a mason, was also a resident of the borough in 1819, 
and lived in a small house where Hon. W. T. Davies' residence noAv is. 
. . . Edwin Benjamin came to Towanda in about the same time (1818) 
that he and Lemuel Streeter purchased tlie Bradford Gazdte. He 
was postmaster of Towanda in 1819, and county clerk in 1821. He 
lived Avhere A. Snell's residence now is. 

Elisha Newberry, a blacksmith, began working at his trade in the 
village in 1819. He subsequently went to Troy, and became a prom- 
inent citizen there. 

Hon. George Scott, a native of Berkshire county, Mass.. born 
November 19, 1784, having attained his majority, in company with an 
elder brother, David, started for the " Sunny South " to begin life in 
earnest and make his fortune. The young men were both well edu- 
cated for those days, and had decided to engage in school-teaching 
wi]en an opportunity presented itself, until something more congenial 
and paying should he found. Accordingly, sometime in 1805, they 
set out with a single hoi-se, and drifted into Wysox, Bradford county. 
They made their business known, whereupon the citizens called a 
meeting at the house of Burr Eidgeway, and George was hired to 
teach the school of the district. David found employment west of 
the river. He also clerked for William Mea.ns, read law in the mean- 
time, and finally went to Wilkes-Barre, whei-e he was admitted to 
the bar. He became a man of note ; was prothonotary of Luzerne 
county, and for several yeai-s was president judge of "^the Luzerne 
district. George continued teaching in Wysox, and having 
been appointed a justice of the peace, purchased a lot next 
beyond the " brick church," and built a house thereon. Finally, 
Miss Lydia, daughter of Henry Strope, '" possessed the necessarv 
charms," and he became a permanent fixture in the county. Upon 
the organization of the county in 1812, he was appointed an" associate 
judge with John McKean, by Gov. Snyder, and held that office nntil 
1818. He was clerk to the county commissionei's from 1815 to 1820, 
and was appointed prothonotary in 1818, and register and recorder in 
1824, which office he held till 1830. In 1816 he was appointed a com- 
missioner to superintend the distribution of the funds a])propriated 
for the building of the State road, ''extending eastward and westward 
througn the county," and passing through Towanda. 

In the Autumn of 1819, Mi\ Scott moved to Towanda with his 
family, and took up his residence on the corner north of State street, 
west of Main, but afterward lived and died on the ground now occu- 
pied by Dr. Pratt. He edited and published the Bradford SetUer 
from 1821 to 1823, his printing office standing east of Main street, and 
south of State, near the corner. From 1823 to 1824 he was county 
treasure)-, and foi- many years was ])rominent in the politics of the 
county. He died at Towanda. March 2, 1834, and was bui'ied in 



510 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Riverside Cemetery. Mrs. Scott survived her husband many years ; 
she was born in Wysox, P'ebruary 29, 1788, and died in Towanda, 
P'ebruary 25, 1881. 

William Hart, a native of NeAv Jersey, came to Wysox about the 
close of the AYar of 1812, in which he served as a farrier and shod 
Oapt, (afterward Gen.) Scott's horse. He was for a time connected 
with Hollenback's store and house of entertainment. While here 
engaged, he married a daughter of Henry Strope. In 1818 he moved 
to Towanda and rented the "Red Tavern" and ferry of Mr. Means. 
He perhaps kept the hotel but one year, then worked at his trade, that 
of blacksmith. He finally moved to Monroeton, where he resided 
until the time of his death. 

Gurdon Hewett, who had engaged in lumbering at Monroe, and 
married a daughter of Wm. Means, came to Towanda in 1819, and 
engaged in the mercantile business. He built a store on the corner 
of Main and Bridge streets, where Patton's block now stands, and a 
residence farther east. About 1827 he removed to Owego, N. y.,and 
engaged in the Ijanking business, and became, it is said, a millionaire. 
He was the architect of his own fortune, having begun life as a poor 
boy. From 1821 to 1822 he was treasurer of Bradford county. 

William Keeler came to Towanda in 1820, and for a couple of 
years kept hotel. He was then a partner in the mercantile busi- 
ness with Thomas Elliott. They occupied the store south of the 
" Stone Jug," erected by E. Mason, where Fitch's confectionery store 
now is. 

Joseph C. Powell, upon being elected sheriif, came to Towanda to 
reside in 1821. He was the son of Stephen Powell, a Revolutionary 
soldier, who emigrated from Dutchess county, I^. Y., to Ulster, Brad- 
ford county, in 1798, and settled the first farm above "the narroAvs." 

In 1830 he was made prothonotary by the voluntary suffrages of 
the people, and a member of the State Legislature in 1849. Upon 
moving to Towanda Mr. Powell at first occupied the "Barstow House." 
but finally removed to iSTorth Towanda on his farm, where he remained 
until the time of his death, Se])tember 2. 185-1. After having lost his 
first wife, he married Mrs. Vespnsian ElHs, nee Selina Phillips. Of 
his first marriage, Percival and B. Franklin were well known. The 
former, for some time postmaster of Towanda, engaged in tailoring 
and the sale of ready-made clothing; and the latter in journalism, 
being for many years editor of the Bradford Argus, and a projirietor 
with "Judge " Parsons. Of his second marriage were children : Eucretia, 
nuirried to John K. Baker, of Bath, ^. Y. ; Marv. maiM^ied to W. B. 
Webb, of Chicago; and the Hon. Joseph. 

Andrew Trout (1821), a blacksmith, and a soldier of the War of 
1812, was a resident of Towanda till 1831, when he was drowned with 
George H. Bingham at Shamokin dam. He had a number of sons, 
who became bright men. 

War-ren Brown came to Towanda as early as 1817. He built the 
"(bounty House" so called from its having been built of second-hand 
material, procuretl of the county commissioners. Tliis building stood 
where is the residence of J. J. Griffith, and was used as a hotel b}^ Mr. 





^w?^ 




HISTORY OF RRADI'ORI) COUNTY. 513 

Brown as early as 1824. He was clerk of the count v IVom 1826-'.')0 ; 
and in about 1832 went West with his family. 

James Catlin and Octavius Ilolden were earh^ residents of Towanda, 
and among the first printers. , William V. Dinniger, a Frenchman 
skilled in the art of teacliing, came here from Wysox, taught 
school and resided for awhile. The early records of Wysox show 
that he took quite an active part in politics, and held various local 
offices. He was somewhat rigid and eccentric as a teacher, and is 
well remembered by some of the elderly people. 

Among early families that were here for a sliort time only, are 
remembered : The Moores, the Wheelers, the Beebes, the Leaven worths, 
the Ingrams. . . Thomas Elliott established himself in the mercantile 
business, near the corner of Main and Pine streets, in 1821. He was 
for sometime associated with William Keeler. and afterward with 
Hiram Mercur. Here, in 1846, the Hon. Joseph Powell took his fiist 
lessons in the mercantile art. Mr. Elliott was a prominent merchant 
of the town for many years. He built a spacious mansion in the 
southern part of the village, where he died in aftiuence in 1868, aged 
sevent\^-six years. His aged w^idow and son. Edward T., occupy the 
homestead. Mr. Elliott was the first president of the old Towanda 
Bank. He was a man of strict integrity, and was greatly respected. 

Theodore Geroulds (1822), a bla.cksmith, lived on Water street for 
awhile. Col. Hiram Mix came to Towanda in 1822 from Myersburg, 
where he had been a merchant, purchased a lot of John Stowers and 
opened a store in partnership with his brother. St. John Mix. Col. 
Hiram Mix closed his days in Towanda. His children were: William, 
Harry, Hiram, Amelia (Mrs. D. F. Barstow), Emeline (Mrs. D. Hus- 
ton), Elizabeth (Mrs. Jno. F. Means), Matilda (Mrs. Jos. Kingsbury) 
antl Ellen (Mrs. St. John Mix). Of these Harry, Amelia and Matilda 
are still living. William was the father of John W. Mix, of Towanda. 

Nathaniel N. Betts, the father of N. K Betts, cashier of the First 
National Bank of Towanda, came from Oxford, N. Y., in about 1820 
to officiate as clerk for Gurdon Hewett, with whom he subsequently 
became a partner. After Mr. Hewett removed to Owego, he sent Jos. 
D. Montanye to Towanda as his clerk, who finally became a partner in 
the concern. Mr. Hewett subsequently sold his interest to the other 
two, and the firm became Betts & Montanye. They were for several 
years one of the principal firms of Towanda, and occupied the corner 
of Court and Main streets, where P. L. Decker now is. Mr. Betts 
married a daughter of Esquire Means, and after her death he mai-ried 
Miss Eliza Clark, daughter of Dr. Adonijali Warner, of Wysox, which 
union was blessed l)y the birth of Eliza. Ellen (Mrs. Dr. H.' C. Porter) 
and Nathaniel Noble. Mr. l]etts was, in iiis later years, a magistrate, 
and scrupulously honest in his official i-elations. He died in 1875 at 
the age of seventy-six years. 

Benjamin Hunt (1822) kept a cake, beer and confectionery estab- 
lishment on the ground now occupied bv McCrany's livery stables, on 
State street, and afterwai'd had a grociery on Coui't street. betwe(Mi 
the Presbyterian church and Frost's Sons" wai-e-rooms. 

Dr. John N. Weston was born in Norwich, Conn., February 12, 



514 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1Y94. He made his advent into the county in the winter of 1813-14, 
instructing hi the art of penmanship, but remained only until the fol- 
lowing spring. 

George W. Cash, son of Capt. Jsaac Cash, one of the first settlers 
in Athens and Ulster, came to Towanda in 1832, and entered into part- 
nership with Morris Spalding in the tanning business, which was con- 
tinued under the firm name of Spalding & Casli for five years. They 
purchased of the Vandykes. Mr. Cash afterward went to Texas, and 
enlisted in the war for Texan independence. He was captured by the 
Mexicans, and put to death in cold blood by orders of Santa Anna'. 

Gen. William Patton, a native of Mifflin county, Pa., and lawyer 
by profession, came to Towanda in 1823. Mr. Patton was a magis- 
trate, and held at successive periods clerkships in the State Senate, 
and in the United States War and Navy Departments, and General 
Land-Oiflce, and also in the United States Senate, serving in the last body 
for more than a quarter of a century. He was a captain in the militia, 
and in 1833 was elected major-general, and at the age of sixty -five 
volunteered for the defense of Washington against an expected attack 
during the late Rebellion. Gen. Patton married, first, the eldest 
daughter of Reuben Hale, and for his second wife, Mrs. Ann J. Gai, of 
Washington, I). C. Mrs. J. J. Griffith is a daughter, and the Hon. 
Jos. G. Patton, a son, he having derived his title by having been a 
Senatorial Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1872 to revise 
the organic law of the State. Gen. Patton died in 1877, at the age of 
a little more than 78 years. 

James McClintock, a young man of superior ability, came to 
Towanda in 1824 to read law with his uncle, Ethan Baldwin. His 
first plea before a jury was in the case of the Commonwealth vs. Hall, 
for an aggravated assault on James P. Bull, editor of the Bradford 
Settler, in which he displayed great oratorial powers. His poetic 
genius was also more than medium. He settled in Wilkes-Barre. 
Death robbed him at once of a loved wife, wdiich together with the 
loss of a large property and political defeat, unbalanced a brilliant 
intellect, and the darkness of insanity settled on him forever, momen 
tary gleams of the sunlight of reason only rendering the gloom more 
fearful. 

Dr. Caleb W. Miles was the first permanent resident physician of 
Towanda. . James Gilson, a cabinet-maker, established himself in 
business at Towanda in 1824. He lived about where Henry Porter 
now tloes, and had a cabinet shop nearly on the line between the late 
James Macfarlane and D. A. Overton. . . Jared Downing Goodenough 
came to Towanda in 182i, from Oxford, N.Y. He was a saddler and har- 
ness-maker, and carried on the business here for several years, also fol- 
lowing general merchandising. In 1835 he was elected justice of the 
peace, and held the office consecutively for seventeen 3'ears. He died 
January 6, 1874, in his eighty-second 3^ear, and his remains are interred 
in Riverside Cemetery. In 1825 he was united in marriage with Sybil, 
daughter of the late Daniel Brown, of Wyalusing. O. D. Goodenough, 
son of Jared Goodenough, was a well-known resident of Towanda, for 
many years connected with journalism, wielding an able, fluent and 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKI) COLTNTY. 515 

versatile pen, and in a manner pleasing, in 186d, the .Bra(7ford Her- 
ald ^vas published by Chase & Goodenough ; in 1871 the' Totva?i da 
Jlushiess Item, by Goodenough and Claiison. 

Ebenezer J^)artlett, the ancestor of the family in Bradford county, 
was a lievolutionary patriot, and was among the freemen who struck 
the first blow for liberty at Lexington. 

Elinas JJeebe, a hatter, located in Towanda in 1823, and Elnathan 
Beebe, who followed the same vocation, in 1825, . William Flatt, 
a carpenter, came to Towanda in 1823; married adaughter of William 
Keeler, and finally removed West. . Francis Delpuech, born at 
Geneva, Switzerland, and a gentleman of culture, educated in French, 
in 1824 chose the quietude of Towanda to spend the residue of his 
days, and accordingly purchased the Oliver JSTewell jH'operty. lie was 
a skillful artist, and had a great passion for flowers, which he took 
pride in cultivating. Mr. and Mrs. Delpuech were estimable personages. 

Hon. George Tracy, son of Solomon Tracy, a Kevolutionary sol- 
dier, and early settler in Ulster (1787), came to Towanda in 1824, and 
engaged in mercantile business; his brother, lion. H. W. Tracy, of 
Standing Stone, being associated with him. His store was where"^ the 
residence of D. A. Overton now is. Mr. Tracy moved to Monroeton 
in 1832. . William D. Yanllorn, a carjjenter, and also Curtis Frink, a 
blacksmith, were added to the populace of the town in 1824. . . David 
Cash, a nephew and law partner of Simon Kinney, began the practice 
of his profession at Towanda in 1825. He was elected prothonotary 
of tlie county in 1839, and was a candidate for the State Senate, but 
was defeated by Hon. Samuel Morris, of Luzerne county. Mr. Cash 
was interested in the construction of the North Branch Canal, and 
also of the Barclay Railroad. He built a fine residence on the corner 
of. Third and Poplar streets, on the south side of the latter, and there 
lived until the time of his death, in 1864, aged seventy years. His 
wife, Mary Ann Spencer, died in 1883, at the age of "seventy -seven 
^-ears. The children of David and Mary A. Cash were: George, 
Charles, Fred, Louise (Mrs. James Wood) and Mary (Mrs. H. S. Gris- 
Wold). David Cash was a brother of George W. Cash. 

Alva Kellogg, a blacksmith, began business in Towanda in 1825. 
He married a daughter of Noah Spalding and lived where A. Snell 
now does. . . Warren Jenkins, grocer, began business in Towanda in 1825. 
He subsequently engaged in journalism. . . Gilbert H. Drake, wagon- 
makei", located at Towanchi in 1825. He had his shop on the ground 
now occupied by James McCabe's residence, his house standing where 
t ho Methodist E))iscopal church now is. Benjamin Specs was associated 
with him for awhile. Drake afterward built a house and shop on the 
ground now occupied by Humphrey Bros. & Tracv. He removed to 
Montrose in 1866. 

Hon. David F. Barstow, a native of Litchfield county. Conn., who 
studied law at Albany, N. Y., and was admitted to practice in 1821, 
came to Towanda in 1825. He was a gentleman of letters, a graduate 
of Union College, and began life in Towanda as a teacher. For many 
years he was a magistrate, and did an extensive business in connection 
with collecting. He also practiced at the bar. Mr. Barstow w^as a 



510 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

man held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen and was honored by 
them with various local offices of responsibility and trust, and served 
the county in the lower branch of the State Legislature from 1838 to 
1840. He was an active, pious and devoted member of the Episcopal 
Church, and stood prominent in its councils, and was a ready supporter 
of both church and school interests. 

William Payson was a deputy sheriff, and lived in the old court- 
house. He came to the village as early as 1820, moving finally to the 
State line. . . Byron Kingsbury, son of Col. Joseph Kingsbury, of 
Sheshequin, located in the northern part of the village in 1825, on the 
farm now owned and occupied by his son, W. W. Kingsbury. . , 
George Robinson, a weaver by occupation, settled (1825) in the upper 
part of the village. He was familiarly known as " Robinson Crusoe." 
Thomas Barnes married a daughter. . . Deacon James Elliot, a brother 
of Thomas, kept a grocery and drug store, in 1825, on the corner of 
Main and Poplar streets, where Clark B. Porter now is. Subsequently 
Mr. Elliott sold out and removed to Ulster, where he remained some 
years, then I'eturned to Towanda to close his years, which almost 
reached a hundred. Morris Spalding, a cousm of Col. Harry, lived in 
Towanda for a number of years, first coming thereto as early as 1817. 
In 1822 he and Geo. W. Cash were associated together in the tanning 
business, which they continued till about 1827. He was postmaster of 
Towanda in 1822, appointed county clerk in 1824. and elected county 
commissioner in 1834. In 1825, he kept a store and occupied the framed 
house, near where the new Episcopal church foundation now is. He 
afterward kept a store farther down town, and finally removed to the 
State of Illinois with his family. 

Obadiah Spalding, a brother of Col. Harry, a "mechanic and single 
freeman," lived in Towanda from 1812 to 1817. . . Noah Spalding, 
another brother of Col. Harry, who had been associated with Wm. B. 
Spalding (a brother) in lumbering on the Towanda creek, became a 
villagerln about 1822. He built a tavern on the east side of the river, 
a little north of where the bridge approach now is, and kept it in con- 
nection with a ferry. He died in 1835, aged forty-seven years, and is 
buried at Riverside. . . John A. Spalding came to Tow^anda in 1824. 
He was a carpenter by trade ; was elected constable ; and afterward 
kept a grocery for some time. . . J. W. and G. K. Bingham erected a 
store on the ground where the Presbyterian church now stands, and 
began business in 1826. . . Elisha Munger, a silversmitli, or watch 
repairer, etc., came to the village in 1825. 

In 1826 the following were also residents of the village; Wm. W. 
Goodrich, shoemaker; John Turner, merchant; Robert Dunham, 
tailor; Andrew Mclntyre; John W. Berger, wagon-maker. In 1827 
were added : Charles R. Brown, a cabinet-maker, who had a small shop 
and continued in business for some time. . . Thomas Policy s, a shoe- 
maker, became somewhat conspicuous as a fisherman. He had two 
sons, one of whom at one time edited a jiaper at Waverly, N. \ . . . 
Burton Kingsbury opened a store on the ground now occupied by E. 
F. Dittrich & Co."^, grocers, where he continued in business for some 



HrSTOHY OF RRADFOItF) COCNTV. 517 

years, then sup|)lanted the wooden building by a brick one. In is^R 
he built a brick residence on tlie corner of Pine and Main streets. 

Dr. Samuel C. Huston, a native of Essex county, Mass., came to 
Towanda in 1827. He became eminent in iiis profession, was a man 
of great lirmness, integrity of purpose and strong likes and dislikes. 
He was unswervingly a Democi'at in [)olitics, and prominently identified 
with the Masonic Fraternity. Dr. Huston married Miss Emeline, 
daughter of Col. Hiram Mix. He died May 2<l, 1856, aged sixtv 
3'ears. A son occupies a part of the homestead on Y'ork avenue. 
Huston street was so called in his honor. . William W. Good- 
rich had come in 1826 fr-om New York to take charge of the tanning 
interests of George Kii'by, who, for a time, had a tannery on the bank (H' 
the river, near the west end of the old dam. He engaged in shoe- 
making and in the sale of merchandise. After some years he removed 
to Wysox, where he died. 

The following citizens were added to Towanda in 1828 : Jesse 
Taylor, a iiouse-painter and chair-maker by occupation. . Jacob 
Whitman, a tailor, and a man of much activity. . Perrin Wells also 
a tailor, had a shop where G. M. Clark's place of business now is. 

Edward F. Young started the first foundry at Towanda. It 
was operated by horse-power, and stood on the bank of the river just 
above State street. Spencer Goodale, in a couple of years, became the 
owner of the property. Mr. Young subsequently built up an extensive 
business at Monroeton. . George Wansey, who\vas an Englishman of 
culture and considerable landed estate, was a resident of the countv- 
seat for several years. He was a Cliristian gentleman of great benev- 
olence. So attached was he to his native country that he never 
became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Mrs. Wansev was 
an English lady of paragon amiability. She moved with her husband 
to Genesee Falls, N. Y. 

Additions made in 1829: Samuel Gordon, a saddler and harness- 
maker, was a resident of the village for several vears. . Plinv 
iSTichols was assistant county clerk, then engaged in business where 
the ''Ward House" now stands. He died in 1832, and his widow subse- 
quently married Dr. Hiram Rice. . Zenus and Benjamin Thomas, 
cousins, and hatters by occupation, were successors to Henrv Mercur. 
The latter, especially, was a man of remarkable natural talents. His 
children were exceptionally bright, and he that was familiarly 
known as "Little Ben Thomas " in Towanda, more than thirtv 
years ago, is to-day that clear-headed gentleman, who has the 
general superintendency of the New York, Lake Erie Sz 
Western Railroad. Much to his credit, he earned ids place bv 
his sterling integrity, perseverance, care and punctuality in busi- 
ness, having begun his career as a poor boy. . The 'lion. Ellis 
Lewis was one of the prominent men of Towanda; in 1832 he was a 
volunteer candidate for the State Legislatui-e, being indorsed bv the 
Independent Democrats and National Republicans, and was elected 
over the regular Democratic nominee. He was a bright and able 
mind, and at the time of his practice at the county seat was conceded 
to be the ablest lawyer of the Bradford county bar. While in the 



518 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY 

State Legislature he made an excellent record, and displayed superior 
judgment, making him so conspicuous in the State, that he was soon 
after chosen attorney general. Subsequently he became president 
judge of the several courts of Lancaster county, and in 1851 was 
elected to the bench of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, becoming 
chief justice, January 5, 1855. As a lawyer and jurist he ranked 
among the foremost, and leaves a bright page on the judicial history of 
the "Keystone State." He spent the last 3^ear of his life in Philadel- 
phia, where he left a fine fortune. 

William Watkins was born in Windsor county, Vt., was admitted 
to the bar in Montpelier in 1825. In 1828 he married Almira Hulett, 
and soon after removed to Towanda. He gave himself immediately to 
the practice of his profession, never engaging in speculation, and only 
participating in the passing questions of the day, when he considered 
a moral principle to be involved. His keen perception of character 
and motive, and persistency of purpose, secured him. in time, a repu- 
tation for shrewdness as a lawyer, and tlie integi'ity of mind, that was 
a distinguishing trait, gave him an undisputed claim to the confidence 
of his clients and the respect of his neighbors and friends. Mr. Wat- 
kins was a man of strong convictions, and of such as did not always 
lead him into avenues of popularity. He identified himself with the 
earliest Abolition movements in the county, wdien a single old colored 
man, familiarly known as " Black Henry," was his main ally. Years 
later, in the interval of which history was verifying the correctness 
of his sympathies, his eldest son, Lieut. Col. Guy H, Hawkins, who 
had early enlisted in the War of the Pebellion, fell in the fruitless 
charge before Petersburg, June 18, 1864. Mr. Watkins died Septem- 
ber 12, 1877, aged sevent_y-five years, in the home he inhabited nearly 
fifty years; Mrs. Watkins died February 9. 1879, at the age of seventy 
two. Their children wefe two sons, Guy H. and William H., and two 
daughters, who married Hon. W. T. Davies, and H. L. L'Amoureaux, 
respectively. 

Wm. T. Buttrie manufactured chairs, bedsteads, etc.. for several 
years, and did a good business. He had his shop on the bank of the 
river, between State and Pine streets . . . Nathaniel Eaton, a chair- 
maker, was associated first with James Gillson and afterward with 
Chas. R. Brown . . . William Foley attended ferry for Mr. Kelly. Mrs. 
Folev was the village laundress, and introduced paper collars among 
the young men . . . Hamlet A. Kerr for two yeai'S edited and published 
the Bradford Settler . . . Seth W. Paine engaged in the mercantile trade 
until 1835, when he sold out and went to Troy, Avhere he did an exten- 
sive business, which gave a great impetus to the growth of that town. 
Mr. Paine has been a man of much enterprise, and is yet living at 
Troy at an advanced age. 

Capt. Nicholas Hentz. of France, landed in this country in 1816 
and settled in Wilkes-Barre, and learned the tinner's trade, whence he 
removed to Towanda in 1830. He served as a captain in the French 
army under Napoleon I., in the Imperial Guard, and afterward in 
regiments of the line, from 1806 to the downfall of the emperor, but 
did not resign his commission until he accompanied his father to the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 519 

United States. His father, Nicholas Hentz. was a member of tlie 
National Assembl)^ of France during the llevolution of 1792, and 
belonged to the party of the Mountain, and was a colleague of liobes- 
pieri'e and St. Just. IJe was on the legislative committee, and assisted 
in com})iling the code of laws known as the "Code Napoleon." After 
the death of Kobespierre he was prosciibed by the convention and 
sentenced to imprisonment for life in the castle of Ham, but lived in 
concealment, under the assumed name of Arnold, for a number of 3'ears, 
and thus eluded being ca[)tnred. 

Hiram Rice learned the printer's trade witii J. P. Bull, a,nd from 
1838 to 1835 was editor and proprietor of the Northern Banner. He 
studied medicine, and removed to Rome where he practiced until the 
time of his demise. A son. Dr. Wm. Rice, succeeded him, and ranks 
high in the medical profession. Mrs. Rice is an accomplished lady, 
and is yet living at an advanced age. . James Warford was a 
wagon-maker of the village for a number of years. In his younger 
days he liad read all the popular tales, and took great ])ridein rehe^ars- 
ino- them to the villaofe lads, . Nehemiah J. Iveeler followed clerk- 
ing for a number of years in Towanda. He was married to a daugh- 
ter of Jesse Taylor. . A. C. Steadman, for a time a resident of 
the borough, was a cabinet-maker by trade. . John E. Geiger, a gun- 
smith, came from Elmira to ToWanda in 1830 and started the first 
regular gun shop in the town and perhaps in the county. He was a 
thorough and skillful workman, and continued at his trade until 1858, 
when he was succeeded by his son, J. Y. Geiger, po])ularly known as 
"■ Boss Geiger," who is still engaged in the same business. Mr. Geiger 
purchased a desirable property in East Towanda, whei-e he spent his 
closing days. 

William Smalley began blacksmithing in the village in 1832; sub- 
sequently sold to his brother Isaac and removed to Ulster, 

Lyman H. Hodges kept an "inn" in 1832, where the "Ward 
House" now stands. . Mark C. Arnout came as a tanner, in 1832, 
and finally bought out Andrew Irving, After some years he removed 
to Granville township and then engaged in farming. . Eli Beard 
began selling goods in 1833, on the corner now occu])ied by Stevens & 
Long, He Hnally moved to Troy and re-engaged in same business. 
Neely & Shoemaker came to Towanda in the same year as Beard, and 
kept a store where Decker Brothers now are. . George W. Miles 
in 1833, was engaged in watch-making and repairing. 

John Savage, a hatter; Edward Watts, a tailor; ('harles Tousey, 
a saddler ; George A. Mix (brother of Col, Hiram), a teacher ; Thomas 
Shiply, a tailor; Nathan Tuttle, a shoemaker, who afterward built a 
hotel on the ground now occupied by the Presbyterian church. 

Those who came to Towanda in 1834 were II. L. Kingsbury, 
painter; Daniel Miller, blacksmith ; G. II. Bunting, tailor ; Silus Noble, 
lawyer; Edward Young, a native of England, and fjither of Rrothon- 
otary Young, came to the village {)reviously, and in 1839 moved to 
(Columbia. 

In 1835-86 the following names were added to the assessment list 
of Towanda: John C. Adams, lawyer; Sheldon S. Bradley; J, M. 



520 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Chilson, silversmith ; Hogan & Gantine, printers; G. H. Dalrymple, 
tailor; John R. Eaton, shoemaker ; John Frost, shoemaker ; Abram 
Goodwin, merchant; — Johnson, silversmith ; Dummer Lilley, printer; 
John Lockwood, blacksmith ; Clement Paine, merchant; Page & Ells- 
worth, merchants ; Isaac H. Ross, shoemaker (also kept hotel) ; Isaac 
C. Ray, barber; Jonathan R. Coolbaugh ; William B. Storm, cashier 
of Towanda Bank; R. B. Stewart, merchant; Richard Wheeler, 
orocer; Edward White, mej-chant ; David Wilmot, lawyer ; Richard 
Wright, hatter ; Jabez AVright, hatter ; George Williams, tailor. 

Names added in 1837: Bottom & Scott, bridge builders; Thomas 
Black, shoemaker; V. H. Bruce, cabinet-maker; William E. Barton, 
constable ; S. S. Bailev, merchant ; Jeremiah Gulp, saddler ; Edmund 
S. Castle, merchant ;"'E. S. Clark, grocer; A. M. Coe, inn-keeper; 
Thomas Coombs, shoemaker; A. S. Chamberlain, commissioners' clerk; 
John Decker, shoemaker; — Harkness, grocer; L. L. Hancock, shoe- 
maker; James P. Kinsman; J. P. Lawrence; Adonijah Moody, 
butcher; John Morris, carpenter; James Matoon, brickmaker ; — 
O'Grady : Amos Pennypacker, tailor ; Samuel Riley, blacksmitli ; 
Nicholas Shoemaker, of' the firm of Neely & Shoemaker ; Seth Steel, 
barber; Elkanan Smith, saddler; H. H. Seely, fork-maker; Charles 
Shockey, baker; Rial Taylor, blacksmith; G. H. Taylor, grocer; 
Daniel Vandercook, cabinet-maker; John Wilson, bedstead manufac- 
turer; Sterling W. Wells, blacksmith ; Henry Yontz, tailor. 

Names added in 1838 : E. F. Bliven, wagon-maker ; Hiram Beech, 
printer; Allen S. Biirnham, inn-keeper; R. R. Carpenter, crockery 
merchant ; John Carman, foundryman ; Luke Gillespie ; Francis Heath, 
blacksmith ; J. P. Kirby & Co.;"' Isaac W. Loveland ; James Nestor, 
grocer; Ralph Peters; G. W. Row baker ; George Sanderson, lawyer ; 
Abram Savercool ; Gilbert Seeman, tailor ; George Stein, blacksmith ; 
William Shephard ; Patrick Slain, grocer ; C. Sullivan, shoemaker; O. 
R. Tvler, merchant ; Hugh O'llara, grocer. 

Names added in 1839 ; Henry Butler ; John Britton, butcher ; 
Abram Brads, wagon-maker; Thomas Barnes; Josiah Betts, shoe- 
maker; M. J. Clark, contractor; William Chamberlin, silversmith ; A. 
F. Day, cooper; Henry Essenwine, blacksmith ; Gabriel Eldredge, 
hatter; Freeman Fairchild, harness-maker; John B. Ford, tailor; E. 
L. Fuller, printer; Stephen Hathaway, shoemaker; James H. Heaton, 
lawyer; Harvey Jones, inn-keeper; H. F. Ivellum, clerk ; A. M. War- 
ner,' silversmith ; Tracv it Moore, merchants ; William IL Overton; 
Ziba Partridge; Samuel B. Roberts, grocer; Charles Day, cooper. 

Names added in 1810 : E. W. Baird, attorney ; Miles Carter, mer- 
cliant ; Coryell, Hevlman Co., dam-builders ; John Carter. Among the 
most prominent and distinguished personages who have been residents 
of Towanda since 1810 were the following : Hon. John LaPorte, Chris- 
toiJier L. Ward, Hon. James R. Coburn, Col. G. F. Mason, James 
Macfarlane, Warner H.Carnochan, Jacob Dewitt, Col. Abram Edwards, 
Hon. L. P. Williston, John P. Cox. 

TOWANDA BOROUGH. 

Towanda, the most populous town in the county, is situated on the 
right bank of the Susquehanna, at the eastern end of a plateau that 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 531 

rises about 1,400 feet above the river, and extends west\vard to the 
Armenia mountains. The court liouse is in latitude 41*^ 47' north, 
and in longitude 25° 28' east of Washington. The altitude on Main 
street in front of the Public Square is 732 feet above tide. We five 
the following- apt description in the words of another : 

" The town is beautifully located, standing on the AVvsox end of 
the bridge, it spreads itself out before the beholdei' like a ])re-Raphael- 
ite picture, glowing in the sunlight and shadows. The foreground of 
the landscape is the broad blue mirror of the Susquehanna, and the 
long line of stately stores and warehouses of Main street, broken bv 
the spires of the court-house and the Presbyterian church. Whife 
rising in terraces, pee])ing out from the beautiful foliage whicli half 
conceals tliem, the comfortable homes and neat residences on Second, 
Third and Fourth streets, clinging to the hilly back-ground, recall to 
the mind visions of the celebrated hanging gardens of ancient Baby- 
lon. It is a scene of natural beauty that is rare in its combination of 
natural and artificial adornments — one that is rare in anv country, 
even in our own favored land, so beautiful by nature, so adorned bv 
human endeavor." 

Esquire Means donated from his portion of the plat two lots on the 
corner of "Second and Spruce" (now Bridge) streets, for church pur- 
poses ; E. B. Gregory gave two lots on the corner of "■ Second and 
Beech " (now State) streets, for an academy ; and a subscription of 
several hundred dollars was taken toward defraying the expense of 
building the court-house and jail, as part of the consideration foi' locat- 
ing the public buildings at Towanda, The original proprietors of the 
town were: William Means, Thomas Overton, Shepard & Dorrance, 
Ebenezer B. Gregory and Harry Spalding, That portion owned by 
Wm. Means was from the sq^uare below South street — so called because 
it was the southernmost street of the plat — up to the run between Pine 
and Spruce, now called Bridge street; Overton and Shepard and Dor- 
rance owned from Means's line up to I^eecli, now called State street ; 
Gregory owned from their line to the western terminus of Maple 
street, whence his line diverged northeastwardly to a point near the 
corner of Tanner and Second streets, whence it diverged still fj?rther 
eastwardly to the river at the terminus of Tanner street; Overton & 
Spalding owned all north of Gregory's line. From the river westward 
the steets were five squares in length, eight lots to the square, and were 
called Water (a considerable strip next the river). Front, Second, 
Third and Fourth streets ; from south to north they were called South. 
Spruce, Pine, J^oplar, Beech, Maple, Lombard, Tanner. Chestnut and 
Walnut. As Elizabeth street (so called after Elizabeth Means) and 
other streets were laid out south of South street, the name of that 
street has been b}' common consent changed to Washington street. 
Since the bridge over the Susquehanna was located at the eastern 
terminus of Spruce street, that has been known as Bridge street; and 
as the State road passes westwardly through the borough and diagon- 
ally crosses Beech street, and was made to conform to it, it was given 
the name of State street. 

Until the court-house was built, the courts were held at the ''Ked 



522 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Tavern," and the jail was kept by Sheriff Rockwell at his residence in 
Monroeton. The deed for the Public Square was dated August 19, 
ISlrf, and arrangements were at once consummated for the erection of 
an office for the commissioners and protlionotary. Joseph Elliott con- 
tractor. Tlie office was completed and occupied August 4, same 
year. This was a wooden building, and occupied the site of the engine 
house, the " fire-proof," a stone building, afterwards occupying the 
same ground. A couple of rooms in the old court-house were also used 
as offices for awhile. In 1857-58 the present prothonotary's and 
register's office was built. It is a fire-proof building, and cost about 
$7,500. 

Under the date of September 30, 1813, the county commissioners 
give notice in the Bradford Gazette that "they are desirous of making 
contracts for materials for building a court-house and gaol ; and request 
those who have subscribed sums for the public buildings to meet them 
at their office in Towanda on the third day of November next." The 
work was begun in 181-4, the commissioners hiring the masonry done 
by the day, and contracting with Peter Egner, of Northumberland, 
for the building of the superstructure. The court-house was com- 
pleted and occupied January 9, 1816. Among the bills audited were 
some for the expenses in "raising" the buildinti', one of which was 
$46.50 for whisky and $4 for cider, and another, $91.82 for meals. 

The building* was burned down in the great fire of 1847. 

The records of the commissioners contain the following entry made 
by the clerk: "March 12, 1847. — This day the greatest fire occurred 
in Towanda that has ever been known in this section of the countr^^ 
It broke out on Main street between one and two o'clock p. m., and 
among other buildings the court-house and jail were burned." 

An act was passed by the Legislature March 15, 1847, enabling the 
county to make a loan for the erection of new buildings, and a con- 
tract was made with Col. J. F. Means. June 25, 1847, Sidney Hayden 
being the sub-contractor, who fulfilled the contract. The new build- 
ing (the present one) was occupied in September, 1850. Its approxi- 
mate cost, complete and finished for use, was $28,000. The prisoners 
in the jail, the same year of its completion, attempted to destroy it by 
fire, but were frustrated, the fire being discovered and extinguished 
before serious damage was done. An apprehension of a repetition of 
the attempt, which might prove successful, led to the construction of 
the present massive structure on Pine street, between Main and 
Second, which was erected in 1871-72 at a cost of $65,000. For 
strength and adaptation to the purposes of a county prison it is proba- 
bh^ not excelled in the State, and is equalled by very few similar 
structures It is constructed of millstone brought from Mill Stone 
creek. It contains a "dwelling-house," basement 30x60 feet, all two 
stories high. The main entrance on Pine street is a massively built 
archway, and the entire building presents an appearance of strength 

*It stood where the prothonotary's and register's oflice now is, extending farther north, 
being lengthwise with the river. The basement was "the jail," and a couple of rooms on the 
first floor were also used for keeping prisoners, the balance of the lloor being occupied by the 
jailor. The court-room was on the second floor. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 523 

and durability that gives a most pleasing sense of seciD'ity to the resi- 
dents oF this county. 

In 1812 there were seven families in Towanda village, and, though 
it was the seat of justice, in ISIG the number had only increased to 
twelve; in 1820 the number was about thirty, and in 1830 about fifty. 
In Sherman Dav's account of Towanda (1842) lie puts the pojjulation 
at 912, wliich had increased to 1,135 in 18,5,0, 1571 in 1860, 2,(;im; in 
18Y0, 3,813 in 1880; the number now (1890) being 4,280. 

The establishment of Towanda as the county seat, bringing the 
officers and the official business of the county hither, alone insured a 
gradual growth of the place. But, besides, the town has natural 
advantages, and has received an impetus from time to time. It will 
be rememl)ered that when the commissioners agreed upon the site for 
the public buiklings, there was no bridge across the Susquehanna, 
which, especially during the spring of the year, was impassable ; and 
that fully two-thirds of the people to be accommodated lived on the 
west side of the river. Moreover, two valleys — the natural outlets, 
draining the greater portion of the county lying west of tlie river — 
converge gradually and terminate with the valley of the Susquehanna, 
midway between whicii the village of JMeansville was situated. Before 
the da}^ of roads, such goods as were consumed by the pioneers were 
brought up the river in boats. Lumber and shingles were about the 
only articles for wich money could be had. Mr. Means kept goods 
and trafficked with the people. Mills were early established up the 
Sugar and Towanda. creeks; lumber cut, and in the spring floated 
down these streams to the river in small rafts. Uoads were also built 
at an early day iqi these creeks, and Towanda became, as it is to-day, 
the business center of the county. 

Andrew Irving's tannery, the erection of the bridge in 1832, Enos 
Tompkins' enterprises, the establishment of the bank, the building of 
the North Branch Canal, the foundry, the publication of wide-awake 
newspapers, and, lastly, the railroads, each gave impetus to the growth 
of the town in its early history. In later years, men of enterprise 
have furthered the interest of the town and given it new life. Fore- 
most among those to whom special credit is due, is M. C. Mercur, who 
has been the philanthropist and most zealous worker. 

In 1825 the only streets opened were : Main, State, Pine Lom- 
bard and a portion of Second. None of these were graded* and even 
Main street was very uneven and hilly. At this time the greater part 
of the prospective town was yet wooded, no ])articular effort being- 
made in ])ul)lic improvements until after the incorporation of the bor- 
(jugli in 1828. In 1830 marked inq)rovements were made in grading 
and in opening new streets through the persistent elTorts of M. C. 
Mercur and William El well. The population gradually increased, 
business multiplied and im[)rovements continued. The raili'oad gave a 
new life, and the town finally outgrew th(^ borough limits and was 
enlarged. Originally the borougli extended from the river to Fifth 
street, and from about two rods south of Elizabeth street to the ravine 
on " Hemlock Row." 

From the various assessments is made the fcjllowing synopsis: 



524 HISTORT OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

The merchants in Towanda in 1812 were : William Means and Harry 
Spaldino'; in 1820 three were doing business, Gurdon Hewett having 
been added to the list; in 1825 the number of merchants and grocers 
were six; in 1831, eleven; in 1838, nineteen ; in 1850, twenty-one; in 
1860, twenty ; in 1870, forty-nine. The principal merchants that have 
done business in Towanda since 1860, but now out, have been : Thomas 
Elliott; H. S. Mercur; M. C. Mercur; J. D. Montayne ; Burton Kings- 
bury; Joseph Kingsbury, including books and stationery ; E. D. Mon- 
tanye ; E. T. Fox;n.iram Mix;H. C. Porter, drugs; i»Jathaniel N. 
Betts, Sidney BaiW, afterward Bailey & Nevins, groceries; O. D. 
Bartlett ; Hugh O'Hara, boots and shoes ; George Bunting, ready-made 
clothing ; Tracy & Moore, general ; Stephen Hathaway, boots and shoes ; 
John Wilcox, boots and shoes ; E. W. Baird ; Job Kirby, boots and shoes ; 
M. E. Solomon, clothing; John Beidelman ; Taylor & Co., dry goods ; 
Patch Bros., groceries ; Collins & Powell ; A. M. Warner, jeweler ; Isaac 
Post, hardware ; William A. Pock well; J. D. Humphrey, boots and shoes; 
Col. J. F. Means; Wickman & Black; Ford & Ward, dry goods, George 
Ridgeway , grocer; Patton & Payne, drugs ; Bramhall & Co well, groceries; 
S. Benedict, clothing; Hall & Russell, afterward Codding & Russell, 
hardware; A. M. Coe, boots and shoes; Capt. James M, Gillson, 
jeweler; Charles Reed, drugs; Lord & Co., hardware; Joseph Hines, 
furniture; L. L. Moody, boots and shoes; Kent & Bliss, dry goods. 
Those prominent in other business have been : John Carman, foundry- 
man and dealer in hardware; James Mackinson, manufacturer of 
furniture, dealer and undertaking ; Russell Pratt, coopering ; Mark C. 
Arnout, tanner; Andrew and Philip Seebich, wagon-makers and black- 
smiths; Henry and Adam Essenwine, blacksraithing and carriage 
ironing; Elkanah Smith, harness-making and saddlery; Miles Carter, 
confectionery. 

The Towanda Bridge. Bv an act of the Legislature, March 24, 
1831, the Governor was authorized to incorporate a company for erect- 
ing a bridge over the Susquehanna at Towanda. An appropriation 
was made, and the balance of tlie money necessary to complete the 
bridge was raised by individual subscriptions as stock. Johh Bottom, 
a practical bridge builder, contracted for the job, and performed the 
work on the same in 1832, the structure consisting of three spans. A 
new appropriation was made by the State, and in 1837-38 the original 
bridge was taken down, the piers raised, the bridge extended on the 
east side one span, and a towing-path added. Bottom & Scott were 
the contractors. 

October 24, 1849, the east span of the bi-idge was burned, and 
immediately rebuilt. Again, in 1854, the same span was destroyed by 
fire. The river having cut around the east end of the bridge, it was 
again raised seven feet in 1854-55, C. M. Mercur and Thomas Elliott 
being the contractors. Toll was taken until September 16, 1879, since 
which time the bridge has been free. The county Avishing to purchase 
the bridge, viewers were appointed, who, in their report, which was 
confirmed by the court, estimated the property worth $20,000. The 
})rice was not satisfactoi-v to the stockholders, and litigation over tiie 



HISTOKY OF HKADFOUI) COLNTY. ')2o 

matter is still pending. The spans of the bridge average 225 feet each, 
making the length 900 feet, the roof projecting ten feet farther. 

The lirst borough officers were elected March 20, 1829: Burgess, 
Hiram Mix ; high constab]e,A¥illiam jCelley ; council, eT. D. Goodenough, 
Warren Brown, Warren Jenkins, John N. Weston, Stephen llavtt. 
The burgesses from 1830 to 1891 have been David F. 15arstow% Samuel 
Huston, D. F. Barstow, Burton Kingsbury, E. S. Goodrich, Simon 
Kinney, D. F. Barstow, Silas Noble, W. B. Storm (three terms), Sam- 
uel Huston, Geo. A. Mix, Ira 11. Stephens, E. D. Montanye, 1). F. 
Barstow, Adonijah Moody, David M. Bull (two terms), Hiram Mix, 
William Elwell, 'W. A. Chamberlin. William Elwell (three terms), N. 
N. Betts, U. Mercur (three terms), William Elwell (two tei-ms), C. L. 
Ward, B. F. Powell, James McCabe, C. S. Russell (six terms), Alex. 
Diven, I. B. Humphi-ev. A. G. Mason, Jas. Bryant (two terms), Jas. 
McCabe, E. T. Fox, N.'K Betts (two terms), W. H. Dodge, W. H. 
Jones, W. G. Alger (two terms), J. J. Spalding, F. J. Krom, C. B. 
Porter, Edward Frost, Isaiah McPherson, Edward Frost, W. Maxwell, 
C. P. Welles, I. B. Humphrey. 

The present officers are: Burgess, I. B. Humphrey: Secretary, 
Jos. Kingsbury ; treasurei', W. 11. Dodge; council, Calvin Cranska, 
Edward Frost, I. B. Humphrev, John McGovern, William Maxwell, 
John Rahm, ^W. H. Smith, Geo.^Decker, C. P. Welles. Chief of Police, 
Daniel Wilcox. 

Toiaanda Fire Department. — Until 1837 thei'e was no p'rotection 
from fire in the borough. But in that year, a bucket brigade was 
organized and 100 buckets were purchased with the necessary hooks 
and ladders. The first engine of the village was a " rotary '' named 
the "Alley," this was used until 1849 when it wasdeclared useless and 
thrown into the river. "Franklin, No. 1," was organized April 11, 
1854, and had an engine. In 1808 they purchased a steam fire engine 
which they still use. "Naiad Engine and Hose Compan\^, No. 2,'' 
was instituted April 21, 1855, reorganized April 15, 1870, and incor- 
porated July 8, 1881. " Lin-ta Steam Fire Com})any, No. 3," was insti- 
tuted September 28, 1857, and incorporated in 1871. The company 
owns a handsome three-story brick engine house on Po|)lar street, 
which, together with hose carriage, is wTjrth $8,000. The members of 
this company being elderly men, they allowed a few young men to 
have charge of it; so it was reorganized in 1887, and in 1890 they pur- 
chased an elegant new hose-cart, the old one proving too heavy. 
" Mantua Hook and Ladder Company. No. 4," was organized in Marcli, 
1871, and reorganized in 1884. The com))any have rooms in the 
Lin-ta engine-house. 

From 1853 to 1873 the total number of fires was sixty-three, and 
the total number of buildings destroyed, 150; from August, 1873, to 
April, 188G, the number of l)uildings Inu-ned in Tow^anda was eighty- 
one. The most disastrous fire the town ever iiad was March 12. 1847. 

Townnda Gas Company was oi'ganized in 1870, and is a stock com- 
pany. It has ten miles of laid pipe. The officers are : Henry Streeter, 
president and treasurer; N. N. Betts, secretarv. The capital stock is 
$45,000. 



526 HISTOKT OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 

The Towanda Mectrio Light Company was organized in February, 
1890, and electricity was first run through the wires April 1, same 
year. There are thirty-six arc lights on the streets, and 500 incan- 
descent lamps in operation in stores and houses. The dynamos have 
a capacity of running sixty arc lights. Has two " Rice" engines, each 
of 105 horse-power; runs three dynamos wliich are independent of 
each other. The officers are : Stanley Little, president ; Charles 
Welles, secretary. 

The Towanda Water Works were chartered in 1879. In 1879-80 
the iron pipe was laid from Patton's run to Towanda, receiving the 
water in a reservoir from which it is distributed throughout the town, 
as far back as Mechanic street, by distributing pipes. Fifty hydrants 
were placed at proper points, to ];)rotect the entire borough in case of 
fires. The water supply from Patton's run not being sufficient for the 
whole year, a pumping station was put in in 1881, which forces the 
water from the Susquehanna to the receiving reservoir at the rate of 
1,200 gallons per minute. E. T. Fox was president of the company, 
and C. S. Scannell, superintendent. 

New water works are being rapidly built for Towanda, and this 
will prove one of the most important of the modern additions to the 
borough. The water then will come through ten-inch iron pipes a 
distance of sixteen miles. The Eilenberger springs, which will supply 
the water, gush out from under a small mountain. The spring never 
rises or falls winter or summer, and is a very pure crystal, soft water, 
said to be the best in the country. It flows a steady stream of 750,000 
gallons in twenty-four hours, at least enough to supply a town with 
several times the population of Towanda. The water is so pure that it 
will not even rust tin, and the section of country is free from all drain- 
age. The spring is located in Albany, a short distance from Ladds- 
burg. J. J. Griffiths is superintendent. The cost of these, the finest 
water privileges in northern Pennsylvania, it is estimated when com- 
pleted will reach nearly $200,000. " Officers : J. J. Griffiths, Pres. and 
Supt.; N. N. Betts, Treas.; F. E. Beers, Sec. 

The Toivanda BanJc. — This was established in 1834-35, the officers 
being Thomas Elliott, president ; William B. Storm, cashier ; directors, 
Joseph Kingsbury, Edward Overton, Hiram Mix, H. S. Mercur, L. S. 
Ellsworth, Judge Harry Morgan. The bank at one time, it is said, 
Avas able to command' over $700,000. In 1837 Mr. Elhott resigned, 
and Joseph Kingsbury became president. The bank failed in 1843. 
C. L. Ward and Thomas Dver were the last president and cashier. 

In 1850, Hon. John Laporte, Col. G. F. Mason and B. S. Russell 
began a private banking business under the firm name of Laporte, 
Mason & Co. Mr. Russell sold out his interest about 1859, and the 
business was continued under the firm name of Laporte, Mason & Co. 
About the year 1860 Mr. Russell and J. K. Vallance began banking 
under the firm name of B. S. Russell & Co., and in 18(33 increased their 
business by buying out Laporte & Mason. After Mr. Yallance's 
death the '"' conii)any " was at different times H. S. Mercur, Ulysses 
Mercur and M. C. Mercur, who in 1865 succeeded to the sole propri- 
etorship of the business, which he continued till 1873, when meeting 



IIISTOliY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 537 

with a loss of $1,050,000, closed his bank, after his depositors liad 
drawn out their moneys. In ISOC! (i. F. Mason &; Co. began doing a 
))rivate banking business, whicli was continued until 1871, when the 
firm failed. 

The First National Bank of Towanda. — Tliis bank was chartered 
July 19, 1863, with a ca]>ita] of $100,000, wiiich in 186.5 was increased 
to $125,000. Tiie officers were : Gordon F. Mason, president; N. N. 
Betts, cashier; directors, Jose])h Powell, C. S. Russell, O. I). 15artlctt, 
E. II. Smith, Geo. Stevens, E. W. Hale, M. E. Sok)mon and -1. (). Frost. 
On Jan. 13, 1865, Mr. Mason was succeeded by E. 11. Smith as pres- 
ident, who in tui'n was followed by Joseph Powell, who assumed the 
duties of that office January 13, 1870. Mr. C. L. Tracy succeeded Mr. 
Powell as president, and has held that office ever since. The new bank, 
erected in 187-1, occupies the site of the old banking-house on Main 
street. The capital stock of the First National Bank is $125,000; 
surplus and undivided profits, $126,061:.39; circulation, $28,125; deposits 
$761,451.08. The present board of directors are : Chas. L. Tracy, II. 

A. Mercur, Henry Streeter. Officers : Chas. L. Tracy, president ; 
N. N. Betts, cashier. 

TJie Citizens National Bank of Towanda. — This institution was 
chartered June 29, 1876, and was organized with the following officers 
and directors ; J. P. Kirbv, ])resident ; Geo. A. Guernsev, cashier; 
N. C. Elsbree, M. H. Laning, J. P. Jvirby, J. F. Means, P. D. Morrow, 

B. M. Peck, Henry Streeter, J. L. Kent, M. B. Wright, N. L. Lenheim, 
P. 11. Ackley, directors. J. P. Kirby was succeeded by E. T. Fox as 
president, Dec. 18. 1876, and Mr. Guernsey by G. W. Buck, as cashier, 
Oct. 3, 1880. The Citizens National Bank was formely in the Mercur 
block, but now occupies a building of its own situated on the corner of 
Main and Bridge streets. The capital stock of the Citizens' National 
Bank is $150,000 ; surplus and undivided profits, $58,244.20 ; circula- 
tion, $45,000 ; deposits, $460,481.27. The present officers are : E. O. 
Macfarlane, president ; J. K. Newell, cashier; directors, E. O. Mac- 
farlane, W. Dettrich and S. W. Little. 

The Towanda Library. — This is the result of a young ladies' 
musical society, which collected a few books for their own use, and 
afterward decided to benefit the town by starting a public library. 
The library has grown from a few hundred volumes to nearly six 
thousand. It was established during the winter of 1879-80. 

Tfumphrey Bros, eft Tracy, Shoe Factory. — First occupied a small 
l)uil(ling near where the new one now stands. In 1882. they com- 
menced building the one they now occupy. It is a three-story brick 
building, and has all the modern improvements. The firm employ 
about 125 hands, and turn out over 2,000 pairs of shoes weekly. The 
projn-ietors are I. B. Humphrey, Chas. Humphrey and Chas. L. Tracy. 

Daytoti's Steam Gristmill is one of the most important in the county. 
It was first built in 1870 by G. F. Mason & Co.; he failed, and it was 
purchased bv G. A. Davton. It is situated on South Main street ; has 
three run of stone and seventeen rolls, and a dail\' capacity of 250 
bushels of buckwheat, which is its chief output about six months in 
the year; from sixteen to twenty hands are employed. 



528 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUMTY. 

Hale's Planing Mill is situated on South Main street. It was 
completed in building in 1888, and makes doors, sasb, blinds and general 
mill work ; has six saws, three planers and ninety-three horse-poweren- 
gine ; main building 00x128; boiler, engine and dry houses; employs about 
twenty-three men. It is the largest industry of the kind in the county. 
First started by L. B. Kodgers, was burned and he rebuilt in 1882, and 
run it until 1887, when it was burned again. Proprietors are E. W, 
and B. T. Hale. 

IIu7nphrey Mannfactxiring Company. — Building erected in 1888. 
The firm was composed of J. D. Humphrey, C. D. Humphrey, E. 
Overton and J. O. Blight. Twenty-five horse-power engine, twenty 
employes; make sawmill machinery, coal breakers, etc. 

Nail Worhs. — Proprietor, W. H. Godcharles; superintendent, 
Simon Kendall. Originally it was ^he Towanda Iron and Nail Worlcs', 
founded in 1870 by a joint-stock company. Col. J. F. Means, presi- 
dent; II. L. Scott, secretary and treasurer. First cost of plant, 
$100,000. These parties ran it three years; it was then idle until 

1879, when it was leased to R. A. Bostley three years, and at expira- 
tion of lease they purchased the property and ran it until February 1, 
1888. These three companies, combined, came into the ownership, 
and at once they turned it over to R. A. Bostley and W. H. Godcharles, 
and, since the death of Mr. Bostley, it has been in possession of Mr. 
Godcharles. February 4, 1891, it w^as destroyed by fire, being a total 
loss, on which, however, w^as a large insurance. Immediate steps to 
rebuild were taken, and the work was pushed to completion in the 
early part of August following, when it was enlarged and greatly im- 
proved and in full operation, with a capacity of about 10,000 kegs 
of nails per month ; employs about one hundred and fifty men. 

Toivanda Foundry Company .—N^ 2i^ first started about 1875 by 
John Carman; from him it passed to Col. John F. Means, who after- 
ward associated in the concern his son ; they ran it until 1881, when 
it became as now named, the company being Edward Frost, L. R. 
Frost and M. A.Rockwell. It has 150 horse-power engine, four lathes, 
two planes, two drills, etc., foundry and machine shop combined. 
Output is saw-lath mills, and shingle mills, gang edgers, etc. Iron and 
brass output about 20,000 pounds annually ; employs twelve hands. 

Frost's Furniture Factory. — This is on Pine and River streets: use 
the same power as the foundry. It was established in 1871 on Charles 
street, burned in 1881, and rebuilt where it stands; employs ninety to 
one hundred men. Firm owns two sawmills, one in Sullivan county, at 
Lake Reese, the other at South Branch, in this county ; latter built, in 

1880, a steam mill, capacity 20,000 feet per day ; sawing only for 
themselves. Their stock is exclusively wholesaled. 

Toy Factory. — Originated thirty years ago in Newark, N. J., and 
then moved to Monroeton, this county, and ground broke for present 
plant in July, 1887. Has two hundred operatives; output about 
$150,000 annually. Ihiilding three stories, including the main, the 
ware-house, paint" and boiler house; 250 horse-power engine. It is a 
joint-stock company, and the following are tlie officers: President 
and superintendent, William H. Hawes ; treasurer, N. N. Betts ; 





Harrison Detrick 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 531 

secretary, John W. Mix; directors, J. O. I>lif>-lit, Charles L. Tracy, 
E. O. Macfarlane, C. B. Porter, E. W. Hale and R. A. Mercur. 

In the borouffh are the followinji: business concerns: One affricul- 
tural implements, four banks, four bakeries, seven barbers, three bill- 
iard parlors, eight blacksmiths, four boarding-houses, one book-binder, 
three books and stationery, seven boot and shoe dealers, seven boot 
and shoe makers, one boot and shoe manufacturer, two bottling works, 
one brick manufacturer, one brewery, two butter and egg dealers, one 
carpet-cleaning company, four carpet dealers, two carriage dealers, 
four carriage and wagon manufacturers, six carpenters and builders, 
one Chicago dressed beef business, three cigar manufacturers, six 
clothiers, one coach maker, seven coal dealers, twelve confectioneries, 
two coo{)ers, three crockery and glassware, three dentists, three dray- 
men, twenty dressmakers, four druggists, ten dry-goods stores, one 
express agent, two dealers in flaffo-ino' and buildino; stone, two fiourinci: 
mills, one florist, two foundries and machine shops, three furniture 
dealers, one furniture manufacturer, one gas company, six gents' fur- 
nishing stores, twenty grocers, two gunsmiths, one dealer in hair 
goods, four hardware merchants, two harness manufacturers, six 
dealers in hats and caps, two hay and straw dealers, two dealers in 
hides and pelts, one horse improvement company, two ice dealers, six 
insurance agents, five jewelers, four job printers, one junk dealer, forty 
lawyers, two laundries, one dealer in leather and findings, one library, 
tiiree liquor dealers, five livery and boarding stables, seven lumber 
dealers, four masons, five meat markets, four merchant tailors, seven 
millinery establishments, four dealers in music and musical instruments, 
tixe music teachers, six dealers in paints and oils, three painters, two 
))awnbrokers, three photographers, twelve physicians, three planing 
mills, three plumbers and gas-fitters, one produce dealer, two real 
estate agents, five restaurants, two dealers in sewing machines, two 
surveyors, four dealers in ti'unks and valises, two undertakers, two 
veterinary surgeons, two dealers in wall paper, one wood dealer, four 
upholsterers, one tea company, one toy manufacturer, one telegraph 
company, one telephone company. 

Hotels. — American House, Aurora House, Barrett's Hotel, Bolan's 
Hotel, Bradford Flouse, El well House, Griffin's Hotel, Hotel Ochs. 
Junction House, Seelev's Hotel, Tidd's Hotel, Walbrido-e Hotel. Ward 

H' - ' ' o . 

ouse. 



39 



533 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY 



CHAPTER L. 

TROY TOWNSHIP— TROY BOROUGH. 

NOAH WILSON the father of the venerable Col. Irad Wilson, of 
Alba, came on with his family to that place in the spring of 1803. 
The colonel speaks of the following individuals as being then the occu- 
pants of this vicinity : Elihu Smead, in a little log cabin near the present 
residence of Mrs. Thomas Maxwell, with a chopping of about an acre ; 
John Barber, with a similar cabin, and chopping near the site of Viele's 
steam-mill ; toward the south was a little clearing of Caleb Williams, 
and that of Keuben Case ; next was Sanmel Case, on the Wood farm, 
now belonging to the estate of Edwin C. Williams; farther on was 
Aaron Case, where is the farm of Shepard Spalding ; and Dr. Rowley, 
on that now owned by Alonzo Thomas, his grandson. These sons of 
the forest mustered in force to cut a roati through to Alba, for the 
]mssage of Noah Wilson and his family to their new home. 

Uel Porter, with his father and eider brother, John, came to the 
Porter farm in 1813. . Hon. Reuben Wilbur settled here in 1807. He 
spent about six months with Esquire Nathaniel Allen, of whom he 
purchased about three hundred acres. 

Elihu Smead and Aaron Case seem to have been at that time the 
only inhabitants of the village proper, the latter living in a cabin near 
the present residence of Mrs. George Hull. Thomas Barber lived near 
the site of the old " Taylor House," now owned by G. F. Viele, and 
Joseph Barber, near the present residence of John A. Parsons. 

•Upon an eminence overlooking Sugar creek, something over a mile 
eastward from Troy village, there stand the ruins of a building, 
probably one of the'first framed houses built in this region. The stone 
wall which has long supported the ancient structure is tottering to its 
fall. Within, you may see the chimney of stone, with its ample tire- 
]ilace. Near by are some aged Lombardy poplars, which Dr. Almerin 
Herrick, in his journal, now unfortunately lost, states that he assisted 
in settmg out in the year 1818. This" building was formerly the 
residence and tavern of Maj. Ezra Long, who came hither from 
Vermont, about the year 1810. 

Samuel Rockwell', the father of Luther and Rufus Rockwell, occu- 
pied in those days a house near where H. F. Long resides. Like his 
son Luther, he left nine sons grown to maturity. He afterward built 
and occupied a two-story house at the summit of the hill, south of the 
road to Troy, which was standing not many years since. 

The first flouring-mill was originally erected bv an individual named 
Ward, and afterward owned by Maj.\Long. Were we able it would 
be a matter of curiosity to compare its machinery and dimensions (the 
dam being then only "six feet in height) with those of what is now 
known as Long's mills, standing upon the original site and rebuilt by 



HISTORY OF RRADI'ORI) (;0UN1Y. 533 

H. F. Long in 1858. Another mill on a small scale was afterward 
built by Thos. Barber, in the glen above, near the bend in the Rock 
road ; some of the spars of the dam were to be seen but a few \^ears 
since still projecting above the watei-. The carding and cloth-dressing 
works below Long's mills were put in operation by Samuel Conant 
about the year 1808. The main building, which, with the older one in 
its rear, was destroyed by fire in November, 1875, was built by Luther 
Rockwell for Clement Paine in 1840. 

Elder Adriel Ilebard is said to have come into this section from 
Vermont, about the year 1800, and occupied a house on the present 
site of J. G. Loveland's. The large butternut tree shading the road 
near the house below, is said to have been planted by him. 

West of the Burlington road, about half-way between Maj. Long's 
and Esquire Allen's, stood the old Shad school-house, probably tlie 
earliest institution of learning, and there are those living who may 
remember taking their first lessons from Webster or Cobb within its 
humble walls. It took its name from tlie weather-vane, in the form of 
a Ush, which surmounted the building. 

The first board-roofed house in the township was erected by Gen. 
Elihu Case in 1798. The first house in the borough was built by Tim- 
othy Nichols, father-in-law of E. Case, in 1800. Nichols sold to Elihu 
Smead, who previously had resided at the foot of the mountain, on 
Smead creek. Elder Rich, a Baptist preacher, was the first adult 
interred in Glenwood Cemetery, in 1812. 

One of the earliest documents connected with the progress of the 
place at an early period, is the following, dated Noveml3er 5, 1823 : 

At a meetiug of a number of the inliabitants of the virinity of Lansingbxirgh, at the 
school-house, to devise or tix some phiu for finishing the said school-house, thereby 
making it the more comfortable for our children, and we, the proprietors, the more 
applauded by foHuerti. Voted, unanimous, that we tinish off the school house. Pro- 
ceeded to sine for tbe purpose above-mentioned, and then voted that after the subscrip- 
tion is expended, to proceed in finishing off the same, and we are bound tn pay in 
proportion to wliat we have already sincd . To be superintended by Almerin Herrick. 

(Signed) Laban Landen, Chnirnuni. 

Elihu Case, Secretary. 

The accompanying subscription is signed by A. Herrick, Churchill 
Barnes and John Dobbins, well known in the earlv history of the 
place, both acting for some time as justices of the peace ; Elihu New- 
ber\% Zoroaster Porter, Benjamin Oviatt; Isaac N. Pomeroy, \\x\g 
Baldwin, Elihu Case, Ansell Williams. Abraham Case, James Lucas. 
Daniel Gregory and several others. It is noticeable that there are 
three columns opposite the signatures: one being for number of days' 
work subscribed, another for number of bushels of wheat, and the 
third for number of feet of lumber. There is also a column for sub- 
scrij)tions in money : but all the contributions are in the otlier columns. 
Dr. Almerin Herrick's subscription takes the lead, being eight days' 
work, two bushels of wheat and ten pounds of iron ; Elihu Case's sub- 
scription, one day's woi-k, two hundred feet of boards, and ten pounds 
of iron, towards andirons; Vine Baldwin's, twenty pounds of four- 
penny and eightpenny nails, and twenty pounds of iron. 

Vine Baldwin was the father of Thos. B. Baldwin. He then had a 



534 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

store at this place, and for some time kept tavern in a building stand- 
ing where the "Troy House" now stands. . Elihu Newbery came here 
with a horse, saddle and bridle ; for which he purchased of Elihu 
Smead a lot of land, about two and a half acres, including that on 
which his son, George N. T^ewbery lives, the consideration mentioned 
in the deed being twenty dollars per acre. . Col. Isaac N. Fome- 
roy and Ebenezer Pomeroy came in about 1818. They were natives 
of Connecticut, and for some years carried on the carding and cloth- 
dressing works below Long's' mills. Like Dr. Ilerrick, they had for 
some time no intention of making this a permanent home. Col. Pom- 
eroy, in a few years, bought Conant's tavern on the corner, which was 
i-eplaced by him, in 1837-38, by the " Eagle *' tavern, a wooden building 
with lofty columns, which was destroyed by fire in 1852. A little 
house standing on the summit of the hill, above Samuel Pomeroy 's 
large mansion, was for a time the residence of Col. Pomeroy after his 
arrival. 

TROY BOROUGH. 

Troy was incorporated as a borough April 11, 1845, with boundaries 
as follows : Beginning at a stake m the Elmira road, near the north- 
east corner of the bridge across Sugar creek, near D. Dobbins' house ; 
thence west 138 rods to an elm tree on O. P. Ballard's west fine: then 
south 46 ^ west ninetv-one perches to a stake on the north side of the 
Wellsborouo-h road ; then south 12^ ^ west 100 rods to a stake on 
Jerry Adams' land; thence south 82^ east 105^ perches to a dry 
maple tree on the land' of Seeley Mann; thence nortii 40 ^ east 140^ 
perches to a stake on land of S. W Pame on south side of road; then 
north 7*^ east 85 rods to place of beginning. The first burgess was 
Edwin C. Oliver ; council : G. T. Redington, V. M. Long, Frederick 
Onwan, Layton Punyan ; clerk, A. E. Thomas; high constable, 
Thomas B. "Baldwin ; 'street commissioner, Laban Bowen. In 1848 
occurred a most disastrous fire, destroying every business house in the 
borough, except that of G. F. Redington. In 1871 the present fire- 
engine house was built. 

In the early borough days we find an ordinance on the records 
forbidding " horse racing, and bathing in Sugar creek," within the 
borough limits. A bird's-eye view of Troy, just previous to the Civil 
War, Tvould present something as follows: On the corner across from 
the -^ Troy House" were two stores, one kept by Col. I. N. Pomeroy 
and the other by I. F. Redington. Col. Pomeroy at that time kept 
the ^' Troy House." Immediately west on that street was a small 
vellow house owned by James Lamb, afterward occupied by his 
dauiiiiter. This constituted Main street. There was a small black- 
smiUishopon Canton street near Redington avenue by Elihu New- 
berv, and a wagon shop by Ilickok nenr the railroad station. 

Going east from the '"Troy House," the first you came to was Dr. 
Herrick's residence, where now reside his son's family ; the next was 
Mr. Welles' house, still standing a little south of Van Dyne's present 
residence. The old frame school-house stood on the west bank of the 
stream, near the propertv of the Fitch heirs. The Baptist church. 



HISTORY OF HIIADKOKD COUNTY. 535 

where it now stands, was built in 1884. The Episcopal church was 
built in 184:1, afterward sold to the Oatholics, and tlie new Episcopal 
church where it now stands was built by the Disciples in 1850, and sold 
to the E))iscopals in 1860. The Catholic church was built mostly bv 
O. P. Ballard', in 1841. The Methodist Episco])al church was built in 
1854, and is now the Opera House and postoffice building. It was 
sold to R. F. Redington, and is also used as a court-room. After this 
sale the Methotlists built their present church on Redington avenue. 
The new and very large Presbyterian (Ti'inity) church was built in 
1875-76, the largest iind finest church in the borough. Their first 
building, put up in 1832, stood on West Main street, and is now a part 
of Mrs. Oliver's barn ; their second building was erected in 1847-48, 
now owned by N. M. Pomeroy. 

The present borough officers are : Burgess, A, B. McKean ; clerk, 
H. K. Mitchel ; treasurer, S. B. Aspinwall ; council, R. IT. Cooley, S. 
W. Pomeroy, H. S. Leonard, Brainard Bowen, L. II. Oliver and Geo. 
O. llolcomb. 

Troy was in 1832, as remembered by Israel A, Pierce, Esq., as fol- 
lows: Commencing on Elmira street was a small house owned by a 
man named Case; then there was nothing until you came to where 
Wagner now lives, at one time occupied by Dr. Fitch. The next build- 
ing, where now stands the "Troy House," was an old frame tavern, 
the ''Jackson House," and when President Jackson '-removed the 
dej)osits" his name was obliterated, and it became the "Troy House," 
kept by Benj. Seeley, and burned in 1848. The next house was the 
noted Ballard building, dwelling, store, printing office, hall and some- 
times hotel, an immense wooden structure ; this was destroyed by fire 
in 1848. Except a small grocery store, this was all on the north side 
of Elmira sti"eet. On the south side of the street, there was nothing 
until you reached Spalding's plaster mills ; this was then Hickok's 
gristmill. The old house still stands. 

The next was a house occupied by Mr. Bliss, rebuilt in 1832, by D. 
F. Pomeroy; then there was nothing until you reached Judge Adams' 
briclv residence. On Main street there was no building till you reached 
Paine's bridge, where were Paine's house and a small gristmill run by 
water. There was a small tannery west of the gristmill, operated by 
Judge Adams, an old wagon shop and then E. C.Oliver's house. The 
next was a store where is now the hotel. The next was where is now 
Kendall's residence ; then Barnes' old residence, and then a small 
grocery store kept by John (lummings, and then Morrison Paine's 
store opposite the hotel. 

Dr. Almerin Herrick came to Troy in 1817; died March 17, 1843, 
married. May 2, 1819, Eleanoi- Ilurlbut, who died January 18, 1887, 
aged eighty-eight years. 

O. P. Ballard is believed to have established himself in ti'ade here 
in the fall of 1822, having been, for a few 3'ears, a clerk in the store of 
Clement Paine, at Athens. He commenced with a ^ew goods taken 
on commission of Charles L. Hopkins, of that place, and succeeded so 
well as to buy out liis partner at the close of the first year. The 
people from this section had previously been under the necessity of 



536 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

going to Athens to trade, for the most part, and, as he was accustomed 
to relate, dealt very freely according to their means, when they found 
an opportunity, at length, of buymg goods near home; if they could 
not tind just the article they came for they were pretty sure to invest 
in something else. 

The staple articles of trade and produce in the country, as Clement 
Paine writes, in the year 1810, were cattle, wheat and lumber. He 
adds: " Lately the manufacture of potash has been introduced into 
the adjacent towns. I have endeavored to promote this branch of 
business by furnishing the necessary implements and materials, 
and we shall, the present year, receive about one hundred bar- 
rels of the article, whereas three years ago there was none manu- 
factured." This manufacture, carried on amid the forests of western 
Bradford, must have involved a destruction of timber that would now, 
even in this wooden country, be looked upon as deplorable, great 
quantities of the finest trees being cut, piled and burned, merely to 
gather up the ashes for boiling down into potash. It was worth, in 
those days, about twenty or twenty-five dollars per barrel, and being 
an article easy of transportation, it soon afforded an important item of 
industry and income. 

The dilRculties of trade in those early daj^s must have been very 
great ; it was mostly barter, owing to the scarcity of money, and the 
transportation of produce to market, or of goods from the city, was 
attended with great expense, delay, and risk. A trip to Philadelphia 
with wagons, as w^as customary, for goods, occupied about three weeks; 
but in those days a few wagon-loads of goods made up what was con- 
sidered a large assortment; if the assortment was in fact small, the prices 
^ of course had to be large in an inverse ratio. When John Cummms, many 
years ago, opened a little store here, the advertisement he published was 
headed, " Small boats must keep near shore; larger ones may venture 
more." In connection with which idea. Nelson Adams made the re- 
mark, after noticing the limited extent of his stock, " I guess you 
must have come over in a canoe." 

George Kress was one of the early merchants of Troy, buying out 
the stock of Vine Baldwin. Gen. Kress built the house now owned by 
Robert Kendall, in its day probably the most aristocratic style of 
residence in the place. 

O. P. Ballard for some time controlled to a considerable extent the 
trade of the place. Gillett & Cone commenced business here about 
1836 or 1837. G. F. Redington was here first as their clerk, until he 
and D. F. Pomeroy bought them out. and established their store on 
the corner, which was subsequently, and for quite a long period, the 
scene of business o})erations of the Pomeroy Brother. 

Troy in 1827. Dr. Silas E. Siiepard came here, and in his lifetime he 
said: Caleb Williams then lived near the present site of Delos Pockwell 
and Warren Williams, in the old Spalding house; Ansel Williams in 
the old Seel}^ Mann house, where E. B. Parson's house stands. Next 
was Joseph Wills, who married the widow of Moses Case, in the old 
two-story house still standing in the rear of S. H. Fitch's house. Along 
the present Canton street, at that time, the forest came for the most 



HrSTORY OK BRADKOKI) COUNTY. 537 

])art wilhin twentv-iive rods of. the road, and covered the liill west of 
the creek. Mr. Wells' sawmill stood near where Bowen's tannery is 
at this time. A small foundry was afterward erected there by Capt. 
Josei)h Morse, and sul)sequently carried on by him and Tlios. E. Paine. 
Jas. A. Paine after took the business, and after him Seth ^V. Paine, 
who removed it finallv to the place wiiere, thi-ough a long term of years, 
he continued and extended it. It was in 18;^>S that the first brick store 
was erected by Long, Taylor, and Thomas. It stood on the present 
site of H. F. Long's block. 

T/'0(/ Fire Conipani/. — Oscar Liewa engine house was built in 1871. 
They have a steam ' engine and hose company; officers: G. S. 
McGlema, foreman ; Kent Mitchell, secretary; Albert Morgan, presi- 
dent. The companv was organized in 1870; engine bought the same 
year. J, H. Grant'was chief for five years; E. Porter, foreman. 

Tanneries.— As earlv as 1827, Calvin Dodge built a small tannery 
with four or five vats. This was Laban Bowen's, and is now the prop- 
erty of Brainerd Bowen, his son, which has been extensively enlarged, 
and is now one of the important industries of the county. 

K Van Dynes Tannery.— -Islv. Van Dyne was with Bowen for some 
time, when he purchased an interest in his present tannery with B. II. 
Hobart and N. C. Porter, who had established the business, and in 
time Mr. Van Dvne became sole owner. Large additions were added 
in 1890, making 'this tannery one of the most prominent ones of the 
county. 

Foundry and Machine Shop on East Main street, by Austin 
Mitchell, was built in 1882, water power, on the site of the old Paine 
foundry. 

Troy has the following business concerns: Four drug stores, one 
clothing store; five dry-goods stores; three hardware stores; two fur- 
niture stores; six grocery stores ; three jewelry stores ; gristmill owned 
by Geo. Dillion 6l Son, situated on Elniira street— (roller process ; the 
old mill was built by George Viele, and was once used as a brewery. 
One mile east of Troy was originally Long's gristmill, now operated 
by W. R. McCleary);' furniture factory, by L. 11. Oliver, on Pvailroad 
and Canton streets (was built by Olive r,''Sr., twenty years ago; out- 
put, all kinds of household furniture) ; planing mill by J. J. Boliger, 
southwest of town, one and a half miles (was built in 1880); saw 
and planing mill, one mile north of Troy borough by Snedeker & 
Mitchel (thev have three portable mills in the county) ; engine com- 
pany (incorporated; was started in 1S90 ; employs twenty men, makes 
drill engines of all kinds). 

Troy Schools.— T\\Q old red school-house was built in 18-15; the 
first teacher was Henry Card. A significant fact is that three 
families sent twenty-five children to the school. The Troy schools 
became graded schools in 18(57. The school building was completed 
in 1866. DeLos Rockwell at that period served two years as secretary 
of school board, and then for twenty-three years was president of the 
board. The building has six rooms, a teacher in each, and an enroll- 
ment of three hundred. The old Academy was incorporated in 1842, 
and for sometime the State aided it. Prof. J. T. McCoUom was prm- 



538 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

cipal from 1873 to 1884, and chiefly organized the graded schools. 
His predecessor was H. H. Hutton, four years. The present princi- 
pal is Daniel Fleisher. 

Troy Farmers Cluh was organized in 1874. The first officers were 
James C. McKean, president; Edward Rockwell, vice-president; Geo. 
M. Card, secretary; A. M. Cornell, treasurer; A. S. Hooker, reporting 
secretary. On October 8 and 9, 1875, a free fair was held. Janu- 
ary 8, 1876, A. H. Thomas was elected president, F. P. Cornell, vice- 
president; and G. M. Card, secretary. The club was incorporated in 
1876, and a fair was held September 27-28-29. In 1882 new grounds 
were secured, known as "Alperon Park," on the farm of John A. 
Parsons, one mile northeast of the village, and a fine track was made. 
The present officers are: Geo. O. Holcomb, president ; J. R. Van- 
Amoy, secretary. Mr. Holcomb has a fine stock farm where he breeds 
the finest line of trotting horses in the county; he also makes a spe- 
cialty in keeping improved swine, and registered cattle. He owns a 
"Membrino King," "Almond 33," and other noted horses. 

Miscellaneous. — Isaac W. Pomeroy came to Troy in 1817, and soon 
after engaged in operating the old' Paine woolen mill, water-power, 
built by Clement D. Paine, in 1812. Mr. Pomeroy operated it about 
fifteen years, when he purchased and ran the "Troy Hotel" property, 
and with this a farm ; then built the "Eagle Hotel" about 1830, and 
retired from active life about the time of the completion of the rail- 
road. He was one of the active, energetic, strong men of the ])lace, 
and was an important factor in building it up. 

Judge Jerre Adams, of Troy, died in January, 1867; he was a 
native of Springfield, Mass., born in 1794, and came to the county and 
settled in Athens in 1816. where he set up a small tannery, and after- 
ward had Joel Adams in partnership in his tannery. Mr. Adams 
married Cynthia Decker, and in 1828 removed to Troy, established a 
tannery and built his residence, afterward the "Farmers' Hotel." In 
1840 he commenced merchandising, and had his son-in-law, Col. Fred- 
erick Orwan, as a partner; in 1837 he was superintendent of the North 
Branch Canal, and so remained until the crash of 1842; in 1848 he 
became associate judge, serving three years ; in 1862 he sold out in 
Troy and went to Elmira, but after a year returned to Troy, and 
finally removed to Waverly where he died. 

The old Baptist church"^stood in the center of the cemetery. The 
more modern cemetery contains about twenty acres — the old one has 
only about two acres. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COl^NTY. 539 



CHAPTER LI. 

TUSCARORA TOWNSHIP. 

rr^ HIS township Avas erected from Wyalusino- in 18;^>0, and received 
1 the name of Spring Hill. In 1856 the name was changed to 
Tuscarora. Joseph Wharton built the first log cabin. . There 
was no road along the river until as late as 1790, travelers taking the 
Indian paths or river-beach. This pioneer improvised his samp-mill 
by felling a huge white pine, and hollowing out the stump for his 
mortar, and used a heavy Indian pestle for grinding the corn. The 
owner of this mill frequently loaned its use to his neighbors — after he 
had some — for there was no water-mill nearer than the Wyoming 
valley. 

Wharton cleared and fenced about sixty acres of land, and set out 
an orchard, also built a second log house in the central part of his 
clearing. This house stood some thirty rods from the present location 
of the road, and directly back of Edwards' farm-house. In 1808, 
Joseph Wharton conveyed this farm to Elihu Hall and Elihu Hall. Jr. 
The Halls were carpenters, and made but little im])rovement on the 
land. I'inding the Wharton house too small for both families they 
demolished it, and built a long log house, with a chimney at each 
end. . While the Halls were in possession, the Spring Hill road was 
opened in part. They built a plank house on this road, and sold to 
Jacob Gray in the spring of 1815. Rev. D. D. Gray was then a boy 
seven years old, and he asserted that he traveled every sled path, 
and visited every habitable part of the township, the first year of his 
residence. He thus names the families resident in the township in 
that year, 1815; Thomas Morley, Stephen Beeman, Edward Cogswell, 
and Elislia Cogswell, on Tuscarora creek ; James Black, Harry Ackley, 
Jacob Huff. Reuben Shumway. and Stephen Bowen, on Spring Hill; 
William Clink and Daniel Johnson, on South Spring Hill. These 
settlers had at that time from two to twelve acres of cleared land 
each, the whole of the improved land in the township, aside from the 
Wharton farm, probabh^ not exceeding eighty acres. 

About this time Jeremiah Lewis, Chester Wells, and several others 
made a beginning, and in the course of a few years all the land suita- 
ble for farming purposes was taken up. . The first settler on the 
Tuscarora creek, within the present bounds of the township, was 
Oliver Sisson, who came thereto in 1805, and located four miles from 
the river, on the farm known on the Bi'adfor-d county map as the 
''Cogswell Homestead," and the hill known as Sisson hill received its 
name from him. He died in 1809, leaving all of his property to his 
wife, his will being recorded in Wilkes-Barre. as this was then a part 
of Luzerne county. The possession, or quitclaim right, was conveyed 
bv the widow to Julius and Elisha Cogswell about 1809. Julius soon 



">40 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

after conve\'e(l his interest, to Elisha, and the farm has ever since 
remained in the family down to Rev. Bela Cogswell. 

Edward, Joel and Daniel Cogswell, three brothers, came from 
Connecticut and settled in Bradford count}'. Daniel soon moved 
away and was lost sight of. Joel settled near Le Raysville, where he 
lived and died. He reared a large family of children, and was the 
father of the elder Dr. Cogswell. Edward was a miller b\' trade, 
lie settled on the farm owned and occupied by his grandson. Dr. 
Cogswell, a son of Elisha Cogswell. Elisha Cogswell was a soldier in 
the War of 1812. His wife was the daugiiter of Bela Ford, who came 
from New York to Pike township, as early as 1807. 

Reuben Shiimway came into Tuscarora in 1805. He came from 
Steuben countv, N. Y., in 1801, to the Wyalusing, near the residence 
of the Widow Buck, and lived there fouryears. He also lived a short 
time on Lime hill. He settled in Tuscarora, on the farm owned by 
Stephen Lyon. At this time there was nothing but a foot-path over 
the hill. His wife was Miriam Town, a sister of Joseph C. Town. She 
died in 1819, and was the first person who died on the hill, and the 
first person buried in the burying-ground near Mr. Lyon's. 

The two brothers, John and William Clink, came in 1814 to Spring 
Hill. ^ " 

Benjamin Hurlbut came to the Wyalusing creek in 1803. He was 
a miller, and was employed in Gordon's, and afterward in Town's, mill. 
He came to the hill in 1805 or 1806, his brother Amos coming with him. 

Stephen Beeman came in 1809, and began a clearing a mile below 
the Sisson place, where Oliver Warner lived ; resided there until 
death. . Alpheus and Daniel Lewis Crawford, brothers, came from 
Connecticut and settled at East Spring Hill about 1829. David Lacey 
came about the same time. The father of the Crawfords came to 
Wyoming at an early day. 

Emanuel Silvara came from Portugal. When a lad he secreted 
himself on a vessel bound for the United States, and was discovered 
when a short distance from port. On landing in America the captain 
sold him for three years to pa}' for his passage. He served his time, 
after which he married and came to East Spring Hill about 1839. He 
bought the Crawford's farm, and though to a great extent ignorant of 
our language and destitute of all advantages of education, he accumu- 
lated a line property. The little village which has sprung up about 
the place where the old mansion was built is called Silvara in his 
honor. He reared a large and respectable family. 

Burrows Dowdney was from New Jersey, and lived at the mills. 
Some time after Abial Keeney bought Dowdney's farm, and the latter 
removed from the town. DaVid Dare was a relative of Dowdney's, 
and Dare's sister was the wife of George Smith. . Jacob Huff 
was a native of Germany, and emigrated therefrom to this country 
about the time hostilities commenced between the mother country and 
the Colonies. He enlisted in the service of the latter, and was engaged 
in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Brandy wine and others. 
He lived where Milton Lewis resided. . Other earlv settlers were 



HISTORY OF HIIADFOIU) COrNTY. 541 

Daniel Merritt, on the place occiii)ie(l by Martin Lyon: Moses Rowley, 
where the (Tartlands lived ; Richards and 8tarks. 

The lirst sawmill was built about 1820, by Ludd Gaylord, near the 
moutL of the creek where the present foundry is located. A gristmill 
was afterward built there. . The lirst white child born in the 
township was Marinda, a daughter, to Julius Cogswell, in 1811. 
The first death in the town among the settlers was that of Oliver 
Sisson, in 1809. . The first marriage in the toAvnshij) was that 
of John Morley and Orilla Cogswell, in 1816. The ceremony was 
performed by llev. John liazzard, the first Methodist circuit preacher 
on the creek. . The first regular religious services wei-e held by 
this minister in 1813, in the house built by Oliver Sisson. . The first 
carriages were carts. The wheels were blocks sawed off of large logs, 
the blocks being from six to eight inches in thickness. These were 
facetious Iv called "Toad smashers." 



CHAPTER LII. 

ULSTEE TOWNSHIP. 



WHAT is now known as Ulster was originally called Sheshequin. 
When Gen. Spalding first settled in what is now called She- 
shequin, and built the first log cabin, he gave that name to his settle- 
ment, and for man}^ years the two places were each called Sheshequin ; 
and, to distinguish one from the other, that on the west side of the 
river was named Old Sheshequin, and that on the east side, New 
Sheshequin. The new Sheshequin becoming much the more important 
place, at length threw off the qualifymg term, and became simply 
Sheshequin, while Old Sheshequin, after much discussion, and several 
different names having been proposed, at length took the name of both 
the Connecticut and Pennsylvania township, and, by the general 
acquiescence of the inhabitants, has retained the name which was 
assigned to it. 

The present township known by this name is but a very small rem- 
nant of the one first organized as Ulster. The original township was 
about five miles from north to south, and about eighty fi"om CMst to 
west; the present Ulster is a trifle greater distance from north to south, 
and not more than three miles from east to west. It is bounded by 
the Susquehanna on the east, North Towanda on the south, Smithfield 
on the west, and Athens on the north. Along the river are the plains 
usually found along the river, broken by high land between Ulster 
and Milan, and terminated on the south by the Ulster mountain. 
West of the river the land rises to a considerable height, Moore's hill 
being among the highest points of land in the county. The hills, 
though high, are not steep, and are susceptible of cultivation to their 



542 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

very suniuiils, and good crops are raised by the thrifty farmers whose 
farms cover tlieir rugged sides. 

Early Settlers. — Settlers came into Ulster about the same time that 
Col. Spalding and others went into Shesequin, 1783 and 1784. A number 
of them were from Wyoming, and came about the same time, if they 
did not come together. Of these may be mentioned, as one of the 
pioneers, Capt. Benjamin Clark, who was among the very first to build 
a house on the "town-plat" of Wilkes-Barre, having emigrated from 
Tolland county, Conn. He was a corporal in the First Independent Com- 
pany of Wyoming, under Capt. Kobert Durkee, and served seven years 
in the Revolutionary War. In the battle of Mud Fort, the man in front 
of him had his head shot off by a cannon-ball. He was one of the 
detachment sent for the relief of Wyoming after the fatal battle, and 
was in the army of Gen. Sullivan, which devastated the Indian country 
in 1779. For his services he received a pension of $96 per year. Subse- 
quently he was appointed a captain in the militia, and was known by 
old settlers as Capt. Clark. After peace, Capt. Clark remained in 
Wyoming one year. In the spring of 1784 he moved to the place now 
called Frenchtown, and the year after came up to Ulster, built a 
log house on the bank of the river, and moved his family into it 
in the spring of 1785; a tenement building on the Ross farm now 
marks the site of Capt. Clark's first house. It will be remem- 
bered, an unusually severe rain fell in October, 1786, causing an 
unusual rise in the river called the " Pumpkin freshet." Capt. Clark's 
house stood on the low flat near the river. The water began 
to rise rapidly, the family became alarmed and fled to the hills, and 
Mr. Clark commenced moving his goods from the house; and so rap- 
idly did the water rise, that across a low place between his house and 
the hillside, where was dry ground when he went for his last load of 
goods, he was compelled to swim his oxen on tiie return. Although 
soaked with water, the family iiad no shelter for their heads from the 
storm on that chilly October niglit. The water came up to the eaves 
of the house, but the building resisted the force of the current, and 
after the flood subsided the family moved back into it. Capt. Clark 
died in Ulster, August 9, 1834, aged eighty-seven years. 

Ad rial Simons came from Connecticut about the same time as 
Capt. Clark, and occupied the farm now owned by Mr. YanDyke and 
Adolphus Watkins. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, was 
taken prisoner by the British in one of the battles fought in the vicin- 
ity of New York, and was for a long time confined in one of the 
prison ships in Long Island sound, where he suft'ered untold hardships 
from the confinement, hunger, cold and filth, which gave those float- 
ing dens such an unenviable notoriety. 

Solomon Tracy lived in the lower part of Ulster, on the farm now 
owned by Mr. Mather. He was born in Litchfield county. Conn., 
January 'l, 1756. His wife was Mary Wells, born in Southold, on 
Long Island, March 5, 1765 ; was a sister to Gen. Henry Wells, for 
whom Wellsburg, in New York, and Wells township, in Bradford 
counts'^ were named. Hon. Henrv W. Tracy, a son of Capt. Solomon, 
says T" My oldest sister was born October 19, 1787. AVhen she was 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKl) COU^JTY. 543 

a child, they moved to Ulster. 1 have lieard nvy mother say she 
carried her m her arms through the Breakneck narrows on horseback. 

Eli llolcomb came from Simmsbury, Conn., and in March, 1793. 
settled in Ulster, on the place now occupied by Mr. Walker. The llol- 
comb sawmill, on Cash's ci'eek, was known for a long distance, and 
lumber, with which most of the houses in Ulster and adjoining towns 
were built, was sawed there. 

Chester Bingham was at Ulster at an early day. . Thomas 
Overton, born in England, came from Luzerne coanty to Athens, 
where he resided a short time, and then purchased the Solomon Tracy 
place in Ulster. Here he kept a public-house for a number of years. 

Above the Narrows, toward Milan, Joseph C. Powell lived. The 
place was known by those who ran the river as Powell's eddy. 

William and Joseph Loughry, probably brothers, early settled in 
Ulster. By deed dated December 11, 1794, lieuben Fuller, of Tioga, 
conveys to' William Loughry, of Tioga, a lot described as Nos. 1 and 
2 of Ulster, and opposite New Sheshequin. 

In the back part of Ulster is what is known as the Moore's Hill 
settlement. Clement Paine owned some property in this place, on the 
Burlington road, and had made some improvement on it, and Jeduthan, 
a son of Capt. Adrial Simons, was living in the same neighborhood 
about 1820 to 1825. Mr. Howie bought the place of Mr. Paine, and 
Peter McAuley was near him. Besitles these there are families of 
Pollocks, Mathers, Dicksons and others, names familiar to every 
reader of Scotch history. 

Ulster Milage. — The present postmaster is K. A. Ilorton. The 
first postmaster, in 1870, was J. llolcomb. . The magnihcent iron 
bridge at Ulster was built in 1889, one of the first iron bridges 
spanning the Susquehanna. Before this bridge was built they had an 
old rope ferry. Uriah Shaw, of Ulster, was born in Sheshequin in 
1806, and is now eighty-six years old. His recollections of this por- 
tion of the county are very remarkable. He says the first coal boat 
on the canal, Capt. May commanding, left Pittston (m November 11, 
1856, and passing Ulster reached Elmira on the seventeenth. On 
December 18, 1771, his father, Ebenezer Shaw, died at Mrs. Gore's in 
Sheshequin, aged one hundred years, three months, twelve days. The 
first railroad ticket sold at Ulster was bought by his brother, Norman 
Shaw. The lailroad station, for some time, was an old canal-boat. The 
present station agent is Henry Shaw, appointed in April, 1871. 

On the tombstones in the old Ulster grave-yard are found the fol- 
lowing inscriptions: Adrial Summers, died July 27, 180o. Mrs. 
Mercv Rice, died April 12, 1813. Mary Overton, wife of Thomas 
Overton, died April 15,1815; Thomas Overton died November 11, 
1835. Harrv Carpenter died in January, 1808. Capt. Benjamin 
Clark, a soldi*er of the Revolution, died August 9, 1834, aged 87; his 
wife Keziah died Aug. 12, 1837, aged 91. 

The first gristmill in Ulster was built in 1806, by Thomas Overton. 
The next one was built by Charles Welles, at first as a sawmill : was 
burned twice and then made a gristmill. Crescent mills, Ulster, 



544 HIiSTOKY OF BRADFOKD COUJSTT. 

(steam-power), operated by A. Armstrong, lessee, has a capacity of 
forty barrels of flour per day. 

The village of Ulster has the following industries: A sawmill, by 
AVatkins & Gore; two general dry -goods stores; cigar factory; grocery 
store; drugstore; a livery stable ; one clothmg store ; one millinery 
store ; two blacksmith shops and one meat market. There are two 
hotels—'' Van Dyke House," by E. J. Mathews, and " Ulster House," 
by Watkins & Gore — two churches, town hall, etc. 

Milan, situated three miles above Ulster, is a railroad depot. It 
was formerly called " Marshall's Corners." in honor of a man of that 
name, who was an early settler and prominent citizen. It has one 
hotel, three stores and a blacksmith and wagon shop. It is a busy 
shipping point on the Lehigh Yalley Eailroad. 

Moore's Hill was settled by Robert Moore in the spring of 1819, 
and next fall was followed by Judson Simmons ; he by Alexander 
Hubbard ; then William Van Dyke, and after him John Lewis. This 
brings us to 1821. There seems^ to have been no additions during the 
next twelve vears. Simmons was succeeded by his son Adrial. 



CHAPTER LIIL 

WARREN TOWNSHIP. 



WARREN is the northeast corner township of Bradford county. 
Its surface is very uneven, but at the same time there is but a 
small portion not susceptible of cultivation. The timber is principally 
hemlock, birch, beech and maple, with some basswood, pine, cherry 
and ash. The sod is gravel and loam. The streams which drain the 
waters to the Susquehanna rise here. They afford good water-power 
for running machinery on a small scale. The crops consist of wheat, 
rye, oats, barlev, corn, potatoes, grass and flax, potatoes leading. 

In 1798, James Bowen, William Arnold, Mr. Harding and Thomas 
Gibson came into Warren, then known as " Martell," and made a 
clearing on the south branch of the Wappasening creek, at a place 
called for many years "the old clearing." B>iit they found they were 
not on the tract of land they had designed settling on, and after 
obtaining their first crop they "abandoned it and went farther north, 
to a place which has been known ever since as " Bowen Hollow," 
where James Bowen built a gristmill on the middle branch of the 
Wappasening. . Eliphalet Mason, son of Ebenezer and Mary Mason, 
came to Warren in 1802. 

In the spring of 1800, Cai)t. Ebenezer and Jonathan Coburn, 
bi'othei's, came, with their sons, from Connecticut and bought under 
Connecticut title 23,040 acres of land, and made a clearing on the same 
farm where they lived and died. On their arrival at Martell they 
found Bowen, Arnold, Fairbanks and Gibson, who had moved in with 



HISTORY OF BKADl'OUl) COUJSTY. 545 

their families the season before, and made clearings. Seneca Allyn, 
now living in Warren, says he went with a horse to the Wysox Hats, 
thence up"the river to Owego, before he could find any gram that he 
could buy ; and he bought two bushels of wheat, put it into a skiff, 
because there was no way to get his horse across the river. He then 
took the grain on his shoulders and carried it two and a half miles to 
get it gi-ound, then shouldered it again and brought it back to the 
river, where his horse was left fasting, for the very good reason that 
he could get nothing for him to eat. 

William Arnold and Elizabeth, his wife, came from Massachusetts, 
in the vear 1790. They brought with them three sons, James, William 
and Andrew — all of whom lived to be aged men. and reared families. 
Elizabeth Arnold died in Wai-ren when fifty years of age, about the 
vear 1801. Her husband died about seventeen years after, sixty-two 
years of age. 

During the summer or fall of 1800 the first white child was born 
in AVarren, a son of James Bowen, and was christened Harry ; a few 
Aveeks later Benedict Arnold was born, and August 10, 1801, A. S. 
Coburn. son of Parley Coburn. 

In 1804 there were the following taxables, viz.: William Arnold, J. 
Bowen, Henry Billings, Ebenezer Coburn, Parley Coburn, Jonathan 
Coburn, Moses Coburn, Jr., Amos Coburn, Payson Corbin, Thomas 
Gibson, Ebenezer Lee and Poswell Lee. 

The Armstrongs came in as late as 1817 or 1818. Joseph lived 
on the turnpike, near Alexander Dew-ing's. Mrs. Dewing had by her 
first husband four sons, Jeremiah, Andrew, Alexander and Edward. 
Jeremiah was a Presbyterian preacher, and had a son, Thomas S. 

Luther Buffington lived in the Bowen neighborhood. Preserved 
l>uliington, from Providence, R. L, was a brother of Mrs. William 
Arnold, and came from the same neigiiborhood. He lived in South 
AVarren, on the farm Samuel Cliaffe now lives on. His sons w^ere : 
Luther, Calvin and Benjamin. A daughter, Sally, married Livingston 
Jenks. He lived on a farm now occupied by Esquire Burbank. He 
liad a store and did trading for some years. He had a large family 
of children. He was justice of the peace for a number of years. Capt. 
Case also was a settler in the township. He had a son, Benjamin, who 
was a lawyer, and uuirried a sister of Andrew Coburn, and Andrew 
Coburn married his sister. 

Nathan Young married a Merrill. Came to Warren in 1815, and 
settled on the turnpike, a short distance from Alexander Dewing's. 
He had two sons, Nathan and Oscar F. Mr. Merrill moved into the 
county with Mr. Young, and lived near him. . Thomas and Oliver 
Corbin w^ere sons of Clement. Samuel (iriswold was their nearest 
neighbor. 

Jacob Burbank married a sister of Oliver Corbin. lie came from 
Vermont to Warren as a young man iti 18l;>. and boarded with Oliver 
Corbin. He bought the farm which joined Mr. Allyn. His first farm 
joined Mr. Corbin. and he lived there until his wife died, and then 
bouo-ht the other. . A Mr. Billings liv<(l near Mr. Coope)-, iind 



546 HlbTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

was an early comer in that neighborhood. Oliver Cooper married a 
Steinberg. 

Abel and Joseph Prince were brothers, and lived in the southern 
part of the township. They came after 1810. . George Pendleton 
came to Warren about 1814. . In 1802 James Bowen built a grist- 
mill on the Middle branch of the Wappasening, near the center of the 
town. 

In 1803, William Arnold and Mr. Harding went to Sheshequin to 
procure meat; they purchased one hundred pounds of pork, divided it 
equally, and started for home. Snow having fallen to some depth, 
and there being no track, Mr. Harding gave out when not far from 
where Potterville now is. Mr. Arnold left him to obtain help, but 
when help came they found him a stiffened corpse. 

Tiie first school was taught by R. Lee, in 1807. . The first death of 
an adult by disease was that of Theda Corbin. . Amos Coburn built 
the first framed house, and had the first "house warming.'' 

The first church erected in the township was of the Presbyterian 
denomination, in 1832. . In 1816, the Congregational Church was 
organized with fourteen members, of whom eight lived in Warren, 
the rest in Orwell. . At a very early date a Baptist Society was 
organized at Warren; they were called "Old-School Baptists." In 
1844 a Kew-School Baptist Church was organized at Warren Centre. 
In 1841 a Free Will Baptist Church was organized at the same point. 

Alfred Allyn lived on the road to Pike, about two miles from 
Oliver Corbin's. . Among other early settlers who followed close 
in the wake of those already me'ntioned we may name Charles and 
Robert Sutton, Isaac Van Brunt, Samuel Mason, Lewis Barton, Samuel 
Mapes. . Amos Coburn built the first framed house in Warren. 

South Warren has one store. . Warren Centre has two stores 
and one gi'ist mill. . West Warren has one store. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

AVELLS TOWNSHIP. 



WELLS (with Springfield and Columbia) was taken from the town- 
ship of Smithfield, in 1813, and named in honor of Henry 
Wells. It occupies a rolling and well-watered farming district, situ- 
ated between the head-waters of Seeley, South and Mill creeks ; being 
bounded nortii by New York, east by South creek, south by Columbia, 
and west hy the county of Tioga, and was originally covered with a 
heavy pi-iiiioval forest of beech, maple, hemlock, pine and other 
timber. 

The first permanent white settler was Rev. John Smith, familiarly 
called " Priest Smith." About 1792 he came with his family and Con- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTT. 549 

necticiit title, and located on what is now known as the Beckwith 
farm. He was a man of learning-, and the first Christian minister 
in this part of the connty, and new-comers would journey 
long distances, by marked ^trees. to hear him preach. He 
eventually moved to Kentucky. Two other families, one or both 
by the name of Reeder, followed Smith, and built their cabins where 
there is the villa.ire of Wells; one was opj)osite the residence of C. L. 
Shepard, and the'other where John Roy lives. In 1795, Rev. Daniel 
Thatcher organized a Presbyterian Church at Elmira, and constituted 
the adult members of these three families a branch of the same. This 
Avas the first religious organization hereabouts, but did not long con- 
tinue, for the Reeders soon moved away. They left a little grave 
where C. L. Shepard has his garden, which probably indicates the first 
death in town. 

Lemuel Gavlord purchased and located where Mi'. Pedrick is now, 
near the State'line, in 1800. Mrs. Gaylord taught the children of her 
neighbors gratis^ at her own house, which was the first school. . Sol- 
omon J udson came f.iora C4reenville, K Y., in 1803, and located on 
grounds vacated by the Reeders. His children were Ithamar, Samuel, 
Isaac, Sarah, Marv and Jane. The aged i)arents were bui-ied on the 
farm of John Roy ; Ithamar had a house for the entertainment of 
strangers, and for religious worship, a little above Shepard's store, but 
finally went to Ohio. ' Samuel and Isaac, after giving name to Judson 
Hill, went west. Two of the elder Judson's daughters reside in the 
village of Wells. . Deacon Silas Waldron arrived in 1804, and, 
after assisting the Judsons for a time in holding reading and prayer 
meetings, returned again to Connecticut. . John Osgood moved 
into the center of the town in 1804. His children were John, Sarah, 
William, Elizabeth, Levi, Mary, Thomas, Caroline, Shubael, Merrill 
and Esther. 

Samuel Edsall came in 1805, and located in the south part of the 
town. Adam Seeley had made a little beginning for him. Mr. 
Edsall's children were Permelia, Jesse, Richard, Charles, Barton, 
Lemira, James, Lewis, Seeley and Jackson. This was the beginning 
of the remarkable immigration from Kew Jersey, which continued to 
such an extent that in 1850 one-half of the inhabitants of the town 
were from that State. 

Shubael Rowlee arrived from New Jersey in 1807. His children 
were Shubael (who was a justice of the peace for twenty-two years). 
James, Peter, George, Jonathan, Ananias, Patty and Elizabeth. 
About this time Benjamin Seeley and Esquire Hyde located at As]iin- 
wall. Soon after, Zephaniah Knapp settled half a mile north of 
Hyde ;■ he being from Orange county, N^. Y. The wilderness rapidly 
filled up with such men as Samuel and William Ingalls, Thomas 
Warner and his sons — Truman, James and Hiram — James Gordon, 
Ralph Bovier, David GrisAvold and others. 

The first death of an adult was that of Peabody Keyes, who, soon 
after moving to the village of Wells, slipped on the ice, and dislocated 
his neck, December 25, 1813, A boy in the same neighborhood had 



550 HISTORY OF BRADFOED COUNTY. 

died previously ; Solomon Soper's daughter had been scalded to death, 
on the occasion of a logging-bee at Samuel EdsalVs, July 4, 1810. 

Peter P. French came from Washington county, N. Y., in 1824, 
and built the first lumber-mill in town same year. His children were 
James, Seabury G., George W., Mary Ann, William H., Charlotte and 
Lyman. In 1826 he had a weekly mail established between Elmira 
and Mansfield, his sawmill giving name to the first postoffice. Pre- 
vious to this, the inhabitants were dependent on Elmira for news from 
the outside world. 

Schools were established as soon as settlements were formed, the 
first being near where Albert Seeley lives, the next where Albert Jud- 
son resides, then at Aspinwall, Judson Hill, Kowlee's and other 
localities. Eeligious meetings were held from the first in the north- 
west part of the town, as we have seen Rev. Benjamin Oviatt came 
into the vicinity of the line between Wells and Columbia in 1819, and 
labored with great success. The first converts, consisting of twelve 
males and twelve females, were added to the Baptist Church, which 
had been organized at Sylvania in 1812 or '13. In 1821, however, the 
Baptist Church of Columbia and Wells was constituted, at the house of 
James Seeley, with fortv-seven members. The entire additions during 
Elder Oviatt's service oi" three years were ninety. The present regular 
Baptist Church of Columbia and Wells had its origin at the Haven 
school-house, April 3, 1846, and their house of worship was erected in 

1853. 

The Methodists held meetings at the house of Samuel Ingalls, 
where David Fries resides, and afterward formed a class at Judson 
Hill, where they built a church in 1865. They have classes also at 
other points. A Presbvterian Church was organized at Wells by Bev. 
M. M. York and Rev. Simeon B. Jones, March 3, 1821, which became 
extinct in a few vears. The North Church of Wells was constituted 
at the State line,^ November 22, 1836, and their house of worship has 
been moved to the village so as to accommodate all societies. The 
present Presbyterian Church of Wells and Columbia was organized at 
the school-house in Aspinwall, February 22, 1832, and their meeting- 
house was built in 1839. Rev. Joel Jewell has labored in the ministry 
of the gospel in the towns of Wells and Columbia for a period of 
thirty-five years, which is longer than any other minister has served 
in this portion of the county. 

There is no mining in Wells; no manufacturing save that of butter. 
In 1877 the number of milch cows was 1487. John Brown sold that 
year, as the product from three cows, 903 pounds of butter, besides 
the milk and butter used in his family. 

Revolutionary patriots of Wells: Shubael Rowlee, died July 1, 
1829; Solomon Judson, died December 12, 1836, aged 86 ; Thomas 
Warner, died March, 1840, aged 84. 

Veterans of 1812: Nathan Shepard, Sr., Wm. S. Ingalls, Shubael 
Rowlee, Jr., John Fitzsimmons, Strong Seeley, Amos Baker, William 
Osgood, Theophilus jMoore, Israel Moore, Partial Mapes, Sarlls Barrett, 
Jesse Edsall, Richard Edsall. Joseph Capron and Thomas Ferguson. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 551 

In the Mexican War was William R. Wilson, who was in the regular 
and volunteer military service over fourteen years. 

Welln T^///ff^<? has two stores, two blacksmith shops, an undertaking 
establisment, a cooper's shop, one hotel and a cheese box factory. 

Aspinwall has one store, one blacksmith shop, an Odd Fellows hall 
and one church. . Daniel Sti'ong owns a feed and cider mill, situated 
near the center of the township. There is also a creamery, owned by 
Warner & Gregg, situated near Aspinwall. 



CHAPTER LV. 
WEST BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP. 

THE topoo-raphy of West Burlington township, is similar to that 
of Burlington, of which it was formerly a part. The principal 
stream by which it is watered is the Sugar creek, which passes through 
the town in an easterly and northeasterly direction, centrally, and has 
several small tributary creeks, flowing in from the north and south. 
The soil and its productive capacity is the same as that of the sur- 
rounding towns, and its many roads offer good facilities for reaching a 
market. 

The settlement of the townshi]) is given in the history of Burling- 
ton, the Sugar creek colonization being common to both townships. 
The first clearing in the town was made on the Sugar, near the mouth 
of Mill creek, in the east part of the town, near Burlington borough ; 
and at the junction of the roads, west of that point, the first church on 
the creek was built. 

Many descendants of the old pioneers, whose names are given in 
the history of Burlington, are living in West Burlington, the McKeans. 
Ballards, Goddards, Baileys, Pratts, Swains, Beaches, Leonards and 
others, whose farms lie along both banks of the creek. 

Organization. — The town of West Burlington was formed in 1855, 
from Burlington township, the boundary line between the two towns 
being very nearly located on the center line from north to south of the 
original town, in its Avider part. The area of West Burlington is 
somewhat less than Burlington, but not much. 

West Burlington Village is located in the western part of the town, 
at the junction of the roads north, a short distance of the bridge over 
the Sugar creek. It is a small hamlet, containing a postoiRce, store, 
wagon, blacksmith and cooper shops, grocery, a school-house, and a 
Methodist Episcopal church, and thirty or more dwellings. On the 
opposite sides of the creek, the grist and saw mills of B. L. Rockwell 
& Sons are situated, known as the "West Burlington Mills." North 
of the village, in District No. 4, A. L.Ballard's sawmill is situated, and 
in Bloom District, No. 1, D. & G. D. Bourne have a lumber manufac- 
tory and steam sawmill, and in District No. 3 is still another steam 
sawmill. 



552 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTT. 

CHAPTER LVL 

WILMOT TOWNSHIP. 

THIS township was named in honor of Hon. David Wilmot. At 
the upper portion of the river bounchiry are alluvial flats, vary- 
ing from twenty to forty rods in width, which extend to the mouth of 
the Sugar run, where the flats widen and extend a couple of miles up 
the creek. In the lower part of the township is what is familiarly 
called "The Bend,'' or "Quick's Bend," from the name of one of the 
earliest settlers in the township. Back from the river the land is 
hilly, but is fertile. On the Sugar run was a lot having the name of 
Lincoln, which tract was granted by the Proprietaries, and patented 
to Keuben Hains, March 31, 1T75, and by his heirs conveyed to Silas 
F. Andrews, who sold to Henrv Brindle, April 0. 1804, and is the lot 
where Andrews built his mills. 

The first white settler in this township was Thomas Keeney, of 
Litchfield county, Conn. He settled first at Wapwallepack, but came 
to the present township of Wilmot as early as 1T86. He purchased 
of Zebulon Butler, of Wilkes-Barre, a Connecticut right and title to a 
tract of land which he supposed was on the east side of the river, in 
Braintrim ; but when he came to locate it he found his lot was No. 1 
of Springfield, which was the farm now occupied by Joseph Gamble 
and the heirs of James Gamble, in Wilmot. This land he worked the 
first season, living in a bark and brush cabin in the ravine near the 
house of G. Stuart Gamble, and built a log house on the east side of 
the river. The bank on which the latter was erected has long since been 
washed away. 

In 1788, Mr. Keeney brought his family from Wapwallepack. He 
was apprehended as one of the abductors of Timothy Pickering, taken 
to Wilkes-Barre. and kept in confinement all summer. . In the spring 
of 1788, Kichard and Joshua Keeney, brothers, and probably distant 
relatives of Thomas, came to Wilmot from Connecticut. Richard 
married Mercy, a daughter of Thomas, in September, 1788. Richard 
and Thomas built thehouse occupied by Joseph Gamble. There the 
wife of Mark died, July 7, 1804, and he in the following October. 
Thomas sold the farm to \Toseph Gamble's father in 1812. Jeremiah, 
son of Mark Keeney, lived on the Morrow place. 

James Anderson'emigrated from County Monaghan, Ireland, witli 
Samuel and James Gordon ; he settled first in Dauphin county, where he 
married Mrs. Margaret (Cook) Bailey. In 1801 he moved on Sugar 
hill, in Wilmot, where Mr. Brindle, the owner, engaged him to board 
the hands employed in erecting buildings on the property. The next 
year he moved on the farm now owned by the Wilsons, in the "Bend;'' 
and he first occupied a log house erected previous to his coming, but 
afterwards built on the bank of the river. The floods have since washed 
away the ground on which it stood. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 553 

At this time the only persons living- in the " Bend," beside James 
Anderson, wei'e James Quick and Thomas Keeney. In 1818, Mr. 
Anderson sold to the Wilsons. The eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married 
Abial, son of Richard Keeney, and lived near the mouth of the Tusca- 
rora. Mi-. Anderson died sutklenly in 1829, injured by the fall of a 
dead limb from a tree, while riding his horse on his way home from 
church. After his deatli his daughter Ellen returned and married 
William J^ake. 

James Q^hck, of Dutch extraction, came from near Milford, in Lhi; 
Minisink country, to Tunkhannock, where he remained a short time, 
and then located on what was known as the " Fainter farm," so called 
from a man of that name (Pliilip Painter) who had settled there before 
the lievolutionary War. Mr. Quick came ])robably in 1791, for his 
daughter Hannah was born there in 1792. lie lived for three or four 
years in a little log house on the north side of tlie small brook which 
runs through the farm lately owned by his son Paul, near the river, on 
the point of the ridge. He then built a hewn log house on the south 
side of the creek, nearly opposite the old one. 

Christopher Schoonover, more commonly known by his Dutch name, 
" Stoftie," came as early as 1792 from the Delaware river, wiiere he 
lived in the same neighborhood with James (^uicic. Schoonover had 
cleared a few acres on the Hats, the upland being covered with timber. 
His house was on the bank of the river below the Wilsons. It was of 
logs, and covered with bark or spalts. He moved up the river into the 
townshi)) of Litchfield, and Cornelius Quick bought his possession, who 
sold to James Anderson, and he in turn to the Wilsons. Schoonover 
had two sons, Josepli and Solomon, and two daughters. "' Stoftie " 
Schoonover, when he came to Wilmot, brought a young man with him, 
named Webster Seymour. . Nathan Beeman and his cousin, Timothy, 
came from Warren, Litchfield county, almost simultaneously. Nathan 
had a little house a short distance above the landing at Keeney's ferry. 
Judson Beeman, son of Timothy, was born December 29, 1785. Dr. Eben- 
ezer Beeman was living in Black- Walnut, and Rockwell (Timothy's half- 
brother) iiad been about this section for some time, and the re])resenta- 
tions they gave of the country induced Timothy Beeman to settle there. 
He moved m March, 1799, with two teams, a yoke of oxen and sled, and 
span of horses and sleigh. They were twenty (hivs eoi route. Timothy 
Beeman was the first settler in that part of tha town, locating where 
Hollon lived. . Sugar Hill was then an unbroken wilderness, except 
that Yanderpool iiad built a log house on the farm where the late John 
Brown livetl, cut a few trees, and moved away. When Mr. Beeman 
moved in there was no person living between his place and Ingham's, 
and his house was the only one in all that section. 

Judson Beeman says : " My father's family consisted of three sons 
and three daughters. We went there in the woods, without house or 
shelter. We moved into the Pool house, and stayed there the first 
year; then we put uj) a board shanty, in wliich we lived the following- 
summer, and the next year my father, who was a carpenter, built a 
framed house. The hardest part of the work was hauling the boards 
up the liill from Andrews'' mill. Mv father lived here until he died, in 



554 HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

August, 1830, at the age of seventy-six years. He, as well as my 
mother (whose maiden name was Grace), was buried on Lacy street. 
Seymour, my eldest brother, sold to Hollon, and moved away. 
Alfred, another brother, married Rachel, a daughter of Gerrit Smith, 
and lived on Lacey street. Gerrit Smith also went to New York, neai' 
Cayuga lake, and died there," 

Silas F. Andrews, son and executor of Ebenezer Andrews, or 
Andrus, as the name is sometimes spelled, was the first to settle on the 
Sugar run, above the river. He came about 1792. His wife was a 
daughter of Isaac Hancock. His father was one of the original 
proprietors of certified Springfield, was a settler in it before the 
Revolutionary War, and died soon after the war closed. Under date of 
December 29, 1792, the orphans' court of Luzerne county issued to him 
letters of administration on his fathers estate. He bought the lot on 
Sugar run first above the Ingram property, where he built a grist and 
saw mill at an early day ; the gristmill was but a small house of logs, 
with one run of stone ; the sawmill was of the same sort, very service- 
able, but small. Mr. Andrews was an active business man; he not only 
built the mills, opened a road from them to the river, but was engaged 
in various enterprises for the improvement of his neigliboi'hood. Mr. 
Andrews moved away, up the river, about the year 1800, having sold 
to William Bi-indle, a Dutchman, who came from near Harrisburg. 
He kept up the Andrews' mills for three or four years, and then 
moved to the West branch, although his son kept the property for 
some years later, v.'hen Joseph Preston succeeded to the ownership. 
Among other early settlers we may name Joseph Ingham, who lived 
where Washington Ingham now lives. 

Bv deed bearing date September 4, 1789, Jonas Ingham purchased 
of Isaac Benjamin the Connecticut title to lots Nos. 7 and 8 on the 
Springfield list, which are at the mouth of Sugar run, and the land now 
owned by J. W. Ingham. Joseph, the son of Jonas Ingham, took the 
property and began to make improvements, and built the mills, which, 
although they have been twice or three times rebuilt, wei-e on nearly 
the same site as the ones now in use bv Mr. Ingham. 

Thomas Ingham, a son of Joseph,'^succeeded to the property, and 
then his son, J. Washington Ingham. The family and mill have been 
landmarks in this part of the country for more than fourscore years. A 
brother is J. W. Ingham, is the Hon. T. J. Ingham, president judge of 
the district composed of the counties of Wyoming antl Sullivan. 

Ephraim Marsh, came about the year 1799, and built a house about 
half-way between the river and Andrews' mill ; also Eliphalet Marsh, a 
brother of Ephraim, and son of Simeon Marsh, who was a hunter, and 
lived on the place owned by Hiram Horton. The Marshes sold to 
Ebenezer Horton, and moved first to Lime, or Vaughan hill, and then 
to the Allegheny. Epliraim was father of Sydney Marsh. Old " Bussy '' 
Rosecrantz came u]) to tend mill for Joseph Ingham; Gideon Baldwin. 
Jr., married his daughter Betsey. The Gilsons lived on the Horton 
place for a time ; Joseph Ellsworth married one of the daughters and 
moved into Pike township. 

Previous to the Revolutionary War. Samuel Gordon. Thomas 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 555 

Wigton, and probably James Anderson had emigrated from Ballybay, 
in Monaghan, Ireland, and found homes in the Susquehanna valley. 
In 1799, Anderson i-elurned to Ii-eland for his parents, and on coming 
back to America, in 1801, persuaded John Gamble, Jr., to come over 
with him, and in 1811 other members of the Gamble family, — which 
included John and his wife; Elizabeth Kenned3% and their sons James, 
William, Joseph and George, and John Morrow, who was a lad, the son 
of Nancy, a (Uiughter of John Gamble, who married Mr. Morrow- — 
sailed from Belfast, March 14, 1811. The\' first came on the farm 
owned by William Mittem and Charles Boyd, in Wyalusing township. 
Soon after John Gamble, the father, and his son James, bought land 
in Wilmot, on which the Gambles now live. Joseph Gamble, born 
September 8, 1791, still lives on a part of the property. 

John Morrow, Sr., whose wife was Nancy Gamble, came soon after, 
lie died October 24, 1837, at the age of sixty-seven years, and was 
buried on Lacey street. Nancy Morrow died April, 1860, aged eighty- 
four, and was laid beside her husband. John, Jr., bought the farm in 
the J>end, on which his son Francis G. lives. lie married Sally Hor- 
ton. lion. Paul de Morrow, j)resident-judge, was her son. 

James Gamble had married, in Ireland, Isabella Nesbit (born May, 
1791 ; died July, 1868). William Nesbit, her brother, came over in 
1826 or 1827. After being here for a year or two he sent for his 
father Nathaniel, and his brother Nathaniel. The father died in 1830, 
having been here a vear and a half, at the age of seventy-six years. 
The Nesbits lived in a house on the place where Stephen Dodd lives. 
Nathaniel, Jr., was a man of venerable age and of unblemished charac- 
ter. From these beginnings the settlement of Balliba}', in Ilerrick, 
was commenced, all of the families there and in Wilmot being related 
either by blood or mari-iage. They came poor, but, by dint of great 
industry and economy, have cleared up farms, built good houses, 
educated tlieir children, and are among the leading families in the 
county. 

Stephen Preston, went to the Andrews' place about ISlO, purchasing 
of Wm. Brindle, when the latter moved to Muncy. He died upon this 
place in 1827, aged sixty-five years. His wife survived him many 
years, but is now deceased, and both are buried at Wyalusing. . 
John Gamble and his son James bought a tract in AVilmot, of 400 acres, 
of Thomas Keeney, where Joseph Gamble now lives Ignatius and 
Allen Wilson, father and son, came in after 1819. The Winslowscame 
about the same time. Edward Winslow married a daughter of I, Wil- 
son. They were from Mehoopany. William Nesbit came in 1826, and 
the father, Nathaniel, a little later; they lived in a house near the pres- 
ent residence of Mr. Dodd. 

There was an early burial-place near the log school-liouse, and a 
boy named Stranger, a brother of liobert, killed by a falling tree, was 
one of the first interments there. 

Allen Keeney states that Nathan Beeman taught the first school 
in Wilmot, but Judson Beeman says that Simeon Rockwell (a half- 
brother of Timothy Beeman) taught school in Wilmot befoi'e Natlian 
or his father came to the countrv. 



556 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY , 



CHAPTER LVII. 

WINDHAM TOWNSHIP. 

ONE of the first settlers in Windham was Philo Brainerd. He came 
in 1801, bringing iiis family, consisting of wife, four sons, and 
one daughter, being induced to locate herefrom reports of the cheapness 
of the land, fertility of the soil, and advantages of water-power for 
the construction of mills. He first purchased a, trad of land of Col. 
Hale, a Connecticut claimant, but the title proving worthless he lost 
the whole, after having built upon itthe mills which were afterward 
known as the Shoemaker's mills, afterward owned by some of the 
Judson family. He next purchased a section of State's land, 640 acres, 
which he divided among his sons, retaining the central portion for 
himself. He then made an opening on the right bank of the Wappa- 
sening, and built a log house near the hickory tree which is yet 
standing. He built a framed house in 1809 on the Four Corners, but 
the first framed house in the townshiji was erected by Darius Brainerd, 
in 1808, on a little eminence some rods south of the creek. Tliis house 
was burned in January, 1829. 

Jephtha Brainerd was born at Ciiaiham, Conn., in 1754. Although 
a farmer by occupation, in his younger days he served assailor for a few 
years, and seven years in the struggle of the American Revolution, 
ending with being captured bv the British and confined in a prison- 
ship. In 1779 he married Abigail Mack, who was born in East 
Haddam, Conn., in 1758. Their children were Darius, born October, 
1780; Levi, born November 29, 1781; Drusilla, born August, 1783; 
Jephtha, Jr., born July 23, 1787; and Henry, born October 11, 1799. 

Jephtha Brainerd w^as not only a kindly and social neighbor, a 
capital story-teller over his mug of cider, but a prominent man in the 
pioneer settlement, being often chosen to adjudicate disputes, and hav- 
ing served as a member of the Legislature. Darius Brainerd was 
drafted near tlie close of the last war with England, and went as far 
as Wilkes-Barre. He married Tamar Williamson, of Owego; his 
location was east of the forks at Windham Centre. He had quite a 
family, many of whom are still living in the count3\ Philo, his son, 
resides at Towanda. He died April 12, 1824, leaving a widow, one 
daughter and five sons. Jephtha Brainerd, Jr., married Betsey Smith, 
in 1810. He was an inveterate joker, and yet was appointed a justice 
of the peace, and licensed as a Methodist preaclier. He removed to 
lUinois in 1837. Drusilla Brainerd was married to John Dunham, in 
1808. They had two daughters and one son, John L., who inherited a 
portion of the Brainerd estate, the son receiving the old homestead, 
which he occupied until 1848, when he sold to P. Kuykendall, and 
moved to Sullivan county, Pa. The daughters are living still, in pros- 
perous circumstances. Drusilla died a widow, August 12. 1825. Levi 



HISTORY OF BHADFOKI) COUNTY. 557 

l*>raiuerd died September 25, 1817, and Henry liiainerd in Ai)ril, 1824. 
Abigail (Maciv) Brainerd died in 1837 ; her husbaml, Jeplithii, lived to 
a good old age, and died July 3, 1825, 

Daniel Doan moved into Windham in the fall of 1800. lie lived 
in AVindhara Centre. His son, Seth, narrates that Thomas and John 
Fox were the only men there when his father came, they having come 
the preceding spring. The children of Daniel were Seth, Daniel, Jr., 
Joseph, Nathan, Keuben, Charles, Sally and Fliccbe. Daniel Doan, Jr., 
married Sylvia, daughter of James Bostwick, of Kew York. Joseph 
Doan lived about three-fourths of a mile from the Centre, on the place 
now occupied by his youngest son, Joseph. He lived and died there. 
Among the earlies^t settlers was Stephen Smith, who came about 
1805, and settled where the widow Doan lives; he remained until 
1817, when he sold to Joseph AVebster. He was an old man, had been 
a captain in the Revolutionary War, and was the first settler on the 
place. 

Gerard Smith, brother of Rensselaer and grandson of Capt. 
Stephen Smith, came in 1805 and settled on the Webster place, pur- 
chasing of Rensselaer Moon. He built two sawmills on the Wappasen- 
ing, at Madden's, the first m tiie township. There was also a grist- 
mill at the same location, contemporaneous' with the mills above men- 
tioned. Gerard Smith sold to Joseph Webster. Rensselaer Smith, 
born in 1801, came in 1812. The Foxes, from Connecticut, had pre- 
ceded him, and were among the first settlers. Jonah Fox lived at the 
Johnsons' location, and his son, Thomas, lived where Jacob Reed for- 
merlv kept tavern. Russell, another son, lived nearly opi)osite his 
father's phice. The sons of Thomas Fox were Harry, Silas and 
George. They lived near the State line. . David Short, a preacher, 
with his father and brothers, Reuben and Abel, came about 1807, and 
located where the widow Doan resided. 

Other early settlers were Lyman Winchester, who lived a little 
above Brainerd's, and was a great hunter; Nathan Spalding, from 
Rhode Island, who sold his ])ossession to Daniel Doan, Sr., and moved 
into Warren ; Augustus Hulon, who lived where the creek crosses the 
road below Windham Centre, and who was connected with and 
always followed Capt. Smith in his migrations; and Jonathan Pease, 
who took out a patent for a large tract of land, in behalf of the set- 
tlers, and then deeded off their respective lots to them. He died 
August 2, 1836, aged sixty-nine years. His wife died March 10, 1845, 
in her eightieth year. 

Joseph Webster, in 1813, came fi-om Connecticut and settled on the 
place occupied by George Smith, purchasing of Capt. Smith, Gerard 
Smith and Augustus Hulon. He died in 1830. At the time of his 
coming Edmund Russell was justice of the peace; Mr. Webster suc- 
ceeded him, and continued in office until his death. . Edmund Rus- 
sell and Parlev Johnson (brothers-in-law of Mr. Webster), settled in 
Windham a vear or two before him. and gave such a flattering de- 
scription of the county as to induce Mr. Webster to locate there. His 
business was largely lumbering. Nathan Doan married his widow, 
who still survives. 



558 HISTOKT OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

John Bussell, with his family, came from Litchfield county, 
Conn., to Orwell, in 1800; after various changes he settled in Wind- 
ham, in 1817, Avhere he bought a tract of land, upon which he lived 
until his death, in 1820, aged sixty-four years. . Edmund Russell, 
son of the above, lived in Windham. He died February 21, 1810, 
aged sixty -one. Of the other sons, Henry died in 1871, aged eighty- 
three years; John, Jr., moved to Wisconsin in 1819, and died there; 
William lived next below Esquire William Russell, and died in 1858, 
aged sixty -four years; Samuel, born in 1781, died in 1832; Julius, 
l)orn 1796, died in 1868; George W. lived in Windham until 181:2, 
and subsequentU^ went to Wisconsin. Of the daughters, Brazilla 
lived at or near Hartford, Pa.; Sarah was married to Col. Theron 
Darling, and lived in Orwell; Polly (Mary) was the wife successively 
of Mr. Anthony and James Bush, and resided in Windham. James 
Bush died February 17, 1861, aged eighty-two. . Edmund Rus- 
sell was the first of the family to move into Windham. He built the 
stone tavern commonly called the " Stone Jug.'' 

Parley Johnson, a blacksmith, came in 1809, and settled near 
Shoemaker's mill, on the Wappasening. . Amos Verbeck, an old 
}Moneer, who lived on the State line, came, in 1804, from the Hudson 
river. He sold to Stephen Morey, and went to Wisconsin, with his 
children, in 1844. . Benjamin Shoemaker, a son of Daniel, and 
half-brother of Elijah, of Wyoming A^alley, came from Northampton 
county and settled in Bradford as early as 1800. He purchased the 
gristmill since known as Shoemaker's, built by Jephtha Brainerd in 
1790. It was a small log building, containing one run of stone, and 
was burnt in 1815. Another one was erected on its site. 

Caleb Wright built the first sawmill and gristmill on the Wappa- 
sening. For a number of 3^ ears logs were hauled to the mills near the 
river, where they were sawed, and the lumber run down the river in 
rafts. Wright's mill was built as early as 1812. The Dunhams 
owned the site. Seth Doan built a sawmill on the head-waters of the 
Wysox as early as 1848, on a lot bought of Col. Kingsbury. 

Benjamin Shoemaker kept a public-house from the time of his 
settlement until his death, and his wife kept it after his demise. It 
was a general stopping-place for the people down the river when 
going to Ithaca. Mr. Shoemaker married Eunice Shaw, of Cherry 
creek, Northampton county. She died in 1858, aged seventy-seven. 

John S. Madden, a native of Ireland, on the Wappasening, is an 
enterprising citizen. At his place in Windham, about two miles below 
the center, are sawmill, gristmill, plaster-mill, a carding-mill and a 
tannery. . James Mapes sold his place to Benjamin Shoemaker. 

Hesselgesser Avas an old hunter and squatter. He lived on the hill, 
on the fai'm of Samuel Shoema,ker,purchased in 1815 by ]\Irs. Benjamin 
Shoemaker. 

Tyle Shei-man carried two bushels ol" wheat a distance of seven 
miles to Shoemaker's mills, and laid his load down but once. In 1802 
the late Henry Russell, then seventeen years of age, was sent to mill, 
with Josiah Grant, to get two bushels of wheat ground. They 
traveled two hundred and sixtx^-two miles, over paths only indicated by 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUXTY. 559 

blazed trees, to obtain the Hour needed. At another time he took a 
small grist in a canoe from Nichols to Lackawanna (now Pittston), 
polino- the canoe down and back, over two hundred miles. Such Avere 
the discouragements experienced by the early settlers. 

In 1S15 there were but two horses in the town. Lumbering was 
largely engaged in in the early days. At one time there Avere twelve 
sawmills. 

Windham has one store. . Windliam Centre has two stores, a 
blacksmith shop and a wagon shop. . Windham Summit has one 
church. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

WYALUSING TOWNSHIP— WYALUSING BOROUGH. 

IN the cycles of time come the fleeting years, the fleeting tribes, 
nations and civilizations, and the great march taken up wlien the 
morning stars sang together goes on and on forever. Because the 
seed and its environment, of which come sprouting and growth, ripen- 
ing of other seed and decay of the bearing stem, are the eternal law 
of change and reproduction, is the chiefest cause of the historical 
interest that attaches to the gray traditions of the pre-historic peoples 
that once lived, tloui'ished and passed away, and their changing prede- 
cessors, coming and going like the leaves of the ])oppy, until the cir- 
cling throng comes within the range of vision of the chronicler and 
historian, and give us the foundation- beams on which press the pres- 
ent great superstructure of our societies and civilizations. The ascend- 
ing rounds of the ladder it is that invests all the interest there is to 
past barbarisms, as they furnish the materials for the coming explorers, 
hunters and trapjiers,'^the conquerors of empire and the missionaries of 
the Church, that give the students of liistoiy and biology all tlieir 
interests in the dim and uncertain past. 

In this respect Wyalusing is the central point of interest in the 
northern tier of Pennsylvania. A little spot, Friedenshutten, about 
three miles square, figures pre-eminently in our Colonial history ; it is 
on the North branch of Pennsylvania's great river, the Susquehanna, 
and is a [)art of Bradford county and Wyalusing township, and even 
includes, resting upon its outer' bor-der. a ])art of the borough of Wya- 
lusing— connecting itself, as it closely does, with the Wyoming Valley, 
it gives our history its first important chapter. Here is a cove of 
fertile alluvium, one\)f the many that indent the shores of this curious 
river in its winding through the ApiKilachian mountains and highlands 
that cross the State from northeast to southwest— where is to be seen a 
peculiar condition of. infrequent occurrence in nature — a great river 
with no \^xlley proper of its own. The first the writer noticed of this 
strange formation was standing upon the summit of Vaughn hill, with 
the river hundreds of feet below the jutting wall, and looking out over 



560 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

one of the finest perspectives he ever beheld, up and down the river, 
that coils in and out like a silvery serpent; and away in the blue distance 
is Pool mountain, and still further is Mount Pisgah, one of the first points 
in the State to kiss the jocund morn. Here, it is plain to see, the river 
has simply forged its way, cutting here and there the rock walls of the 
points of hills, with no certain valley to point to its once wide shores. 

One hundred and twentj^-five years ago the pure and gentle Mora- 
vian, David Zeisberger, came, planting in the wilderness the cross of 
Christ and telling the simple children the transcendent story of the 
Redemption. On the beautiful cove at the mouth of Wyalusing creek 
had settled a clan of the tribe of Minsis Indians, under their chief, 
Poppanhauk, This beautiful and fertile spot was on the line of the 
southern warpath of the powerful Iroquois, or Six Nations, in their 
southern marauds, and hence it had passed into traditions as the ' beau- 
tiful but bloody ground." The Indians under Poppanhauk had come 
here after their chief had met the Moravians near Bethlehem, and had 
been most favorably impressed with them and their Christian teach- 
ings. They had fled from what is now Carbon county, in 1752, it is 
supposed, and took up their abode at the Wyalusing. In May, 1760, 
Chi'istian Fredrick Post, of Bethlehem, going on a mission of danger to 
the Six Nations, came to the Wyalusing village and spent the night 
with the Indians. He was accompanied by John Hays, and describes 
the village as a " religious band of Indians on tlie east side of the river," 
and he estimated the place to consist of "twenty well-built Indian 
houses." At the request of the Indians Post tarried a day and preached 
to the villagers. This sermon, May 20, 1760, was the first church ser- 
vice in northern Pennsylvania, and. therefore, when David Zeisberger 
came as a missionary in 1763 the way had been prepared b}'^ Post, and 
he soon baptized Poppanhauk. John Woodman, an evangelist of the 
society of Friends, had visited the place a short time befoi'e the arrival 
of Zeisberger in 1763, and had preached to the Indians. 

The Moravian Mission properly commenced at Wyalusing 1765, 
after the end of the Pontiac cons))iracy, and the return of Pappanhauk 
with his people, who had been driven out of the country, and had been 
in the barracks at Philadelphia. And the history of that missionary 
post, proper, is from May 9, 1765, to June 11, 1772. These peaceable 
and friendly Indians were first under the care of Moravians, and also 
were aided by the Colonial government. The site of their first village 
was at old Browntown, in more modern times the noted stage stand 
and most important place in the south part of the county, until the 
work of building the canal was completed, when what is the borough 
of Wyalusing commenced to gi'ow, and Browntown slowly faded away. 
It was situated about five miles soutli of the present borough. The old 
Ira Brown farm is, no doubt, where the first Indian village was 
located. In 1776, it being resolved to select a more suitable place for 
their village, the " upper end of the fiat" was agreed upon, and the 
village was moved, and upon this site stands the memorial monument 
of ''old Friedenshiitten, within plain view of Mrs. Judge Stalford's 
residence, and near the railroad track. This was made into regular 
streets, and thirtj^-five huts and cabins were moved from the old to the 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 561 

new village: and, with the others, was moved the church house, and 
set up in the center of the plat, " near an excellent spring," and a log 
dwelling was put up for the missionaries. In January, 17^7, a new 
and moi'e commodious church house was ei'ected, of square timbers, 
32x22, and covered with a shingle roof in 1768. And in that year 
thev made the further improvement of sash and glass in the four win- 
dows ; and in the following September, 17<;9, a belfry, in which was 
hung a bell. June 11, 1772, this bell was taken down and hung in the 
front part of Timothy's canoe, that headed the procession, and tolled 
so mournfully until the voyageurs. en route for the Allegheny country, 
rounded the point down the river which forever shut out from theii" 
view the ''huts of peace." Thus we see it was the second town that 
was given the name of " Friedenshiitten" (huts of peace). At the 
time of the abandonment of the i)lace it had grown to tifty-two dwell- 
ings — tliirty-nine log cabins and thirteen huts; left as empty, silent 
sentinels in the wilderness. The fate of this deserted village is not 
precisely known. It was left to the care of Job Chillaway. The site 
is now "part of the farm of the late Judge Levi P. Stalford. The 
troublous times of the Revolution swiftly followed the exodus ; in fact, 
that movement was but the forei'unner of the coming war; and, from 
accounts of Sullivan's expedition, we learn that a division of his army 
encamped on the village site, and then " Ihere was not the appearance 
of a house to be seen, the old Moravian town having been destroyed— 
partlv bv the savages and partly by the whites, in the present war." 

In this little Moravian church, the festivals of Easter, Pentecost, 
Christmas and Epiphany were ce!el)rated after the Moravian custom. 
On Chrismas Eve of 1708, the chapel was finely illuminated, the picture 
of the Nativity being surrounded with fifty lights, for the first time 
furnished witli burning tapers, and the whole people joined in the 
chorus : " Gelobei seist Du Jesus ChrlsU Dast Du Mensch gevaorden histT 
On this occasion a strange scene was presented : Indians for many 
miles up and down the river had come, decked in all their barbaric 
splendors of skins, feathers, beads and paints, and, mute with wonder- 
ment, crowded about in that wondering silence characteristic of the 
wild children of the woods. 

These religious Indians retained their native characteristics — the 
men hunting and the women planting, hoeing and harvesting the corn, 
beans and pumpkins ; in addition to planting on the Judge Stalford 
farm, they cultivated fertile patches on the creek, and on the island 
above the village, and on Sugar run. The women also cut and can-ied 
the winter supply of fuel ; often followed the men on the chase, and 
halted at designated points, which were the base of supplies; or, when 
required, repaired through the woods and over mountains, despite the 
weather, to distant hunting lodges, with venison or bear's meat that 
had been taken from the cache — the Indian's store house for future or 
summer use ; again in the later winter or early spring they were 
required to repair to the sugar ca.m])s and make the annual supply of 
niaple sugar ; in the summer gathering flag and rush for mats, huckle- 
berries, pulling wild hemp for making bands, picking cranberries 
in the swamps, especially in Wilmot township, and ginseng and 



562 HISTOKT OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

wild potatoes; they also cut the rank wild grass and made hay, and for 
this purpose they had to go seven miles up from Wyalusing to Mes- 
chasgunk (Flea-town), as there was not a sufficiency of grass nearer. 

From the diary of the Moravians, who kept the Wyalusing mission, 
are take the following extracts: 

'' Julv l-lr, 1765. — I gathered bark for covering my hut (Zeis 
berger). ". July 21.— The entire nation of the Tutelars (but a handful 
of people) passed en route for Shamokin, to hunt. . Sept. 30. — This 
evening a wolf was killed in the town. . Jan. 2, 1766.— The hunters 
brought in ten deer. . Jan. 18.— The young men went out on a bear- 
hunt and returned on the 17th with seven. The meat was apportioned 
among the heads of families. . Sept. 23.— Esther, with other sisters, 
went to gather ginseng. . Nov. 4 —Cornelius trapped two wolves near 
town of a pack that had been tearing calves. He secured the culprits 
by an ingenious piece of strategy, having suspended one of their slain 
victims from a tree, and immediately under the lure placed two rifles, 
with muzzles directed toward the only point of approach, in attempting 
to pass which a rope nicely adjusted, so as to control the triggers, would 
inevitably be disturbed and discharge the pieces." 

In the diarv for 1768 are the following : 

" April 23.— The Susquehanna rose and inundated the plantation. . 
June 25.— The Captain of Shamunk, the new town above Tioga, 
came to purchase corn. . August 22.— Council set a bounty of two 
quarts of corn for every inhabitant on a wolf-scalp, payable to the 
fortunate hunter. . September 13.— Set watches and kept fires burn- 
ing through the night, to guard against the depredations of wolves. . 
Septeml)er 14.— Unroofed the church in order to build it higher by 
two rows of logs. . October 25.— My wife and myself harvested 
potatoes. . jNTovember 21.— Excessively cold weather and deep snow. . 
March 20, 1769.— Twenty jS'anticokes from Zeninge arrived. They 
report a scarcity of food, almost a famine up the river, and they bring 
the blankets and strouds which were apportioned among them at the 
last treaty, to barter away for corn. . July 16.— Twenty families 
came up from Shamokin to' procure corn. . July 20.— Forty Indians 
from different points, all half famished, came for corn. . July 23.— 
Ten Cayugas came on the same errand. There is scarcity with us 
also, and the Indians eat but one meal a day. . January 16, 1770.— 
The brethren felled trees and hewed logs for the proposed school- 
house. . March 26.— Bro. Jungman was busy boiling maple-molasses. . 
Miay 16.— Took 1200 shad. . June 6.— planted corn for the second 
time, the worms having destroyed the first planting entirely. . 
June 16.— There arrived two Mohawks, sent by the Six Nations, with 
a message and a belt to the New Englanders at Wyoming, to the effect 
that if thev (the New Englanders) delayed evacuating the valley, they 
would come down and take them by the hair and shake them. . 
October 12.— My wife and myself bound buckwheat. . December 
20.— The school' closed for the term. The scholars have been punctual 
in their attendance, and have made commendable progress. Sora^e 
write on slates, the younger ones on wooden tablets. . April 27, 
1771.— Daily we have" a plentiful supply of pigeons." 



mSTOKY OF BliADFOUn COUNTY. 5fio 

From these faithful annalists of the ancient times we glean the 
lollowing authentic history. June 10, 1T72, thirty canoes were ready 
at the bank to convey the people away from their " huts of peace," 
never to return. Others were to go overland to Mercy creek, the first 
under Brother Roth and the other under brother Ettwein. In their 
journals they speak of the movements of white men through Wyalusing 
and vicinity^ There were no white men residing in the valley during 
the occupation of Fried enshiltten by the missionaries. In one place 
they mention the fact that a white man, '' an Irishman " was residing 
in '^Schechshiqucm'm'k. (Sheshequin), this entry is dated December 5. 
1T68, and is again mentioned February 2, 1769. He assisted Jim and 
Sam Davis in conveying Missionary Roth's effects to Sheshequin when 
the latter was settled there at the dates given. Another man ("an 
Irishman " again) is noticed as in Sheshequin, referred to December 20, 
1770, spoken of by three Indians that passed through the Indian 
village. These Indians were police in the hunt of this man to arrest 
him, and they said he had stopped a short time in Sheshequin. 
Occasional visits are mentioned of traders jmssing through— a man 
named Anderson of Easton who made regular annual trips; another 
named Ogden, of Wyoming, whose trading house and dwelling were 
sacked and burned by the Connecticut men in April, 1770. 

The causes of the exodus from Friedenshiitten were first the evident 
coming trouble between the Yankees and Pennamitesand the growing 
indications that John Pappanhauk's title to the lands assured to them 
would ultimately be involved, and second the action of Job Chillaway 
in securing a survey to himself of the land from Penn. Chillaway 
assured the Indians that he had acted thus, solely in their common 
interests, but this assurance was not satisfactory. The authorities at 
Bethlehem were offered lands in Ohio for these people, and they there- 
fore determined to abandon forever Friedenshiitten. 

The order for the survey at "Wyalusing to Job Chillaway was made 
May 20, 1772, and the survey was made by John Lukens, surveyor 
general, September 16, 1773, "^and Chillawaf's title confirmed as sur- 
veyed March 10, 1774, and his patent March 12, following, and is 
signed by Thomas and John Penn for six hundred and twenty-three 
acres, no\v the farms of the late Judge L. P. Stalford and Mr. Brown ; 
the boundary lines as follows : Beginning at the easterly side of the 
northeast branch of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Wyalusing 
creek ; thence up along the side of said creek, one hundred and thirty- 
nine perches to a |)ost ; thence by Benjamin liear's land, south fifty- 
seven degrees east, one hundred and ninety-four perches to a marked 
white oak ; thence by vacant land south thirty -seven degrees east one 
hundred and forty-tVo perches to a marked pine, south sixty-eight 
degrees east, ninety-six perches to a marked pine and north sixty -seven 
degrees east one hundred and forty-two perches to a post; thence by 
William Kinsley's land (spelled Kingsleys in the patent) south seventy 
degrees east, one hundred and forty perches to a marked buttonwood 
at the site of the northeast branch on Susquehanna aforesaid : thence 
up along the side of the said branch on the several courses thereof 
eight hundred and eight perches to the place of beginning. The tract 



564 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

being a part of the " Manor of Pomfret " in the county of ISTorthum- 
berland. 

May 4, 1775, Job and Elizabeth Chillaway conveyed by deed this 
tract of land to Henry Pawling, great-grandfather of the late Judge 
Levi Pawling Stalford, in consideration of the sum of £784, sub- 
ject to a mortgage of £236 due parties in Phihidelphia; and Pawling, 
by his will, dated August 29, 1793, conveyed a part of this land to ins 
daughter, Catharine ' Stalford (spelled Stalmford), wife of Joseph 
Stalford. She was to locate her 275 acres according to her pleasure. 
The commissioners appointed to settle the titles in Springfield town- 
sl)ip assigned the upper half of the Pawling tract to Connecticut 
claimants, leaving to the Stalford family, where it is now, the part 
actually occupied by the Indians. 

The Moravian brothers of Bethlehem visited Wyalusing in 1870, 
and hunted out the grounds of Friedenshiitten, and a memorial Uionu 
ment was erected on the old village ground, standing m front of the 
late Judge Stalford's residence, and near the track of the Lehigh Valley 
Road. The dedicatorv services of the monument were held June 14 
and 15, 1871. It is of drab sandstone from near Pittston; the founda- 
tion stone is from Lacevville; total height of the structure is fifteen 
feet ; on the eastern face is the followmg: "This stone was erected 
on the 15th of June, in the year of Redemption 1871, by members of 
the Moravian Historical Society." There was present at the dedica- 
tion Bern hard Adam Grube, eighty years old, a grandson of Kev. 
Grube, who had been a teacher and adviser at old Friedenshiitten, 
who told the audience interesting reminiscences of his grandfather 
who died at Bethlehem, March 20, 1808, aged ninety-three years. In 
the course of his remarks he pointed out a little girl, sitting at his 
side, Annie W. Lehman, whose great-grandfather, John Heckewelder, 
had followed the Indians of Friedenshiitten into the western country 
casting his lot with theirs in the darkest days of the mission. 

The Pawlings took possession of their land, and they brought as 
tenant. Isaac Hancock, who came in 1776, who soon had cleared a 
farm near the old Indian village site. It is a disputed question 
whether anv white man remained in the valley during the War of 
the Revolution or not, and yet from the late Judge L. P. Stalford's 
notes is taken the statement that this man Hancock opened the first 
])ublic-house and kept it from 1780 to 1795; and he farther states that 
he was the first justice of the peace ; that he was here from 1766 to 
1795, and that his daughter, born in 1777, was the first white child 
born in this vicinitv. 

It is well to here state that the Moravians are Protestants who 
came from Moravia, in the south of Bohemia, and in 1574 were 
expelled on account of religion. In 1627, at the council of Ostrorog, 
the Bohemian and Swiss churches were consolidated and took the 
name of "Church of the United Brethren." They are Episcopal m 
government, Calvanistic in doctrine, and noted for their missionary zeal ; 
they established themselves in Bethlehem, Pa., in 1742, and from there 
sent out their missionaries to the heathen in all lands. 

Hon. L. P. Stalford, under date of November 6, 1867, wrote to 



HISTORY OF BUADFOKD COUNTY. 565 

Hooker's Northern Tier- Gazette, of Troy, in reply to Mr. Hooker, giv- 
ing some incidents of the settlement of AVyalusino- that lie had heard 
liis father relate, expressing regret that, in 1857, his books, papers and 
memoranda were burned with his house. 

The whites came first to Wyalusing about the year l7T0;Josepii 
Stalford leased the land to Isaac Hancock, who built near old " Frie- 
denshiltten '' church. The same year Nathan Kinsley settled on the 
same lot, and built his log house near the mouth of the creek. The 
same vear, three brothers, Reuben, Amasa and Guy Welles, came and 
also built near the creek's mouth. These were of the family of C. F. 
Welles. Hi 1778 came Thomas Lewis, father of Justus Lewis, and 
settled down nearer the Indian village. These were all from Connect- 
icut, and claimed under the Susquehanna Company. Thus stood the 
Wvalusing settlement until 1778. In 1792, L. P. Stalford's grand- 
father, ami his father, Benjamin Stalford, came and built their log 
house near the Indian village. Stalford found himself surrounded by 
adverse claimants, and finally compromised the whole and kept for 
himself 480 acres " as far up and down the river as the Indians had 
cultivated." 

He relates the horrible tragedy that occurred in Nathan Kinsley's 
family : In the year 1778, just before or after the Wyoming massacre, a 
partv"^of Indians traveling up the river, in passing Kinsley's house saw 
twoXoys in the dooryard grinding an ax ; an Indian fired and killed 
one of the bovs, and they seized tlie other and carried him off. Poor, 
broken-hearted Kinsley 'spent the remainder of his life trying to find 
his boy, but could never hear of him. The Kmsley house stood, until 
verv recentlv, covered and protected by C. F. Welles', a solemn 
memento of' the pioneers. The whole settlement gathered and pur- 
sued the Indians and overhauled them in the western part of the 
township, where a sharp fight took place, in which one Indian was 
killed, and the Indians tomahawked a white woman captive. 

The first tavern at Wyalusing was kept by Isaac Hancock, in a log 
house, of course, about one hundred rods from the Indian church. 
People traveled on horseback and in canoes, and the rush to the north 
gave this hostelrv much patronage. The first frame house in the town- 
ship was built bv Joseph Stalford in 1796— got the lumber from Tioga 
Point— on this roof were real feather-edged shingles and hand-wrought 
nails. . Samuel Gordon built the first gristmill in 1792— one-horse water 
power without bolt. In 1796 Joseph Town built a saw and grist mill. 
About the same time the people, four miles along Wyalusing creek, built 
a school-house. This was used by the Presbyterians for a number of 
vears as a church. 

In the period from 1820 to 18o0 there were five stills in full opera- 
tion in the township: two taverns, of which one was kept in full 
blast by one of the church deacons, who sold liquor freely, and another 
prominent brother ran one of the distilleries. 

The first church services, after the Moravian church was destroyed, 
was at the house of Widow Lucretia York, in 1785, on the old John 
Hollenback place. Services were held here until the Presbyterian 
Church was organized at her house in 1793— the first of the kind in the 

91 



566 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

county, held under the direction of a man named Baldwin, his wife and 
Mrs. York constituting the total first membership. This organization 
afterward moved to Merryall and continued to the present. Joseph 
Stalford's first frame house was burned in July, 1851, and four men 
lost their lives in the conflagration. It is said that Hancock had arope 
factory, using wild hemp to make strings, ropes and cords, in much 
demand b}^ the Indians in packing. 

Mrs, York was a daughter of Manassah Miner, of Connecticut, where 
she was born in Februar}^ 1730. Her husband was Amos York, who 
came here in 1773 and proved himself an ardent Whig. He was cap- 
tured by the Indians February 14, 1^77, and taken to Canada through 
" the deep snow," in which he suffered incredible hardships, but was 
finally exchanged and reached his native place in Connecticut, where 
he died, leaving a widow and eight children, the 3'oungest child being 
but three weeks old. Added to the horrors of their situation, they had 
been plundered by the Indians and were in the wilderness, surrounded 
only by the enemy. She took her family to Wyoming, and it was at 
the battle where her son-inJaw, Capt. Aholiab Buch was killed, leav- 
ing a widow with a four-months'-old infant. This woman set out with 
the hegira with her eight children and orphan grandchild for Connec- 
ticut. In 1785 she returned to Wyalusing and remained till her death, 
which occurred October 30, 1818, when she was in her eightj^-eighth 
year, 

Nathan Kinsley, Justus Gaylord, Oliver Dodge, Thomas Lewis, 
Isaac Hancock and Gideon Baldwin were appointed by the court 
commission, in 1788, to lay out all necessary roads in Springfield 
township, the first regular roads opened in Wyalusing. 

In 1771 Lieutenant James Welles, of Connecticut, came as a settler, 
and he became proprietor of one of the two townships surveyed by the 
Susquehanna company — Charlestown township. In 1775 Col. Plunket, 
under orders from Pennsylvania, with a force of armed men, broke up 
the settlement, burned the buildings, plundered their property and took 
the men as prisoners to jail. James Welles was the father of Reuben, 
Guy and Araasa Welles. J ustus Gaylord was one of the men captured by 
Plunket, and was lodged in Sun bury jail. When released he returned 
to Wyalusing and lived where the railroad now crosses the line between 
the Welles and Stalford estates. Among those who fled to the forts for 
protection were Z. Marcy, E. Sanford, I. Thompson, Phelps the Elder, 
N. Depew and R. Carr. It is not known that any of these ever 
returned. 

1780-1786. — The valley of the North Branch originally formed a 
part of Northampton county, but subsequently it was set off to 
Northumberland, and in 1780 the township of Wyalusing was created. 
As then described it was bounded on the north and south by parallel 
lines running due east and west, the north line crossing at Standing 
Stone and the south line at the mouth of Meshoppen creek ; the 
eastern boundary being the east line of Susquehanna county, and its 
western line the limits of the headwaters of Towanda creek. The 
organization of the township did not take place until some time after 
the act creating. Luzerne county was erected September 25, 1786, and 



HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 567 

Wyalusing- was one of its eleven townsliips. The townships of the 
Susquehanna Com|)any were never recognized Iw the Pennsylvania 
autliorities as political divisions. 

When the countrv had quieted fi'oni the eifects of war, the old 
settlers in the valley about AYyalusing began to return. Amwug the 
first to arrive was Thomas Ih'own, who occupied a clearing on Sugar 
run creek, about half a mile from the river. 

In 1791 Richard A^aughan was buried at Wyalusing. He was a 
native of New York, born in 1754, and came to Lackawanna with two 
brothers; he served in the Revolution, and was part of the time a 
quartermaster. All the Yaughan family, except the son Elias, left 
this countrv. He was commissioned postmaster in 1811, and retained 
the office a^number of years. He removed to Yaughan Hill, where his 
posterity reside; he married Sarah Abbott, March 6, 1S07, and died in 
1865, in his eightv-third year. 

The next arrivals after Brown were the Kinsleys, Amos Ackley, 
Richard Bennett and Judah Benjamin, about 1782. These all clus- 
tered about what was known as Browntown, along a path which fol- 
lowed nearly the course of the old canal. 'P>y 1795 they began building 
up along the creek. Benjamin's house was nearly five miles from the 
mouth, and was near a place lately occupied by G. W. Jackson. He 
removed to Pike township. Ackley lived about sixty rods still further 
up, at the foot of the hill beside the old mill. He removed to Durell 
creek, and there are several of his descendants now there. Bennett built 
a small mill near where stands Bascom Taylor's barn. This small 
mill, perhaps the first— a small affair— is mentioned in a survey of 
1S90. It mav be said to be the first mill in the county. 

Isaac Hancock returned about 1785. It has been mentio^ied tliat 
his third daughter, Pollv, was born here September 10, 1777— the 
second white child born in Wyalusing; Amos York's son, who died in 
infancy, being the first. Pollv Hancock was married to Ezekiel 
Brown. Soon after Hancock's^ return he built his log tavern, nearly 
opposite the Sugar run ferrv road ; here he dealt out entertainment to 
man and beast generously, together with New England rum and 
home-made whisky. 

Ancient chronologists inform us that Justus Gaylord was one of 
the most prominent citizens of this part of the county, honored and 
respected bv his neighbors, full of public spirit, and his good judgment 
was freely given for the promotion of the public weal. In 1806 he 
was placed on the Luzerne countv ticket for the Assembly. The vote 
stood: Justus Gaylord 38; Justus Gaylord, Jr, 333; Moses Coolbaugh 
364. He was beaten by t his mistake of the voters, though really havmg 
a majority of the votes. Less than 400 votes, it will be seen, at that 
time elected, although the district embraced what is now Luzerne, 
Wyoming, Susquehanna and Bradford counties, except the Tioga 
district. The first school in Wyalusing was taught in Justus Gaylord's 
house, the teacher being IJriahTerrv, the founder of Terrytown. 

Joseph ElHott came in 1785, from his native place, Stonington, 
Conn., where he was born October 10, 1755. Elliott was captured at 
the battle of Wyoming, stripped and led to the " Bloody Rock " with 



5G8 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the other captives to be butchered. When six or seven men in the fated 
line had been murdered, one, Thomas Fuller, shook off his ca}3tors and 
sprang to escape, but was seized and tomahawked; while this attracted 
the attention of the Indians, Elliott and Hammond at the same time 
broke away and fled, Hammond to the mountain and Elliot to the river. 
Though hotly pursued he escaped, but was wounded in the shoulder by 
a ball when nearly across; secreting himself, he made his way in the 
dark to Wilkes-Barre to the fort. As soon as he recovered he again 
joined the army, and was in Sullivan's expedition ; he and John Carey 
were chosen as express between the army and Wyoming, and their 
service was arduous and heroic. In 1792 Elliott removed to Merryall. 
where he died March 29, 1849, the last survivor of the battle of 
AATyoming. He was twice married, his first wife being a daughter of 
Thomas Brown; after her death he married, October 17, 1787, a 
daughter of Thomas Lewis. 

The "hard times" of those years, the poverty among a i)eople who 
had endured all tluijt borderers could suffer and live — their property 
destroyed, and fleeing for their lives from burned and desolated homes, 
it required brave hearts and willing hands to return and renew the 
bitter struggle for existence. Timothy Pickering passed uj) the Sus- 
([uehanna in 1781:, and he says : " We were under the necessity of pass- 
ing through the Wyoming settlements from Nescopeck to Tioga. The 
inhabitants, from the causes before mentioned (the Indian depreda- 
tions), were universally poor, and their stock of cattle small and inad- 
equate to the common purposes of husbandry. From Nescopeck to 
Tioga, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, we tasted bread 
but orice." For several years, corn, coarsely broken in their stump 
mortars, and venison, formed almost exclusively their only articles of 
diet. It must be borne in mind that the first settlements were on the 
low river flats. In the ice-floods of 1784 these grounds were covered 
with water, and in 1789 the river suddenly rose to a greater height 
than ever before known, causing much destruction of property. Hay 
in the stacks, corn in the shocks, and cattle on the meadows were all 
swept away, and the greatest suffering followed. This was the great 
" Pumpkin Freshet," so called from the number of pumpkins that were 
seen floatinf!" on the raoina: river. 

O O -111 

Often the early history is found mostly in ancient church records. 
In 1793 the first Presbyterian Church, in the whole valley drained by 
the North branch of the Susquehanna, was formed in Wvalusing, there 
were thirteen members: Uriah Terry, Lucretia York, Justus Gaylord, 
Jr., and his wife Lucretia, Zachariah Price and Ruth his wife, Mary 
Lewis, Abigail Welles, Sarah Rockwell, Anna Camp, James Lake, 
Thomas Oviatt and Hannah Beckwith. 

Mary Lewis, nee Turrell, was the wife of Thomas Lewis: they were 
married May 20, 1768, and came to Wyalusing in 1786 and built their 
cabin a few rods south of the borough, near the river. Here their son 
Justus was born, August 24, 1787. The wife, widow and mother died 
January 23, 1813. . Anna Camp, nee Oviatt, was born in Connecti- 
cut January 27, 1749, married Job Camp, February 22, 1773, and they 
came to Wyalusing in 1792; settling in Caraptown, and there lived 



HISTORY OF liRADFOKI) COUNTY. 569 

until his deaLli, January 17, 1822; she died November 19, 1825. 
Abigail Welles, a sister of'^Mrs. Lewis, wife of Deacon Heuben Welles, 
was an early comer. 

In ITlt-l ten persons were added to the church: Justus Gay lord aiul 
Elizabeth, his wife; John Taylor and wife, Deborah; Daniel Tui-rell and 
his wife, Temperance; M. Miner York, 15ern(^tha Buck, Parshall Terry 
and Reuben Welles. 

John Taylor was a native of Dauphin county, Pa., born January 
7, 1770, and' came to Wyalusing in 1793. On May 16, 1794, he was 
married to Deborah Buck, daughter of Cai)t. Aholiab Buck ami grand- 
daughter of Mrs. Liicretia York. Deborah was born in Forty Fort, 
March 25, 1778. three months before the battle where her fatiier was 
shiin. She died September 2(), 1850. 

llev. Manassah Miner York was the only son of Amos Yoi-k, born 
in Stonington, Conn., in October, 1767. llis father died when lie was 
aged eleven years, and the lad had to face many hardships. He mar- 
ried Betsy Arnold, in 1792, and having studied for the ministry was 
licensed m 1809, in which year he became the stationed minister at 
Wyalusing, and continuedliere until 1818; he died in AYysox, -lanuary 
2, 1830. 

The additions to the church in 1795 were Deborah Ilorton, Uronia 
Stalford and Zeruah Lacey. The first, who was a daugiiter of Par- 
shall Terrv, and wife of John Ilorton, came with her father to Terry- 
town in 1792, and died in May, 1844. 

Nathan and Aden Steven's came in 1806, and settled several miles 
up the creek. 

Thomas Lewis founded and named the once noted ])lace in the 
township, now a mere cluster of farm houses, called Merryall. He 
came from Connecticut w^here he w^as born April 11, 1745 ; on May 20. 
1768, he married ]\fary Turrell ; he served in the Continental army 
under Washington, and was in the battle of Ticonderoga, and in the 
army invading Canada. In iVlny, 1787, he came to Wyalusing. In 
1788 he moved up the creek four miles, purchased Warrum Kinsley's 
land and named the settlement " Merryall," where he died in Febru- 
ary, 1810; he was the pioneer of the country up the creek. In the 
same l)oat that brought the Lewis family uj) the river, came Reuben. 
Amasa and Guy, sons of James Welles, and occupied the place held by 
their father previous to the Revolution. 

Maj. Reuben Welles removed to Susquehanna county; Amasa went 
to Pike tou^nship in 1817, where he died in 1836, aged seventy-one 
years. Guv Welles was born in Connecticut in 1766. and in 1790 mar- 
ried Elizabeth Ross, daughter of Perrin Ross. Mi-. Ross was killed at 
the battle of Wyoming. Guy Welles moved up Wyalusing creek 
where he died in iS28. He was elected justice of the ])eace for Brain- 
trim and Wyalusing in 1800, and held the office twenty-five years. 

David Shoemaker and Thomas Wigton, brothers-in-law to Maj. 
Gaylord, were among the early settlers. It is said Wigton was here 
before the war ; he was a school teacher and one of the original pro- 
prietors of Springfield townsliip. 

It has been mentioned that Uriah Teri-v taught the first school in 



570 HISTORT OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the house of Maj. Gay lord in the winter of 1792-93. The next spring 
a log school-house was built near where the Presbyterian church 
stands, the first building of the kind in the township; it was burned, 
and another built of hewed logs; it stood in front of the cemetery. 
In that school the "master" was paid by the parents at tiie rate of a 
bushel of corn to a bushel of wheat per quarter. 

Benjamin Ackley, the first blacksmith, came in 1791 and built his 
log house where Elisha Lewis' liouse stands. His wife was JSancy 
Maxheld, to whom he was married in 1780; after her death he married 
Amy, daughter of Thomas Lewis; he was commissioned a justice in 
1813, when the county was formed; he died in Wyalusing in 1855. He 
had a large family of "^children, as did also his neighbors, four families : 
John Hollenback, Maj. Taylor, Mr. Buck and Mr. Ackley, all within a 
square mile, and, collectively, they had upward of sixty children. 

The Stalfords came m 1792, and in a few months this family and 
lineal descendants will have been one hundred years on the same farm, 
where now reside Mrs. Levi P. Stalford and daughter. Joseph Stal- 
ford's wife was Catharine Pawling, and to them were born three sons 
and one daughter. Of these, Benjamin Stafford, was the late Hon. 
Levi P. Stalford's father, and in the possession of the family are 
two-thirds of the original Stalford farm, the title of which came through 
the Indian, Job Chilloway. Jose])h Stalford was a son of Samuel 
Stalford, of Tipperary, Ireland, where Joseph was born. 

He immigrated to this country when quiteyoung,and in Philadelphia 
married Elizabeth Richardson ; then went to Montgonu^ry county, and 
thence to Wyalusing. In 1795 Joseph Stalford had the highest val- 
uition of an^ man in the township. Judge Levi P. Stalford, son of 



Benjamin and LTrania (Turrell) Stalford, was born in Wyalusing April 
II. ISIL Benjamin died in 1841. Levi P. Stalford was elected a 
justice in 1847, and associate judge of the county in 1863 ; in 1842 he 
married Mary Rebecca O'Callaghan, of New York, born October 16. 
1818. who, surviving her husband, with her daughter occupies the old 
family homestead. . Mrs. Hannah Loomis (widow of Lieut. James 
Wells) died at the Merryall settlement in 1795, and while she lay a 
corpse the neighbors cleared off a place for the grave, and this was the 
first of the Merryall burying-ground. 

A bridge was^ built across Wyalusing creek at Caraptown in 1799, 
but, before entirely completed, it was carried away by the flood of 
1800. . In 1803 John Dalton murdered Amos Hurlbut on the low 
ground Where Hiram Stevens lived — the first capital offense in what 
is now Bradford county. He was tried at Wilkes-Barre and sentenced 
to the penitentiary foi'"^ a term of eighteen years, but was pardoned 
out in 1808. 

Job Camp, who came in 1792, planted a crop of corn, and next year 
brought his family. The only way they could reach this place was to 
follow the one road from Connecticut to Pittson, and then push up the 
river. The cart and younger members of the family and small belong- 
ings were placed on a keel boat, and two men hired to ])ush it up the 
river ; to pay them took all of Mr. Camp's crop of corn. In order to 
get the oxen up the narrow path to Wyalusing they were unyoked and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 571 

in single lile driven alono- the narrow Indian trail— passing many dan- 
gerous places on the tall cliffs. This terrible rugged path was the only 
highway to Wilkes-Bari-e, fifty miles away, and where the inhabitants 
must go for all necessary supplies, either over this path or by river. 

As stated. Samuel Gordon built his mill, near where is the Lewis 
mill, in 17i)3. For this mill— the Connecticut Company having offered 
any one who would build the first mill a township of land— Mr. Gor- 
don was given Walsiugham township, but, this title having failed, the 
mill property was lost. 

Joseph C. Town, a carpenter, built a sawmill on the creek near 
Aaron Culver's, and soon after Grover's gristmill was put up. The 
people now began to feel they were having all the luxuries of life. In 
1798 he added a gristmill, anil for the first time this mill had a bolt, 
and peoi)le began to disdain the husks, and feed on poundcake. The 
freshet of 1800-1, however, swept this all away, and all the sections of 
country far around felt the awful calamity. 

What traveling was, originally, when this country all lay m a state 
of nature, may be imagined to' some extent when we describe the 
nature of the "roads and highways in 1795, after the people had trav- 
eled over them and fixed them as best they could. Duke Rocliefou- 
cauld, in Mav, 1795, passed up tlie river, and of this subject he wrote: 
'■The road was bad, and we were several times obliged to travel m 
foot-paths which were hardly passable. We frequently met with quar- 
ries of mill-stones, and with spots where a path only eighteen inches 
in breadth was cut through the rock, or where the road was supported 
by trunks of trees, narrowed by falls of earth, obstructed by fallen 
trees, and led along the ledge of a precipice. . At times the road 
is even and good, often recently cut througli the wood, or interrupted 
by new settlements (clearings)," the fences of which occasion a circuit 
of nearly a furlong, at the end of which it is difficult to find the road 
again. We often passed over declivities, rendered more dangerous by 
the ground being strewed with loose stones or fragments of rocks. 
Fortunately, it so happened that we never got more than a few rods 
out of our"^road, but we were obliged to inquire of every one w^e met 
to avoid more considerable detention." 

At this time there were scattered along the river from Browntow^n 
to Fairbanks probably forty-five or fifty families— and up Wyalusing 
ereek— each a distance of about six miles. To these were that year 
assessed about eight thousand acres of land, one-fifth of which it is 
estimated was even rudely cultivated. Forests of great trees and 
dense undergrowtli, for which there was no market for timber, con- 
fronted on every hand the pioneer, as he stood, ax in hand, in the great 
valley, now the"^ happy homes of its teeming population. Hound log 
flooriess huts, with one little room, regardless of numbers, sex or pre- 
viousconditions were the sum total of the architecture of the primitive 
land. The fat soil of the valley sent forth its strong and tangled veg- 
etable life, as though to defy man's strongest hands and stoutest hearts. 
After twenty-five vears of sore struggles, stricken despair and bloody 
deaths, the 'men 'in the serried ranks of war, the poor women and 
children in the dead of winter. Hying across rivers, hdls, mountains. 



572 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

through a trackless wilderness, starving, dying, bivouacing the dreary 
days and weeks beneath the cold stars, where babes were prematurely 
born, and where the little weak wails were hushed in death often, and 
their little cold bodies carried in the mother's arms for many days to 
reach a place of even safe sepulture, are but glints of the awful exjieri- 
ences that encompassed these people. 

When Rochefoucauld traveled through the county, he mentions 
Wyalusing and Asylum as the only settlements from Wilkes- Barre to 
Tioga Point (Athens). 

The list of taxables in 1795 was as follows; Benjamin Ackley, 
Sherman Buck, Gideon Baldwin, Daniel Brown, Humphrey Brown, 
Richard Baldwin, Stephen Beckwith, Benjamin Crawford, Dr. Jabe/ 
Chamberlain, Job Camp, William Dalton. Samuel Gordon, James 
Gordon, Justus Gaylord, Jr., James Hines, Mathias Hollenback (lived 
at Wilkes-Barre), Isaac Hancock, Nathan Kinsley, Warrum Kinsley, 
David Lake, Robert Lattimore, Thomas Lewis, Thomas Oviatt, John 
Ogden, Philip Place, Reuben Place, Zachariah Price, Israel Shear, 
John Shoemaker, David Shoemaker, Thomas Smiley, Joseph Stalford, 
John Taylor, Joseph C. Town, Amasa Welles, Guy Welles, Reuben 
Welles, Nathan Winton and Miner York. This assessment covered the 
whole of the original township. The total was nineteen horses, eighty 
six horned cattle and seven slaves ; real estate and pei'sonal proDertv 
valued at $10,291. 

In 1797 John Hollenback established a shad fishery at Wyalusing, 
the first in this section of the country. . This brings us to the time in 
the history of the valley when Col. John Franklin's scheme to estab- 
lish anew'^State, carved out of this portion of Pennsylvania, collapsed, 
and the clouds lowered darkly over the Connecticut settlers; immigi'a- 
tion from that region, where practically nearW all immigrants formerly 
came from, ceased nearh? entirely and the gloomy years set in that are 
fully described in a previous chapter, entitled "Seventeen Townships." 

Fairhanks Settlement. — In 1798 Humphrey Brown surveyed a town 
plat of two or three acres and christened it "Fairbanks." The story 
of the settlement is something as follows: Benjamin Crawford was 
the first settler in that vicinity, in 1789, and built near where is the 
railroad cut. In 1793 he moved to the Jabez Cluimberlain farm, 
where he built a cabin, and the next spring, while chopping, a tree 
fell on him and broke his leg. Mr. Crawford died here in June, 1804, 
and was buried at Terrytown, across the river. The next farm 
above Crawford's was that of Nathan Winton, who sold to Hum- 
})hrev Brown. The particular place where " Fairbanks " was located 
is described as '* lying between Justus Gaylord and Benjamin Craw- 
ford." The original town consisted of a small log hut. Settled just 
above this place were the children of Gaylord and their families — Mrs. 
Wigton, Mrs. Shoemaker, Timothy and Chauncey Gaylord. These all 
sold their claims to Charles Homet, and most of them left the county. 
Gilbert, Daniel and Hezekiah Merritt, brothers, and relatives by mar- 
riage of the Strunks and Biles families, came about 1825. Simeon 
Marsh made the first improvement on Vaughan hill, at the Indian 
spring, at the head of the run which empties at the railroad tank, near 



HISTORY OF nUADFOlU) COITNTY. 573 

FitzgerakVs. lie sokl liis ini[)rovement to Stephen Charlott, who in 
1815" exchanged property with Elias Vaughan and went to Paimmer- 
field. 

In 1801 John IloUenback came to Wyalusing and opened his store 
—the marvel of the time, as he brought "^2,400 pounds of goods from 
rhiladelphia in wagons to Middletown, and then on boats and pushed 
up the river, lie had been engaged for liis uncle, Matliias llollenback, 
in trade along the river since 1790. 

In 1801 Wyalusing held its first '• Fourth of July "' celebration. 
The inspiration* thereto chiefly was because it was the year of Jeffer- 
son's first inauguration as presklent— the first Republican-Democrat 
elected, John llollenback presided at the meeting, and Jonas Ingham 
delivered a spirited address, devoted mostly to the " Disputed Land 
Titles," in which he ably defended the Connecticut claimants. Uriah 
Terrv prepared and read an ode on the death of Washington. . In 
1821' John Hollenback built his gristmill at the mouth of the creek. 

Charles F. Welles was one of the prominent men of Wyalusing at 
the time of the organization of Bradford county. He was a son of 
the noted George Welles, of Athens. Charles F. was a native of 
Glastonburv, Conn., born November 5, 1789; he married Ellen J., 
daughter of Judge John HollenbacK, and came to Wyalusing in 1822, 
whei'e he died September 23, 1866. He was a man of the highest 
character — the first prothonotary of Bradford county, a man of wide 
and varied knowledge — a scholar and poet. A man of liberal ente)-- 
prise, he was of incomparable value to the young county. His influ- 
ence, on the completion of the canal, secured the building of the canal 
basin at Wvalusing, on which he put up his large warehouse and coal 
bins, and thus contributed so much to the trade and prosperity of the 
place. His splendid old family residence stands as a landmark, occu- 
pied bv his son. Widow C. F. Welles died in 1876, at an advanced age. 

Jonathan Stevens came to Wyalusing in 1805, and soon opened a 
small store and tavern near where is the Welles residence. The 
Stevens family were English, and were driven from England for taking 
part in the revolution that resulted in taking off the head of Charles I. 
Asa Stevens was father of Jonathan ; he was a native of (Connecticut, 
and among the first immigi-ants to the Wyoming country; he was a 
lieutenant, and was killed in the Wyoming 'battle. Jonathan was his 
second son, born at Canterbury in July, 1764 ; he was sixteen when 
he enlisted iij,the Bevolutionary army ; he married Eleanor Adams, of 
Brooklvnj4n''6ctober, 1785 ; he was a tailor, and came to this vicinity 
in 1795", and in 1805 to Wyalusing, where he remained until 1812, and 
then to Standing Stone, w'here he died in June, 1850. He was one of 
the first justices, appointed in 1800; in 1811 he was elected to tiu^ 
State Legislature ; in 1818 he was appointed associate county judge, 
and was in office until 1840, when it was changed by the new consti- 
tution ; was many years a deputy and county surveyor, and surveytnl 
every foot of ground foi- many miles around Wyalusing. 

this brings us to the period that marks the first great change in 
this part of Bradford county— the canal era, which commenced to excite 
public attention as early as* 1826. The second wave of coming immi- 



574 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

grants marked this as an era. The two-horse coach and its daily trips 
from Wilkes-Barre to Athens or Waverly had grown to be a great 
institution. One of the last to drive on the daily route from Towanda 
to Waverly was Jim Smith, a resident of Wyalusing, who was born 
near old Browntown. He once drove from Browntown to Towanda, 
but moved up as the canal w^as built and drove the last through trip, 
and mournfully witnessed his favorite yield to the proud ship of the 
raging canal. The strong men along the line were alert to induce the 
building of locks, basins and towns adapted to their individual benefit 
as well as the public's. It was individual influence, no doubt, that 
fixed upon what is now the borough of Wyalusing — that was the 
knell to old Browntown and Fairbanks. Before the canal was com- 
pleted it was understood that here was to be an important point, and 
the village was platted and lots were purchased, and the founding of a 
town was soon well under way. 

Carnptown is the next town to Wyalusing borough of importance 
in the township. It is a cluster of houses and, as a business center for 
the surrounding countr}', has gathered quite a number of people, and 
remains an important point. They have a postoffice ; two general 
stores; a furniture factory thai does an important trade, started about 
1840; a creamery that was started in 1889 ; one harness sho]), and two 
blacksmith shops. C. H. Amsbry, some years ago, operated a woolen 
mill near Camptown. It was originally built by John Hollenback, 
and in its prosperous days Avas one of the most important industries in 
the county. In 1840 John Ingham built here a spoke factor}^ and this 
and the sawmill, planing-mill and Avoolen-mill were all o|)erated to 
their full ca})acity, getting their driving power from the Wvalusing 
creek, that here affords splendid water privileges. The gristmill at 
this place is an excellent one, and is provided with tlie modern roller 
process. It is now operated by J. E. Adams & Son. 

Ilomefs Ferry. — A postoffice and general store is the sura total of 
the "make-up" of this place. 

Churches.— T\\Q early doings of the church people of Wyalusing is 
given in the first part of this chapter. There are now in the borough 
three churches. The Second Presbyterian Church (Rev. David Craft's 
church) at this time is without a pastor, Mr. Craft having accepted a 
call in an adjoining county. This Society was organized in 1854, and 
was the Second because the old church at Merryall was the First. 
Rev. John White was the stated supply until 1857. The building was 
erected in 1855. Rev. Thomas S. Dewing succeeded White, and 
remained until 1861, when Rev. David Craft came and remained until 
May, 1891. The latter became the regular pastor in 1806. 

The first church building at Merryall was ])ut up in 1828 by con- 
tractor Justus Lewis; it was not completed and dedicated until 1831, 
and Rev. Simon R. Jones became stated preacher; it was this year 
that the congregation at a full meeting resolved to leave the Congre- 
gational service to again become Presbyterians. Thus, after a lapse 
of nearly twenty-tive years, Presbyterianism was again established in 
this valley. In 1836 these earnest Christians were torn and troubled 
over the slavery question. There never had been many slaves or slave- 



HISTORY OF BRADFOHI) COUNTY. ,)7.') 

owners in this county, und yet thus cjirly (h) wo sec that the (juestion 
of abohshing shivery was greatly disturbing the good [)eo])le of Wyalu- 
sing. The preacher, Kev. George I^i"intz, deprecated tlie discussion of 
the subject in the church. The congregation was rent into furious 
factions; obstreperous members were arraigned and tried, and the furies 
were loosened, and finally the anti-slavery portion of the congregation 
secured letters of dismission in 1842, for the purpose of foi'ining a new 
Presbyterian Church. Their ichereas boldly said : '' We believe that 
truth is in order to godliness, and the Scri])tures say \iirsi piwe and 
the7i peaceable.'' " 

In 1844 a parsonage was built at Merryali. This improvement was 
made under the ministration of Rev. 8. F. Colt, who served the church 
with marked success about ten years. When he took charge the con- 
gregation was scattered over a wide range of country, and he adopted 
the idea of placing a new organization in each locality where there 
were living a number of members, and thus making it more convenient 
for all. The result of his labors in this direction resulted in laying 
the foundations of tiie churches at Herrick, Stevensville, Rush, and 
Wyalusing (2d). 

The Old-School Baptist Church on Vaughan hill, was once a Houi-- 
ishing institution — never very numerous, but the members, far and 
near braved all wind and weather, and their ''meetings,'' whethei' 
many or few were present, were real religious and social events. It 
was organized in the earW " forties,*" and among a primitive and pioneer 
people gave that fullest measure of consolation. Of late years it has 
been somewhat neglected. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Cam[)town, and the chui'ch at 
Wyalusing are served by Rev. J. B. Davis, of (yainptown. They have 
a llourishing Baptist Church at Camptown, presided over by Rev. 
Franklin Pearce. 

Industries. — Geo. H. Welles' gristmill was built in 1820, and an 
addition added in 1869. The mill has the new roller process, and has 
a capacity of fifty barrels a day. It is furnished with water-j)owei- 
from AVyalusing creek. . I. C. Fuller's steam planing mill, put up in 
1870, manufactures all soi-ts of building material. 

Wyalusing has two general stores, one drug store, one clothing 
store, one furniture store, two grocery stores, one bakery, one hartl- 
ware store, two meat markets, one jeweler, two hotels, thi-ee black- 
smiths, two wagon shops, one gristmill. 

WVALUSINt; HOROUtiU. 

Wyalusing had long been the most important village between 
Tioga Point and Wilkes-Barre, and had, for some years, contained the 
requisite population for organization as a borough. The leading- 
people, however, were conservative, and it was not until 1887 that 
they consented to clothe the place with the dignity and authority of 
incorporation. A special election on the subject was called in 
February, 1887, and March 10, following, in accordance with the 
unanimous voice of the people, AYyalusing boi'ough was dulv incorpo- 
rated and officers elected as follows : Burgess, David K. Brown ; 



576 HISTOKY OF BEADFORD COUNTY. 

council, J. Y. Taylor, fl. J. Hallock, E. B. Stone (each for three 
years), H. J. Lloyd (two years), and I. M. Brown and 1. C. Fuller (one 
year). E. W. Fee was tlie clerk. These served out their terms ; 
those for the one-year term were re-elected ; for the two years, Lloyd 
was re-elected, and H. T.Smith succeeded Stone; for three years, 
Taylor was re-elected, and J. G. Keeler succeeded Hallock. Dr. V. 
Homet was the second burgess, and R. R. Garey the third. 

The old warehouse, that was once the point of so much stir and 
business in the canal <lays, stands yet as a landmark, near which are 
the outlines of the basin. Welles' mill was built where it now stands, 
in 1869. The first old mill was built in 1820— a frame with four run 
of stones, and in the course of time it was replaced and moved to 
where it now stands. It is a merchant mill, supplied with water- 
power from Wyal using creek, and has a capacity of fifty barrels per 
day. 

H. L. Case opened to the public his creamery in April, 1888. It 
lias a capacity of 1,000 pounds of butter per day, and opens a fine 
market for the farmers for a circuit of six miles in every direction. 
It has just added the Ely valve system, one of the important recent 
improvements introduced into the county. In the borough are two 
general stores, one fancy goods, one furniture, one clothing, one drug, 
two groceries, one bakery, one hardware, two meat markets, one 
jewelrv, two millinery, two hotels, one steam-planing mill (built in 
1870 by I. C. Fuller), three blacksmiths, two wagon-makers, two 
physicians. Population of the borough, 420. There is an elegant 
hisrh school buildino-. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

WYSOX TOWNSHIP. 



ROSWELL FRANKLIN settled on the Wysox flats in 1785, it is 
supposed. His brother Jehiel came with hiui, and the last-named 
settled on what is now the Robert Laning farm. lie sold to Solomon 
Franklin, who sold to Job Irish. Jesse Allen, an old Revolutionary 
soldier, was here in 1787, and cleared the ohl York farm, which he sold 
to Theophilus Myer. 

Ralph Martin came in 178!», and settled on the Conklin farm near 
Myersburg. Maj. Coolbaugh came about 1790, and purchased the 
improvement of Asahel Roberts, afterward the Darius Williams farm. 
Mr. Coolbaugh was the first justice of the peace, and was elected to 
the Legislature, and AVilliam Myer succeeded him as justice. 

John Ilinman came in 1791. He put up a mill and sold afterward 
to Judge Harry Morgan. A deed to John Ilinman for one-half of 
Nelson's possessions is dated May 1. 1791. . Nancy Man, a spinster, in 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKl) (JOLMV. 577 

1799 lived wliere now resides Joseph riollet. . Wilbur and Robert 
Bennett oame to Wysox in 1800, and purchased land of Samuel Bow- 
man. . Joshua Shores came in 1795, and in a short time made his 
improvement on Shore's hill. lie died on the hill in about 1825. 

The earliest permanent settlers in Wysox came about 1790. and of 
these were : Ste))hen Strickland's father and his young- family, the 
grandfather of Morgan and Stephen Strickland, Jr. The Strickland 
farm numbered several hundred acres in the "plains," on the west side 
of the river. The original tract was divided among the Strickland 
heirs. The next farm east was the Mathias H. Laning place; was 
settled originally by Job Irish — father of Col. Jud Irish. A few 
years later John Hinman settled a little northwest of the Laning 
farm on the road leading to Shore's Hill : he built the first gristmill 
in the township, on Laning creek. This was great joy to the settlers, as 
before they had to go ninety miles to Wilkes-Barre to mill. Ilinman's 
sons were John and Abner C. Hinman, the latter of whom resides on 
the old homestead. Moses Coolbaugh, fatiier of Daniel, Cornelius 
and Samuel Coolbaugh, Avas with the first settler and located on the 
Rev. Darius Williams' place. He was the grandfather of Edwin B., 
Eustace and Morris I. Coolbaugh. John Sti'ope was the first settler 
(1800), on the Harry Morgan farm. The first blacksmith, Henry 
Tuttle (1800), built adjoining Strope on the south, put u]) his shoj), 
and followed his trade many years ; his son John inlierited and lived 
on the homestead. John Elliott came about 1804, and Avas the first 
settler on what is now the splendid Piollet lands, near the river; his 
sons Thomas and Deacon James Elliott, and Joseph and Samuel 
Elliott, lived in Towanda and at Rome. Sebastian Strope settled in 
1804 on the Magill farm, near the mouth of Wysox creek, and his 
land extended north toward Myersburg; his son, Harry Strope, lived 
in Towanda. About the same time Ralph Martin made his improve- 
ment on the Joseph Conklin farm. AV^illiam Coolbaugh, already men- 
tioned, was the first settler in Myersburg, about ISOC. Jacob Myer 
came and built a gristmill, then soon after a sawmill, and from him 
the place received its name ; his sons were AVilliam, Alvin, Jacob and 
Isaac Myer ; His grandson was Hon. E. Reed Myer, who eventually 
occupied the old. homestead. 

But the pre-historic character of Wysox was a very dirty and 
buggy hermit known as "Eencelor." Traditions say he was an 
old resident in his hole or cave when the first foxes and wolves 
arrived, and the first superstitious Indians both worshiped and feared 
him — possibly because he was so much dirtier than they dared to be. 
His " hole " was about a mile north of Mversburg, owned afterward 
by Dr. Seth T. Barstow, and finally by Col. Robert Spalding. _ The 
place of the "Hermit of Weasauking," as the name went into fiction, 
was called by Dr. Barstow " Fenceloi- Castle." There are descend- 
ants of people who, it is said, actually saw the " Hermit" and talked 
with him. The old fellow was found dead in his residence about 1808 
or 1810. 

The first settler in the Pond hill neighborhood was one Grover, who 
came about 1806 and built near that beautiful lake that gives the name 



578 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTRY. 

to " Pond hill," a deep, placid body of water on the hill that has so long 
mystified every beholder on the question as to whence it gets its supply. 
It is on a high elevation about a mile north of Myersburg. In later 
years property known as the "A lien property" was purchased by Miner 
York, father of Amos York, and the Narrows eventually took the 
name of "'York Narrows." The first settler on the Owens farm, west 
of and adjoining the Piollet land, was a man named Price, who 
located in 1805 ; he built the first distillery in the township, which 
Avas eventually removed to Myersburg. 

Burr Ridgeway came m 1803. Naphtali Woodburn came to 

Wysox in 1805, and settled on tiie creek above Bai'stow's, in an old 
liouse that had been built for a Baptist meeting house. He brought a 
small stock of goods and soon after built a sawmill . . Elisha Tracey 
lived on the creek near Petei" Johnson's, and near him was Dr. 
Gillette. . Ehsha Whitney came in 1816. . [For an account of the 
coming of the Piollets to Wysox see biographical sketches on another 
page.] 

Dr. Seth D. Barstow was one of the first physicians in Wysox, in 
1810; his residence was called " Fencelor Castle"; he married Clarissa 
Woodruff. Dr. Warner came to Wysox when a young man, and he 
died there in 1845, aged sevent}' years. . Shepard Pierce came in 1810, 
married a Coolbaugh, and bought the John Shepard farm. 

The first school-house was built near Aionzo Bishop's. . John 
Plinman built a grist and saw mill on the Little Wysox, in the rear of 
the Laning farm — the first in the township. The M3'^ers' mill was built 
in 1802 or 1803. The Woodburns later had a sawmill on the Wysox. 

^Vysox, a station on the Lehigh A^ alley Railroad, situated in almost 
the center of the beautiful broad Wysox valle}', is a place of consider- 
able importance, and has long been noted for its wealth and public 
spirit. It has two stores, a large hotel, and a creamery built in 
1891 . . Myersburg is two miles north of Wysox. 






PART II. 



Biographical Sketches. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



WALLACE D. ABBOTT, farmer, of Pike townshit), P. O. 
LeRavsvilIe, was born here March 16, 1854, and is a son of Elisha C. 
and Alvira (Cloodell) Abbott, natives of Pennsylvania and of New 
Eno-hind descent. In their family there were two children : Wallace 
D.,"and Minnie C, who married Milton Brink, a farmer of Pike town- 
ship. John and Prudence (Ford) Abbott, grandparents o'f subject, 
came to Pike township as early as 1810, and located on a farm. 
Wallace D. Abbott spent his "boyhood on his father's farm, and 
completed liis education in the district school. He began life for 
himself at the age of twentv-one, a farmer, which occupation he has 
followed except from ISSGto 1891, when he was engaged with Johnson 
& Son in the furniture business in LeRaysville. Mr. Abbott was 
married April 12, 1870, to Miss Celia L., daughter of Zenas and 
Elizabeth (Sherwood) Cooley, natives of Pennsylvania, and of New 
England origm ; they have had three children, none of whom are 
now living. Mr. Abbott has held all the offices in the I. O. O. F., and 
belongs now at Athens; is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and 
is a Republican. 

AMAZIAII A. ABELL, funeral director, Warren Centre, is a 
native of Warren township, this county, and one of the noted Abell 
familv, who are related to the great Baltimore publisher Arunah S. 
Abelf. Our subject was born February 19, 18?>5, near where he now 
resides, and is a son of Daniel and Mary (Allyn) Abell, of Rhode 
Island and of English descent. The father, a farmer by occupation, 
came to Bradford county in 1828, and settled on the farm Amaziah 
now owns, at which time it was wild a^id drear and desolate, and 
('apt. Abell valiantly went to work to clear up his farm and make a 
home in the wilderness. He was for many years a captain in the 
militia; was a man of public spirit, much respected by all who knew 
him, for many years held public "offices, and died in 1877, ripe in years 
and wisdom; his widow died in 1882. They had four cliildren : 
Catherine (Mrs. Dr. D. S. Pratt), of Towanda; Freelove E. (Mrs. John 
B. Russell) who removed to Wisconsin, where she died February 4, 
1878; Amaziah A., the subject of this sketch, and Dr. Daniel T., of 
Missouri. Amaziah A. Abell was reared in his native place, attended 
the neighboring schools and then became a student at the Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute, Towanda, where he completed his education and 
engaged in farming. He inherited the old homestead, and now has 
one hundred and twelve acres of land, but resides in the village of 
Warren Centre, in his elegant new residence. He was married in 
Nichols, N. Y., in 1867, to Helen Ball, only child of E. B. and Almira 

32 



582 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Ball, natives of New Yoi-k and Pennsylvania, respectively. To this 
marriage have been born two children : Guy Walter and Charlie 
Leonaril. Mrs. Abell is a member of the Methodist Ejiiscopal Church. 
Mr. Abell is a Freemason, and in politics is a Republican. 

PRESERVED THOMPSON ABELL, retired farmer, Warren 
Centre, is a native of Bristol county, Mass., born December 13, 1811, 
a son of Caleb and Elona (Shepherdson) Abell, of Massachusetts, and 
of P^nglish stock. The family were farmers from remote times, and 
the father was a leading man "'of his day, having held the position of 
town clerk for over forty years, together with various other local 
offices; he came to Bradford" county about IS-tO, only on a visit, how- 
ever, and died in his native place Hn 1842; his widow died in 1847; 
thev had ten children, viz : Lois (Mrs. Ezra French), of Providence; 
Daniel H.,a farmer of this county; Mary (Mrs. Samuel Wheaton), of 
this countv ; Nancy (Mrs. Benajali Allyn), of Warren township ; Caleb ; 
Robert ; Pawtucket ;^ Arunah S., a printer and publisher, of Baltimore, 
who died a millionaire, his thirty-two nephews receiving at his death 
$10,000; Sarah, who died in 1830, aged twenty-two; and Preserved 
Thompson, the subject of this sketch, the only survivor of the family, 
who was reared in Massachusetts and engaged in farming. He came 
to Bradford county in 1867, and located in Warren township ; was 
married in his old Massachusetts home, in 1838, to Sarah Ann Daggett, 
daughter of Simeon and Barbara (Brown) Daggett, natives of Seekonk, 
Masli., born of English stock, and of this marriage there were ten 
children, eight of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and four 
are now living, as follows: Lois A.; Helen A. (Mrs. George Leasure), 
who has six children ; Eugene, a merchant of Binghamton, and Etta 
M., also of Binghamton. Mr. Abell has long been a leading farmer of 
the county, noted for his industry and integrity. He is a Democrat, 
and was town clerk eight years at his old home in Seekonk, Mass., and 
the number of terms the father and son held the office added together 
shows an unbroken record of half a century. The venerable gentle- 
man is with his family, where love and respect are the beautiful order 
of their dailv lives, his daughter Lois A. soothing with tenderest love 
that fathers evening of life that crowns the gray hairs with a sacred 
halo — making age lovely and youth noble. 

DAVID ABRAMS,' farmer, P. O. Wilmot, was born in Wilmot 
township, this county, Mav 11. 1837, and is a son of David and Sarah 
(Morris) Abrams, natives of Wales. The father settled in Wilmot in 
1837, being among the pioneers of the place. The subject of this 
sketch began life for himself at the age of twenty, lumbering and 
stock dealing; purchased his present home of two hundred acres in 
1868, which is a fertile tract of land in an excellent state of cultiva- 
tion. On September 5, 1864, he enlisted at Scranton, Pa., in Company 
E, Two Hundred and Third Regiment. P. V. L, and was in the follow- 
ing engagements : Siege of Richmond, Deej) Bottom, Petersburg, 
Chapin's°Farm, capture of Fort Fisher, where he received three gun- 
shot wounds, the most serious of which was on the head, and he was 
then taken to Fortress Monroe Hospital, where he remained until his 
regiment was mustered out at the close of the war. After that he 



HISTOKY OF IJUADFORD COUNTY. 583 

returned to Wilmot and was married August 17, 1866, to Einniii, 
(lauo-hter of Daniel and Rlioda (Potter) Omsbury, of Wilinot. They 
have four children, viz : Stephen, born July 3, 1861) ; Morris, born July 
19, 1875 ; Weston, born February 2, 1878, and Arthur, born March 14, 
ISSO. Mr. Abrains is a member of the G. A. R,., at Dushore; is a 
Republican and has been assessor of Wilmot two terms, and county 
auditor one term. 

DEMMON ACKLEY, farmer, P. O. Spring- UiU, was born on the 
old Acklev homestead in Tuscarora, April 26, 1822, and is a son of 
Harry and Abigail (13ennett) Ackley, the former of whom was born 
on the old homestead in Wyalusing township, April 5, 1795, and died 
January 11, 1864; he was a son of Benjamin Ackley, who was born 
in Connecticut, the grandfather of subject. Benjamin Acklev was twice 
married, first to Emeline Gordon, of Standing Stone, and afterward 
to Amy Lewis. B}' the first marriage he had the following!: chUdren : 
Lloyd, Harry, Niram, Olive (married to Harris Scofield), Mary Ann 
(married to Aholiab Taylor) and Hannah (married to John Black) ; by 
his second marriage JBenjamin Ackley had the following : Sally 
(deceased), Cordelia (married to Moses Tyler, and now resides in Sus- 
(juehanna county), Caroline (married to Mr. Alphonzo Lloyd, resides in 
AV^valusing), Sterling (also resides in Wyalusing), Justice (deceased) 
and Benjamin (residing in Wyalusing). The grandfather was a black- 
smith, and many years carried on a shop at Merryall; he began 
farming and pursued that occupation until his death. The father of 
subject was married when nineteen years of age, and had the following 
children : Angeline, married Milton Lewis, and died February 21, 1890. 
aged seventy-five years ; Ferris, died September 26, 1888 ; Alfred, died 
December 26, 1884, aged sixty -four; Lucretia, married John Lura, died 
April 2, 1888, aged sixty-four; Ferris, died Sept. 26, 1889, aged seven- 
tv-three ; Nancy, married Washington Taylor, now residing in Keokuk, 
Iowa; Demnion ; Lorenzo: now a resident of Buffalo, N. Y.; H. S., 
residing in Binghamton ; Helen, married to Stephen Bowen, and resid- 
ing in Mitchell, Dak.; Sophia, married to Stuart Biswork, residing in 
Marshal, Iowa; (Henry died February 2, 1883, aged forty-seven). The 
father, Harry Ackley, who was a farmer, after his marriage removed 
to S[)ring Hill, which was then a wilderness, and began to clear up the 
land; at the time of his death he owned over five hundred acres of 
and, land had prepared at least two hundred and fift}^ acres for cultiva- 
tion and improved the land by building good farm buildings, fences, etc. 

Our subject was born and reared on a farm and educated in the 
common schools. He worked with his father and brothers on the old 
homestead until after liis mari-iage with Abigail B. Lacey, September 
13, 1848; then removed to his present farm, in Tuscarora township, 
where he has since resided; his wife, who was a daughter of Daniel P. 
Lacey, of Wyoming county, died June 1, 1888. He owns eighty acres 
of fine farm land which he has well improved ; keeps a large dairy and 
also owns real estate in Binghamton and Lester Shire, N. Y. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Ackley were born four children, viz : G. S., born November 
25, 1850, married to Helen Brook, is general superintendent for the 
Lester Boot & Shoe Co., and resides at Binghamton ; Effie L., married 



584 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

P. H. Edinger, a farmer of Tuscarora township ; Callie A., married 
Charles G. Brown, a merchant, farmer amd lumber dealer, of Skinner's 
Eddy, Pa.; and Angle E., residing with and caring for the household of 
her father. Besides his occupation of farmer he has been an extensive 
dealer in stock and farm implements and machinerv ; he has always 
been largely dependent on liis own resources, has been a successful 
man, and now ranks among the wealthy and influential farmers of the 
county ; he is a Republican in politics antl lias filled the various town- 
ship offices ; is a director and adjuster of the Tuscarora Fire Insurance 
Company. Mr. Ackley has always been a man of push and enterprise, 
and is scrupulously honest, among his neighbors and friends none 
stand higher than he. 

J. B. ACKLEY, stone cutter and contractor, Athens, is a native of 
Macedonia, this county, and was born February 14, 1849, a son of 
-fohn and Susan (Bennett) Ackley, natives of same place; his grand- 
parents were among the first settlers of Asylum township. His grand- 
father, Benjamin Bennett, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and lived to 
the advanced age of one hundred and one years. John Ackley was a 
farmer, and died in Asylum township in 1868 in his seventy-seventh 
year ; his widow is now a resident of Athens. J. B. Ackley is the 
seventh of a family of eleven children, and when he started in life for 
himself he served an apprenticeship at the stone cutter's trade, at which 
he worked until 1866, when he went to boating on the canal. In 1868 
lie resumed work at his trade doing all kinds of cut stone work for 
buildings and street work. In December, 1862, he enlisted in the army, 
in Compan}^ C, Twenty-second New York Cavalry, participated in 
thirteen general engagements, and was wounded September 7, 1864, 
in tiie third battle of Weldon Railroad (near the powder house); was 
mustered out in July, 1865. He was married May 30, 1868, in Litch- 
field, to Miss Sarah E., daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe (Mills) 
Kershaw, the former a native of England, and the latter of Pennsyl- 
vania. Mrs. Ackley was born March 4, 1849, in Litchfield township, 
and is the second born in a family of five children. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ackley are members of the E[)iscopal Church ; in ])olitics Mr. Ackley 
is a Republican. 

HON. JOHN ALDEN, ancestor of most persons bearing the name 
of Alden in this country, was one of the Plymouth Pilgrims, and the 
last male survivor of those who came in the " May Flower,"' and 
signed the compact in her cabin in 1620. He was not of the Ley den 
Church, but as Bradford in his " History of Plymouth Plantation " 
informs us, was hired for a cooper at Southampton, where the shi}) 
victualled, and being a hopeful young man, was much desired, but was 
left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here, so staj^ed and 
married here. He was distinguished for practical wisdom, integrity 
and decision, and early acquired, and retained during his long life, a 
commanding influence over his associates. He was much employed in 
public business, was an assistant to the governor many 3'^ears, and, in 
every position he occupied, fulfilled his duties promptly and to the 
satisfaction of his emplo^'-ers. So far as is known his ancestry in 
England has not been traced. He was born in 1599, and died at 



HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 585 

Duxbury, Septeiiibei' 12, IGST, in u good old ago, :ui old man and full 
of years, and was gathered to his people, and his sons buried him. He 
married, in 1621, Priscilla, (hiughter of Mr. Molines or Mullens, who 
witli his faniih' came also in the " May Flower," and i)oth died in the 
February succeeding their landing. Tradition i-epresents Priscilla to 
have been very beautiful in her youth, and John also was a comely 
person, and considering his other accomplishments, it is not surprising 
that when he was sent by Capt. Staudish, after the death of his wife, 
to solicit her hand in marriage, she preferred the messenger to the 
message: 

"But as he warmed and glowed, in his simple and eloquent language, 
Quite forgetful of self, and fuli of the praise of his rival, 
Archly the maiden smiled, and, with eyes overrunning with laughter. 
Said, in a tremulous voice, ' why don't you speak for yourself, John?' " 

Their residence, after a few years, was in Duxbury. on the north 
side of the village, on a farm which is still in possession of their de- 
scendants of the seventh generation, having never been alienated. It 
was supposed, until recently, that John and Priscilla Alden had but 
eight children. Bradford, however, states in his history, that, at the 
time of his writing, they were both living and had eleven children : 
John (born about 1C22), Joseph (born 1624), John, Elizabeth (born 
1625), Jonathan. Sarah, Rutii, Mar^', David and two whose names are 
unknown. 

Joseph Alden, Bridgewater, Mass., farmer, son of John (first), was 
born in 1624, died February 8, 1697, aged seventy-three; he was 
admitted freeman in 1659 ; had his father's ])roprietary share in 
Bridgewater, where he settled in that part of the town, now West 
Bridgewater; his will was dated December 14, 1696, and proved 
Marcii 10. 1697, with his wife and son John as executors, fie married 
Mary, tiaughter of Moses Simmons. To them were born thefoUoAving 
children : Isaac, Joseph (born 1667), John, Elizabeth, Mary. 

John Alden, Bridgewater and Middleborough, Mass., farmer, was 
son of Joseph (secontl); had his father's homestead '^n West Bridge- 
water, w^hich, upon June 20, 1700, he conveyed to Isaac Johnson, and 
removed to Middleborough, where he died 'September 29, 1730, aged 
fifty -six. He married Hannah, daughter of Capt. Ebenezer White^ of 
Wevmouth, who was born May 12, 1661, and tiled October 5, 1732. 
Their children were as follows': David, born Mav 18, 1702 ; Priscilla, 
born March 2, 1704: Thankful, born May 3.' 1706; Hannah, born 
March 24, 1708 ; Lydia, born December 18, 1710; Mary, born Novem- 
ber 10, 1712; Abigal, born September 8, 1714; Joseph', boi-n Septem- 
ber 11, 1716 ; John, boi-n October 8, 1718; Ebenezer, born October 8, 
1720; Samuel, died in infancy; Nathan, born June 12. 1723, died 
young; Noah, born ]May 31, 1725. 

Rev. Noah Alden, of Statt'ord, Conn., and l>ellingham, Mass., the 
son of John Alden (third), was born May 30, 1725, and died at Belling- 
ham, May 5, 1797, aged seventy-two. He was received into the 
Middleborough (Congregational Church, March 7, 1742, dismissed to 
the Congregational Cliurch in Stafford, Conn., in 1744, and continued 
a member there until 1753, when he changed his religious views, and 
became a Baptist minister, and was ordained at Stafford, Conn., June 5, 



586 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1755, and in Bellingham, November 12, 1766. He was u member of 
the convention for adopting the constitution of Massachusetts, and 
was a pious and worthy man, and was one of four ministers who 
formed the Warren association in 1767. A further account of him 
ma}^ be found in tiie annals of the American pulpit, b}^ Kev. Dr. 
ISprague). He married Mary Vaughn, by whom lie had the following 
children: Joanna, Lucy, who nuirried A. Marshall; Kiitli, nuirried to 
J3enjamin Thayer; EHsha, Israel and Noah. 

Israel Alden, Tryingham, Mass., and Windsor, N. Y., the son of 
Noah Alden, died at Windsor, N. Y., July 20, 1817, aged sev^enty -one ; 
He was a farmer and purchased land at Windsor, which is still in the 
possession of his descendants residing there. He married Lucy Mark- 
ham and iiad children as follows: Israel, Noah (born March 6,1768, in 
Barrington, Mass.), Timothy, Lucy, Zilpah, Samuel, Abner (Windsoi", 
N. Y.), Elisha, Benjamin (Windsor, N. Y.), Thankful, Moses (Windsor, 
N. Y.), David (Windsor, N. Y.) and Paith. 

Timothy Alden, Tryingham, Mass., and Monroe, Bradford count}^ 
Pa., the son of Israel Alden, was born February 22, 1770, and died 
September 20, 1859. He was one of the pioneer settlers of this coun- 
try, having located in Bradford county in December, 1800, as he had 
visited the country tlie year befoi'e, and being satisfied • with the 
prospects, decided to make it his home. He purchased eight hundred 
acres of land under the Connecticut title, paying the money for it ; he 
built a log house a few rods from the stone house now standing on the 
place which he settled ; the stone house was built by him in 1827, and 
is bat a short distance from the present town of Monroeton. Man}^ 
were the adventures related by him and his son, S. AV. Alden, of early 
pioneer life. A high sense of humor pi-evails in all the accounts of 
hairbreadth escapes, fights with wild beasts and all the dangers inci- 
dent to such a life. " He is described as a man six feet two inches in 
height, well-proportioned, commanding and of a noble bearing; he was 
lirra, benevolent and possessed of good judgment, and though not given 
to frivolous things he was fond of humoi". For some time he was ca])tain 
of militia and, hence, was generally addressed as Captain;" was one 
of the first and most liberal supporters of the Baptist Church of Mon- 
roe, and remained a consistent and faithful member until the time of 
his death. The following appeared in the Bradford Reporter October 
13, 1859 : 

" Capt. Alden Avas one of the pioneer settlers of northern Penn- 
sylvania, emigrating from Massachusetts and fixing his home in these 
sylvan wilds in December of the year 1800. His ax cut the road for 
the teams as he approached the place which he selected foi-ahome; he 
grappled manfully with the inconveniences of frontier life, and wild 
beast of the mountain and forest alike stood out of his way, and the 
earth and his mechanical genius were compelled to yield him a suj)- 
port. He has lived until all the original surroundings have changed 
while he gazed upon them ; the village, the church, the railroad and 
all the accompaniments of thrift now occupy the cities upon which lie 
gazed in their original attire. The red man has gone to his imaginary 
hunting ground, the sturdy pioneer has fallen a martyr to his priva- 



HISTORY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. 587 

tions and liaidsliips. and two o-enei'ations have passed away from this 
western liome, leaving u patriarch to tell us of events that wei"e well- 
nigh a century agone, and thus to stand as a connecting link, associ- 
ating us with men and events of quite another era of time. The aged 
oak has finally fallen and the connecting link is broken and forever 
gone, bowed with age and with locks whitened by the frosts of many 
winters. The sluggish stream is stayed, and the weary wheels of life 
have ceased to move. Panoplied by a life of rich experience and fed 
by fruitful thougiit and meditation, and nerved for the event by long 
and cai-eful observation, he wi-apped around him the mantle of his 
Chi'istian faith and sat down to await the day of his a))pointed time as 
quietly as the infant reposing in tlie arms of maternal affection ; he 
was gone on that long jour'ney. \"erii3% as the waters fail from the 
sea and the Hood drieth up, so man lieth down and raiseth not till the 
heavens be no more." 

Before Timothy Alden removed to IVEonroe he nuirried Lois, daugh- 
ter of Shetheld Wilcox, one of tlie early ])ioneers in Albany. They 
had nine children: 

Adonijah, born about 1791, mari-ied to \'esta, a daughter of 
liev. M. M. York, of Wysox, and after a few years went to Illinois ; 
their children were Adaline, born February 25, 1816 ; Adrian Minor, 
born x\pril 5, 1819 ; Timothy Wells, b^rn March 13, 1821 ; Elizabeth, 
born September 29, 1822, died April 20, 1839; Mahala, born August 
30, 1824, died May 22, 1839; Charles Edward, born July 23, 1826; 
Cora Caroline, born June 13, 1828 ; Percival York, born July 22, 
1830, died May IT, 1839; Sylvester Jerome, born May 28, 1832; 
twins, son and daughter, born September 23, 1834, died in infancy ; 
Marinda Arloa, born May 12, 1836. Adonijah Alden died Augusts, 
1839, and his wife May 17, 1839. Their descendants now reside in 
parts of Illinois and Iowa. 

Infant born, A|)ril 19, 1792, died in infancy. 

Sophronia, born May 9, 1793, nuirried Jared Woodruff, a pioneer 
in this countrv, and remained here until her death, April 8, 1876. 

Philinda, born February 10, 1795, married Warner Ladd, of 
Albany, in 1818, and lived there until her husband's death, when she 
removed to Monroe and died ; she is buried at Albany. 

Louisa, born January 5, 1797, married ]^)enjamin Coolbaui>h, 
of Monroe, and died in Monroe township, July 16, 1846. 

Timothy Wells, born June 9, 1800. died in infancy. 

Parmeha, born December 18, 1801, married Jacob Arnout, and, 
afterward, Charles Hornet ; died June 4, 1876, in Monroeton. 

Sylvester Williams and Sevellon Wells (twins) born March 19, 1810. 
Sylvester AVilliams, married Francis Wilcox at Middletown, Ih-adford 
Co., Pa., September 25, 1833, and removed to Menekaunee, Marinette 
(.()., Wis., in the fall of 1855, and died at Green Bay, Brown Co., Wis., 
July 13, 1881. Francis Alden, wife of Sylvester Williams Alden, was 
born July 31, 1815, at Middletown, Bradford Co., Pa., and died at 
Monroe, Bradford Co., Pa., August 29, 1847. Sylvester married, for 
his second wife, Harriet Bishop, wiio survives him. De Alanson 
Taylor Alden, son of Svlvester Williams and Frances Alden, was born 



588 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Januaiy 28, 1837, at Monroe, Bradford Co., l*a., niinoved to Marinette, 
Wis., in the fall of 1856 ; enlisted in Company H, Twenty-first Regi- 
ment Wisconsin Volunteers. August 15, 1862, and was discharged May. 
1864, on account of disease contracted in the service, wiiicli resulted in 
his death, June 30. 1864, at Fort Howard, Brown Co., Wis. lie was 
never married. Charles Judson Aldeu anotlier son of Sylvester and 
Frances Aklen, was born July 5, 1844, at Monroe. Bradford Co., Pa., 
removed to Menekaunee, Marinette Co., Wis., in September, 1859. 
He also enlisted in Company H, Twenty-first lleginient Wisconsin 
• Volunteers, August 15, 1862, and was discharged from service Jun(> 
30, 1865, at the close of the war. He married Antoinette Davidson, 
September 10, 1872, at New Lisb(jn, Wis. She was l)orn April ti. 
1856, at Menomonee Falls, Waukesha Co., Wis. They have had 
live children, and now reside at La Crosse, Wis. 

Sevellon Wells, twin of Sylvester Williams, less than a generation 
ago, was one of the well-known men of Bradford county. On Novem- 
ber 16, 1831, he married Mathena, daughter of Dr. Benoni Mandeville, 
who still resides with her son in Monroeton. AVhen a young man, 
Sevellen entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
became one of the most widely known preachers on the circuit, and al 
one time was presidmg elder: was a man of more than ordinary 
ability, a great reader, and had a most retentive memory. He was a 
frequent contributor to both the local and foreign press ; his communi- 
cations were full of interest, and were a valuable contribution to our 
local history, for they supplied many forgotten facts and incidents of 
theearly times in thissection. He was, without doubt. l)etter informed 
about matters pertaining to the early history of this })art of the county 
than any man living. In tiie field of local research he was an 
industrious gleanei', and it is due to his exertions tliat much in early 
history has been preserved. 

Until the last his faith and doctrines where the same as when in 
the active ministry. In the heat of the war he endured some persecu- 
tion because of his political opinions, but he always felt and remained 
loyal to the Methodist Episcopal Church, even to the day of his death. 
While attendino- to the duties and studies of Dastoral work, he gained 
a good acquaintance with drreek and Latin; education was with him a 
necessary, not an ornamental, accomplishment ; his power to acquii'e 
an education was great, and his mental retention was scarcelv ever at 
fault when in the |)rime of life. He preached about twenty-hve years, 
and was never on a charge without more or less pros|)erity and con- 
version under his ministry ; fourteen churches wei-e dedicated during 
the time of his |)aslorate. His demise occui'red March 22, 1883. 

The children of Sevellon Wells and Mathena Alden were Angeline. 
born September 20. 1832, at Monroe; DeWitt Clinton, born June l<i. 
1834, at Monroe; Bhilo Elzer, born August 27. 1845, at Tyione, N. ^ . 
Angeline Alden, died May 5, 1842, at Southpoi-t N. V.. aged nine 
years. DeWitt Clinton AJden was of a roving disposition, and. during 
his I'atiier brief lifetime, visited many parts of the woi-ld ; he was a 
.soldier dui'ing the Civil War. and took pai't in the engagements at 
Ft. Donelson. Pittsburg Landing, (Joi-inth, Vazoo Pass, Ai'Uansas Post. 



HISTORY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. 589 

Port Gibson, Jackson, Champion Hill, Black Ilivor Bridoe, Vicksburg 
and jMashville. For a time he was a staff officer, Fourth Division, 
Seventeenth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, lie married 
Frances H. Bartlett, at New Orleans, January 20, 186G, and they had 
two chiklren, botii oF whom died while youiii^,-. DeWitt C.died at NeAV 
Oileans, October 30, 1867. He was at the time disbursing- officer of 
the Freedman's Bureau at that place ; his wife married again, and 
resides in California. Philo is a well-known citizen of Monroeton, and 
a civil and mining- engineer of some note. He is chief engineer of the 
Williamsport and Binghamton R. R. Co., also chief engineer for the 
Barclay K. E. Co., and mining engineer for the S. L. & A. R. R. Co., 
He takes an active par't in politics, and durmg President Cleveland's 
administration was postmaster at Monroeton. He was married January 
21, 1865, to Susan, daughter of Daniel and Rhoda Ormsby, of Albany; 
she died May 12,1890. The children of this marriage are as follows : 
E. Mav, born November 12, 1865 ; Flora June, born May 4, 1867. died 
December 15, 1873; Nathan Elzer, born June 6, 1869, died July 14, 
1885, and John Mandeville, born Mav 10, 1888. 

DARWIN N. ALLEN, farmer.' P. O. East Troy, was born in 
Trov township, August 27, 1824, and is a son of Samuel and Maranda 
(Sheffield) Allen. His ])aternal grandfather, Nathaniel Allen, a native 
of Long Island, N. Y., settled in Troy township in 1800, Avas a 
surveyor by occupation, and prior to his settlement m Troy was in the 
employ of the Connecticut Land Company. He was to receive his 
pay in land, but like numy, thus lost iiis labor as well as ))ay owing to 
defect of title. He located on the farm now owned l)y Phileman 
Pratt, cleared most of it and died there in 1839; his wife was Lydia 
Stevens, bv whom he had the following children: Adolphus ; Laura, 
(Mrs. H. Laberien); Samuel; Alma, (Mrs. Ezra Canlield); and Myron. 
Of these, Samuel was born in Catskill, N. Y., and was reared in Troy 
township. He was a farmer by occupation and cleared most of the 
land where East Troy now stands, and died there in 1855 ; his wife 
was a daughtei' of James Sheffiekl, of Madison county, N. Y., and by 
her he had three children : Darwin N.; Lydia M. (Mrs. Monroe Jones) 
and Adolphus G. 

Our subject was reared in Troy township, and, with the exception of 
two years he was in mercantile business at Addison and ]^>inghamton, 
N. Y., has alwavs followed farming. In 1854 he married Maiw Eliza- 
beth Lament, of Troy, and has two children: Nellie L. (Mrs. Howard 
Cole) and Laui-a B. Mr. Allen is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and of the F. & A. M.; he has held various offices 
in Trov township; politically he is a Republican. 

EZRA ALLEN, farmer and stock grower, AVyalusing, was born in 
Tioga county, N. Y., October 18, 1832, son of Noah and Rhoda (Miller) 
Allen, the former of whom was born in Vermont, August 11, 1786, and 
died December 8, 1846, and the latter was born in Tioga county, N. Y., 
Februarv 10, 1802, and died April 12, 1862; they had children as 
follows:" Lorenzo, born July 22, 1824, died November 19, 1868, was a 
farmer of Browntown and "left a family who after his death removed 
to Manchester, Conn. ; Lucretia, born January 17, 1826, died September 



590 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

26, 1856; Lewis, l)oi'ii Novembers, 1827, died March 5, 1850; Noah, 
Jr., born ^[arch (i, 183<», died June 12, 1865, a ineinber of Company E, 
One Hundred and Third P. V., and died at Davis Ishmd Hospital; Ezra 
Charles, born June 20, 1839, died March 17, 1869; Ethan, born April 
7, 1813, now a horseman of Manchester, Conn. His parents came down 
the river with their family and earthly possessions on an ark, and settled 
on the farm now owned by our subject, in 1841; his father was a 
carpenter and afterward a farmer; as a carpenter lie was noted for his 
skill, and he drafted the plans for the first court-house of Owego ; 
before his removal to Bradford county he followed lumbering and ran 
rafts down tlie Susquehanna as far as Marietta and Fort Deposit; 
after coining to Bradford county he turned his attention mostly to 
farming, and died a few years later. There was but a small amount 
of cleared land on the place when his father purchased it. but they 
proceeded to clear it and lit it for cultiv^ation, and soon had as line a 
farm as any in the neighborhood ; his father built a neat frame dwell- 
ing which was destroyed by lire in Mai'ch, 1882. Mr. Allen then built 
his present residence which is a handsome and commodious farm house; 
his parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his 
mother was an earnest worker in the same. The old homestead, now 
in his possession, contains one hundred and twenty-five aci-es of land 
which he has under a high state of cultivation and is well improved. 
He has ])assed the greater ))ortion of his life on the old farm and 
attended the common school of his neighborhood until he was about 
tAventy-five ; always living on the old homestead which he has owned 
since 1868. He has his farm well stocked with horses, cattle and sheep. 
He was united in wedlock, April 3, 1862, with Margaret Mahoney, 
daughter of Michael Mahoney (deceased), a farmer of Tiiscarora, and 
this union has been blessed with three children : Evaline. married to 
Ceorge L. Best, a member of the Washington Fire Clay Company, of 
Tacoma, Cora and Jessie. The family worship at the Methodist 
Episcopal Church; he is a iiepublican and has filled the various town 
offices. Mr. Allen has made his way upward without aid from any 
source but his own industry, and is now one of the most ))rominent of 
AVyalusing's farmers. The family occupy a. ])romiiiont ]>lace in 
societv, and arc noted for their genial welcome to friends and abundant 
hospitalitv. 

HENRY H. ALLEN, farmer, P. O. Mountain Lake, was born 
February 3, 184-1, on the farm where he now resides in Burlington 
township, a son of Aaron 1*. and Caroline (Park) Allen, both of 
English descent and natives of Luzerne county. Pa.; their pai-ents were 
natives of New England. The father was a farmer and came to 
iJurlington, took a ti'act of land in tlie wilderness, where he cjleared a 
large farm; was also largely engaged in lumbering many years; he 
died in Purlington township at the age of si.xty-six years, and the 
mother at the age of fifty-seven years. Henry H. Allen was reared 
on the farm, and at the age of twenty-two responded to the call for 
troops in the Civil War, enlisting in Company G, Forty-ninth Regi- 
ment P. Y. I.; he i)articipated in two battles; was shot through the 
wrist, and after fifteen days, while he was in the hospital at Washing- 



tilSTOUY OF FUJADFORD COUNTY. 591 

ton, was ol)lig-ecl to have his arm amputated nelii' the elbow ; when he 
was shot he hxicl on the field thirty hours, and then was obliged to 
march a long- distance in that suffering condition, lie was soon after 
discharged on Februai'v 0, 1805, on account of disability. Mr. Allen 
was married October 27, IStO, to Sylvia Farr, of Forkston, Wyoming 
Co., Pa., born February 20, 1848. There have been born to them the 
following named eiglit children: Maud E., born December 27,1871; 
Mvrtle, born December 23, 1873 ; Etta C, born March 22, 187(5 ; 
Myron P., born December 21, 1877; Glenn G., born January 29, 1880 ; 
Flora, born November 7, 1885; Irene, born October 17, 1888; Ada C, 
born November 23, 1890. Mr. Allen owns a fine farm, the old home- 
stead of his father. Politically he is a Republican, has been school 
director, and has held other positions of public trust ; is a member of 
the G. A. R., of the I. O. O. F. and of the P. of H. 

JOHN ALLEN, farmer in Burlington township, P.O. Luther's Mdls. 
was born November 23, 1844, in Ulster, this coimty. He was adopted 
and reared bv James Adamson and, when only eighteen years of age, 
enlisted under the name of John Adamson in Company E, One 
Hundred and Fortv-first P. V. 1., and served in tlie Army of the 
Potomac, participating in manv battles, among which were Fredericks- 
burg and Chancellorsville, at which latter he was taken prisoner, 
but was soon exchanged. He was again captured, however, October 
14, 1863, and was confined at Belle Isle, Richmond, Andersonville, 
Savannah and Milan ; for a period of fourteen months he was starving, 
in consequence of which terrible exposure his health was undermined, 
and he is now a pensioner ; he served to the end of the war and was 
present at Lee's surrender, when he was honorably discharged. Mr. 
Allen married, October 8, 1866, Annie E. Slater, of Burlington, who 
was born April 20, 1849, a daughter of Asa and Lucmda (Rundell) 
Slater, both of whose families were among the early settlers of 
Towanda and Burlington. Mrs. Allen's great-grand fathei-, Rundell, 
was a ])ioneer Methodist preacher. To tliis hapjw union have been 
born children as follows: Marv E., D. William, M. Belle and J. 
Walter. Mr. Allen is the owner^of a farm of about fifty acres, where 
l;e settled in 1867, and on which he carries on general farming. He is 
a Republican in politics, and has held several offices of public trust; is 
a member of the G. A. R., and is a man of jjerseverance, respected l)y 
many friends. Mrs. Allen is a consistent member of the Evangelical 
Church. 

J. A. ALLEN, farmer in Rome township, P. O. Rome, is a native 
of the township, born July 30, 1844, a son of Joseph and Clarissa 
(White) Allen, the former of whom was born in Franklin township, this 
county, and the lattei- in New York. Grandfather Stephen Allen 
came"t(j tins countv in its earliest times and located in Wysox, where 
he left a family of four children, viz : John, Oney, Sallie (married to 
George Davidson) and Josei)h, the father of the gentleman whose 
name opens this sketch. Joseph Allen left the following children : 
Mary Eliza (who died in infancy^, Davton, J. B., Sarah, S. W. and S. 
O., J. H., Clarissa (who died "in Texas at thb age of twenty-two). 
Jemima R. (married to J. C. Forbes) and J. A. Our subject passed his 



592 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

bovliood on the farm iuul he attended the Rome public schools until 
eio-hteen vears of age, when he enlisted, i^ugust 12, 1S62, m Company 
I,l3ne Hundred and Foi'tv-Hrst P. V. I., Capt. J. P. Spalding, and was 
discharged Jnlv 21, ISGSfhe was in the battles of Fredericksburg and 
Chanceflorsville, and at the latter he received a gunshot wound in the 
left Unee, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered. He was 
injured by a fall, causing internal injury, that now troubles him greatly. 
After the battle of Chancellorsville^he was taken to Mt. L-'leasant 
Hospital. Washington, where he was then transferred to the vet- 
eran reserve corpus, and acted as guard. After the close of the war 
he returned home and engaged in farming, commencing on tiie farm he 
now occupies of fifty acres, which he has improved and brought to its 
present state of excellence. His injuries are such as to disable him 
from hard labor. Mr. Allen was married. x\pril 8, 1866, to Helen I., 
daughter of R. R. and Eliza (Mandeville) Brown, the former of whom 
was°born in Xew York, the latter in Massachusetts, of a family of eight 
children. Their children are: Myrtie E., born January 18, 1868; 
Freddie J., born February 8, 1871, died January 5, 1874; Lizzie W.. 
born January 19, 1875 ; and one daughter that died in infancy. Mr. 
Allen is a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., and fills the ofHce 
of quartermaster ; is also a member of Ptome Lodge, No. 480, I. O. 
(). F\, and has passed all the chairs and now fills the office of R. S. 
N. G.; he has been a member sixteen years. The family are members 
of the Presbyterian Church, in which he fills the office of trustee; 
politicallv he is a Republican. 

S. O.^ALLEN, farmer in Rome township, P. O. Rome, was born 

in the township, April 7, 1835, a son of Joseph Allen who was 

twice mari'ied, the first time to Polly Johnston, daughter of Peter 

Johnston, and bv her had three children : Dayton, Joseph H. and 

J. B. S. O. Allen, who is the third child by the second wife, passed 

ills bovhood on a farm, and attended school at Rome, going to Nancy 

Woodburn as his first teacher. When about twenty years old he left 

school and commenced farming. (Jn March 28, 1864, he enlisted in 

Companv 1, One Hundred and Twelfth Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, 

and was^honorablv discharged July 21, 1865; while in the sei'vice he 

partici])ated in tiie battles (^f the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North 

Anna. Cold Harboi-, and Petersburg, at which latter battle he received 

:i gunshot wound in the foot, resulting in the loss of a toe and gangrene 

causing sciatic rheunuitism. After recovering from the effects of this 

wound, he was transferred to Company F, Sixteenth Regiment 

Veteran Reserve Corps, and acted as guard at Llarrisburg until his 

discharge. After close of war he returned home and resumed the 

occupalTon of farming on the farm he now owns. He had purchased 

this farm prior to his enli.^tment. and was engaged in improving it 

when he responded to hi.s counties call ; the house he had partially 

completed, stood in its unlinished' condition until after the war when 

he completed it; it burned November 10, 1889, and the present one 

was built the following spring. His farm contains fifty acres, and he 

also owns thirtv aci-es east of Rome. His health was broken in the 

service, and he'is no longei- able to do manual labor. Mr. Allen was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 593 

uniled in marriage October 17, 1857, with Martlia ('., daughter of 
Harry L. and Electa (Allis) Parks, wliose family consisted of the 
following ciiildren : Sarah E., born A[)i'il IS. 1827; Esther M., born 
October 18, 1828; Joseph W., born November 20, 1831; Chloe O., 
born August 1, 1833; Hollis S., born June 15, 1835 ; Martha C, born 
June 22, 1838; Mary M., born December 10, 18-I-0; Eliza, born April 
15, J8-13; Charles W., born October 30, 1848, and Laura A., born 
April 23, 1852. The father, so well known to the early pioneers as 
-' Priest Parks ", was an able and earnest Methodist ])reacher, and was 
born close to what is noAV Rome l)orough ; his sister Chloe and James 
Lent were the first couple to marry in what is now Rome township, it 
being at that time included in Orwell ; his mother underwent the 
trying ordeal of the Wyoming horror, and was made a prisoner by the 
Indians, being then twelve years old ; her future husband was at that 
time serving in the patriot army under Washington ; her father and 
mother lived together sixty-one years, and celebrated their diamond 
wedding. To Mr. and Mrs. Allen have been born two children : 
Hattie C., l)orn June 2, 1859, mai-ried to G. W. Crum, and Laura A., 
born June 8, 1863, married to Horace Russell. The family worship at 
the Presbvterian Church. Mr. Allen is a member of Stevens Post, No. 
69, G. A. R.. and also of Rome Lodge, No. 480, L O. O. F., has passed 
all the chairs, and is now filling the position of conductor, and is P. 
D. L). G. M. in the Order. Both he and his wife are members of the Pat- 
rons of Husbandry, and Mrs. Allen has taken the or-derof Rebecca. Mr. 
Allen is a straight Republican. These wortiiy people are descendants 
of two of the oldest families of the township, and they have lived 
honest, industrious lives, are well-known throughout the community, and 
command the love and respect of all. 

WILLIAM ALLEN, farmer, P. O. LeRaysville, was born April 8, 
1831, in County Antrim, Ireland, and is the eldest in the family of 
three sons and four daughters of James and Ann Allen. He spent 
his boyhood on the farm and in attending the common school. In 
1856 he came to America. After arriving in the New World he 
remained a short time in Philadelphia, and then came to Bradfonl 
county, where he has since lived, a farmer of prominence. He pur- 
chased his present home in 1874. Mr. Allen was married, in 1855, to 
Miss Ellen Blair, who was born July 31, 1838, a daughter of Edward 
and Mary Blair, natives of County Antrim, Ireland ; and this happy 
union has been blessed with three sons and four daughters, viz.: 
Mary A., born May 8, 1857, married to George R. Brown, a farmer of 
Pike township; Eliza J., born April 6, 1860. married to William A. 
Struppler, of AVashington ; Martha M., born Februarv 7, 1862; 
William H., born March 22, 1864, of Eaglesmere, Pa.; Robert B , born 
February 6, 1867, one of the most successful teachers in Bradford 
county; Lindsay E., born November 11, 1869, also engaged in teach- 
ing, and Nellie B., born January 22, 1872, who has tauglit two years. 
Mr. and Mrs. Allen early united with the Presbyterian Church in their 
native place. He has always been identified with the Republican 
party. 

ELIJAH ALLIGER, proprietor of livery, Ulster, was born in 



594 lIISTOliY OJ- BRADJ'ORI) COUNTY, 

Ulster county, N. Y., June 20, 1830, son of Cornelia and Jane l) 
(Depuy) Alliger, natives of New York, of Dutch descent. The fathers 
family consisted of nine children, seven of whom are still living, two 
onlv being residents of this county. Our subject was born and reared 
on a farm, and received his early education in the schools of New 
York, lie immigrated to this county in 1870, and followed butcher- 
ing twelve years; then removed to Waverly where he farmed two 
years, when he returned to Sheshequin and farmed four years; then 
removed from there to Ulster where he resides, and is proprietor of 
the only livery and feed stable in the village. He has been successful 
in his business, accumulating his pro[)erty entirely by his own exertions. 
On January 9, 1858. he was married to Phot'be J., daughter of llenrv 
iin<l ltel)ecca (Batie) Osti'um, and of this marriage there wei'e six 
cliildren. two now living: Cornelius W.. nuirried to Catherine Wolf, of 
Ulster, and enoao-ed in the orocerv business and the manufacture of 
cigars, and John, who lives in Waverly, N. Y., and is farming. Mr. 
Alliger is a member the Dutch Refoi'mecl Church, and in politics belongs 
to the Democratic partv. 

CHARLES H. ALLIS, merchant, P. O. Allis Hollow, was boi-n in 
Wysox, this county, January 19, 1858, and is a son of Henry S. and Mary 
E. (Dresser) Allis, the former a farmer of Wysox township. Tliey had 
four children, viz.: John, died in infancy ; Elizabeth, married to Frank 
Wood; Charles H.; and Margaret, married to George Allen. Mr. Allis 
was bom and reared on a farm and had but limited school privileges. 
He attended the Rome Academy, and when eighteen began teaching 
and worked his way through the Towanda Graded School, teaching 
ten terms, when he devoted his entire attention to farming until 1888, 
when he commenced merchandising. He was alone one year and then 
was associated with Mr. Wood for about four months, when he sold his 
interest to him. In the following spring he erected the building he 
now occupies and opened a general store, carrying a complete line of 
general merchandise valued at $1,500; also buys and ships all kinds of 
farm produce. Mr. Allis was united in marriage January 1,1884, with 
Flora, daughter of Capt. I. A. and Malissa (jMerricle) Park, parents of 
eleven children, of whom she is the ninth. This union has been blessed 
with four children, as follows: Manly, born December 30, 1886; Mabel, 
born July 9, 1888, died June 9, 1891, loved by all who knew her ; 
Stanley, born November 26, 1889, and Aura, born'^April 15, 1891. Mr. 
Allis is a Democrat and was postmaster at Allis Hollow from 1888 to 
1890. In his business career he has alwavs been successful, and is 
respected and trusted i)v all who know him. 

EDWIN I. ALL I S,"^ farmer and mill owner, P. O. South Hill, was 
born in Orwell, this county, June 25, 1821, and is a son of Eleazer, Jr., 
and Diana (Eastabrooks) Allis, the former of whom, a son of Eleazer 
Allis, Sr., was born in Massachusetts in 1789, and came to this county 
with his fathei' in 18o4, locating on Johnson's creek near what is now 
known as Allis Hollow, and made the improvement that is still in the 
]iossession of his descendants. Eleazer Allis, Sr., was three times mar- 
ried, and was the father of twenty-one chiUlren. six l)y his first marriage, 
three by the second, and twelve by the third and last, all of whom, as 



HISTORY OF i;kaui-'oki) coLrjs"i'v. oUo 

far as known, reached their majority. Eleazer, Jr.. was the second 
child by the first marriage. The farm Mr. Allis now owns was owned 
by his father, wJio purchased and cleared nearly the whole of three 
hundred and seventy acres, over sixty-six years ago, and built tlie old 
frame house, which yet stands in a fair state of pr. servation, now owned 
by Thomas R. Pickering, and occupied b}^ Alonzo A¥ells. lie followed 
farming and lumbering all his life; his family consisted of four 
children, of whom Alariam married Harry Stevens, and is now deceased ; 
Ordensa married T. R. Pickering, and is also dead. Mr. Allis is the 
eldest, and is now the only living member of the family. lie was born 
and reared within one-half of a mile of his present residence, and 
attended the common schools of the neighborhood, until nineteen 3'ears 
of age; then began teaching, and taught his first school at what was 
then called "Shin Bone," known now as Lear's Corners, one mile west 
of Herrickville, in a log school-house, 12x16, heated by the old fashioned, 
wide Hre-])lace; then carried on farming and lumbering three years, 
after which he purchased a stock of goods, and for al)0ut two years he 
followed i)e«^ldling. carrying his ]mck on his back from house to house, 
meeting with good success. He then i)urchased of his father the 
place he now owns when it was nearly a wilderness, and has cleared it 
uj), and fitted the greater portion of it for the plow. He and his 
father built a sawmill, operated by water-power, on South creek, and 
used it to saw their lumber until 1883, when he built his steam mill, 
which he still owns. He now owns two hundred and twenty acres of 
fine farm land, and has the same well stocked with cattle, sheep and 
horses, lie also has a lath saw, and manufactures bee hives. Mr. Allis 
was united in marriage October 30, 1859, with Lavina Hill, and to them 
have been born six children, as follows: Erving, married to Julia 
Schovill ; Ned Hunter, married to Augusta, daughter of James Mitten ; 
Mary, married to B. F. Richards, a merchant, of Windham ; George 
Grant, married to Elma Mericle ; Frank R., and May. Mr. Allis built 
his present residence m 1887, a modern farm house with all conven- 
iences, containing eleven rooms. He has lived his entire life in his 
neighborhood, and he and his excellent wife have built up a large 
circle of friends, and are noted far and near for their generosity and 
hospitality. 

GEORGE R. ALLIS, farmer and mechanic, P. O. Allis Hollow, 
was born in Oi'well, this county, and is a son of Ezra R. and Margaret 
(Wickhizer) Allis. His grandfather, Eleazer Allis, came to this county 
from Connecticut, being among the early pioneers, and reared a family 
of fourteen children all of whom lived to a ripe old age ; his maternal 
grandfather, Jacob Wickhizer, came to this county from near Wilkes- 
Barre, and was one of the first to settle in what is now Rome Town- 
ship; he reared a family of twelve children who, with one exception, 
reached a good age. Ezra R. Allis, who was a farmer, had a family of 
six children, viz.: W. W., wlio went to Nebraska,and there died August 
7,1890; J. H., a blacksmith; Mariara, married to Joseph Allen, of 
Rome ; George R. ; Helen, married to George Forbes ; and Frankie. 
who died in infancy. George R. Allis passed his boyhood on the farm 
he now occupies, aiod attended the district school until March 31, 1864, 



596 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

when he enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry 
(he had been previously rejected as a minor). With his command he 
participated in the engagements of Cold Harbor, Pavilion Station, 
Deep Bottom, the raid up the Shenandoah, Winchester (Sept. 19, 
1864). where his horse was shot from under him, Cedar Ci'eek and 
Gordonsville. lie saw much and severe service; was sent to Dis- 
mounted Cam}), at Harpers Ferry, in the sjiring of 1865, and received 
his discharge at Louisville, Ky., in August same year. Prior to the 
war Mr. AUis had learned the wagon-maker's trade, and after return- 
ing from the army he commenced to work at it. He was in Martins- 
burg, West Va., in 1884-85. He has been twice married, first time. 
November 29, 1870. to A., daughter of Isaac Lyons, a prominent 
farmer of Orwell Township, and this union was blessed with three 
children, viz.: Minerva. Nina M. and George P. This wife died Decembei- 
24. 1885, and June 4, 1890, Mr. AUis was marrietl to Mrs. Emily Jones, 
a widow. Mr. Allis is a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R ; in 
politics he is a Republican, and has held the offices of school director 
and postmaster. 

H. C. ALLIS, farmer and stock grower, of Orwell township, P. O. 
Allis Hollow, was born Mai'ch 24, 1855. on the farm he occupies, and 
is a son of Silas and Margaret (Lent) Allis, both natives of this county. 
His grandfather was Eleazer Allis. Silas Allis was born March 14, 
1794. and lived his entire life in Orwell township, and at the time of 
his death owned about two hundred acres of land. The farm which 
the grandfather settled on is still in the family, and the first cabin 
built thereon stood opposite the present residence of Charles Allis. H. 
C. and 11. K. Allis own the larger portif)!! of the tract, which they 
have improved since their father's death. In the family of Silas and 
Margaret Allis were children as follows: Henrietta (wife of Harry 
Parks), Shuburn, H. K., Hester R. (married Cor3^don Thayer); H. C, 
and Hester, died in infancy. H. C. Allis was born and reared on a 
farm, and received his education in the common school. On reaching 
his majority he began farming, and now owns one hundred acres of 
well-improved land, where he keeps a dairy and does general farming; 
also does an extensive poultry business, shipjiing dressed fowls to the 
eastern markets. He was united in marriage, March 24, 1868, with 
Pluma, daughter of Dan and Lucy (Howe) Robinson, and to them have 
been born children as follows: Norman L., Cora A., Clara L.. Lewis 
E., Leman (deceased) and Burt. Mr. Allis is a Prohibitionist, and has 
held various town offices. He has lived always in the neighborhood 
of Allis Hollow, where he has drawn about liim- an extensive circle of 
friends and neighbors, and commands the esteem and i-espect of all. 

L M. ALLIS. druggist. Wyalusing, born in Orwell township, this 
county, August 8, 1850, is a son of Edwin Allis, He was educated in 
the common schools and the Collegiate Institute, and followed the 
profession of teaching about five years. During that time he had 
studied ])harmacy, and in 1872 came to Wyalusing and ))urchased the 
drugstore and embarked at once in the mercantile world as a druggist. 
In his business he has been emincmtly successful, and has run it with- 
out the assistance of a clerk ; with the exception of burning out once, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 597 

he has prospered without interruption. He was united in wedlock 
with JuHa L. Scoville, of Wyakising, and to them has l)een given one 
child, Scoville, born September 10, 1883. The family are members of 
the rresbyterian Church, and politically Mr. Allis is identified with 
the Republican party, talcing an active interest in the good of his 
party. The family built the brick building occupied by Stienback's 
furniture store, in 1889, and still own the same. Mr. Allis has a beau- 
tiful modern residence which he built in 1885. 

N. H. ALLIS, Wyal using, was born x\pril 6, 1855, a son of E. L 
Allis, of Orwell, was reared on a farm, and received his education in 
the common schools and at the Collegiate Institute, Towanda. He 
taught school five or six terms, beginning when twenty-two years of 
age, and combined teaching with farming until 1886, when he 
entered the Ontario College of Veterinary Surgery, Toronto, Canada, 
and was graduated from there in Alarch, 1888 ; then came direct to 
Wyalusing, and began the practice of his ])rofession, carrying on a 
livery stable in connection with same. Mr. Allis was united in 
marriage, September 20, 1888, with Augusta, daughter of James and 
Eiliza J. (Crawford) Mitten, of Ilerrick township, this county; of a 
family of eleven children she is the ninth. In politics Mr. Allis has 
identified himself with the Democratic party, and has filled various 
town and borough offices. In liis profession he has been eminently 
successful, and being thoroughly read has an extensive practice. 

J. S. ALLYN, funeral director, Towanda, was born in Warren 
township, this county, October 1831, a son of Seneca and Betsy (Pen- 
dleton) Allyn, natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut, respectively. 
His father settled in Warren township about 1810, where he cleared 
and improved a farm on which he resided until his death ; he was the 
father of twelve children, six of whom grew to maturity as follows: 
Jonathan W., Charles II., Jacob S., Edwin E., Joanna and Caroline. 
J. S. Allyn was reared in his native township where he received a 
common-school education. After attaining his majority he engaged 
in framing until 1864, when he removed to Towanda, where, success- 
ively, he engaged in the restaurant, bakery, livery, furniture and 
undertaking businesses, embarking in the lattei- in 1872, in which he 
still continues, being the oldest established undertaker in Towanda. 
He married, in 1858, Sarah, daughter of Caleb and Rebecca (Goff) 
Abell, of Warren township. He is a member of the K. of H., and in 
politics is a Republican. 

THOMAS B. ALLYN, farmer, a native of Warren townshij), this 
county, born July 8, 1837, a son of Benajahand Nancy (Abell) Allyn, 
natives of Rhode Island, and of English stock, who came to this 
county in 1825, and located in Warren township ; the father remained 
on his farm until his death in 1847, his widow dying in 1864. They 
had six children, as follows : Henry C; Caleb A., died in 1867; BenU 
jah, of New York ; Nancy, (Mrs. James Whitaker) ; Albert A. and 
Thomas B. Our subject, who is fifth in the order of birth, commenced 
life on his own account as a farmer, and has five hundred acres, one of 
the valuable farms of the countv. He w^as married in Warren town- 
ship, in 1864, to Sarah M., daughter of Nathan and Cynthia (Bulfing- 

33 



598 HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 

ton) Pendleton, natives of Connecticut and of remote English ances- 
try; they had an interesting family of six children, and of these, 
Sarah M., the youngest, was reared in the family in Warren town- 
ship, where she grew to womanhood, was educated and married ; she 
died April 9, 1881. Of this happy marriage union were born four 
children, of whom Benijah N., the eldest, married Alice Rockafeller, 
and they have one child. Mr. Ailyn and family are highly regarded 
by many of the leading citizens. He is noted for his integrity in busi- 
ness, his industry, and his broad and generous charity. He has pros- 
pered in life, and is surrounded with a happy and loving family; great 
rewards that the whole tenor of his days have so richly merited. 

STEPHEN WILBUK ALVOKD was born in the township of 
Troy, Bradford Co., Pa., April 10, 1837. His father, Koyal S. Alvord, 
was born in Bennington, A^t., and his mother, Jemima (Hugg), was born 
near Spencer, N. Y. Stephen W. was the tliird child of a family of 
thirteen. After attending the district sciiools, at the age of foui'teeu 
he commenced learning the printing business in the Trojan office, 
Troy, Pa. Two years later he went to Towanda and completed his 
trade in the office of the Bradford Argus. For several years he was 
employed as foreman, and in June, 1860, was admitted as a partner in 
the establishment. On account of political differences, he retired from 
ihe Argus in the fall of 1862; afterward published the Heporttr for 
about fifteen years. In 1857 he established a separate local depart- 
ment in the Argus, which was a " new departure " for country papers 
at that time. He was appointed postmaster of Towanda on the 8th 
of March, 1861, and held the office for eighteen years. Mr. Alvord 
has always taken an active part in temperance work, and has never 
tasted liquor as a beverage, or tobacco. He served as school director 
of Towanda borough for twelve years. He established the Dally 
lieciew in connection with his son. Noble N. Alvord, in August, 1879, 
and published it for several years. In 1885 he removed to Minneai)olis 
and purchased the Commercial Bulletin, the organ of the Board of 
Trade and Jobbers' Association. Peturning to the East in 1888, in 
February, 1889, he commenced the publication of the Daily News. 
At the close of the })ast year he changed it to a Aveekly eilition, which 
has been very successful. Mr. Alvord was married February 27, 1860, 
to Miss Emma Barber, and four children have been born, all living. 

JEREMIAH ANDERSON, farmer, of llerrick township, P. O. 
Ilerrickville, was born in Monroe county. Pa., January 6. 1831. Joseph 
Anderson was born in Northampton county, Pa., October 28, 1798; he 
married Maria, daughter of John and Catherine (Brutzman) Casabeei-. 
Mr. and Mrs. Josei)h Anderson were the parents of two children: John 
J., a farmer in Ciiesterfield county, Va., and Jeremiah. Jose})ii Ander- 
son died April 11, 1832; his widow afterward married Jonas Lear, by 
whom she iiad one child William H. Lear, of Ilerrickville; Mrs. Lear 
died in February, 1888. Jeremiah Anderson, attended the district 
shools in Monroe county until his twentieth year, also working on the 
farm. In 1854 he began for himself by ])urcliasing one hundred acres, 
later adding fifty-five acres and in 1856 thirty acres. In 1857 lie 
erected his barn, and in 1871 his dwelling; he has served as school 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 599 

director three years ; judge of elections two years and town assessor 
one term ; is a member of the Baptist Church, and in politics is a 
Repubhcan. April 22, 1854, lie married Sarah C, daughter of Samuel 
and Mary (Cool) Angle; the formei- was born June 3, 1802, and died 
December 2-4, 1885; the latter was born November 1, 1800, being the 
sixth in a family of nine chiklren, of whom five are now living. 
Jeremiah and Sarah Anderson became the parents of two children 
viz. : Mary B., born March 12, 1855, married to Charles Strupple, 
November 28, 18Y7, she died October 22, 1882, leaving two children: 
Minnie, born in 1879, and Frank, born in 1880; Annie M., born 
February 5, 1861, married to Albert Struppler September 27, 1882, and 
died February 10, 1888. Mr. Anderson is one of the prominent and 
successful farmers of Bradford county. 

L. J. ANDRESS, superintendent of the Minnequa Springs, Alba, 
This gentleman was born December 25, 1815, in Washington county 
N. Y. Ilis parents, William and Lida (Towner) Andress, Avere natives 
of Washington and Cortland counties, N. Y., respectively. William 
Andress was a blacksmith by trade, and worked at the making of 
edge tools; he was a soldier in the War of 1812, and died in Alba in 
1887 at the advanced age of one hundred years and three months. 
Timothy Andress, the grandfather of our subject, served throughout 
the Revolutionary War (almost seven years), and died in Cortland 
county, N. Y., iri his ninety-sixth year. L. J. Andress. who is the 
second in order of birth in a family of four children, when he was 
([uite young removed with the family from Washington county to 
Lindleyville, Tompkins Co.,X. Y. In"^1832 he went to Wilkes-Barre, 
Pa., and started the first foundry there for A. C. Laning, and remained 
there until 1840; then vsrent to Ithaca, was there one year, then in 
1841 he removed to Alba and engaged in the foundry business for 
himself five years. Then moved to Athens and started a foundry 
under the firm name of Shipman, Andress & Backus, remaining two 
years, at the end of which time he returned to Alba and engaged in 
mercantile business, in which he continued a number of years; also 
followed farming and dealing in real estate. He retired from the 
mercantile business, and was afterward appointed superintendent of 
the Minnequa Springs, a position he has since held. He was married 
in 1841, in Alba, to Maria E., daughter of Col. Irad and Sally 
(Elliott) Wilson, natives of Vermont, the former of whom was a 
farmer. Col. Irad Wilson served three years as county commissioner, 
and two terms in the State Legislature. Mrs. Andress was born 
in Alba in 1820, and is the eldest of a family of thirteen children. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Andress have been born children as follows : Lida, wife 
of Columbus Palmer, resides in Jewell county, Kan. ; Phillip (deceased) 
and William, married to Gertrude Lilley. Mrs. Andress is the oldest 
member living of the Disciple Church of Alba, having been a member 
of that church since 1836. Mr. Andress was the first member of the 
Canton Lodge of I. O. O. F. ; has served thirteen years as postmaster 
of Alba, was appointed deputy the year Cleveland was elected, and 
held the position one year; he has held the office of postmaster at 
Minnequa the last five years; politically Mr, Andress is a Republican. 



600 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

W. 11. ANDKEWS, farmer, P. O. Fassett, was born in Southport, 
Chemung Co., N. Y., July 13, 1845, a son of T. A. and Cai-oline 
(Rice) Andrews, the former of whom was born in Delaware county, N. 
Y., the latter in Tioga county, Fa. T. A. Andrews was the son of 
Thomas Andrews who came to this county, locating in Columbia 
townsliip about the year 1841, stayed but a few yenrs and then 
removed to Tioga county. Pa., where he engaged in farming and 
remained until his death which occurred in 18T5, when he was aged 
eighty-four years. After his father's death T. A. removed to Chemung 
county, N. Y., but remained there only a few years when he returned 
to Tioga county. Pa., and purchased two farms of eighty acres each, 
which he partially cleared and cultivated ; was also extensively 
engaged in the manufacture of lumber. Here he remained about 
thirty years, and then moved to Austin ville, where he kept a hotel 
several years ; then went to within one mile west of Fasset, where he 
bought another farm, and here died in 1884, at the age of sixty -eight 
years, respected by his friends and neighbors. He had held the offices 
of supervisor in Tioga county, seventeen years, and commissioner in 
the South Creek towmship, five years, which position he occupied at 
the time of his death. He served in Company I], Eighty-sixth New 
York Volunteer Infantry, eighteen months during the Civil War, 
receiving an honorable discharge for disabilities. He reared a family 
of two children, both of whom are living, our subject being the eldest 
in the family. W. H. Andrews was reared and educated in Tioga 
county. Pa., and in early life he worked at the carpenters trade. 
At the age of sixteen he joined Company E, Eighty -sixth New York 
Volunteer Infantry, three 3'ears' service, was promoted to the rank of 
sergeant, and Avas discharged as such at the expiration of his term. 
Again enlisting in the same company he was subsequently trans- 
ferred to Company G, Twentieth Veteran Reserves, in which he served 
until the close of the \tar, being honorably discharged as sergeant, and 
now enjoys a pension. On December 24, 1869, he married Angeline, 
daughter of Peter Spotts, and they had born to them three children, 
two of whom are living : Oliver H. (married to Adelia Farr)an(l Alden 
B. Mr. Andrews is a ])rosperous and industrious farmer of South 
Creek township, and \>i\.ys special attention to dairying, having a fine 
stock of "grades." He has the entire confidence of his fellow-citizens, 
and has held the offices of auditoi- and school director, and is at 
present justice of the peace. Politically he is a Democat. 

AV. W. ANDREWS, blacksmith, xVthens, is a native of Otsego 
county, N. Y., born February 19, 1830, a son of Seth and Betsey (Win- 
ton) Andrews, natives of New York. The father, avIio was a farmer, 
died in 1834, in his thirty-third year; the mother died in 1875, in her 
seventy-seccmd year. W. W. Andrews, who is the fourth in a family 
of six children, was reared on a farm and received a common-school 
education. In early life he learned the blacksmith trade in his native 
place, and worked at same until 1878, when he began preaching in the 
Oneida Methodist Episcopal Church Conference, continuing his minis- 
terial work in that field ten years. Wlien this Conference was dis- 
solved he joined tlie Wyoming Conference, was superannuated in 1874, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 601 

and has since been })reachin2- as a supply. In September, 1880, he 
removed to xVthens, and has been working at his trade since. Mr. 
Andrews was married in Clienango county, N, Y., in 1854, to Miss 
Mary, (hiughter of Heuben and Esther (Huffman) Thompson, natives 
of New York (she is the third of a family of six children and was born 
in Chenango county, N. Y., August 7, 1828), and to this union were 
born twelve cliildren : Tlie eldest died in infancy; Apphia T.; Marie, 
Avife of Frank I;oomis, editor of the Troy Register^ Troy, Pa.; Seth, 
deceased; Dollie, wife of Fred C. Perkins, of Waverly, N. Y.; Wesley, 
deceased ; JSTellie, wife of William Heavener ; Martha W.; May, wife of 
Clinton Carner ; Kittie, deceased; Arthur, living in Oneonta, N. Y.; 
Thompson, deceased. The family are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and in politics Mr. Andrews is a Republican. 

G. M. ANGIEP, proprietor of planing mill, Sayre, is a native 
of Worcester county, Mass., and was born May 9, 1835, a son of Austin 
and Martha (Good now) Angler, the former a native of Massachusetts, 
the latter of New Hampshire. The father, who was a farmer, died in 
Worcester, Mass., in 1870, in his seventy-fourth year ; the mother died 
in Sa3M'e in 1885, in her eighty -seventh year. Grandfather John 
Angier w^as a soldier in the War of 1812. G. M. Angier, who is the 
ninth in a famih' of ten children, completed his education, attending 
an academy about one 3'ear. At the age of thirteen he started from 
home to make his own way in the world, and at seventeen commenced 
an apprenticeship in the sash, door and blind factory in Worcester, 
Mass., where he worked until the fall of 1856, when he went to Chi- 
cago, His., and there worked at his trade until 1857; then proceeded 
to Minneapolis, Minn., and remained two years; thence to Washing- 
ton, D. C, where he was two years ; then to Athens in the fall of 
1860. After the battle of Antietam, he enlisted in the State Militia, 
but was out only about two weeks, wiien he returned to Athens. Here 
he was employed b}^ Wells, Blood & Co., agricultural tool manufacturers, 
and remained with them until 1876. Hi 1878 he removed to Sayre, 
and took charge of the planing mill, with which he has since been 
identified. Mr. Angier was married in Athens township, in 1865, to 
Miss Emily Delphine, daughter of Elisha and Emily (Briggs) Satter- 
lee, natives of this county. Elisha Satterlee, who was a farmer, lum- 
berman and coal dealer, died in Sayre, March 9, 1888, in his seventy- 
third year, Mrs. Satterlee died in Williamsport, Pa., ])ecember lb, 
1890, in her seventy -second year. His grandfather, Elisha Satterlee, 
was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and was also in the Wvoming 
massacre. He was one of the pioneers in Athens. She (Emily 
Delphine) is the third in a family of seven children, and was born in 
Athens, December 25, 1843. To Mr. and Mrs. Angier was born a 
daughter, Anna S. Angier, now in Ehnira College. " The family are 
members of the liaptist Church ; Mr. Angier is a member of the 
Knights of Honor and Iron Hall. He is a Republican, and served two 
terms as councilman in Athens, and three years as township auditor. 

PHILIP C. ANGLE, farmer, P. O^ Rummerfield, was born 
September 9, 1820, in Northampton county. Pa., and moved with his 
parents to Herrick township, this county, in 1823. His father, Martin 



gQ2 HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 

Aiiole and mother Agnes (Casebeer) were both of good old Holland- 
Durch descent, and both their fathers were Revokitionarv soldiers. 
They were among the pioneer settlers of eastern Bradtord being the 
third family to settle in Herrick township, where they died alter rear- 
inu- a large"'family. Philip attended the district school of the neigh- 
bo'^'hood and took one term at the Academy of Mannington. Sus(]ue- 
hanna county, and shortly after arriving at his majority, unaided, he 
purchased and paid for the farm on which he has since resided, in 
1840 he married Isabella Erskine, a daughter of John and Margaret 
Erskine, of Herrick, of Scotch descent. They reared six children : 
Aurissa, wife of John J. Spalding, the present postmaster at lowanda ; 
Eleazer J., an attorney at law, of the same place ; Mahlon C. a farmer 
and stock raiser, of Herrick; Marion, wife of Cyrus D Camp, ot 
Camp's Advertising and Collecting Agency, of Wilkes-Barre ; Dr 
Edward H professor in the Universitv of Minnesota, and dentist, ot 
Minneapolis Lillie, an accountant, of Elmira N. Y. Their young;est 
son William, a bright bov, died when a lad of twelve years. Mahlon 
C after attaining a thorough commercial education, spent several years 
in'mercantile puJsuits. and in 1880 he returned home and purchasec 
the homestead of his father; three years later he went to Montana and 
took charge of a sheep ranche, which he continued for two years when 
he returned home and purchased an adjoining farm which with the 
old homestead, and the improvements he has since put on them forms 
one of the best and most productive upland farms m the county, con- 
taining two hundred and thirty acres. Mr. Angle has been or some 
years one of the best dairymen and raisers of well-bred stock in the 
county. In 1889, he married Emma, daughter of E. W. ^eal, ol 

Libertv Corners. n . ^ ^^ 

E "J ANGLE, of the firm of McPherson & Angle, attornej-s at 
law, Tosvanda, and attorneys for Bradford county, is a native of-^Her- 
rick township, thiscountv, born March 22, 1849, and is a son of Philip 
C. and Isabella (Erskine) Angle ; the father of Northampton countv Pa., 
and the mother of Ireland, agriculturists. His great-grandfather, 
William Ano-le, came from Holland to America in 1736, in company 
with two brothers, John and Paul ; the two latter stopped in Ldvi- 
dere, Warren Co.,N. J., while William proceeded to Bucks county, la., 
where he became a yeoman and reared a large and respectable family. 
His fifth son was Martin, the father of Philip C, who migrated to 
Northampton countv, and from there to this county m 1824. lliere 
were seventeen children in Martin's family, of whom I hihp C was 
the youngest son, and was aged four when his parents brou-ht him to 
Herrick, this countv. It seems that in the branches of this family. 
1 ,1. i 4.i.„ "i^Uv.^^ K..^,tiw.rc wlin r',5imf> to this couutrv, tlicre 



eoinir 



back to the'^three brothers who came to this country, 



Sros?diirerent ways of spelling the name, and. as now, thei-e are those 
who spell it Engle. while others retain the spelling Angle, the manner 
retained by wfuiam, mentioned above, and all his branches ot the 
family Philip C. Angle is oneof the prominent and leading farmers ot 
Herrick township ; has a family of six children, of whom E. .1 Angle is 
the eldest son. E. J. spent his first youth on his lathers f-^nn an;^ 
passed through the neighborhood scho. Js and was then sent to the State 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 603 

Normal School, and from there to the tutorship of Rev. Darwin Cook, 
of Merryall, Pa., and was prepared and entered the reguhir classicai 
course in Lafayette College, where he was graduated in 1873, and was 
immediately thereafter offered and accepted the position of principal of 
the Canton schools, this county, and was in charge thereof three years; 
during- that time was a student in the law office of H. N. AVilhams, of 
that phice, and wlien lie left Canton came to Towanda and was a 
student in the law office of Davis et Carnochan, and admitted a mem- 
ber of the bar, December 16, 1876, and at once to a law ]xartnership 
with his tutor, H. N. Williams, which firm was busily engaged in the 
])ractice until 1883, Avhen Mr. Angle was elected district attorney, and 
served with distinguished success tluring a full term of that office. He 
is a leading and inffuential member of the Republican party, and is a 
Master Mason. He married. May 31, 1883, Miss Mary C. Macfarlane, 
and to this union hav^e been born three children as follows: James M., 
Philip M. and Mary M. The family worship at the Presbyterian 
Church, of which Mrs. Angle is a prominent and exemplary member. 

WILLIAM ANTISDEL, retired farmer, Warren," was born hi 
Oswego county, N. Y., January 14, 1821, and is a son of Phenias and 
Dorcas (Fenton) Antisdel, farmers, natives of Connecticut, and of 
English descent. Phenias came to this county in 1827, locating in the 
wilds of Warren tow"nship, and was among the noted early pioneers ; 
he cut out the road leading from West Warren to Towanda. He 
made this his hume until his death in 1861, aged eight3^-five ; his 
widow died in 1862 ; they reared eight children, of whom William 
was the sixth, who grew to his majority on the old homestead, on 
which he now resides, a beautiful farm of one hundred acres, with all 
modern improvements, buildings, and in a high state of cultivation. 
William Antisdel was married in Rome township to Charlotte M. Hill, 
daughter of John H. and Ruth (Butler) Hill To them were born 
three children, as follows : Charlotte E.,(Mrs. S. E. Bowen); William 
D., a farmer, of Warren townshi]), and John B., a farmer of same place. 
Mr. Antisdel is a Republican in his party affiliations. He has lived 
among his present neighbors a long, useful and honorable life, and is 
one of the much esteemed men of Bra<lford county. 

HENRY W. AREY, farmer, P. O. Wilmot, was born in Terry 
township, this county, July 2, 1855, and is a son of Richard and Celenda 
(Thompson) Arey, the former a native of England and the latter of 
Pennsylvania, both of English lineage. The subject of these lines 
began life for himself working on a farm at the age of twenty-two. and 
three years later he purchased his present home of one hundred and six 
acres. Mr. Arey was married Jul}^ 4, 1878, to Miss Lydia. daughter of 
Henry and Harriet (Bloof) Mann, of Terry, and they have one child, 
Elmer G., born November 14, 1879. Mr. Arey in politics is a Republi- 
can, and is school director in his township. 

JAMES L. AREY, merchant and postmaster, Wilmot, was born in 
Sullivan county. Pa., January 13, 1866. and was educated in the 
common schools. He commenced life for himself at the age of seven- 
teen in the mining business, at Hazleton, Pa., where he remained one 
year, and then removed to Dushore, same State, and engaged in the car- 



604 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

penter's trade, which he followed about four years ; then went to Lopez, 
same State, where he was interested in real estate speculation, and was 
also foreman in the Lopez Lumber and Kindling-wood Factory. In 
the Spring of 1890 he came to Wihnot, and opened a general store 
where he is now doing a thriving business, Mr. Arey was married 
March 26, 1890, to Miss Alice, daughter of Edward and Nancy (Mc- 
Pherson) Meeks, of Wilmot. Politically he is a Pe})ublican. and was 
commissioned postmaster at Wilmot, ]\larcli 7, 1891. 

A. ARMSTRONG, proprietor of the Ulster mills, Ulster, was born 
in the north of Ireland, September IT. 1834, the son of David and Mar- 
garet Armstrong, both natives of the north of Ireland, but of Scotch 
descent. He received his early education in the schools of Ireland, and 
when fourteen years old came with his brothers and sisters to America, 
and located at Watertown, N. Y. His fathers famih^ consisted of nine 
children, of whom two died in the old country, and of those who 
came to the United States our subject is the eldest boy, and the onh' 
one of the family to come to Bradford county. He had learned the 
trade of miller under his father, and first came to this county in the 
spring of 1881, locating at Towanda in the position of foreman of the 
Dayton mill, occupying that position four 3'ears; then formed a part- 
nership with a Mr. Hagerman and rented the mill on Tow^anda creek, 
conducting the same three years. A])ril 1, 1890, he obtained possession 
of the Ulster mill, the only one in the township; it has nine sets of rolls 
and two run of stone,the roller process and acapacity of thirty-five barrels 
every twenty-four hours, and of corn and feed fifteen tons; it is operated 
day and night. Mr. Armstrong has built up a good trade, has now all the 
mill can do, and has been compelled to increase its capacity by putting in 
another set of rolls. He was married May 27, 1857, toM. M. Ilanna, 
daughter of Samuel Hanna, of Cape Vincent, N. Y., and the children 
of this marriage were as follows: Alexander, died in infancy ; Francis 
J., engineei-, married to Nellie Abbieand lives in Brookfield, Mo.; Flor- 
ence C., married to William H. Burton, a jeweler of Chicago, and 
Charles D., who with his father, is engaged in the milling business. 
Mr. Armstrong and family are members of the Episcopal Church; he 
is a Master Mason, a member of Towanda Lodge, No. 128 ; ])olitically 
his views are Democratic. 

GEORGE B. ARMSTRONG, a popular druggist, of Troy, i'a., 
was born in McEwensville, Nortliumberland Co., Pa., August 10, 1847, 
a son of James T. and jSIary (Reader) Armstong, and is of Scotcii 
descent. He was reared in his native town and Lock Haven, Pa., and 
received an academical education at Lock Haven, where he served an 
apprenticeship of two and one-half years at the druggist business. On 
August 17, 1862, lie enlisted in Conipanv B. One Hundred and Thii'ty- 
first 1*. V. I., and served ten months, when he was honoi'al)ly dis- 
cliarged, June 15, 18f>8 ; he re-enlisted in Coinjiany I, Twenty-eight P. 
Y. L, ami, after three months' service, was honorably dischai'ged on 
account of disability. He participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville, and during the Peninsular campaign under McClellan 
was on detached duty as hos])ital steward. After his discharge, he 
returned to Lock Haven, read medicine with his brother, Dr. R. 



HISTORY or BRADFORD COUNTY. 605 

Armstrong', two years, and for live years was clerk in Lock Haven 
dru^ store. In 18(59 he embarked in business for himself at Lock 
Haven, continuing four years; in December, 1873, he went on the road 
as salesman for a New York drug house, and served in that capacity 
ten years. On October 22, 188P>, he again embarked in the drug 
business in Troy, Pa., where he has since continued and built up a 
successful trade. He married April 13, 1869, Emma C, daughter of 
Curtis T. and Sarah L. (Robinson) Fitch. Mr, Armstrong is a member of 
Trojan Lodge, No. 306, F. & A. M.; R. A. M., Chapter No. 261, Troy, and 
Commandery K. T., No. 64, Canton; also of Gustin Post, No. 154, (I. 
A. P., Troy, of which he is present commander; politically he is a 
Republican. 

WILLIAM E. ARMSTRONG, Litchfield, was born in Pough- 
keepsie, Dutchess Co., N. Y., January 5, 1822, a son of Joshua and 
Susan (Hong) Armstrong, natives of New York, former of whom was 
a farmer, and spent the greater portion of ids life in Allegany county, 
N. Y.; he w^as a soldier in the War of 1812, and received a bounty 
warrant, his widow received a pension after his death. In their fam- 
ily were seven children — two girls and five boys— (four of whom are 
yet living): Albert W., married to Lucinda Bartlette ; Alfred H., mar- 
ried to Caroline Bartlette ; Luther H., married to Amanda Ward ; 
William E. (subject) and Martha Jane, George H. and Rebecca 
(deceased). William E. was reared on his father's farm, receiving his 
early education in the common schools, and later attending the Alfred 
Academy one year. At the age of sixteen he commenced teaching 
school, wliich profession he followed continuously for seven years, after 
which he engaged in the grocery business at Angelica, N. Y., for four 
years. In the spring of 1849 he removed to Wellsville, Allegany Co., 
N. Y., and engaged in the grocery business for a period of ten years ; 
then followed farming eight years; removed to Waverly, N. Y., and 
in 1871 came to Litchfield, where he purchased the store he now occu- 
pies, carrying a general stock of merchandise. He has been post- 
master sixteen years, excepting three years during the administration 
of President Cleveland. - Mr. Armstrong married, for his first wife, 
Elizabeth M. Rice, of Whitesville, Allegany Co., N. Y., in 1862; she 
was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Jones) Rice, natives of Ver- 
mont. Mr. Armstrong's present wife is Augusta I>. (Morse), whom he 
married in 1869. To tliem has been born one child, Albert M., born 
in Litchfield in 1873. Mr. Armstrong has attained three degrees in 
Masoniw, and is a member of Wavei'ly Lodge, No. 104. In politics 
he IS a Republican, and has been a member of that party since its 
organization, having voted for its first candidate, Jolm C. Fremont. 
^ CORINGTON T. ARNOLD, farmer, Windliam township, P. O. 
Nichols, N. Y., is a Native of Bradford county, born in Warren town- 
ship. May 16, 1840, son of Benedict and Lucy (Billings) Arnold, 
natives of Pennsylvania. Lenedict Ai-nold was the first white child 
to see the light in Warren township, and was born in the year 1800; 
he was a farmer and died in 1889, the father of twelve children of 
whom Corington T. is the tenth. He became a farmer in early life, and 
in 1864 he enlisted in the Fifth New York Cavalry, Company F, First 



606 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Brigade, Third Division, under Gen. Mcintosh. He was in the battle 
of the Wilderness, at Winchester, Cedar Creek, Arlington Heights, 
Stony Creek, altogether in ov^er thirty battles and skirmishes; while 
in Wilson's raid he was taken sick, and was two months in the hos- 
pital ; was seriously hurt by a horse falling on him at the battle 
of the Wilderness, and another horse was shot from under him in that 
battle. His health has never been good since the war, and he is now 
a pensioner; is a member of Warwick Post, No. 529, at Nichols, N. Y. 
He is a leading farmer, and has a fine farm of ninety-six acres, well 
improved and stocked. Mr. Arnold was married in Owego, in 1865, 
to Sarah, daughter of Francis H. and Aurelia (Canfieldj Ellsworth, 
natives of Bradford county, of New York pai-entage. Of this union 
there are three children : Alice (wife of P. H. Taylor, of Rome), Carl 
and Ernest. The family worship at the Methodist Church, of which 
he is stcAvard. In politics he is a Republican. 

HENRY C. ARNOLD, general blacksmith, Granville Centre, was 
born in New London county. Conn., July 4, 1S40, a son of William and 
Mary Arnold. He was reared in his native county where he learned 
the blacksmith's trade, at which he served an apprenticeship of three 
years. In May, 1861, he enlisted under Capt. Clark, for Bartlett's 
Naval Brigade. The company he was with was from New London 
county. Then he joined the organization at New York, in which cit\' 
he remained three weeks, at Staten Islaiul, after which the organization 
sailed for Fortress Monroe, after a long delay. After being at 
Fortress Monroe, Capt. Bartiett was deprived of his command, and 
was put on the " ri bracks," by order of Gen. Butler, for some cause 
unknown. Thecompany then disbanded, some joining other regiments. 
Mr. Arnold was emj)loyed inside the fort as general blacksmith, and 
worked there until the close of the war, wlien he moved to Granville 
Centre. He was the man who ])nt the shackels on Jeff. Davis. At 
Granville Centre he established himself in business at his trade, in 
which he has since successfulh^ continued. His wife was Sarah 
Knowles Scully, of Germantown, Pa., and they have seven children : 
Harry, AYillarcl, Lee, Lucy, Lena, Rose and -Judson. Mr. Arnold is a 
popular blacksmith, and well-known citizen of Granville. He is a 
member of and an elder in the Church of Chi'ist. He is a friend of the 
soldier, and in politics is a Republican. 

SENACA L. ARNOLD, livery and sale stables, Towanda, was 
i)orn in Warren township, this county, February 10, 1837, a son of 
William and Debby Arnold, who were earl}' settlers in that place, 
where the son grew to manhood and passed his school days. In 
early life he commenced farming, and was thus engaged when the 
Civil War came upon the counti'v, and he prom])tly volunteered in the 
noted One Hundred and Forty-lirst Regiment, P. V. I., and was in 
the service about six months, participating in all the hard marches, 
sieges, and battles of his command, and was discharged from Fairfax 
Hospital, near Fairfax Court-House, Va., on account of disability. 
After his return home and recovery, he again enlisted, this time in the 
One Hundred and Seventy-ninth, N. Y. V. I., and served with this 
command six months, when he was honorably discharged on account 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 607 

of disability. Tlie war being over, Mr. Arnold commenced business 
in ToNvanda. and has built up his present extensive business as proprie- 
tor of a livery stable. He has been married twice, his first wife being 
Lydia E., daughter of Jabez Sexton, of Orwell township, and by her 
he had two children, Eugene arul Emma, (Mrs. Lewis Fitch) ; his sec- 
ond wife was Elizabeth, daugliter of William Booth, of Forest Lake, 
Susquehanna Co., Fa., by which marriage has been born one child, 
Nettie IL Mr. Arnold is a member of the G. A. R., and in i)oiitics is 
a Tiepublican. 

LEVI G. ARNOUT, farmer, P. O. Liberty Corners, was born 
March 0, 1832, in Monroe township, this county, and is a son of Peter 
and Mary (Irvine) Arnout, natives of Northumberland county, who 
came to this countv wiien they were young, and were of the pioneer 
settlers of Monroe township. The Arnouts are of Dutch extraction, 
and the Irvines of Scotch-Irish. The father, who was a wagon-maker, 
settled in the forest and improved the place on which his son Levi 
resides, who was tlien but two j^ears old. Levi G. Arnout was edu- 
cated in the schools of his town, and attended the old academy at 
Towanda, afterward teaching school. He was married March 15, 
1855, to Mar}' J. Emery, who was born December 10, 1831, the second 
in the family of twelve children of Jacob R. and Sarah Ann (Ennis) 
Emery. To Mr. and Mrs. Arnout have been born four children, as 
follovvs : Julia M., born November 24, 1858, wife of John Elliott; 
Cora M., born February 7, 1860; EHza. born September 5, 1864, a 
teacher, bidding fair for a future literary career (she recently 
graduated at the Collegiate Institute, Towanda), and Jennie, born 
March 15, 1871. Mrs. Arnout died October 1, 1890, deeply mourned 
by her family and a wide circle of loving friends ; she was a faithful 
member of the Methodist Epis^jopal Church, nearl}^ forty years. Mr. 
Arnout is a Democrat, and has been justice of peace several terms, 
and school director many \"ears. He has carried on an extensive 
lumbering business in connection with general farming, and at the 
present time owns a sawmill located on his farm which he successfully 
operates. 

ELMER J. ATWOOD, farmer and stock-grower. Pike township, 
P. O. LeRaysvilie, was born in Camptown, this county, August 23, 
1855, a son of George C. and Henrietta (Ta^dor) Atwood, natives of 
Pennsylvania, and of New England origin. His paternal ancestor, 
Reuben Atwood, was l)orn November 1, 1782, and died October 25, 
1878 ; Abiah (Piatt) Atwood came to Bradford county from Water- 
town, Conn., in 1832, traveling all the way in an ox cart, and located 
on the farm now owned by P. J. McAuley ; the family consisted of 
live children, of whom George C, the youngest, was, during his life, 
one of the most widely known men of Bradford county, one of those 
positive, energetic characters who always took time and circumstances 
by the forelock. He was married July 3, 1852, to Henrietta, daughter 
of Aaron and Armanda M. (Watson) Taylor, natives of Connecticut ; 
she was born April 3, 1833, in Springfield, Pa. This happy union was 
blessed with the following children : Ella J., born August 16, 1853, 
married December 31, 1872, to Elihu W. Buttles, a farmer, of Orwell 



608 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

township, and died February 8, 1883 ; Elmer J.; Alice H., born Octo- 
ber 6. 1856, married to Henrv H. Coleman ; Ida L., born June 4, 1862, 
married September 30, 1882, to Frank H. Abbott, of New York ; 
Georgiana, born October 15, 1865, was gi-aduated from Wyoming 
Seminarv and Mansfteld State Normal School, now in Syracuse Uni- 
versity ;' Sarah E., born March 3, 1867, was graduated from Kingston 
Commercial School and State Normal ; Frederick G., born August 27, 
1868, married Anna Overpeck September 17, 1890 ; Kollin C, born 
April 28, 1870, a graduate of the commercial course, also telegraphy 
and stenography, at Wyoming Seminary ; William L., born February 
9, 1872; Cora J., born May 1,1874; and Leon M., born May 5, 1877. 
Elmer J. Atwood spent his boyhood on the farm, was educated in the 
common school and Wyoming'Seminary, and began life at nineteen on 
a farm in Herrick township. He bought his first farm of fifty-eight 
acres in 1877, and lived there until 1886, when be purchased his pres- 
ent home of three hundred acres, known as the Alonzo Smith farm. 
He has converted it into one of the best stock farms in Bradford 
county, and constructed a driving course upon it. At present he has 
twentv-onegood blooded farm and driving horses and colts, nine of Avhich 
are carefuUv bred Hambletonian colts. All but twenty-five acres is in 
an excellent state of cultivation. Mr. Atwood was married March 12, 
1873, to Jennie S. Nichols, who died November 2, 1877, and he after- 
ward married, March 4, 1878, Sarah J. Avis, daughter of Leverett 
Avis, a native of Connecticut. Mi', and Mrs. Atwood have the follow- 
ing named children: Walter E., born January 26, 1879; Nellie I., 
bo"n Movember25, 1881 ; Vernon J., born June 2, 1884; and Grace 
1., born June 7, 1888. Mr. Atwood is a Republican, and takes an 
active interest in educational and all benevolent enterprises. 

FREDERICK GRANT ATWOOD, farmer. Herrick, was born in 
Herrick township, this county, August 24, 1868 ; his father, George C. 
Atwood, was born in Pike toVnship, May 17, 1825 ; his grandfather 
Reuben Atwood, was born in Watertown, Conn., November 1, 1782. 
Georo-e C. Atwood attended the district school at South Hill until he 
was sixteen, when he started for himself, peddling in this and adjacent 
counties, in which he continued until his twenty-seventh year, when 
he opened a store in Camptown, dealing in general merchandise. In 
1854, he sold out and began farming, also doing a banking business in 
his neighborhood ; his first purchase was seventy-five aci'es wliere the 
presenr Atwood homestead stands; his was a very successful life, and 
!iis death occurred October 19, 1889. He married, July 3, 1852, 
Henrietta, daughter of Aaron and Amanda (Watson) Taylor, who was 
the second of a family of four children, and was born in Connecticut. 
There were fourteen children by this marriage: Ella, wife of E. W. 
Buttles; Elmer . I.: Alice IL; Delia F., wife of E. A.Howe; Ida !.., 
wife of Frank II. Abbott; Georgiana; Sarah E. ; Fi-ederick Grant; 
RollinC.;William L.; Cora J. and Eeon M., and two others died in infancy. 
Frederick G. Atwood attended school at Herrickville until he was 
seventeen, and then went to the Normal School two years, and returned 
home. In the s])ring of 1890 he purchased fi'om his father's estate 
ninety-seven acres, elglity of which was improved, and began farming. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 600 

On September 17, IStJO, he married Anna U., daughter of Leander and 
Ethalinda (Giistin) Overpeck, natives of this State. Mr. Atwood is a 
member of Wyalusing Lodge, No. 508, I. O. (). F.. and in politics is a 
Republican. 

ROLLIN C. ATWOOD, a prominent farmer of Pike township, 
Ilerrickville, was born in Pike toAvnship, A])ril 28, 1870 ; the ninth in 
the family of twelve children of George C. and Henrietta (Tavlor) 
Atwood, natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in Bradford countv, 
and the latter in Sus<jueiianna county. Tiiey were married Jul y ;>, 
1852, and hrst located m Camptown, this county, and then, in 1804, 
moved to Ilerrickville, where they settled. The record ' of their 
twelve children is as follows : Ella J. married Elihu W. Buttles, of 
South Hill, and died February 8, 1883 ; Elmer J. resides near LeRays- 
ville; AdeliaF. married E. A. Howe, of Orwell Hill, and they reside 
at Rome ; Ida L. married F. II. Abbott, of Homer, N. Y., where they 
hve; Alice H. married II. H. Coleman, of Pike, and thev reside there; 
Georgiana, Elizabeth S., Cora J., Rollin C, William L. and Leon M. 
live in Heriick ; Fred. G. married Annie Overpeck, and they also have 
their residence near Ilerrickvdle. The father, who was by occupation 
an agriculturist, died October 19, 1889; the mother still lives, and resides 
near Herrickville. Rollin C. Atwood, the subject proper of this 
biographical sketch, attended LeRaysville graded school, and then, in 
the year 1890, took a commercial course at Wyoming Seminar\% Kings- 
ton, Pa., after which he returned home and commenced farming. Mr. 
Atwood is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of East 
Ilerrick, belongs to the Alpha Phi Fraternity, and in politics is a 
Republican. 

GEORGE I^. ATWOOD, farmer and mechanic, of Wvalusing 
township, P. O. Camptown, was born December 5, 1848, in the house 
where he now resides, a son of Nelson R. and Sarah Ann (Camp) 
Atwood. Nelson R. Atwood was born in Herrick, January 3, 1811, 
and died May 5, 1869, and Sarah Ann (Camp) Atwood was born in 
Camptown, September 22, 1814, died April 17, 1867; they were the 
parents of three sons, viz.: Stiles H.. born August 15, 1844, died Feb- 
ruary 23, 1879 ; George N. and Dudley C, born October 7, 1850, and 
now a farmer residing in Wyalusing township on a portion of the old 
homestead. Nelson R. Atw^ood in early life learned the trade of car- 
penter which he followed some time ;" abandoned it for the wagon- 
maker's trade which he followed until his death, working in a fhop 
which stood on the spot now occupied by the residence of George N.; 
he also owned a farm of fifty acres which he cultivated ; was an'earn- 
est member of the Presbyterian Church, an honest, industrious, and 
highly respected gentleman, and was strongly attached to his home 
and family. Being a frugal man and a good financier he was in good 
circumstances at the time of his death, having accumulated his fortune 
entirely by his own exertions. George N. Atwood \vas born and 
reared on the farm he now occupies, and Avas educated in the Camp- 
town Academy and Collegiate Institute of Towanda. After reaching 
his majority he began to learn the carpenter's trade, working at same 
four years with Martin Fee. After his father's death he assumed 



610 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

control of the old homestead farm, and has since devoted his time to 
his trade and to farming ; his farm of thirty acres making him a 
pleasant and cosy home. Mr. Atwood was united in marriage, Sep- 
tember 10, 1873, to Elizabeth A, Alger, a daughter of Nelson Alger 
of Greene county, N. Y.; she was born August 27, 1843. and died Jan- 
uary 20, 1888. Their union was blessed with two children : William 
X., born October T, 1874, and George L., born February 12, 1880. 
Politically Mr. Atwood is a stanch Ilepublican and an active advo- 
cate of the principles of his party ; he has largely made his own way 
through life and been very successful, 

MAJOR CYRUS AVERY, Camptown, while one of the elderly, 
though not old men of the county, has for years been one of our 
most prominent citizens, and of whose useful life the universal testi- 
mon}'' of all acquaintances is that his is one notably characterized 
'' with charity for all — malice toward none." In the prime of his 
active life he passed through the great era of stormy politics, the 
troublous decade from 1860 to 1870, a tirm and consistent Democrat, 
when many of that party were misread, and others incurred even the 
implacable enmity of old neighbors and sometimes former friends ; but 
this man moved with calm serenity, and could always command the 
confidence and respect of all who knew him. He was born March 8, 
1821, in Falls township, Luzerne (now Wyoming) Co., Pa., and spent 
his boyhood days on a farm, a son of Miles Avery, who was born 
December 28, 1791, son of Cyrus Avery, born May 12, 1771, son of 
Solomon, born June 7, 1729, son of Humphrey, born July 4, 1699, son 
of Samuel, born August 14, 1664, son of James, born December, 1646, 
spn of Capt. James, born in England in 1620, son of Christopher 
Avery, of England, who came to Massachusetts in company with his 
son James, whose descendants now spread from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific shore. 

Cyrus, when a lad between fourteen and twenty-one, served as bugler 
in a militia company. In 1842 he was commissioned, by the Governor, 
major in the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, Second Battalion of 
the militia of Pennsylvania, which was the Second Brigade of the Divi- 
sion, and served seven years. He spent the summer of 1848 in Illinois, 
and, returning to Camptown the next year, heformed a mercantile part- 
nership with A. R. Brown, and in 1851 he purchased his partner's interest 
and built the store and dwelling he now occupies. Under the admin- 
istrations of Pierce and Buchanan he served seven years as Cam])town 
postmaster. For man}^ years in his younger life he shipj^ed lumber 
down the river, and on the i-eturn brought goods via the canal as far 
as Pittston, and from there to Skinner's Eddy by boat, and wagoned 
from there to Camptown. On invitation of Col. Victor E. Piollet, he 
was a passenger on the first train over the Lehigh A^alley Railroad to 
Waverly and return, September 9, 1869 ; he sent the first baled hay 
from the county that was shipjied by the railroad. During the past 
thirty years he has cleared and improved his beautiful valley farm, 
over whose smooth surface the *' song of the reaper " may go over 
nearly every acre, on which are his extensive stock pastures with their 
beautiful valley brooks rippling forever over the Avhite pebbles. Here 



HISTOBY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 611 

disperse his cattle and sheep, lending a charm to the beautiful per- 
spective, the whole constituting one of the best farms and delightful 
rural homes in the county. Maj. Avery is ])resident of the District 
Association of the Patrons of Industry, of Nortii America, of which 
there are fifteen subordinate orders in Bradford county. JMr. Avery's 
first marriage was December 23, 1841, with Caroline A. Brown, 
daughter of James Brown, of Eaton township, and of this marriage 
there were four children, as follows: A. J., born May 14, 1843, a 
farmer in Missouri; E. F., born May 28, 1846, now^ a dentist in 
Tunkhannock ; C. L., born Sejitember 30, 1848, an undertaker in 
Penfield, Pa., and Washington B., born May 7, 1851, and died young. 
His second marriage was in Bradford county, in November, 1852, with 
Mary P. Ingham, daughter of John and Marinda Ingham, and by her 
there were three children : John M., born June 23, 1855, died Februarv 
0, 1862 ; Joseph C, born September 12, 1859, died November 18, 1878^^; 
Mary E., born December 2, 1861, wife of C. C. Smith, merchant, 
('amptown. To the interviewer the Major expressed much of the facts 
in the case when he said : " I am in good health and delight in superin- 
tending the farm and looking after the domestic animals." A model 
home and pleasant household surrounded by those who give and 
receive that respect and love that is the supreme tyjie of the best of 
civilization. It is meet and proper here to say a word of Mrs. Averv 
— a royal helpmeet and companion of a husband ; cultured, refined, ii 
motherly mother of as peaceful and enjoyable home as there is in Brad- 
ford county, made so chiefl}^ by her presence. 

O. F. AYEK, poprietor of the Valley Mills, Sheshequin, was boin 
in Sheshequin, Pa., August 11, 1840, and is the only child of F. S. and 
Sarah (Tuttle) Ayer, his father being a native of Madison countv, 
N. y., and his mother of Sheshequin, Pa. ; the mother died in 1868, 
aged forty -two years; the father is engaged in the lumber and milling 
business. O. F. Ayer received his early education in the common 
schools of Sheshequin, and afterward in the Collegiate Institute, of 
Towanda, attending the latter three years. x\fter leaving school he 
engaged in the lumber business in connection with his father, under the 
firm name of F. S. Ayer & Son, until 1868. when they moved to 
Sheshequin; he built his sawmill in 1868; his father's gristmill was 
built in 1870, it has three run of stone for flour, and one for corn and 
feed ; the sawmdl consists of a circular saw% shingle machine and 
planing mill. Mr. Ayer was united in marriage December 25, 1863. to 
Anna, daughter of Jacob and Harriet (Knapp) Morley, and the fruits 
of this marriage are four children, viz. : F. O., draughtsman ; Sarah M., 
music teacher; Frederick E., aged fourteen years, and Harry O., aged 
eleven years. Our subject is a member of the I. O. O. F., has taken 
all the degrees ; is attached to the Lodge at Sheshequin, and holds a 
withdrawal card from the Encampment at Towanda ; in ])olitics he is 
a Republican. 

HON. ENOCH J. AYRES, farmer, P. O. Macedonia, was born in 
Sussex county, N. J., September 20, 1828. and is a son of John and 
Anna (Vansickle) Ayres, also natives of New Jersey, the ancestry being 



612 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Scotch and English. The ])aternal great-grandfather of our subject 
was in the Revolutionary War. 

Enoch J. Ayres was educated in the schools of his native place, 
and was reared on his father's farm. On September 20, 1855, he was 
married to Nancy, daughter of Mathew Jackson, of Paterson, N. J., 
and to them have been born three children, one of whom is now living, 
Annie, born September 8, 1866. Mr. Ayres was for several years in 
mercantile business in Paterson, N. J., of which city he was at one 
time elected alderman. During the War of the Pebellion he was a 
soldier in the Twenty-fifth N. J. V. I., and was elected and com- 
missioned lieutenant-colonel of the regiment; he served during the 
term of his enlistment, and was mustered out with the regiment. Mr. 
Ayres came to Asylum township, this county, in the spring of 1866, 
and located on his present farm of over two hundred acres, one of the 
finest in the county, where he soon became one of the leading agri- 
culturists of this section. He was elected, in 1882, representative to the 
State Legislature, and served with great credit and to the eminent satis- 
faction of his constituents. He has always been a Republican in his 
political preferences, has held many positions of public trust, and is 
much respected bv a large circle of friends. 

JACOB J. AYRES, farmer, P. O. Gillett, was born in Milton, 
Northumberland county, Pa., March 2, 1816, a son of Daniel and Eliza- 
beth (Shelve) Ayres. Daniel Ayres was a valiant soldier in the War of 
1812, was by "trade a general blacksmith, and was an excellent 
mechanic. He married Miss Elizabeth Shelve, by whom he had six 
children, all of whom grew to maturity, two now living. Jacob J., 
who is the sixth in the family, was reared and educated in Montgom- 
ery county, and at the age of sixteen he went to Philadelphia to learn 
the carriage-maker's trade. After he served his time as an apprentice 
he opened a shop for himself in Jackson, Tioga Co., Pa., where he 
succeeded in building up a large country trade. Here he worked four- 
teen years and then, in 1851, removed to Wells township, this county, 
locating about three miles west of Gillett, where he purchased ninety- 
four acres of uncultivated land, heavily timbered and without any 
buildings. By perseverance, patience and improving, he worked at his 
trade in the winter and at farming in the summer until he converted 
the forest into a comparative paradise. On September 15, 1839, Mr. 
Ayres married at Rutland, Tioga Co., Pa., Miss Delilah, daughter 
of Isaac and Amanda Parker, and by this union there were born six 
children, five of whom grew to maturity, viz.: Sylvester, Lewis, Archi- 
bald, Sarah and George W., all married and prosperous. Mr. Ayres is 
grandfather to seventeen children. He is a man of enterprise and push 
and a successful agriculturist, his farm bemg a model one; the fruit 
grown thereon is of the finest and of several varieties, and his stock 
comprises some full-blooded Jerseys : Mr Ayres is a member of the 
Grange, and a consistent member of the Baptist Church. 

Mr P. AYRES, farmer, in Canton township, P. O. East Canton, is a 
native of Canton township, this county, having been born September 
20, 1841, a son of Abijah and Thirza (Palmer) Ayres, natives of 
Connecticut. Abijah Ayres was a farmer and an early settler of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 613 

Canton township, coming here in 1801) and settling three-(]uarters of a 
mile noi'thwest of where his son now resides. He enlisted as a soldier in 
the War of 1812, but was not in active service; he died in 1860 in his 
seventy-third year. Mrs. Ayres was born July 17, 1806, jind resides in 
Covington township, Tioga Co., Pa. The paternal grandfather, Abijah 
Ayres, who was a native of Connecticut, also settled in Canton town- 
ship about the year 1809, and died in 1836. The subject of these lines, 
who is the eighth in order of birth in a family of eleven children, was 
reared in his township, and received his education in the public 
schools. On August 31, 186J:, he enlisted in Company I, Fifteenth 
New York Engineers, and was in active service in Virginia and North 
Carolina until two months before the close of the war, when he w^as 
sent to David's Island Hospital, N. Y., on account of disability; was 
mustered out on June 13, 1865, returned home, and has since been 
engaged in farming. He was married in Sullivan township, Tioga Co., 
Pa., October 21, 1869, to Augusta M., daughter of Thomas and Isabel 
(Wilson) Case, natives of Vermont and Chester county. Pa., respectively, 
and who came here in early life and were married in Canton township, 
afterAvard removed to Troy township wdiere they resided two years, 
and then returned to Canton. Thomas Case, who was a farmer, and a 
soldier in the War of 1812, was born February 12, 1798, and died July 
27, 1872. Mrs. Case was born January 29, 1804, and died August 3, 
1873. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Case, a native of Vermont, 
settled in Troy township; the maternal grandfather, William Wilson, 
came from Chester county. Pa., and settled in Burlington township; 
Mrs. Ayres' grandmother, Margaret (Ballard) Wilson, was a native of 
Connecticut. Mrs. Ayres, who is the youngest in order of birth in a 
familv of six children, was born in Canton township, this county, 
December 1, 1845. They have an adopted son named Bernard. The 
family are members of the Disciple Church. Mr. Ayres is a member of 
the AVest Granville Grange, and served one term as township commis- 
sioner. Politically he is a Republican. He owns a well-improved farm 
of ninetv acres. 

SHELLY AYPES, farmer, P. O. Windfall, was born in Canton 
township, this county, April 19, 1830, and is a son of Abijah and 
Polly (Shelley) Ayres. His paternal grandparents were Abijah and 
Hannah (Edward) Ayres, who settled in Troy township in 1815, and 
what is now^ Granville township in 1817, cleared a large ti'act of land, 
and died there, the homestead being the one now occupied by their 
grandson, Shelly Ayres; their children were as follows: Abijah, Gil- 
bert, .lohn, Jemima^ (Mrs. Elihu Andrews), Moses, Isaac, Anna (Mrs. 

M. J. Porter), Sally (Mrs. Silas Packhard), Rachel (Mrs. Phillips), 

Lemuel, Marcus and Mary (Mrs. Reuben J. l^'almer). The father of 
our subject cleared and improved a farm in Canton townshij), and 
died there. His children were as follows: John, Betsey, Henry, 
Moses, Ellen, Hannah and Shelly ; by his second wife, Thurza (Pal- 
mer), he had nine children: Mary, Eliza, Sarah, Christine, Lucy, 
Naomi, Marcus, Andrew and Burton. Shelly Ayers was reared in 
Canton, and has been a resident of Granville thirty-five years. He 
married Roxanna, daughter of M. T. and Amanda (Spencer) Porter, 

34 



614 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of Granville township, and has had the following named cliildren : 
Mary, Flora, Deliva, Fremont, Oscar and Fj-ank. Mr. Ayres enlisted 
August 15, 1804, in Company I, Fifteenth New York Engineers, and, 
after eleven month's service was honoral)l\' discharged. Politically 
he is a liepublican. 

MRS. GEOPtGE AV. IJAILEY, retired, LeKaysville, was born 
April 27, 18-1:7, in Pike townsiiip, this county, a daughter of Jonathan 
and Abigal (Steven) Brink, natives of Pennsylvania, and of New 
England oi-igin, in whose family there were three children, of whom 
Marian (Mrs, l>ailey) is the second. She was educated in the common 
school, and at LeRaysville Academy, and September 26, 1865, she 
was married to George W. Bailey, the youngest of six children of 
Daniel and Laura (I>aldwin) Bailey. They lived on a farm for a year 
and a-half, and then Mr. Bailey engaged with his brother, Daniel, in 
mercantile business in the store which his father had can-ied on many 
years. To Mr. and Mrs, Bailey were born two children : Nettie A., 
born September 6, 1867, married February 27, 1882, to George AV. 
Payson, a dentist of Newark Valley, N. Y., and iJarry C, l)orn January 
26, 1871, died March 22, 1872. Mrs. Bailey and her daughter are mem- 
bers of the Congregational Church ; she is one of the highly respected 
ladies of LePavsville. 

NEWTON J. BAILEY, Towanda, was born in North Towanda 
township, this county, March 18, 1847, and is a son of Jeremiah and 
Electa (Baldwin) Bailey, Ilis paternal grandfather was a native of 
Oi-ange count}', N, Y., and came to Wyalusing in 1791, and in 1792 
settletl on Sugar creek in what is now North Towanda township ; the 
same year he married Susan Bennett, daughter of Amos Bennett, of 
Wyalusing, but formerly of Orange county, N, Y. Mr. Baile}^ settled 
on the farm now occupied by his sons and resided there until his death 
which occurred in 1861, when aged ninety-two years. His children 
were Pruda (Mrs. Stephen Avery), Joshua, Nehemiah, Nathaniel, 
Anna (Mrs, Andrew C. Greerg), Phebe (Mrs. Austin Bundell), Susan 
(:\[rs. William McNeal), Polly (Mrs. Harry C()oll)augh). Mehitabie 
(Mrs. Gordon Goflf), John, Clara (Mrs. Alfred Strojie), Enos and 
Jeremiah. Jeremiah Bailey succeeded to the homestead, on which he 
was born and reared, and where he died at the age of seventy-four. 
Ilis wife was a daughter of Thomas and Lucy A. Baldwin, of Troy, 
this county, and by her he had ten children, of whom seven grew to 
matui-ity, as follows: Thomas J,, Newton J,, Susan, Joseph. Doi-a (Mi"s. 
S. Slater), Lucy (Mrs. Perry Iless) and Jeremiah. Newton J. Bailey 
was reared on the old homcistead, a ])art of which he now owns and 
occupies; in connection with his farming interests, he has followed 
butchering for twenty years, and for eighteen years has conducted a 
market in Towanda. In 1868 he married Susan, daughter of Asa and 
Lucinda (Rundell) Slater, of J>urlington, and has seven children, viz: 
William. ALary (Mrs. U. M. Slater), ]\Iinnie, Archie, Cora, Lla and 
John. Mr. Jjailey is a member of the JMethodist Episcopal (yhui-ch ; 
in politics he is a Repul)lican. 

RODOLPIIUS D. BAILEY, farmer, 1', O, LeRoy, was born in 
LeRoy, this county, February 17, 1835, a son of Samuel and Adaline 



HIRTORY OK HRADFORD COUNTY. /il5 

(White) Bailey. His paternal grandfather, Timothy Bailey, of Con- 
necticut, was one of the pioneers of LeRoy township; his wife was 
Eleanor Harris, and their children were Harriet (Mrs. Eli Holcomb), 
Abby (Mrs. Jacob Roberts), Electo (Mrs. Marlin Holcomb), Marvan 
(Mrs. Richard Benson), Lucinda (Mrs. Georg-e Browning), Samiiel, 
Ly mon, Jeremiah, Alvin and Warren. Of these, Samuel was a shoe- 
maker by trade, and most of his life worked on the bench in LeRoy; 
later in life he was engaged in mercantile business at the same place, 
and died there ; his wnfe was a daughter of David White, of Gran- 
ville township, by whom he had six children, as follows : Lovisa (Mrs. 
James McCraney), Dorleska (Mrs. James Griswold), Elozia (Mrs. 
Christopher Hartman), Franteska (Mrs. Amos Harris), Manning and 
Rodolphus D. Our subject was reared in Le Roy township, learned 
the shoemaker's trade with his father, which he followed twenty- 
eight years ; then engaged in farmmg in Granville township, in which 
he has since continued. His WMfe was Annette, daughter of Ebenezer 
and Ovan(hi Marvin, of Granville, and there are three children: 
Ovanda, Mattie (Mrs. Solomon Lindley) and Marion. Mr. Bailey is a 
member of the Church of Christ, and in politics is a Republican. 

ROBERT BAILEY, one of the oldest residents of Granville town- 
ship, r. O. Granville Centre, was born March 27, 18L5, on the farm 
where he now resides, a son of Scovil and Jerusha (Hale) Hailey. 
natives of Connecticut, who settled in Granville in 18ol and cleared 
and improved the farm occupied by our subject, and died there; their 
children were: Julius, Jerusha (Mrs. Luman Putnam), Eliza (Mrs. John 
Taylor), Hezekiah, Harry, Amanda (Mrs. Samuel W. Shepard), Robert 
and Hannah (Mrs. William Rockwell). Our subject has always lived 
on the old homestead, a part of which he cleared. He has been twice 
married, his first wife being Maryette, daughter of Jhadford Robbins, 
of Granville, and by her he had two children. Moses I. and John ; his 
second wife was Lucia, daughter of Erastus Booth, of Troy townsliip. 
Mr. Bailey is a member of the Free Will Baptist Church ; in politics he 
is a Republican, and he served as justice of the peace of Granville 
twenty-five years. 

W'rLLTAM FLOYD BAKER, farmer and (juarryman, Troy, was 
born in Rutland, Tioga Co., Pa., March 9, L842, and is a son of Harlin 
and Sarah A. (Longwell) Baker. His paternal grandparents, George 
and Kate Baker, originally from Maryland, settled in Wells township, 
this county, in 1814, cleared a farm and later moved to Columbia 
township where they resided until their death. Their children were 
Parmina, Harlm, Joseph, Ruth, Rebecca, Sally, Zuba, Amanda, Wil- 
liam, George and Gibbons. Harlin Baker settled in Wells township 
wMth his parents, in 1814, where he cleared a farm; about 1835 he 
removed to Rutland, Tioga Co., I*a, where he cleared a farm of four 
hundred acres. In the spring of 18T1 he removed to Troy township, 
where he died May 7, 1886, aged eighty-one years ; his widoAV still 
survives him, now aged eighty-three ; their children were six in num- 
ber: John (deceased), Emmett, George, Sarah, William F. and Wilmot. 
The subject of this sketch was reared m Rutland township, and in 
1871 he moved on the farm he now occupies, on which he opened an 



616 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

extensive stone (i[uaiTy of the best quality of blue stone. He was 
married September 3, 1871, to Carrie, daughter of Jefferson and Eliza 
(Brewer) Prutsraan,of Rutland township, and they have four children : 
Damon, Bertha, Guy and Fannie. Mr. Baker is a member of the 
I. O. O, F., of Troy Farmers Club, and of the P. of H.; in politics he 
is a Republican. 

WILLIAM W. J>AJvER, proprietor of a creamery and farmer of 
Warren township, P. O. Wapasening, is a native of AVindham town- 
ship, Bradford Co., Pa., was born December 3, 1827, a son of 
Ivers and Elizabeth (Russell) Baker, natives of Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut, respectively, and of English origin, farmers who came to 
Bradford county, locating in Windham township, in 1824, where the 
former died in" 1836, his widow surviving until 1886; they were the 
parents of four children, of whom William W. is the second. William 
W. Baker spent his young life on his father's farm, having only the 
limited advantages of the youth of that early day; he learned well to 
farm and loved to attend to domestic animals of the farm, and in 
eai-ly manhood began farming and dealing extensively in stock, 
following this business without interruption thirty years. Tie com- 
menced on the first round of the ladder of life, and is now independent 
and owns a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres, and carries on 
an extensive creamery, having two in Orwell township and one in 
Nichols, IST. Y. He was married in 1854, in Pike township, to Pris- 
cilla R. Rodgers, daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Lamoreux)Rodgers, 
natives of New York, of English and French extraction. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Baker have been born three children, as follows: Jennie (died in 
August, 1890, aged thirty-three), Rachel Libby and Franklin B. The 
Baker family is one of* the prominent ones of Bradford county. Mr. 
Baker in politics is a Democrat, is postmaster at Wapasening, a jus- 
tice of the ))eace and a school director. 

VINE H. BALDWIN,of the firmof Baldwin Bros., Canton, is a 
native of Chemung, N. Y., born November 24, 1852, the second in 
order of birth in a family of three children of Robert C. and Rebecca 
(Foulke) Baldwin; he Avas reared in Chemung, N. Y., and received his 
education in the public and graded schools. He clerked for the firm of 
Newberry, Peck & Co., in Troy, six years; then was with Redington, 
Leonard & Co , of Troy, six years; removed to Canton in the spring 
of 1884, where he has continued in business since. He was married in 
Troy, in 1877, to Helen, daughter of Harry and Maria (Childs) Lowman, 
natives of Lyc<jming county, Pa. Harry Lowman was a lumberman, 
and died in" Montoursville,"^ Pa.; his widow stdll survives him. Mrs. 
Baldwin is the third in a family of five children. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Baldwin were l)orn two sons : William F. and Harry L. Tiie family 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. I\[r. P>aldwin is a 
member of the F. <k A. M., Canton Lodge, No. 415, Troy Chapter, No. 
261, and Canton Commandery, No. 64, holding the office of eminent 
commander in the latter. Politicallv he is a Democrat. 

AVILLIAM E. BALDAVIN, of the firm of Baldwin P>ros., dealers 
in dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes. Canton, was born in Towanda, 
Pa., "October 7, 1850, a son of Robert C. Baldwin, wdio was born at 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 61? 

Bentley Creek, Tioga Co., Pa., March 25, 1813, and died in Chemung, 
N. Y., June 14, 1880; he was a son of Vine Baldwin, who was the 
tirst business man in Ti'oy, and a grandson of Isaac Baldwin ; he was 
the third in order of birth of a family of five sons, was a builder and 
contractor, and also followed farming. Our subject's mother, Mrs. 
Rebecca (Foulke) Baldwin, was a daughter of William and Anna 
[Alexander) Foulke, natives of Dauphin county and Ilummelstown, 
Pa., respectively. Wdliam Foulke was a surveyor and owned a grist- 
mill and farm; he died in Chemung, N. Y., in 1836 in his fifty-eighth 
year. Mrs. Foulke died September 1, 1883, in her eighty -sixth year. 
Mrs. Baldwin, who is the fourth m order of birth in a family of 
eight children, was born in Chemung, N. Y., April 27, 1824. William 
F. Baldwin is the eldest in a family of three children. When he was one 
vearokl his parents removed from Towandato Chemung, N. Y., where 
he resided until seventeen years of age, and then removed to Troy, Pa. 
He received his education in the public and graded schools ; clerked in 
the store of Newberry & Peck, Troy, four years, and then went to 
Williamsport and engaged in the grocery business with A. B. McKean 
and John T. Blackwell, under the firm name of McKean, Baldwin ct 
Co. At the end of one year J. C. Everett succeeded McKean & 
Bkickwell and the firm became Everett & Baldwin, They continued 
in business four years, when they sold out in 1878, and Mr, Baldwin 
went West, locating at Ogallah, Trego Co., Kan. He purchased a 
one-lialf section of land adjoining a town site that was kiid out, in 
partnership with his brother Vine, built a store, and continued in busi- 
ness thei'e two years; then removed to Gunnison county, Colo., where 
he engaoed tn mercantile business under the firm name of Baldwin & 
Ripperton, and also prospected in mining country. At the end of two 
years he returned home, and in April, 1874, he removed to Canton, 
where they engaged in their present business, under the firm 
name of Baldwin Bros. & Co. In 1887 the brothers bought out the 
other partners, and the firm changed to Baldwin Bros. William F. 
Baldwin was married in Troy, in June, 1884, to Mary A., daughter of 
Albion and iSarah (Wilbur) Budd, natives of this county. Albion Budd 
is a farmer, and resides in Austinville. Mrs. Baldwin is the youngest 
in a family of four children living, and was born in Austinville, August 
22, 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, of wliich he is one of the board of trustees; is a member of 
the F. & A. M.. Canton Lodge, No. 415. Politicallv he is a Republican. 
JACOB L. BALL, fai-mer, of Litchfield township, P. O. Litchfield, 
was born July 13, 1839, a son of Benjamin and Sarah Ball, the former 
of whom was a native of Orange county, N. Y., the latter of Vermont; 
they were the parents of eight children, six of whom grew to 
maturity, and five are living at present ; they settled in Litchfield in 
1812, being among the pioneers in the township. The grandparents 
of our subject were extensive farmers of Orange countv, N. Y. Jacob 
L. was reared in his native township and educated at the common 
school. In November, 1804, he married Cornelia, dauohter of Aaron 
Wood, of Pike township, an old soldier of the War of 1812. Mr. Ball is 
the father of eight children, as follows: Ida A., born November 28, 



618 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1865, married to F. Halstead, a farmer; Amy A., born June 28, 1867, 
married to Alonzo Scott, a mechanic ; Mary A., born October 7, 1868, 
married to James Munn, a farmer; Sarah C., born October 15, 1869 ; 
Hattie A., born August 6, 1871 ; Victoria (deceased) ; Jacob L., born 
April 4,1874; and Ethiel W., born September 12,1876. Mr. Ball 
is an enterprising farmer, and at times deals in lumber extensively. 
He was a soldier in the Civil War, serving one year under (len. 
Sherman in the Port Royal expedition, aftei- in the Fiftieth Pennsylvania 
Regiment, from which he was honorably discharged. In politics he is a 
Republican, and has the confidence of his fellow citizens, holding at 
the present time the office of justice of the peace; he is member of 
the G. A. R., and in religious views is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

JOSEPH A. BALL, justice of the peace, East Troy, was born at 
Painted Post, N. Y., June 9, 1837, and is a son of Chauncey and Eliza 
(Burst) Ball, who settled in Troy township about 1841. "The father 
was a distiller and for many years was employed at Long's distillery; 
he died in 1859, and had eight children : Joseph A., Julia (Mrs. Charles 
Murray), Jane (Mrs. Thomas Knights), James, John, Martha, Mary and 
Isolmer (died March, 1861, of diphtheria). Our subject, the only sur- 
vivor, was reared in Troy, and educated in the common schools and 
Troy Academy. After attaining his majority he engaged in farming, and 
in April, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-third N. Y. V ., 
participating in the following battles: Second Bull Run, South Moun- 
tain and Antietam, losing his right arm at the latter engagement ; he 
received an honorable discharge in 1862, returned home, and from 1875 
to 1885 was engaged in general merchandising at East Troy. January 
28, 1863, he married Emnui A , daughter ol' Cai'lton H. and Naomi 
(Smith) Campl)ell, of Springfield, this county, and his four chddren : 
Ada, Myra, Libbie an<l Willis. Mr. Ball is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Churci), of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R. He has been justice 
of the i)eace of Troy township, fifteen years, and was re-elected in 
spring of 1891, for a fourth term ; politicallv he is a Republican. 

CHARLES 11. BALLARD, farmer, of Columbia township, P. O. 
Sylvania, was born in Burlington township, this county, a son of Myron 
and Thankful (('alkins) Ballard ; his paternal grandfather, Nathaniel 
Ballard, a native of Vermont, born December 27, 1778, was a son of John 
J>allard, and both were pioneers of Burlington township. Nathaniel 
and John Ballard made the first clearing in Columbia townshi|)on what 
is now known as the Card farm, also cleared the Nash place in Sylva- 
nia; they cut the timber off of three acres, but, getting tired of their 
bargain, "^ traded their claim for a dog, and returned to l>urlington 
where they had originally settled in 1796 Nathaniel returned to 
Columbia township in 1833, where he resided until his death, Novem- 
ber 1,1861; his wife was Susaniuih, a daughter of William and 
Mary (McLain) Dobbins, of Burlincrton township, and by her he had 
three children : Myron, Celestia (Mrs. Joel Stevens) and Betsey (Mrs. 
A<ldison McDole). of whom Myron was born in Burlington township, 
this county, residing there until 1836, and cleared the east i)art of 
what is now the Countv Poor- Farm ; he i-emoved to Columbia town- 



HISTORY OF MHADFORD COUNTY. G19 

ship in ISuO and died thei'e Januarx' IG, 1878. His wife, Thankful 
(Calkins) Ballard, was a, daughter oi" Deacon Moses and Thankful 
(Stevens) Calkins, of Burlington township, and he liad by her eleven 
children, seven of whom grew to maturity: Charles IJ., Mary A., 
Horace A,, Benjamin McK., Jane E. (Mrs. Hezekiali Peck), Addison 
McD., Susannah C. (Mrs. John H. Watkins). Cliarles H. Ballard was 
reare(l in Burlington township, and has always followed farming ; lias 
cleared and improved a ])art of tiie farm henowoccuj)ies. lie married, 
»]une 27, lSi4, Lucy J., (hiughter of Charles and Mii'anda (Canfield) 
Taylor, and granddaughter of Moses Taylor, one of tiie first settlers 
of (Columbia township. Mr. and Mrs. Ballard have one daughter, 
Mary A.; he is a member of the LIniversalist Church, and in ])olitics 
is a Republican. 

LEirr J. BALLAllD, of DeA¥itt & Ballard, dealers in general 
merchandise, Troy, was born in Troy township, this coimty, May 24, 
1841, and is a son of John V. and Maria (Smith) Ballard. His pater- 
nal grandparents, Thomas and Kate (Provin) Ballard, natives of Massa- 
chusetts, were pioneers of Burlington township, this county, and his 
matei-nal grandfather, Enos Smith, \\'as a pioneer of Smithfield town- 
ship. John V. Ballard, father of our subject, w^as born in Bradford 
county, and has been a resident of Troy townshi}) many years; he 
cleared and improved the farm he now occupies ; his ciiildren were 
five in number : Shepard H., Scevelon A., Guy S., Lert J. and Job. 
Our subject was reared on the old homestead in Troy township, and 
received a common-school education. He was in the Civil War, 
enlisting August 8, 1862, in Compan}' D, One Hundred and Thirty- 
second P. V, I., and was in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, 
South Mountain and in other minor engagements, and was honorably 
dischari>'ed after nine months' service. He then enoaged in farmino- 
until 1870, when he embarked in a general merchandise business, 
and has been a member of the lii'm of DeWitt & Ballard since. In 
1862 he married Martha, daughter of Guernsey and Jane (Brizzee) 
Blakeslee, of West Burlington, and has four children: Jennie (Mrs. 
H. A. Stiles), Oscar B., Katherine and Mahlon. Mr. Ballard is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the F. & A. M. and 
G. A. P., and in politics is a Republican. 

SHEPARD H. BALLARD, farmer, Troy township, P. O. Troy, 
was born in Burlington township, this county, June 11, 1833, a son of 
John V. and Maria (Smith) Ballard. His paternal grandparents w^ere 
Thomas and Kate Provin) Ballard, natives of Massachusetts, and pio- 
neers of Burlington township, and his maternal grand fathei" was Enos 
Smith, a pioneer of Smithfield township. The subject of this sketch 
was reared in Tro}'^ township, eilucated in common schools, and on 
attaining his majority engaged in the mercantile business in Troy for 
one year. He then settled in Burlington township, and engaged and 
partially cleared and improved a farm which he still ow^ns, and lived 
thereuntil 1883, when he remov^ed to Troy, where he has since resided. 
In 1858 he married Lucena E., daughter of Capt. Alvin and Julia 
(Smith) Bailey, of Connecticut, and has three children: l)ix, Dell 
(Mrs. A. T. Parks) and Ray. Mr. Ballard is a descendant of the old- 
est families of Bradford county; politically he is a Republican. 



620 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

liEV. GEORGE BALLENTINE, clergyman and farmer, Smith- 
tield townsliip, P. U. Floss, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, May 
26, 1839. In early life be was abnen weaver in tlie winter, and in tbe 
summer was employed on the farm ; he was second in a family 
of seven children ; and acquired a fair education in his native country. 
He and his brother, John, came to this country in the month 
of July, 1863, and landed in New York on the day of the great riot, 
and saw the two men-of-war come up to the city, to put down the 
disturbance. He worked first at the iron works near Ailentown, and 
in the fall of 18G-1: entered Bucknell University, where he was graduated 
in 1871, and entered the ministry of the Baptist Church at North 
Moreland, Wyoming county. On October 3, 1873, he was married to 
Jennie R. Gerould, who was graduated from the same college as her 
husband ; she was the daughter of James L. and Sabrina B. Gerould, 
born November 28, 1848, on the farm where they now reside. There 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ballentine eight children, seven of 
whom are now living, as follows: Bernie II., James Gerould, Mary 
F., Carrie M., John H., Harriet L. and George F. Mr. Ballentine was 
pastor at North Moreland four years, and then eight years in Mont- 
gomerv county, where he built two churches ; on accountof nervous disa- 
bility lie was obliged to discontinue active work for a time, and conse- 
quentlv came to this township w^here he owns a tine farm. He has 
continued to preach at Smithfield, South Creek, Ridgebury, and for 
the last two years at Terrytown and Camptown, when without a regu- 
lar pastor; 'his brother, John, who was graduated at the college 
above named, is the professor of Greek and Latin in the State Normal 
School at Clarion, and was formerly a professor in Madison (now Col- 
gate) University, at Hamilton, N. Y. 

JAMESD. BARBOUR, farmer and dairyman, Ulster, one of the 
prominent farmers of the county, was born in Scotland July 20, 1829, 
the son of Hugh and Margaret '(Hunter) Barbour. His school term 
ended Avhen he was twelve years old, yet he has a fair education. In 
his father's family were seven children, of whom James D. is the eld- 
est ; two died in infancy ; three boys and tw^o girls live in this county : 
Elizabeth, at Moore's "Hill ; Janet, married to James McC^ueen, of 
Horseheads, N. Y.; Hugh, at Blyn City, Washington; Alexander, of 
Newman, Cal. The family came to this county in 1849, locating at 
Moore's Hill, and cleared the old woods away. James D. Barbour now 
owns a beautiful farm of 220 acres, having recovered the entire tract 
from brush, and has made the improvements, which are all modern and 
among the best of the county. On Se|)tember 28, 1864, he enlisted in 
Company II. Fifty-third liegiinent, P. \M.,and served until the close 
of the war. participating in the battle of Hatcher's Run. His health was 
greatly im[)aii'ed during his service, and for several years after his 
return from the army he was unable to perform farm labor, but is now 
fairlv restored to health. His jxirents died on the farm he now owns, 
the father March 26, 1864, and the mother July 11, 1873. Our subject 
was married Mai-ch 13, 1867, to Agnes, daughter of AValter and Mar- 
garet (Mather) Pollock, natives of Scotland (she was born in Ulster, 
and her father's family consisted of six children, she being next to the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 621 

youngest and the only daughter ; her brothers all live in this county). 
The fruits of this marriage are two children, Walter and Margaret 
Estella. Mr. Barbour keeps a daiiy, also grows wool and breeds draft 
horses , he has over 100 acres of land under cultivation. lie is a mem- 
ber of Gilmour Post, G. A. li., at Ulster, a leading member of the 
Presbyterian Church at Ulster, and one of its organizers ; in his politi- 
cal views he is a Republican. 

PERLET N. BARKER, M. D., Troy, was born in Belpre, Wash- 
ington Co,, Ohio, August 31, 1S5G, a son of Edmund and Rhoda A. 
(Lathrop) Barker, of English descent, and on the paternal side coming 
of Puritan stock. Until the age of fourteen he attended the public 
schools of Illinois, and then three years were spent in the schools of 
western New York ; he then took a course of study in the Wellsboro 
(Pa.) graded school, and commenced the study of dentistry in that 
place. In 1878 he located in Troy, and was an assistant in the office 
of Dr. R. C. Kendall; in 1880 he w^as examined by the Pennsylvania 
State Dental Examining Board, was given a certificate of proficiency, 
and passed the best examination up to that time of any who had come 
before the board. Being possessed of a fine intellect, he decided that a 
higher profession was more congenial to his tastes, and in 1887 he was 
graduated from the Medico-Chii-urgical College of Philadelphia, Pa., 
receiving the s-pecial prize in surgery ; soon after' he engaged in part- 
nership with Dr. E. G. Tracy, of Troy, with whom he has since been 
associated : he has a large surgical practice in the place in addition to 
his regular work, and has devoted a great deal of special study to this 
branch of his profession. Though young in years. Dr. Barker stands 
well in the estimation of the community, and has an excellent practice. 
He has been twice mari'ied, first to Cora, daugliter of Benjamin F. and 
Lydia (Slade) Knapp, of Troy, and by her had one son : Frank S. ; 
his second marriage was with Lillian, daughter of Joseph and Melissa 
(Hall) Joralemon, Trov. The Doctor is a member of the BaDtist 
Church, of the F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. ; also of the Bradford 
County Medical Society, the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and 
Alumni of the Medico-Chirurgical College, of Philadelphia. Politically 
he is a Republican. 

GEORGE BARNES, farmer and horse trainer, of Granville town- 
ship, P. O. Granville Centre, was born November 15, 1845, in Hart- 
ford, Conn., a son of Albert and Sarah E. (Andrews) Barnes, who 
settled in Granville in 1S4G, and cleared and improved the farm now 
owned by Luman Putnam, Jr., where they died. Albert Barnes was 
one of the leading citizens of his day, and, besides carrjnng on his farm, 
was extensively engaged in lumbering and in the sale of musical instru- 
ments and patent rights. He took an active part in local politics, and 
held many of the minor olfices of the township. Until the breaking- 
out of the War of the Rebellion he was in politics a Democi-at, but 
since then a stanch Republican. His children were Celestia (Mrs. P. 
S. Bailey), Julia (Mrs. II. W. McCraney), Roderick. Horace, George, 
Mellville and Charlotte (Mrs. George Bunyan). George Barnes was 
reared in Granville township, educated in the common schools, and 
began life as a farmer ; he has done an extensive business in lumbering, 



622 flISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and from boyhood has been widely known for his skill as a breaker and 
trainer of horses, lie married in December, 1864, (Irace, daughter of 
C. J. and Rebecca (Becker) Martin, of Granville, and has fourchildren : 
Fordyce M., Floyd M., Albert and Donald. Mr. Barnes is a member 
of the 1. O. O. F., Granville Centre Lodge. In politics he is a Kepub- 
lican, and is now serving his second term as constable and collector of 
the township. 

ULYSSUS BARNES, hotel proprietor, Herrickville, was born on 
his father's farm in Herrick tow^iship, this county, July 26, lS-J-1. His 
father, .Jeremiah Barnes, was born in Orwell township, in 1811; his 
grandfather, Jesse Barnes, was born near Blandford, Mass., in 1784; 
his great-grandfather, Jerre Barnes, also born near Blandford. Mass., 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary Wai-, Pliiletus now having the 
musket he carried, a Queen Ann piece, in a fair state of ])reservation. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jerre B>arnes were Jesse, Anson, Joel 
and Jeremiah. Jesse Barnes received the usual ])ublic-sciiool educa- 
tion, after which he worked at home on the farm witli his father, lie 
married Roxanna Warfel, also a native of Massachusetts, and came to 
this county in 1805, settling in Orwell township, where he improved 
150 acres, on wiiich he lived until his forty-fourth year, when he 
was killed in the Horton sawmill. Wysox. They had eigiit children, 
viz.: Lucretia (wife of Alvin Goodnougli). Jeremiah. Dr. Jesse, Ollie 
(wife of Louis Martin), Nelscm, Philander, Alonzo and Francis Sylves- 
ter. Mrs. Jesse Barnes died in 1839. Jeremiah, the second eldest 
child in this family, received the usual public-school education, and 
worked on the farm until his twentieth year; then purchased a farm 
adjoining his father's, which he sold about 1834, and moved to Her- 
rickville, where he bought from Louis Martin 100 acres, on which his 
son, Philetus Barnes, now resides; he died Noveud)er 26, 1880. He 
had married SalU^ Aurilla, the younger of two children of Sypron 
Grant, and they had seven children : Sylvester (who died in infancy), 
Polly (wife of" George Coe), Melissa' (deceased), Ulyssus, Roxanna 
(deceased). Philetus and Loran (of Omaha, Neb). Jeremiah Barnes 
was tax collector in 1846. Ulyssus Barnes was educated in Herrick- 
ville, attending school until his nineteenth year, and learned the shoe- 
making trade! He was drafted and assigned to Company D, One 
Hundred and Seventy-fn-st Regiment P. Y. L.in October, 1862, and they 
were ordered to Harrisburg, l>altimore, Washington and Suffolk, Va., 
where they remained five weeks acting as reserves ; then ])roceeded to 
Harris' Landing, and on a transport to New Berne, N. C, where they 
remained until April 1. 1863; thence were sent to Little Washington, 
N. C, until June; thence to Fortress Monroe, and received orders to 
cut off the (Confederates, Avho were retreating from Gettysburg; 
thence up York river fifty miles, disembarked, and then were on march 
six (lavs, when they i-etiirned to Fortress Monroe. Thence they pro- 
ceeded to Baltimore and Harrisburg, where the command was mus- 
tered out August 8, 1863. Mr. Barnes returned home, remained two 
months, and then went to Nashville, Tenn., where he was employed 
bv the (iovei-nment until the close of the war, when he again returned 
home and took u|) his trade, which he has since followed. He is a 



tliSTORy OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 623 

member of Union Lodge, No. 05, V. & A. M. Mr. Barnes married, June 
7, ISTl, Sarah M., daughter of Thomas and Sallie (Drewster) Everson, 
natives of Monroe, Orange Co., N. Y.; she was boi-n 7\ugust 28, 1848; 
lier father and mother died in 1849 ; slie iiad one brother, (jeorge T., 
and one sister, Jnlia, wife of Charles Waklen. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes 
iiave one daughter, Jennie Melissa, who was born Febi-uarv 29, 1872. 

WILLIAM BARNES, farmer, P. O. Towanda, was born October 
26, 1815, in the town of Nichols, Tioga Co., N. Y., a son of Hezeldah 
and Polly (Brewster) Barnes,; his father was a native of New York, and 
a pioneer lumberman and farmer. William P>arnes was united in 
marriage, November 5, 1842, with Sarah Stropes, daughter of Henry 
and Wealthy (Rutty) Stropes. natives of Pennsylvania, whose ancestry 
was of Geriiian extraction. To Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have been born 
ten childi-en, seven of whom grew to their majority : One son. Burton, 
was in the War of the Rebellion and lost his life in the service of his 
country; those living are Louisa, Charlotte, Anna J., William, Sidney 
and Edward, all of whom are married and prosperous. William 
Barnes was a poor l)oy,but b}^ honesty and perseverance has accumulated 
an independence, and is now the owner of tiii'ee farms of over two 
hundred acres ; he settled on his present homestead in North Towanda 
township when first married, nearly fifty years ago; has always lived 
an exemplary and contented life, and is beloved by his family, neigh- 
bors and an extensive circle of friends. It is said of Mr. Barnes that 
in the course of his business life of over sixty years he has never had 
a lawsuit. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes are a genial and amiable couple and 
bid fair to celebrate their golden wedding. 

HENRY BARRETT, proprietor of the ''Barrett House," To- 
wanda, was born in 1829, and is a son of John and Mary (McNamara) 
Barrett, who came to America in 1847, and settled in Sheshequin 
townsliip, this county. They were the parents of the following chil- 
dren: Richard, Cornelius, Mary (Mrs. Daniel Barrett), Margaret (Mrs. 
Thomas Sheahen), Susan (Mrs. Patrick McNamara), John Daniel and 
Henry. Henry Barrett was reared in Ireland, and came to America 
with his parents in 1847. After attaining his majority he engaged in 
farming at Standing Stone, this county, until 1878, when he removed 
to Towanda and embarked in the hotel business, in which he has since 
successfully continued, and has occupied his |)resent stand. No. 612 
South Main street, since 1882. In 1856 he married Mary, daughter of 
Patrick and Mary (IVfcGuane) Lynch, of County Clare, Ireland. Mr. 
Barrett is a well-known and popular citizen ; he is a member of the 
Catholic Church, and in ])olitics is a Democrat. 

WASHINGTON I. BARROWCLIFF, farmer, of Tuscarora town- 
ship, P. O. Laceyville, Wyoming county, was born in Camptown, this 
county, June 27. 1848, and was educated in the common schools and at 
Wyoming Seminary ; he is a son of Wellington and Lucy (Shumway) 
Barrowcliff, the former a native of Mehoopany. Pa., of English descent, 
the latter of Tuscarora, of New England parentage. Mr.- I)arr(nvcliff 
began life for himself at twentv-two, farming in Tuscarora; he was 
also engaged in teacliing school, havino- taught over nine terms in 
Carbon, Wyoming and Bradford counties; then removed to Susque- 



624 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

luinna county, where he was engaged in farming tAVO years, when he 
came to his present place, where he has since remained. He was 
married September 18, 1876, to Lalla, born February 22, 1857, a 
daughter of David and Sally (Learn)Edinger,of Monroe county. Pa., and 
they have four children, viz.: Kent, born September 14, 1877; Fidae, 
born May 26, 1880; Altie, born September 7, 1882; and Winifred, 
born August 4, 1884. Mr. IJarrowcliff is an independent voter and a 
strong advocate of the principles of rrohibition. The family are 
"members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Skinner's Eddy. 

JACOB J. BAKTOIl, farmer, Wilmot township, P. O.'Wilmot, 
was born in Sulliv^an county, Pa., September 12. 1846, and is a son of 
Godlip and Sarah (Suber) Bartch. the former a native of Wurtemberg, 
Germany, and the latter of Berks county, Pa., and of German lineage. 
Mr. Bartch began life for himself, farming, at twenty-nine, when lie 
purchased his present home of one hundred and forty-two acres where 
he has since resided. He was married May 5, 1873, to Miss Frances, 
daughter of John and Lucretia (Lephfruin) Saxe, and they have two 
children, viz. : Howard L., born January 26, 1877, and Florence ()., 
born Septeml)er 11, 1878. Mr. Bartch is a member of the Lutheran 
Church at Dushore, and his political principles are pronounced 
Republican. 

HEXKV ARTHUPt BARTLETT, physician and surgeon, Sugar 
Run, was born January S, 1846, at Towanda, this county, and is a son 
of O. D. and Mary (Weston) [^^artlett, the former a native of Otis, 
Mass., and the latter of Towanda. In his father's family there were the 
following named children : Frank W., i)rofessor of Hebrew and Oriental 
languages in Williams College, and pastor of Grace Church, Williams- 
to\vn, Mass.; Mary F. (Mrs. E. O. Macfarland), of Towanda; Harriet 
(Mrs. Walter G. Tracy), also of Towanda; Charles G. (deceased); Cora 
(Mrs. Norman Eiciiefberger), of Mansfield, Ohio; John N., and Orrin 
D., who died in infancy. Dr. Bartlett was educated at the Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, Ann Arbor Medical College and Penn- 
sylvania Medical College; he also read medicine with Drs. Mason and 
iadill. In 1869 he located at Sugar Run, where he has since been 
engaged in the pi-actice of his pi'ofession. On June 30, 1863, the 
Doctor enlisted at Towanda, in Company A, Thirty-fifth P.V. I.; was 
first detailed as hospital warden, and later as surgeon of the Third 
Division of U. S. Military Carpenters. Dr. Bartlett was married July <"., 
1869, to Miss Delphine", daughter of George H. and Fannie (Brown) 
Hill, of Burlington, and they have nine children : Orrin Daniel, born 
June 18, 1871; Mary Westoii, born October 5, 1873; Franklin Walter, 
born October 31, 1875; Henry Arthur, Jr., born October 6,1877; Jane 
Scott, boi-n August 19, 1880; P>essie, born Septeml)er 19, 1882; 
Edward Macfarland, born i\Iarch 14, 1885; Norman Eichelberger, born 
April 15, 1887. and ( !oi'a Eliza, born March 2, 1890, all of whom were 
baptized in 1 lie I'rotestant Episco])al Church by their uncle. Rev. F. 
W. Bartlett. Dr. and Mrs. Bartlett are also members of the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church. He is a member of Jackson Post, G. A. R., at 
Wvahisiiig, of which he is surgeon; is a Freemason of the third 
degree, and in politics is a Repul)lican. Ebenezer Bartlett, the ances- 



HISTOliY OF BRA.1)F0UI) COUNTY. 025 

tor of the farailv in Bradford county, was a lievolutionarv patriot, 
and was among tlie freemen who struck the first blow for Hberty at 
Lexington ; he was tlie great-gratul father of tlie subject of this sl<etch. 
Josiah Bartlett, wlio signed the Dechiration of lndepen(h^nce, was of 
the same famil\^ bh)od. 

URIAH D. BAXTER, farmer, and agent for agricultural 
machinery, Granville Centre, was born in Granville township, this 
county, August 19, 1828, a son of Ohver and Ruth (Ross) Baxter. 
His paternal grandparents, Uriah and Kate (liailey) Baxter, formerly 
of Connecticut, settled in Granville township in 1808, and cleared and 
improved the farm where William Baldwin now lives, and died there; 

their children were Chauncey, Ezra, Betsey (Mrs. Simeon West), 

(Mrs. Parkhurst), Roxie (Mrs. John Vroraan), and Oliver, the father of 
our subject, who was born in Schoharie county, JS[. Y., Marcii 14, 1804. 
When four years of age, Oliver removed with his parents to Granville, 
where he was reared, and cleared and improved the farm now owned by 
Edward Selleck and James McKeen, and had a family of four children: 
Uriah D., Jane (Mrs. N. W. Clark), Amanda (Mrs. 'John Mott), and 
Sarah (Mrs. N. W. Clark). The subject of these lines was reared in 
Granville, where he has always resided, and cleared and improved the 
farm he now occupies; his wife was Mary, a daughter of Silas 
Packard, of Canton township, and by her he has five children, as 
follows: Orselus, Ira, Odessa (Mrs. David Pepper), Fred and Emma. 
Mr. Baxter was a member of Company I, Fifteenth New York 
Engineers, in the Civil War, enlisting August 20, 1864. and after 
serving eleven months was honorablv discharoed. He is a well-known 
citizen of Granville, and in politics is a Republican. 

JOHN W. BEAMAN, liveryman and undertaker, Troy, was born 
in Columbia township, this county, November 8, 1848, and is a son of 
Josejjh and Almira (Burrell) Beaman. His father was a native of 
Bennington, Vt., born January 27, 1785, and was a son of Joseph 
Beaman who served as a soldier throughout the War of the Revolu- 
tion. The father of our subject settled in Columbia towmship, this 
county, in 1806, and cleared and improved the farm on which he 
resided until his death which occurred August 12, 1872; by his wife, 
who was a daughter of Silas and Lucy Burrell, of Tioga county. Pa., 
he had ten children: Mary (Mrs. I). B. Knapj)), Martha (Mrs. L. E. 
Haven), Joseph, Sarah (Mrs. Austin Edsall), David, Ruth, William, 
Lydia, John W., and Lucy (Mrs. C. E. Colony). The subject of these 
lines is the owner of the old homestead where he was born and reared. 
He received an academical education, and after attaining his majority 
engaged in farming for several years ; in 1880 he embarked in general 
merchandising at Wells, this county, in which lie was engaged until 
1887. In 1889 he was engaged in the furniture and undertaking 
business at Williamsport, and in the fall of same year he located in 
Troy, where he has since been successfully engaged in the livery and 
undertaking business. He was twice married, first to Effie D., daughter 
of Capt. William R. and Abigail (Mosher) Wilson, of Wells, by whom 
he had two children : Joseph W. and Effie D.; and his second wife 
was Fannie R. Wilson, sister of his first wife, by w^hom he has four 



626 HISTORY OF BRVDFORD COUNTY. 

children : Susan E., William and Humphrey (twins) and Francis. Mr. 
Beaman is an enterprising citizen, and politicallv he his a Democrat. 

CHARLES I. BEAKDSLEY, farmer, Smithtield township, P. O. 
Hoblet, was born in Schuyler county, N. Y., June 24, 1856, son of S. C. 
and Caroline M. (Coots) Beardsley, nativesof that county and of English 
ancestry. His great-grandfather, Coots, was a Hessian soldier, and 
was in the Wai- of the Revolution ; after the war he became an Amer- 
ican citizen and reared a large family. Mr. Beardsley was the eldest 
in a family of four children, all boys ; he was married, March 7, 1877, 
to Emma R, daughter of T. D. and Clarinda (Crandall) Beardsley, 
old settlers in Springfield ; she was born February 15, 1850, and was 
one of a family of five children. There has been given to Mr. and 
Mrs, Beardsley one child, Annie Maud, born December 27, 1881. 
Mr. Beardsley came to this township thirteen years ago, and pur- 
chased what is known as the Ames (afterward the Peck) Farm ; he 
is a successful farmer, deals largely in cattle, buying and selling; is a 
member of the Knights of Honor; is a Republican and active in politi- 
cal matters, and a man well informed on the subjects of the day. Mrs. 
Beardsley is an active and energetic business ladv. The Beardsleys 
are descendants of William Beardsley, who came from England in the 
ship '' Planter" to Boston, Mass., in 1635. 

GEORGE G. BEARDSLEY, of Beardsley A: McKean, hardware 
merchants, Troy, was born in Sullivan township, Tioga Co., J*a., 
January 11, 1849, a son of Eden and Miranda (Tinkham) Beardsley, 
and is of J'uritan and Pilgrim stock. He Avas reared and educated in 
his native count\% served an apprenticeship of three years in Tioga, 
and afterward worked as a journeyman six and one-half years. He 
located in Troy, May 18, 1874, and August 1, 1878, embarked in the 
general hardware business in Troy, continuing alone until J 879 when 
Mr. H. M. S])alding became associated with him, and the firm did 
business as Peardsley & Spalding until February, 1884, when Mr. A. 
B. McKean was admitted to the firm, and as Beardsley, Spalding & 
Mclvean continued up to the first of January. 1890, when Mr. Spalding 
retired, and the fii-m continues as Beardsley & McKean. Mr. Beardsley 
was married Januarv 11, 1882, to Alice E., daughter of Lewis LL and 
L. Susan (J'ierce) Tei'rs, of Troy. Mr. IJeardsley is one of the sub- 
stantial and enterprising business men of Troy, and in politics he is a 
Republican. 

CYliluS P,ECK, fai-mcr, P. O. Fassett, was l)()rn in Pike county, 
I'a., June 30, 1820, a son of William and Mary Lnpson Beck; the 
former was born in Mount liethel. Pa., the latter in Pike county. 
Pa. They removed to this county in 18;;5, locating in Ridgel)ury 
when; they remained one year; tlien moved to South Creek, and 
settled where Mr. Beck purchased and cleared a most fertile farm, on 
which he afterward lived and died at the age of seventy years, and his 
wife at the age of eighty-seven years. They raised a family of eleven 
children, ten of whom grew to maturity and three are now living. The 
subject of this memoir, who is the second in the family, came to this 
cou'ntv with his father Avhen fifteen years of age. He received his 
education in Tompkins county, N. Y.,'and afterward followed farming 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 627 

at which he has proved a success. At the age of twenty -six he mar- 
ried Martha, daughter of Asa and Mercy Moore, by which union there 
were born seven chikh-en, all of whom grew to maturity, and of these 
six are now Hving, as follows : Elle R., M. Amelia, Catherine, William 
Henry, Grace E. and I lattie Louise ; Fh)ravance A., now deceased, was 
the eldest. Mr. Beck is an extensive farmer and lumberman, not only 
supplying the home demand, but shipping to Elmira and other points. 
He has a fiue assortment of blooded horses, from registered stock ; is a 
successful and enterprising farmer, having the confidence of his fellow- 
citizens; has held the office of school director and also town commis- 
sioner for years with satisfaction to all, and honor to himself. 

JOSEPH BECKER, farmer, P. O. Alba, was born in Kinderhook, 
N. Y., February 5, 1827, and is the adopted son of John S. and Hannah 
Becker, who settled in Armenia township in 1883, on the farm now 
owned by J. D. Becker. Our subject was reared in Armenia township 
from twelve years of age, and cleared and improved the farm he now 
occupies. In 1864 he enlisted in Company I, Fifteenth New York 
Engineers, and after nine months' service was honorably discharged. 
He married September 9, 1852, Mary, daughter of Hinim Miller, of 
Armenia, and has eight children, as follows : Morris, Anna, Clara 
(Mrs. Burton Rexford), Charlotte, Mary (Mrs. Charles Purvis), Florence, 
Jennie and Ella. Mr. Becker is one of the substantial farmers of 
Armenia township, and in politics is a Republican. 

ABNER M. BEEBE, retired merchant, Rome, was born in New 
York City, August 28, 1832, and is a son of Martin H. and Eliza 
(Meserole) Beebe, the former a native of Connecticut, the latter of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and of Dutch descent. His paternal ancestors were 
from Connecticut, dating back generations. His father, who was a 
copper-smith, and a successful business man, died January 1, 1840, 
aged thirty -three ; he had a family of five children, viz : Martin H., of 
Brooklyn ; Margaret M., married to William H. VanYorhis, both now 
dead ; Abner M. ; Harriet M., married to William H. Barnes, of New 
York City ; Elizabeth, died in infancy. Abner M. Beebe passed his 
boyhood in the city of Brooklyn, attending the public schools until 
twelve years of age, after which he was thrown on his own resources. 
He secured a position as errand boy in a store in New York, and was 
clerk in different stores, finally becoming a head book-keeper, and was 
thus employed until the panic of 1857, when he o])ened a fruit store on 
his own account, and conducted the same until 1863, when he was 
appointed commissioner of enrollment by E^resident Lincoln, and during 
the draft riots he was in frequent danger of his life from assassination. 
In 1865 he came to Bradford county and purchased a farm of fifty-five 
acres in North Rome ; after eight years he removed to Wysox, and three 
years afterward he proceeded to Springville, Susquehanna county, and 
was there three years when he went to Brushville, opened a general 
store and remained two years ; while here he lost his first wife ; then 
he removed to Myersburg, and merchandised for about five years, and 
from there came to Rome borough; then in 1887 he retired from active 
life. Mr. Beebe has been twice married, the first time April 26, 1854, 
to Mary A. Dains, daughter of William H. Dains, of Brooklyn, by 



G28 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

which marriage he had four children, viz. : Francis E., married to E. 
T. Bull ; Hattie M., married to J. Wilbur Dunn ; Mary E., married to 
E. II. Myer, Jr., and Isaac M. She died March !(>, 1882, and May 27, 
1884, he Avas married to Emma Conipton, daughter of William H. 
Compton, of New York City. Mr. Beebe takes a great interest in 
church matters, and is a Republican. He has been three times 
appointed postmaster of different offices in the count}' ; he has also 
served as council and on the election board of Rome borough. In his 
business career Mr. Beebe has always been successful, and left a large 
circle of friends wherever he has resided ; he commands the esteem 
and respect of a large circle of friends in this his adopted countv. 

JOSEPH B. AND GEORGE M. BEIDLEMAN, merchants,^ Wila- 
wana, were born in Wilawana, this county, Joseph B. on January 25, 
1853, and George M. on March 23, 1862. They are the sons of 
Anson and Eunice (Seeley) Beidleman, natives of New York. Anson 
was the son of Isaac Biedleman, who moved to this county about 
181H or 1817, when his son was seven or eight 3'ears of age, began 
keej)ing house in a log house in the northwest corner of the townshi]) 
of Athens, Avhere he followed farming. Anson followed the same 
vocation as his father in Athens township until 18-17 when, in company 
with D. S. Brown, he entered into mercantile business ; after three or 
four years under the firm name of Beidlenum & Brown, Mr. Beidle- 
man purchased Mr. Brown's interest, Avhich he continued with nmch 
success until his death, which occurred in 1880, when he was in his 
seventy-first year ; he was in the mercantile business thirty-two years, 
carrying a general stock for country trade. His family consisted of 
three sons: Joseph B., George M., and Benjamin F. (deceased). Joseph 
B. and George M. I3eidleman nvere reared and educated at Wila- 
Avana ; Joseph B. is yet unmarried; George M., at the age of twenty- 
two married Hattie L., daughter of G. H. and Catherine Sible, of 
WihiAvana, Pa., January 21, 1884, by Avhich union there was born to 
them one daughter, Mildred B. Mrs. Anson Beidleman carried on the 
business in her own name ten years after the death of her husband ; 
in 1890 J. B. and G. M. took the store in their OAvn name, and are 
doing a prosperous business ; besides a full line of groceries and pro- 
visions, they handle extensively farming machinery, and are known 
under the firm name Beidleman Brothers. They are both nmsicians 
of some mei-it, and ai-e much res])ccted by their townsmen. Joseph 
IJ. has held tiie office of constable two terms, and now holds the im- 
|)ortant position of justice of the i)eace. Mrs. Beidleman. Sr., is nearly 
sixty-five years of age, and enjoys good health. James Seeley, her 
grandfather, was a Revolutionary soldier. 

ALONZO E. BENJAMIN, farmer, Albany township, P. O. New 
All)any, was born in Asylum townsiiij). this count}', May 5,1838, a son 
of John V. and Betsey Elizabeth (P>ennett) Benjamin, natives of 
Albany township and of Knglish descent. His father was a farmer 
and lumberman. His grandfather, John Benjamin, also a farmer and 
lumberman, AA^as a native of Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y., and Avas one of 
the pioneers of Asylum. It is thought that the great-grandfather was 
also a resident of Asvlum, and died there at a very old age ; he was a 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 629 

soldier of the Eevolutionary War, and a pensioner ; he was a man of 
influence. Benjamin Bennett, the grandfather on the mother's side, at 
one time o^vned a grist and saw mill at the month of the creek near 
wliere W. Iv. Storrs now resides ; he died at the age of ninety-eight 
years, a pensioner of the War of 1812. Our sul)ject was reared on his 
father's farm and engaged in farming in Asyhim; he was ten years in 
Monroe township and removed to his present farm of one liundredand 
fift}^ acres, in 1881, one of the finest properties in the township. In 
October, 1861, he enlisted in the Civil War in Company G, Fifty- 
seventh P. V. I., was in active service three years and two months, 
and was under fire a large number of times, receiving one slight wound. 
He was a prisoner in Libl)y prison about six months ; had also four 
brothers in the war, making live of the family serving their country 
all at one time. He was married March 20," 1866, to Eliza Mingos, 
whose ancestors were among the early settlers of Towanda township. 
To them have been born one daughter (now deceased) and one son, 
Almond H., who resides with his father. Mr. Benjamin is a member 
of the G. A. R.; politically he is a Bepublican, and he is one of the 
most successful farmers in the towmship. 

JAMES BENNETT, chief of police, constable and tax collector, 
Athens, is a native of Pike township, Bradford Co., Pa., born June 
23, 1858, and is a son of Miles and Lucy (Bishop) Bennett; his father 
is also a native of Pike township; his mother of Susquehanna county. 
Pa.; the latter died June 23, 1858, in her twenty-fourth year. Miles 
Bennett is a farmer and veterinary surgeon, was in the service during the 
Civil War. Ferris Bennett, the grandfather of James Bennett, was a 
native Connecticut, and came to this county in an early day; he died 
in May, 1890, at the advanced age of ninety years. James Bennett is 
the youngest of three children (the second child died in infancy). He 
received a common-school education and followed farming until 1882, 
when he came to Athens and was appointed chief of police, the next 
year he was appointed constable, has been elected since that: in 1887 
he was elected tax collector, and has held that ])osition since. He 
was married at Skinner's Eddy, July 19, 1879, to Miss Josephine H., 
daughter of Abraham M. and Melissa A. Kramer, natives of Wysox 
township. Abraham Kramer was a machinist and foreman in Kellogg 
ik Maurice's machine shops when they first started in Athens; he died 
in November, 1882, in his sixty-fourth year, and Mrs. Kramer resides 
with her daughter, Mrs. Bennett, who is the second in a famil}^ of thi-ee 
children; she was born in Ulster township, March, 1858. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bennett have an adopted daughter, Mabel L. Mr. Bennett, who 
is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, 
and of the Royal Arcanum, Sexennial League and Province and Shield; 
in politics he is a Republican. 

W. A. BENNETT, stone dealer, Silvara, was born in Wyalusing 
township, this count3% April 20, 1850, and is a son of Levi and Cor- 
nelia J. (Baker) Bennett. Of a family of seven children he is the 
third ; his father is still a resident of this county. The bo^iiood 
of our subject was passed on a farm, and he had the advantages 
of a good common-school education ; at the age of eighteen he began 



630 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

to learn the carpentei-'s trade with James Share)", of Pike township' 
and after being in his employ about one year lie began contracting on 
his own responsibility, following that occupation until 1889. In 1867 
he removed to Siivara, which has been his liome since; in 1882 he 
built a steam saw and planing and feed mill in that village, which 
he still operates. In the fall of 1888 he began his stone operations, 
leasing a tract of land close to the village, and opened what is 
now known as Bennett's quarry; this is the Blue Stone Quarry where 
he quarries a superior article of Hag and curb stone; he operates this 
during the summer and lumbers in the winter, thus furnishing steady 
em))loyment for about twelve men. In his work in the quarrv he cuts 
and ships on an average four car-loads of stone per week, finding mar- 
ket for the same in the cities of the Lackawanna Valley and New 
Jersey. Mr. Bennett is also an extensive land oAvner, having a tract 
of about one hundred and eighty acres of land mostly covered by a 
growth of fine timber. He was united in marriage, December IT, 
187(>, with Susan Smith, a daughter of William Smith, of Xew York, 
and this union has been blessed with three children: Frennie, Elgie 
and Clair. Politically Mr. Bennett is a Republican, and has filled 
the various township offices. He is decidedly a self-made man, and by 
hard toil and close application to business he has amassed a considera- 
ble fortune which under his cai'eful guidance is constantlv increasing. 

JOHN GASKIN BENSLEY, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. 
Towanda, was born in Tioga county, N. Y., July 30, 1831, and is a son 
of John and Mary (Ross) Bensley, natives of Pennsylvania. In his 
father's family there were five children, of whom our subject is the 
fourth. John Gaskin Bensley began life for himself at twenty-one, and 
was engaged in lumbering fifteen years upon the West branch of the 
Susquehanna; then located on a farm in Pike township, where he 
remained five years, and was then engaged in the mercantile business 
at LeRaysville five years, and in 1879 he removed to his present home. 
Mr. Bensley was married October 1, 1804, to Miss Althea L., daughter 
of George and Lydia (Dwight) Judd, and they have had born to tliem 
three children : George Judd, born August 4, 1865 (is professor in 
Lowell's Commercial College, at Binghamton, N. Y.) ; Mertie Belle, 
born August 5, 1868, and Ward Eugene, born October 28, 1872, and 
died Se})teinber 16, 1884. Mr. Bensley is a Sir Knight Templar, and 
in politics he is a Rejiublican. 

ALVIN L. HKRin', farmer, Springfield townshij), P. O. Beri-y- 
town, was born January 16, 1836, on the farm where he now resides, 
a son of Almond and Clarissa (Severance) Berry, the former of 
whom was reared in Otsego county, N. Y., and removed to this 
county in 1825 from Danby, Tom])kins Co., X. Y., with his 
brothers, Woodard and Leaman, and they each cleai'cd large 
farms. The father was a man of sterling worth and inttuence 
in his time. He had a. family of seven children, and died at 
the age of sixty-seven years; the mother also died at the age <jf 
sixty-seven. Mr. J3erry's grandfather, Severance, was cook foi' 
Gen. Washington in the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when 
only seventeen years of age, and was afterward a soldiei- in the ranks 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 631 

serving in the war seven years. Alvin L. Berry was married to 
Eunice Ilarkness, who was born February 12, 1840, a daughter of 
Hiram and Lorinda (Boughton) Ilarkness, of South Creek township. 
Her father was the first white male child born in the town of Spring- 
field, and his father, John Ilarkness, was the first settler in the place, 
having come here from Massachusetts in 1803. Mrs. Berry's father 
died October 23, 1860, at the age of sixty-one years, and her mother 
in April. 1890, at the age of eigiity-two. Mr. and Mrs. Berry have 
had two children : Grace E., born December 9, 1869, and Mattie L., 
born December 6, 1873. Mr. Berry lives on the old homestead, a fine 
farm of one hundred and sixty-six acres; his principal business is 
dairying, and he has one of the finest herds of Jersej^ cows in the 
county. Politically he is a Republican, and takes an active interest in 
the affairs of his party ; has held several positions of public trust, and 
is considered one of the substantial men of the county. 

WOODARD BERRY, farmer, P. O. Berry town, was born March 29. 
1830, on tiie farm where he now resides in Springfield township, a son 
of Woodard and Rhoda (Cass) Berry, natives of Otsego Co., N. Y., 
and who came to Springfiekl township, this county, from Danby, 
Tompkins Co., N. Y., in 1825. The grandfatlier, who was a native of 
Vermont, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and died in Spring- 
held township, this county, at a very old age; the father, Woodard 
Berry, with his two brothers. Almond and Leaman, were the first 
settlers in this part of tlie township, and each cleared large farms. 
The father, who was one of the substantial men of Berrytown in his 
day, was twice married. His first wife died at the age of fifty-eight 
years, and he then married Anna Cass, who died at the advanced age 
of eighty-one vears, lie himself passing away when aged seventy-six. 
Mr. and Mrs. Berry were consistent Christians, he a Baptist in belief, 
and she a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Chui'ch. Our subject, 
who is ^he fifth in a family of seven children, all living, was reared on 
the farn^. On May 19, 1855, he was married to Mary A, Smith, who 
was born April 21. 1836, a daughter of T^ichoias and Anna (Avery) 
Smith, of Springfield, this county, natives of New Yoi'k, former of 
whom, who was a farmer, died aged eightv-one, and the latter at t!ie 
age of forty years. Mr, and Mrs. Berry have had born to them four 
children, as follows: Ida A., born March 11, 1856, wife of John Gor- 
don; Jay W., born May 30, 1859, married to Laura Cornell; Ruth, 
born December 31, 1869, and Lamont, born April 21, 1874, Mr. 
Berry has a prime farm of 160 acres (tiie old homestead), has a dairy 
and raises some fine horses and Short-horn cattle. In politics he is a 
Republican, and takes an active interest in tlie affairs of his party; 
has h(,'ld several offices of i>ublic trust; has been postmaster since 1889. 
The family are members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. 

JOHN BESLEY, farmer, P, O. Columbia Cross Roads, was born in 
Columbia township, this county, February 3, 1851, and is a son of John 
W. and Ilettie M. (Swayze) Besley. His paternal grandparents were 
Oliver and Rhoda (Westbrook) Besley, natives of France and New 
York, respectively, and who were pioneers of Columbia township, 
settling on the farm now owned by subject, which they cleared and 



C-Vi HISTOllY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

improved and there died. John W.. father of our subject, who was 
also a native of Columbia township, always followed farming, and died 
on the farm now occupied by his son (irabe C, his wife Avas a daughter 
of Obadiah and Elizabeth (Beamer) Swayze, of New Jersey, and by 
iier he had three sons : Oliver B., John and Gabe C. John Besley was 
reared in Columbia township, and resides on the old homestead of the 
paternal grandfather. In 1876 he married Mertie, daughter of O. B. 
and Emily (McClelland) Ilowland, of Columbia township, and they 
have four children : Lena E., John O., Edith L. and E. Gabe. Mr. 
Besley is a member of the Presbyterian Church ; in politics he is a 
Republican. 

WILLIAM W. BESLEY,fai-mer and stock dealer, of Columbia town- 
ship, P. O. Columbia Cross Roads, was born in Columbia township, this 
county, Nov^ember 16, 1849, and is a son of Oliver O. and Susan 
(Wolfe) Besley ; his paternal grandparents were Isaac and Rebecca 
(AVatkins) Besley, and his great-grandparents were Oliver and Rhoda 
(Westbrook) Besley. Oliver and Isaac Besley, who were both pioneers 
of Columbia township, cleared farms and tlied there. The children of 
Oliver and Rhoda (Westbrook) Besley were as follows: John W., 
Isaac, Elias, Susan (Mrs. Bateman Monro), Sophia (Mrs. James Fries), 
Elthera (Mrs. Peter S. Furman), Mary A. (Mrs. William Strait) and 
Catherine (Mrs. Jacob Fries). The children of Isaac and Rebecca 
(Watkins) Beslev were Oliver O., Philo W., George N., Clavton ()., 
Pollv (Mrs. Elnathan McClelland), Ada (Mrs. Albert Cainpbell), 
Esth'er A. (Mrs. William II. McClelland). Oliver ()., the father of our 
subject, was born in Columbia township, ;ind died there; he cleared 
several farms, and was also a dealer in stock; his wife was a daughter 
of George and Leefe (Kennedy) Wolfe, and granddaughter of Michael 
antl Elizabeth (Furman) Wolfe, who settled in Columbia township in 
1813. Oliver O. and Susan (Wolfe) Beslev became the parents of 
seven children, of whom three grew to maturity : William AV.. George 
D. and Isaac. AVilliam AV. Besle}' was reared in Columbia township, 
where he has always resided, aiul since attaining his majoi-ity lias been 
eno-a^ed in business for himself as a farmer and stock dealer. He 
married June 3, 1886, Iliza, daughter of Andi-ew Fralev,of Springfield 
township, and has one son, Frank. Mr. Besley is one of the prominent 
and enterprising citizens of ('olumbia townshij), and in politics he is a 
Democrat. 

FRANCIS EUGENE BESSFV, pastor of the Presbyterian Church 
at Rome, was born in Monroeton, this county. Novembei* 22. 1850, and 
is the son of George and Amanda (Staples) liessey, the former of 
whom was a farmer and lumberman, a native of New York, and the 
latter a native of Connecticut, both members of the Methodist Ej)is- 
copal Church ; their family consisted of three children : Albert, a 
machinist; Herman, supeiintendent of schools at Delaware, and Francis 
Eugene. The I'athercame to thiscounty about the year lS46,and resided 
here until his death in lSti»; : the mother died one year before him in 
Fairfax county, \'a , aged fifty. The boyliood of our subject up to his 
twelfth 3'ear was s])ent in Monroeton township, where he attended the 
l)ublic schools; then removed with his mother to Washington, D.C 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 633 

and studied in Columbia University three years, after which he entered 
the Grazer Theological Seminai'v, and was graduated in May, 18TH. 
Then went to Union, N. Y., Avhere he remained about two years, after 
which he removed to Hancock, N. V., whence alter fouryoars lie came 
to Rome wliei-e lie has since remaineti. Mi', l^cssey was united in mar- 
riage, April 17, 18SS, with Sophronie II., daughter of lliram and Jane 
(Ridgeway) Woodburn, of Rome township, this county. Mr. Bessey's 
present charge includes Rome and Orwell. As a minister he hag been 
very successful in winning the love and esteem of his congregation 
where he has been, lie is a meml)er of the International Fraternal 
Alliance, of Raltimore, Md., aiul in his political views was formerly a 
Republican, but now leans strongly toward the Prohibition party. 

JEROME E. BEST, merchant, South Warren, is a native of Potter 
countv. Pa., born Sepiember 3. 1801, and is a son of William antl 
Elizabeth (Epley)Best, natives of New York, farmers, born of German 
extraction ; the father died in 1863; the mother is a resident of War- 
ren Centre. They w^ere the parents of five children, of whom Jerome 
E., the fourth in the order of birth, was reared in Jackson Valley, 
Susquehanna Co., Pa., where he received his education, but was more 
at work than in the school books, and when old enough he was 
apprenticed and learned the blacksmith's trade, but in time he quit 
the anvil and commenced merchandising in South Warren, Avhich 
he has carried on very successfully, and now^ has the only store in that 
part of the county, keeping a general assortment suitable to the 
surrounding countr}^ trade, and a full and general assortment for all 
his custom. He was married in LeRaysville in 188-1, to Abbie Currier, 
daughter of David and Jane (Gamble) Currier, natives of this State, 
and of English and Irish descent. To Mr. and Mrs. Best were born 
two children : Maud and Lorena. Mr. Best is a Republican in politics, 
and is recognized as one of the eminently respectable citizens of 
Bradford county. 

JOHN A. BILES is a farmer and teacher, of Wyalusing township, 
P. O. Hornet's Ferry. The family from which this gentleman is 
descended has occupied a prominent position in the pioneer history of 
the State, as well as of Bradford county. The names first sprang into 
notice in 1678 or 1679, two brothers, William and Charles, coming from 
Dorchester, England, and settling in Bucks county. The elder brother, 
William, was an extensive land holder there, and occupied a prominent 
position in early Colonial times; he brought with him his wife and a 
family of seven children, and two servants, settling close to the falls of 
the Delaware. He purchased a large plantation from William Penn, 
also an island in the Delaware river, of the Indians, the deed being 
confirmed to him March 19, 1729. He was elected to the council of 
Philadelphia in the spring of 1682, and his name is also found among 
the signatures of the Great Charter, The first meeting of the Friends 
in that coupty was held May 2, 1683, at his house, whicli was con- 
structed of brick, imported from England. He died in 1710, and was 
succeeded by his son William. The family have occupied prominent 
positions in different sections of the State. 

Henry Biles was a native of Trenton, N. J., but while a young 



634 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

man he immigrated to Smithfield township, Monroe Co., Pa., and then, 
in Ills old age, about the year 1812, removed to the vicinity of Pitts- 
burg where he died about 1820, aged about seventy years. He married 
Phebe Patterson, and had a family of seven children, viz.: John. 
Charles, AVilliam, Robert and Henry (twins), Alexander (grandfather 
of subject) and Benjamin. He was married (tiie second time) to Miss 
Broadhead, by whom he had two children, Polly and Betsey. Of the 
sons: John and Charles followed surveying; William became a lawyer ; 
Robert a farmer ; Henry was a cripple, and Alexander was a printer. 
Alexander, the grandfather, was born October 28, 1783, married 
Itoseanna Place, September 14, 1801, and died March 28, 1855 ; they 
had the following children : John, born January 2, 1802, married to 
Sallie Bramhall, February 13, 1825, and died February 6, 1880 ; Eleanor, 
born April 28, 1805, married to Jacob Strunk, January 17, 1823, and 
died May 22, 1878; Phebe, born February 27, 1807, married to 
Chandler'T. Baldwin, September 12, 1830, and died July 10, 1831; 
Samuel W., born January 19, 1809, married to Matilda Jane Ennis, 
February 13, 1834, died May 1, 1859; James A., born November 22, 
1810, married to Lizzie YanNoy, March 8, 1836, died November 6, 
1877; Charles, born October ll, 1812, married to Jane VanNoy, 
April 24, 1838, a resident of Wyalusing ; Polly, born April 27, 181-J, 
married September 12, 1833, to Chandler T. Baldwin, tiie husband of 
her deceased sister Phebe, died February 19, 1856; Jacob P. (father of 
subject), born January 29, 1816, married to Mary Bunnell, August 15, 
183*9, died April 25, 1890 ; Rebecca, born Aprif 19, 1818, married to 
James Depew, February 5, 1844, died May 9, 1857 ; Elizabeth and 
Alexander (twins), born February 8, 1820, died in infancy ; George, 
born July 20, 1821, married to Almedia Camp, December 12, 1843, 
died April 16, 1869 ; Lewis, born June 19, 1823, married to Catherine 
VanNoy, January 29, 1850, resides in Wyalusing ; Betsey, born May 
23, 1826, married to Calvin Camp, May 12, 1847, live at Camptown. 
Samuel W. Biles had eleven children, all of whom died in early life; 
two only^ were married and left children. Mrs. Rebecca Depew has no 
descendants in the county. George Biles had eleven children, all of 
whom are deceased except one, George, who lives in Meshoppen. 
Jacob P. Biles, father, of our subject, had the following childi-en : 
Helen M., born January 11, 1844, married to Allen Hover, May 15, 
1873; James M., born Septem.ber 3, 1845, married to ISIillie Wilson, 
August 7, 1870 ; Aaron, born September 10, 1847, died October 11, 
1862 ; Mary, born December 16, 1849, died November 7, 1862; Sarah, 
born Mav io, 1851, died Mav 7, 1853 ; Emily A., born May 14, 1853, 
died March 17, 1872; Anna'^E., born October 31, 1855, died March 15, 
1870; John A. and Jacob M. (twins), born February 16, 1858 ; Jacob 
married to Ida ]\r. Quick, November 29, 1882, and is now a physician 
at Meshoppen. Jacob P. Biles, the father, was captain for three years, 
from Septeml)er 17, 1842 to 1845, in the Union Ligiit Infantry, Fourth 
Volunteer Battalion, Second Brigade, Ninth Division of J'ennsylvania 
Militia. John A. Biles married Sarah E. Kerrick, of Asylum, Octol)ei' 
21,1884; Martin L., born November 28, 1860, died May 1, 1884; 
Elmore L., born August 17, 1863, died June 13, iSSS ; Albert S., born 



HISTORY OF BRADFOUD COUNTY . 635 

July 25, 1866, died April 23, 1872. Mr. Biles is the lather of the 
foirowing children: Elmore II., born June 15, 1885; Frank V., born 
August 1, 1887, and Clarence E., born December 9, 1889. The fatlier 
of subject was an extensive land owner, and one of the best farmers of 
the county ; a Christian gentleman, and atone time was connected with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, but severed his connection on account 
of some church quarrel, and never again united with any church. His 
farm was one of the neatest in the neighborhood, noted for fine farms. 
Although a man of limited education, he was a great reader, and kept 
thoroughly posted on all the leading questions ot the day. He resided 
on the old liomestead, now occupied by his son, from 1839 until his 
death, and reared a family of twelve children, eigiit of whom are dead, 
and four still living have become successful men and women. John A. 
Biles was born and reared on a farm, and educated in the common 
schools, at Keystone Academy, and at the Susquehanna Collegiate 
Institute, having trraduated from the latter in 1889. He has followed 

'1 • 1 

teaching part of the time during the past ten years ; is also a practical 
surveyor, and follows that, to a consitlerable extent ; is a farmer and 
owns about seventy acres of the old homestead, having always lived 
there, with the exception of from November, 18S7, to May, 1890. He 
is a member of the Baptist Church of Camptown, of the Patrons of 
Industry, and is a Republican, taking active part in politics, but seeking 
no political emoluments. 

CHARLES BILES, farmer, of Wyalusing township, P. O. 
Homet's Ferry. This gentleman, who is one of the pioneers of his 
section, was born in what is now Monroe (then Northampton) county, 
Pa., October 11, 1812, a son of Alexander P. and Rosanna (Place) 
Biles. His parents had a family of fifteen children, of whom three 
are now living, he beino- the eldest of the three: Lewis is a farmer, 
and Betsie married Calvin Camp, whom she survives, and now resides 
at Camptown. Our subject came to this county with his parents when 
twelve years old, and for a short period resided on Vaughn hill, on 
the farm now owned by S. S. Butts ; from there they removed to 
Frenchtown, and there remained four years; then for three or four 
years they made their home on the premises now owned by George 
Homet, at Homet's Ferry, and then removed to the farm where Lewis 
Biles now lives, where they passed the rest of their days. This section 
was a wilderness at that time, and amid such surroundings young 
Charles was reared, having but poor facilities for acquiring an educa- 
tion. Leaving home when about twenty-one years of age, he built a 
small house on a clearing, where his present residence now stands, and 
started for himself, spending the next ten years in clearing the land 
and fitting it for cultivation. He leased a sawmill, and for one year 
was engaged in sawing lumber and rafting the same down the Susque- 
hanna. After undergoing the usual hardships of the early pioneer, 
and perhaps far more than his share, he at last developed a farm of eighty- 
four acres, as fine as the county affords, and, having secured a comfort- 
able competence, retired from active business, and, under the care of his 
daughter Emma, is prepared to pass his declining years in comfort. 
He was united in marriage April 24, 1838, with Jane Van Noy, daugh- 



636 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ter of Peter A'anNoy, of Sussex county, N. J., and this union was 
blest with six children, viz.: AdeUa, married to N. A. Fuller, Eliza- 
beth (deceased), Lindly (deceased), Peter A., Emma V., and Delphine, 
married to J, M. Irvine. His wife died in 1877, since which time his 
daughter Emma has cared for him. Mr. Biles has been a life-long Demo- 
crat, an earnest worker for his party, but never a place seeker; his life 
has been one of hard and continuous toil, starting in life with no 
resources but good health and an earnest desire to succeed, he has 
secured a comfortable home and a fortune ample for his needs. 

P. A. PILES, farmer and stock grower, of Wyalusing township, 
P. O. Homet's Ferry, was born on the farm where he now resides, 
June 12, 1850, a son of Charles Biles. He was born and reared on the 
farm and attended the common schools of the neighborhood until 
attaining his majority. Mr. Biles was married, Mai'ch 2»!, 1872, to 
Margaret, daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Bush) Wilson, of Wya- 
lusing township, and to them have been born three children, viz.: 
Lizzie, Charles and Scott. Politically Mr. Biles is a Democrat, and 
now fills the office of school director. He has always resided on the 
farm and been a successful business man. 

ALONZO A. BISHOP, Wysox, is a descendant of one of the 
pioneer families of this count}^ His father was Eiihu Bishop, a tanner, 
who settled in Wysox townshi]! in 1803, and established a tannery on 
his ))lace. The mother of our subject was Mary (Sweetlan) Bishop ; 
both parents were of Connecticut; they had a family of four children. 
The father returned to Troy, N. Y,, after a short residence, but soon 
went back to Wysox, where he died in 1857. Alonzo A., who is the 
youngest and only surviving member of their family, was born in 
Wysox township, this county, February 29, 1808. and attended school 
in the old frame church ; he operated a tannery and made shoes, and 
was thus engaged fifty-five years. He was noted for his integrity and 
honesty as a workman, and his products always found a ready sale at 
home, from those who knew him best. Mr. Bishop has farmed, for 
some years, a portion of his land, which he paid $102 per acre 
for, and tkiring the Civil War he was ofi'ered $200 for it, and 
refused the offer which was, i)ossibIy, all it was worth ; but the old 
homestead was not parted with, and here he has spent ovei" fifty yeai's 
of his long life. He has retired from active labor, and, in the gentle 
evening of his life, feels more and more attached to the dear old home. 
He was married in Wysox, one bright Sabbath day, in March, 1830, to 
Eveline B., daughter of Shepard and Sarah (Coolbaugh) Pierce, natives 
of Pennsylvania, of German and English descent, who came to Brad- 
ford county in 1806, and settled in Wysox, wiiere he took uj) four 
hundred acres of valuable land, and, for many years, was the most 
extensive farmer in this community. Mr. and Mrs. P)islio]) have spent 
many years of their lives in Wvsox, where they reared a family of seven 
children. Alfred S., the eldest, was born August 2G, 1831, and is now 
a resident of the '' Sunny South," where he was when the Civil War 
broke out; and if his father, who is a liepublican, could have seen the 
name of Alfred S. Bishop on the Confederate roll, he would iiave felt 
that his boy was lost. Tlie next, Frances M,, born January 23, 1833, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. G37 

married Durius Williams, both deceased in 1880. Edwai'd II., horn 
September 18, 1835, is superintendent of the iiome i'arni, and is 
unmarried ; he attended the district school and Williams])ort College ; 
is active in local politics, and has held most of the offices in Wysox ; 
served as collector for twenty years in Wysox township, is a liepubli- 
can, a Mason, and a member of the Grange, and is well informed and a 
diligent reader. Elizabeth S., born May 14, 1837, is the wife of Jesse R. 
Smith, Mary, deceased, was born December 5, 1838, and became the 
wife of Robert Austin ; her death occurred in 1862. Joseph W. was 
born April 28, 1840, and is in the employment of the Lehigh Valley 
R. R. Co. Sliepard E., the youngest, was born August 21, 1846. Mrs. 
Bishop is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bishop served 
twenty years as a member of the school board in Wysox; was a 
drummer and bugle major in the rifle company there many years. 

JOSEPH W. BISHOP, chief clerk, general office of the L. V. R. R., 
Sayre, is a native of Wysox township, this county, born April 28, 
1840, and is a son of Alonzo and Evaline (Pierce) Bishop, the former 
from Connecticut and the latter born in Bradford county. The father 
was a mechanic, and operated a tannery in Wysox townshij), where 
the son grew to his majority and had the advantages of the public 
schools. lie was also a student in the Collegiate Institute, Towanda. 
In 1867 he was employed by the L. V. R. R. Company, and was with 
the corps of engineers in the construction thereof, and until it was 
built, when he became the Towanda station aaent. He was soon, 
however, ti-ansferred to the superintendent's office, Towanda. where 
he remained from 1871 to 1876, when the general offices of the com- 
pany were transferred to their present place, Sayre, and he came with 
them and continued in the same service. Joseph W. Bishop and 
Mary H. W^ells were joined in marriage at Meshoppen, Wyoming- 
county, in 1872. She is a daughter of Dr. Nathan and Mary (liorton) 
Wells, the former of whom was born in Orange county, N. Y., and 
died in July, 1886 ; the latter, a natiye of this county, survives. In 
their family there were three daughters and one son, Mrs. Bishop 
being next the youngest, born October 31, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Jose])h 
W. Bishop have had children as follows : Louise W., Katherine W., 
Nathan Wells (deceased), and Howard Elmer. Mrs. Bishop is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bishop is a member of the K. 
of P. and of the Iron Hall, and is a member of the Democratic party. 
The family are widely known and highly respected. 

G. M. BIXBY (deceased) was, during life, one of W'yalusing's 
most successful and highly respected business men. He was born in 
Campbell, Steuben Co., N. Y., October 30, 1820, a son of Solomon 
and Lucy (French) Bixby, the former of whom was a native of Con- 
necticut, and by trade a shoemaker, died in Steuben county, N. Y., 
May 7, 1843. His faniih^ comprised six children, of whom G. M. is 
the only one that ever lived in Bradford county. The father, after the 
death of his first wife, married a second time, and G. M. Bixby then 
went to live with his uncle, a hardware merchant of Rochester, N. Y.; 
he was educated in the public schools of that city, and, after finishing 
his schooling, became a clerk in his uncle's store, where he remained a 



03S HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 

few yeai's, and then entered the hardware business for himself, in 
liochester, N. Y., wliere he remained until 1853, when lie sold, and 
removed to Wyalusing, and conducted a general store and lumber 
business for (J, F. Welles. After a few years ho embarked in business 
for himself here, conducting a general store, and dealing extensively in 
lumber; then, in January, 187«), he opened the first and only bank at 
Wyalusing, conducting the same until his death, July 26, 1880. lie 
had acquired extensive real estate interests in Wyalusing and adjoin- 
ing townships, as well as several valuable pieces of property in the 
borough. Starting in life a poor boy, without aid he accumulated a 
fortune, being eminently successful, and was renowned for his exact- 
ness and scrupulous honesty. Socially, he was loved and honored by 
all. Mr. Bixby was a member of the Presbvterian Church, and an 
earnest worker, was Sunday-school superintendent many years, and 
was always a liberal contributor to all benevolent or religious enter- 
prises, iriis death left a void that was difficult to till. He was united 
in marriage, September 15. 1874, with Clara Dunklee. and to them 
were born two children : Robert M., born March 14, 1876 — a student 
at Miller's School of Commerce, Elmira; and Bradford H., born 
October 14, 1879. After her husband's death, Mrs. Bixby assumed 
the management of his large estate, which she has conducted with 
consummate skill and judgment; she is a member of and an earnest 
worker in the Baptist Church of Wyalusing. 

IIAUKISOiS' BLACK, farmer and stock grower, of Wyalusing 
township, P. O. AYyalusing, was born in Wyalusing township, this 
county, December 4,*^ 1825, a son of John H. and Hannah (Ackley) 
Black. John H. Black was born, of Irish parentage, in Wyalusing 
township, December 28, 1796, and passed his entire life in the town- 
ship where he was a farmer and mill owner, clearing a large amount 
of land and fitting it for cultivation. He died April 2. 1878; his wife 
had died in May, the previous year; of their family of six children 
tlii-ee only survive, viz., ilai-rison, N. A. and Nanc\' P., wife of John 
I. Ingham, architect, of Elmira. Harrison Black attended school at 
Merryall, and had but limited educational advantages; his boyhood 
was passed in the woods and in the mills of his father, and when 
twenty-three years of age he started out for hijnself as a farmer, which 
occupation he has followed until tlie present time. In 1846 lie pur- 
chased a farm containing one huiuh-eil and twenty-five acres, which 
he has since added to until he now owns one hundred and ninety 
acres of land, a large portion of it being covered with tine timber. He 
does a general farm business; his farm is beautifully located and well 
imjiroved, and stocked with Ilolstein and Jersey cattle, and horses, 
lie was married March 28, 1849, to Henrietta M. Gregory, and the}"- 
have a family of three sons: C. II., a farmer of Wyalusing, who mar- 
ried Carrie Spencer; G. L., educated at the Wyoming Seminary and 
now a surveyor and mine superintendent of Wyoming, and John G., a 
railrond engineer of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Mr. Black has had to 
depend largely on his own resources, and has long tilled a foremost 
])lace in the ranks of Bradford county's most successful farmers. The 
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. G39 

fills the position of trustee; he is a charter member of Wvalusino- 
J.odge No. 508; of the I. O. O. ¥. at Camptown, has taken all subor- 
dinate degrees, and has passed all the chairs; in politics he is a Demo- 
crat, and he has filled all the various town offices, being- at present 
town commissioner. 

JOHN BLACK, retired farmer, of Pike township, P. O. LePays- 
ville, was born in Yorkshire, England, December 11, 1813, a son of 
William and Ann (Spencer) Black, woollen manufacturers. The fam- 
ily came to America in 1819, and on account of the English law forbid- 
ding mechanics to immigrate to America, the father j)assed himself as a 
gardener; lie worked at his trade successivel}^ in Kingston, Muncy 
(then called Pennsborough) and Monroeton. In 1830 he purchased the 
farm on which John now lives, and built what is known as the Haigh 
Woolen Mill, which he sold to Joseph Ilaigh and L. L. Stuart in 1846 ; 
afterw^ard he went to ('arroll county, 111., where he and his wife died in 
1870. John Black attended the district school in Pike township, also 
the LeKaysville borough school, and at the age of twenty-five beo-an 
life for himself by going on a farm one mile east, and' in 1857 he 
bouglit of his father the homestead where he now lives. Besides 
attending to his farm he has dealt in real estate m Bradford countv, 
but chiefly in the West. In 1838 he married his first wife, Harriet, 
daughter of Dr. Lemuel C. and Lucy Belding, natives of Vermont ; 
she died in 1847, and in 1848 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Uri 
and Phoebe (Barber) Cook. They have two children : Harriet E., born 
May 28, 1849, married to Paul C. Stern, an importer of tovs and 
fancy goods in New York City, and Phoebe A., born September 10, 
1853, married to George W. Buck, a real estate agent in Duluth. 
Minn. In his religious views Mr. Black is a Swedenborgian, and in 
politics he is a Republican. Mrs. Black is a member of the Congrega- 
tional Church at Potterville. 

JOHN H. BLACK, farmer, of Tuscarora township, P. O. Spring 
Hill, was born on his present home March 20, 1842, and was educated 
in the common schools and at the Academy at AVyalusing, Pa. He is 
a son of Davis Diminock and Lois (Marsh) Black, of New England 
origin, the former of whom was born in Wyalusing township, 
this county, March 22, 1808 ; came to Spring Hill in 1830, purchased 
106 acres of land (now owned by his son John H.), and died June 17, 
1878, highly regarded by all who knew him. He was a man of strict 
business integrity, and a true patriot. He was a son of Joseph Black, 
who was born in Colchester. Conn., June 24, 1762. and married Alice 
Wells, whose father was a victim of the Wyoming massacre. Joseph 
Black settled in Wyalusing in 1807, purchased over six hundred acres 
of land for $37, and at one time owned the only gristmill between 
Athens and Wilkes-Barre; he also owned one of the first sawmills in 
Wyalusing. 

John H. Black enlisted at Canton, March 30, 1864, in Com])any G, 
Second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Heavy Artillery, and was 
in the following battles : Wilderness, S])ottsylvania, North Ann River, 
Cold Harbor, Petersburg and several minor engagements, during which 
his regiment lost over eight hundred men. On July 12, 1864, he was 



640 HISTOFiY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

taken sick and tsent to (Jity Point Hospital, from there to Mount 
Pleasant Flospital, Washington, D. (;.; after a time his health had so 
far improved that he was detailed to do li<^ht duty about the hospital, 
and for six months he had charge of the deail house at Mount Pleasant. 
Pie was discharged August 3, 1865, and returned to Spring Hill, where 
he has since been engaged in business, when his health would permit. 
On July 4, 1866, Mr. Black was married to Sarah A. Bolles, by whom 
he had two children : George Melville, born July 7, 1867, died July 
1, 1875, and Sarah Blennie, born February 3, 1874. This wife dying- 
February 11, 1874, Mr. Black then married Marietta R., daughter of 
John F. and Malissa (Elliott) Dodge, of Terry town. He is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church at Spring Hill, and in politics he is a 
Eepublican, and a strong advocate of Prohibition. He has been general 
agent for the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company thirteen years, 
and it may be truly said of him that he is a gentleman of high stand- 
ing in the community where he lives, and an earnest supporter of good 
government and all honest enterprises. 

N. A. BLACK, retired merchant, AVyalusing, was born on the old 
Black Homestead at Merryall, this couftty, December 5, 1835, a son of 
John H. Black, a native of Exeter, Luzerne count3% and Hannah (Ackley) 
Black, of Bradford count\^ His father was a farmer who passed his life 
on the old homestead, and had the following children : Harrison, of 
"Wyalusing ; George, deceased ; Benjamin, deceased ; Nanc}^ married to 
J. Q. Ingham, of Elmira, and N. A. Our subject was born and reared on 
a farm, educated in the public schools of W\'alusing, and upon reaching 
his majority engaged in farming, residing on the old homestead until 
1885, when he removed to Hazelton, and for two years was proprietor 
and operator of a hat factory there ; then embarked in mercantile 
])ursuits, and conducted a produce store until the spring of 1891, when 
he sold his interests and returned to AVyalusing, purcliasing pi'operty 
of L. D. Little, which he imj)roved and made into as comfortal)le and 
elegant a home as the borougii contains. He enlisted in the service of 
his country, October 15, 1862, in Company D, One Hundred and Sev- 
enty-first Regiment, P. V. I., and was discharged August 15, 1863, by 
expiration of term of service. He served on detached duty, and 
so escaped the hard battles, but was engaged in several severe skirm- 
ishes during his service, losing his healtli,and is now, in the prime of 
life, unable to engage in any active occupation. He was united in 
marriage, June 3, 1861, with Lizzie Billings, daughter of Samuel 
Billings, of Wyalusing, who was married twice, first to Elizabeth 
Stork, and Mrs. Black is a child by this marriage. The family wor- 
ship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Black is 
an active member. Mr. Black is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 263, 
F. ct A. JNL, and has taken the degree of Master Mason ; he is identi- 
fied with the Democratic ])arty,yet takes but small interest in ])olitics. 

GE0R(4E W. BLACK max" was born in Sheshe(iuin, this county, 
February 10, 1831, a son of Franklin and Sybil (Beardsley) Blackman. 
The father was born in Wilkes-P>arre, Luzerne Co., Pa., and came to 
Sheshe([uin with his father, Ichabod BlacUman, when three years old, 
settling at tiie place known as Blackman's Ferry, opposite the mouth 



HISTORY OF BUADFOKD COUNTY. 641 

of Sugar creek. Six years after the settlement the father of Franklin 
Blackman was drowned near the mouth of Sugar creek. The sons 
anil tlaughter of Frankhn were ten in number, the subject of 
this sketch being the youngest. He received a common-school educa- 
tion, and at the age of nineteen commenced teaching; his first 
school was taught at Franklindale, and the first pupil that inter- 
viewed him was Thomas Evan, wlio afterward became famous as 
member of Congress from Kansas, and is at this writing Minister to 
Mexico. He followed teaching for several winters, until 1856, when 
he married Ada M. Kinney, daughter of Guy Kinney, Esq., and to this 
union was born one son, Harry L., now of Streator, 111. Mrs. Blackman 
died in F^ebruiiry, 1860, and he married Miss Margaret E. Ilillis, daugh- 
ter of Richard Hillis, of Herrick. He held many places of trust in his 
native town, having been twice elected justice of the peace, three times 
assessor, and nine years school director, and during the full term of nine 
years was secretary of the school board ; daring iiis term of office ten 
new school-houses were erected. In 1873 he was electetl district dep- 
uty grand master of the I. O. O. F., and was re-elected for live suc- 
cessive years. When he took charge of the office there were eleven 
Lodges in the county, with a membership of eleven hundred ; at the close 
of his terms, 1878, there were twenty-seven lodges, with a membership 
of twenty-four hundred. In 1878 he was nominated and elected pro- 
thonotary, and moved to Towanda, taking charge of the office January 
6, 1870; he was renominated in 1881 witliout opposition, and elected 
by an increased majority. Xotwithstanding the difficult positions he 
had held in his native town, but fifty-five votes were cast against him. of 
a total vote of nearly four hundred. In 1886, by a vacancy in the office 
of assessor, the county commissioners appointed'him to fill'the vacancv, 
and has held the office since by election, without opposition (borough 
of Towanda). He has held the responsible position of treasurer of the 
Bradford County Agricultural Society for the past five years, and also 
the first and present treasurer of the Towanda Electric Illuminating 
Company. He is now following his favorite occupation, that of farm- 
ing, having purchased the valuable home of M. Ward, in the borough 
of Towanda; he also owns the old homestead in his native touni, 
Sheshequin. 

JOHN BLACK WELL, farmer, P. (). West Burlington, was 
born April 5, 1828, in Lycoming county. Pa., a son of John and Sarah 
W. Blackwell, both of whom were born in England and removed to 
America with their parents when children, settling in the English 
colony on Pine creek, where our subject was born. The grandfather 
and father were farmers and lumbermen. In 1826 these families 
removed to Bradford county and located in the wilderness in AVest 
Burlington township, being among the first settlers, and experienced 
all the privations of pioneer life. John and Sarah Blackwell's family 
consisted of six children, of whom our subject is the fifth. The father 
was a man of influence in his time, holding public positions until 
the time of liis death, which occurred when he was aged seventv-foui- 
years. The subject of these lines was reared on the farm, has alwavs 
been a very industrious and persevering man, and has accumulated a 



643 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUMTY. 

tine property, being now the owner of a farm of one hundred and 
seventy-five acres, where he has a fine dairy, and raises sheep and 
cattle quite extensively. He was married April Y, 1847, to Lucy 
Phelps, of West Burlington, by whom he has had six children, as follows: 
x\lfred C, a merchant, married to Emma Rockwell; Delos, a farmer, 
married to Maryette Mosier ; Willis, of Elmira, N. Y., married to 
Jennie Farnsworth ; George, of Syracuse, N. Y., a salesman, married to 
Etta Pruyne ; Helen, wife of Dix Ballard, and Isadore, wife of Delos 
Rockwell. Mr, Blackwell is a staunch Republican as was his father, 
holds the position of assessor, and has occupied several offices of public 
trust. He is one of the substantial and honored citizens of the town. 

THOMAS BLACKWELL, farmer, P. O. Troy, was born January 
!♦), 1816, on Pine creek, near Jersey Shore, Lycoming Co., Pa., and is 
a son of John and Sarah J. (Wells) Blackwell, and grandson of Thomas 
Blackwell, all natives of England. His parents settled on Pine creek 
in pioneer days, first engaged in farming, and for some time kept 
hotel at Roaring Branch. In 1828 they settled in Burlington town- 
ship, this county, where the father purchased a farm, and kept adding 
to it until he had accumulated nearly 500 acres, cleared and improved 
a large part of it, and died there in 1863, in his seventy-fifth year. 
His children were: Mary A. (deceased). Thomas, Phebe (JMrs. Abram 
Moore (deceased), Sarah (Mrs. James McKean), John and Enoch. (Jf 
these, Thomas and John own most of the old homestead. Thomas 
Blackwell lived on the old homestead nearly sixty years, but in 1887 
he removed to Troy, where he still resides. In 1841 Mr. Blackwell 
married Jane, daughter of Hon. Samuel and Julia (McDowell) JNIcKean. 
of Burlington township, and by her he has had four children : Julia 
(Mrs. EdAvard Iloilon), Sarah (Mrs. Lou Bodien), Ruth and John T. 
For his second wife he married Irene, daughter of Beull and Samantha 
(Wilson) Smith, of Canton township, and he has had by her two 
children : Dr. Clarence H. and Clara (Mrs. George D. Leonard). Mr. 
Blackwell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; politically 
he is a Republican. 

A. STRYKER BLAIR, physician and surgeon, Ulster, is a native 
of Conesville, Schoharie Co., N. Y., born November 20, 1857. a son of 
Alfred and Charlotte (Allen) Blair, of Scotch descent. His maternal 
grandfather, John McKenzie, came to this country from Scotland in 
early Colonial times, but after remaining here a short time returned to 
Scotland, and upon completing his business there, started to return 
to this country and was slii])wi'ecked in mid-ocean. Many years 
passed and his family mourned him as dead : in the meantime his wife 
liad formed an attachment witii another man. ami her marriage with 
him was al)out to be consummated, everything was pre|)arcd, and the 
guests invited, when, the night previous to the day set for the marriage, 
the long-lost husband returned, bringing with him joy, but sorrow to the 
expectant bridogroom. The family came from New York to Susque- 
hanna county, Pa., and lived there three years, then removed to Tioga 
county. N. Y., where he still lives. Stryker received his early educa- 
tion in the country scliools, but his parents tinding that the oppor- 
tunities were not sufficient, sent him to a select school at Newark 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUMTY. fi43 

Valley, where he remained several years, lie studied medicine and 
received his medical education at the University Medical College, New 
York City, graduating in March, 1882, and began the practice of his 
profession in Susquehanna county, but afterward moved to Ithaca, 
and from there to Ulster in ISS'S. As a physician, he has been 
eminently successful, and while a comparatively 3^oung man, has built 
up a practice of large })roportions. On Sejitember 5, 1882, he was 
united in marriage with Lila E. Japhet, daughter of Milo G. and 
Martha Japhet, the latter of whom is a direct descendant of Gen. 
Green, of Revolutionary fame. The fruits of this marriage are two 
children, viz.: L. Blanche and Cecil DeYere. In his early life Mr. 
Blair identified himself with the Presbyterian Church, and has been an 
active church worker since, and of which he is an Elder. Mrs. Blair 
belongs to the same church. In his political views our subject was 
raisetl a Democrat, and for awhile voted that ticket, but he has now 
identified himself with the Prohibition party, of which he is a zealous 
advocate. 

CHARLES D. BLAUVELT, farmer, of Monroe townshi)), P. O. 
Liberty Corners, was born April 20, 1862, on the farm where he now 
resides, and is the only son of James and Eliza (Ennis) Blauvelt, the 
former a native of Herkimer county, N. Y., and of German origin, the 
latter a native of Asylum, Bradford Co., Pa., and of Scotch lineage. 
The father of our subject was born August 11, 1820, and died 
December 14, 1888; the mother was born July 14, 1827, and is still 
living with iiim on the old homestead. Charles D. Blauvelt spent his 
boyhood on the farm, and attended the common school, he completed 
his education at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and has always 
been engaged in farming on the old homestead. Mr. Blauvelt is a 
Republican in politics, a man of much public spirit and a supporter of 
every worthy enterprise for the benefit of the communitv. 

LISTON BLISS, of Bliss, Willour cV: Price, a well-known business 
firm of Troy, was born in LeRoy township, this county, November 30, 
1846, and is a son of Dr. Chester T. and Nancy (Bostwick) Bliss. His 
paternal grandfather, Zenos Bliss, a native of Connecticut, settled in 
LeRoy township in 1841, where he engaged in farming and died. The 
father of our subject, who was the youngest in a familv of eight chil- 
dren, was a graduate of a Philadelphia Medical College, and for 
upward of twenty -five years was in the active practice of his profes- 
sion in LeRoy; he removed to Rochester. N. Y., in 1878, and there 
died in 1883 ; his children were four in number, viz.: Sarah H. (Mrs. 
A. S. Hamilton), Theodore E. (an M. D.), Mary I., and Liston. who 
was reared in LeRoy township, was educated in the common schools 
and at Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Tow^anda. He began life as 
a clerk in a store at Athens. Pa , in December, 18<)5, and followed that 
occupation there until 1866, and in Trov from 1866 to 1880. He then 
became a member of the firm of Bliss,' Willour & Co., which contin- 
ued up to 1889, when the style was changed to Bliss, Willour cV Price. 
Mr. Bliss was mari-ied twice, his first wife being Aimee Merrick, of 
Gaines, Tioga Co., Pa., and his second wife Mrs. H. Brunette Pome- 
roy, of Troy. Mr. Bliss was a member of Company C, Thirtieth 



644 HISTORY OF HKADF01U) COUNTY. 

Pennsylvania Militia, during the Civil War, served six weeks and was 
honorably discharged in 1S03. lie is a member of the Presbvterian 
Church, and of the G. A. li.; he is a Sir Knight Templar. In politics 
he is a JRepublican, and has been burgess and councilman of Tro}" one 
term. 

J. F. BLOCKER, a farmer and produce dealer, Spring Hill, was 
born in New Preston, Conn., March 12, 1840. Of the Blocher famih'^ 
we glean the following: The great-grandfather of our subject, John 
Fredrick Blocher, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, March 23, 
1731, and married his first wife, Anna Dower, October 14, 1755, and 
after her death he married Salome Strobal. By the first marriage he 
had four children, and by the second, five. The grandfather, John 
Jacob Blocher, was the second child by the second marriage, was born 
in Germany, August 14, 1770; married, in 1798, Agnes Dannacker, and 
their family consisted of six children, Martin, the father of our sub- 
ject, was the second of these children, was born in Germany, May 23, 
1801, and died in Ilerrick township, this county, December 28, 1881; 
in 1832 he was united in marriage with Anna Mai'v Sulzla, who was 
born in Germany, January 13, 1809, and died in Herrick township, 
June 11, 1870. They emigrated to America in 1837, and after a four 
3'ear"s sojourn in Connecticut removed, in 1841, to Herrick: they had 
a family of children as follows: Agnes, born in Germany. May 15, 
1834, married Charles Sumner, a prominent farmer of AA^yalusing 
township, this county; William G., born on the ocean, June 14, 1837. 
enlisted in Company A. One Hundred and Forty -first P. A'. 1., 
August 27, 1862, and died in Cliffburn Hospital, Washington, October 
25, 1862; Jacob Frederick; Mary L., born in Herrick township, this 
county. June 3, 1842. and married Martin Keeney, a farmer of Lacey- 
ville. Pa.: Henry M.. born in Herrick township, ]S"6vember 7, 1846. 
a prominent farmer of that township, and a partner in the firm of 
Fuller & Blocher, owners and proprietors of theCamptown creamery ; 
George T., born in Herrick, May 23, 1850, a farmer residing on the 
old homestead in that township. Our subject was born and reared on 
a farm, and educated in the common schools, Camptown Academy 
and Wyoming Seminary. When about eighteen years of age he l)egaii 
teaching, and taught every winter for about ten years, in Bradford and 
Luzerne counties; also had charge of a graded S(;hool neai' Lanark, 111. 
In 1857 he began working at the carpenters trade during the suir.mer, 
teaching in the winter; in 1864 he removed to Illinois, whei-e he 
taught school and worked at his trade. In 18(55-66 he attended East- 
man's Business College, Chicago; then worked at his trade in Chicago 
one year. In the spring of 1869 he returned to Bradfoid county, and 
embarked in mercantile business at AVyalusing under the fii-m name 
of Ackley, Lloyd A: IJlocher, conducting a general store in the Ijuild- 
ing now occupied by O. I^. Dyei'; this lii'm continued until 1878, when 
they sold to Gaylord, Sumner A: Co. He then entered the produce 
business in Wyalusing, continuing in sam^ until 1888, when the death 
of his wife's father called him to the farm where he now resides, and 
since which time has combined fai'ming and dealing in jtroduce. 
es})ecially w<^ol and buckwheat fiour. He has a beautiful farm of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 645 

two hundred acres, with a fine dwelling house, barns and all necessary 
building-s, his place, together with the improvements, having no supe- 
rior in the county. Mr. Blocher was uniteil in marriage, September 
5. 1807, with Lucretia A , daughter and only surviving child of Ferris 
and Emaline (Camp) Ackley, which union has been blessed with five 
children, as follows: Carrie E., born February 18, 1871; Leona A., 
born April 18, 1874; Ackley E., born December 20, 1879 ; Eoy L. V., 
born September 2, 1881, and Martin F., born April 15, 1886. The 
family are members of the Spring Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, 
of which Mr. Blocher is steward and recording secretary. He has for 
many years given considerable attention to music, and for about 
twelve years past has been president of the " Mutual Musical Alli- 
ance," a prominent and flourishing musical society of eastern Bradford 
and part of Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. In politics he is a 
Republican, and has filled various town offices; is now assessor, which 
position he has held for the past three years. Mr. Blocher has long 
been prominent among the business men of this section, and has a 
host of friends, and the highest respect of all who know him. 

CARPENTER J. BLOOM, of Lamkin Bros. & Bloom, prominent 
dealers in general merchandise, Troy, was born in Canton township, 
this county, November 10, 1858, and is a son of J. Albert and Mary 
A. (Hoagland) Bloom. His paternal grandfather, Elisha Bloom, was "a 
native of Germany and a pioneer of Canton township, where he 
cleared and improved a farm, and resided until his death ; liis children 
were : George, J. Albert, Ann (Mrs. Oakley Lewis), Dolly (Mrs. 
Charles Hoagland), Dameras (Mrs. George Merchant), and Betsey 
(Mrs. Isaac Hoagland). Of these J. Albert succeeded to the home- 
stead, a part of which he now occupies ; his first wife was a daughter 
of Anthony Hoagland, of English birth, a pioneer of Sullivan county, 
Pa., and by her he had four children : Rose (deceased), Carpenter J., 
Dora and Etta. By his second wife, Mary (Holcomb) Lewis, Mr. 
Bloom had three children: Alice, EHsha and Nellie. Our subject was 
reared in Canton township, and was educated in the public schools of 
Troy. He began life as a teacher in common and graded schools, and 
in 1882 located in Troy, where for five years he was a clerk in the 
same general store he'has now an interest in. In 1889 he became a 
member of the firm of Lamkin & Bloom, since when it has been 
Lamkin Bros. & Bloom. Mr. Bloom was married August 22, 188tl-, to 
Emma, daughter of Austin Mitchell, of Troy, and has one child. Earl 
M. Mr. Bloom is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
of the I. O. O. F. Politically he is a Republican. 

JOHN J. BOHLAIER, farmer, P. O. Troy, was born in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, July 25, 1834, son of John J.' and Christianna (Mein- 
holt) Bohlaier. He was reared and educated in his native ccmntry, and 
in 1851 came to America. He stopped one year in Brooklyn, i\. Y., 
and in 1855 came to Litchfield, this county, where he worked as a 
laborer, and also in Granville. In 1857 he purchased a farm in Gran- 
ville township, a part of which he cleared ; and in the latter part of 
the " sixties" he removed to Troy, where he erected a couple of dwell- 
ing houses and resided four years, a part of which time he was street 

36 



046 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

commissioner of that borough. He purchased the farm he now occu- 
])ies, clearing and improving it, erecting all tlie buildings on it, and has 
since added to his possessions until he has now accumulated nearly six 
hundred acres. Mr. Bohlaier married, in Ls5S, Elsie A., daughter of 
-John and Polly McClelland, of Columbia township. Mr. Bohlaier, in 
addition to farming, for a number of years operated a large sawmill, 
giving employment to from six to fifteen men annually. He is a sub- 
stantial and successful farmer, a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

PATRICK POLAND, a prominent farmer, of Warren township, 
P. O. (^adis, is a native of County Clare, Ireland, and was born in 
ISO", a son of Patrick and Hannah (Maloney) Poland, natives of the 
same place, where they spent their lives, the father dying in 183(3, and 
the mother in 1840; they had ten children — seven daughters and 
three sons — two of the sons coming to this country, Patrick and 
Michael, latter of whom died February 8, 1891, leaving a widow and 
two sons. Patrick Poland came to America in 185f), direct to Warren 
township. He had been reared on a farm in Ireland, and became a 
successful landowner and farmer in this county ; lie has one hundred 
and ten acres, an excellent farm, finely improved and kept in an 
excellent state of cultivation. He was married in his native place, in 
1841, to Mary Vaughan, daughter of Michael and Winnie (Dugan) 
Vaughan, the former of whom died in his native place in 1848, and 
the latter in 1852; they had seven children — six daughters and a son 
— of whom Mary was the eldest, born in 1819. To ^Ir. and Mrs. 
Patrick Poland have been boi-n eight children, as follows: Kora, 
Mi's. p]dward Moran, of Susquehanna county ; iVIary, who died 
August 24, 1888, aged forty years; Patrick II., a farmer in Warren, 
married to Nellie Flaherty, and has six children; Pridget, who died 
February 9,1863, aged twelve years; Winnie, a resident of Ping- 
hamton, N. Y.; John J., a farmer in Wai'ren, mari-ied to Delia 
Flaherty, they have two children; Catherine (Mrs. Michael Fhinagan). 
of Pinghamton, has two children ; Daniel F., at home, who manages 
the farm. The famil\' are (Jathoiics. and tin? vcnei'aljle father is a 
Democrat in politics. 

O. M. BONNEY, farmer, of Franklin township, P. O. Franklin- 
dale, was born at Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y., April 22, 1838, a son of 
Orrin and Irene (Warroi) Ponney, both of whom were born in Eaton, 
N. Y. OiM'in was the son of Levi Honney, a native of New Fjigland, 
and one of the first settlers in Eaton, and who was the faliier of 
twelve children — seven sons and five daughters. Orrin Ponney 
always lived in Eaton on jiart of the old homestead; he was the father 
of six children — five sons and one daughter — all of whom grew to 
maturity, four now living. Orrin lionney was one of the first Aboli- 
tionists in Eaton ; three of liis sons served their country's cause in 
the(Jivil War. Our subject, v.'lio is the fourth in tin; family, was reartMl 
and educated in Faton at the common scliooi, and always confined 
himself to fai-ming. at whicrli he succeeded. (Jn Dec(Mnl)er 24, lSr>l), 
he married, at Franklin, Miss Emma, daughter of John and Martha, 
(Holcomb) McKee. He returned to Eaton after his marriage, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD OOUNTY. 647 

in 1868 removed to Franklin where he worked two farms; then 
moved to Jjarclay where his family remained until his return from the 
army in 1865. He enlisted in 1864 in Company B, Two Hundred 
and Seventh P. V. I, in which he served until the end of the war; 
after his discharge he settled in Canton township, on what is known 
as Beach Flats, and remained until 1877, when he removed to Franklin 
where he now lives on a farm of 100 acres of fertile land, adapted to 
grain and stock-raising ; he makes a specialty of dairying. Mr. Bonney 
has one son, C. G., and an adopted daughter, Nellie; C. G. married 
Miss Mercy Gamble ; Nellie married Charles Fairbanks. Mr. Bonney 
is a member of the Grange, and is highlv respected by his neighbors. 

JOHN, ARTHUR and ZECHARIAH BOSTWICK were brothers 
who came from Cheshire, England, about 1668, and located at Strat- 
ford, Conn. In 1707 Jolm removed to New Milford, being the second 
settler in that town. The Bostwicks held offices of trust and import- 
ance in their town and county, and their names are still held in high 
respect on the town records as well as in the memory of their descend- 
ants. Dimon Bostwick, who holds a prominent place among the early 
settlers of Bradford county, was the eldest of four sons of David, the 
great-grandson of John. He was born in New Milford, where he was 
r-eared and educated ; was an admirable surveyor and draughtsman, and 
was versed in mathematics, general literature, history and theologv. 
In the year 1792 he left his home to seek his fortune amid the wilds of 
Pennsylvania, and coming up the Susquehanna, as far as Bradford 
county, pitched his tent upon Wyalusing creek; he very soon went off 
as surveyor in an exploring party, one of the Pompellys. of Owego, 
being of the number. It is said they moved in the direction of the 
^' Lake country" in Central New York, but the exact course and extent 
is not precisely known, as Mr. Bostwick's note-book, containing much 
valuable information and notes of survey, was lost; tradition savs. 
however, that the men staid out on this expedition so many days that 
their provisions gave out, and that one of the men died of privation 
and hunger, while the others subsisted for days on boiled nettles with- 
out salt. Mr. Bostwick seems to have had some idea of settling where 
Owego now is, but abandoned the idea and followed the Susquehanna 
back to Wyalusing creek, then as far up the creek as what is now Pike 
township, and built a log house in the wilderness. 

Most of his time must liave been spent in surveying the new coun- 
try, as among the papers which have been found recently in the 
])ossession of the Bostwick heirs are nuips of surveys, yellow with age. 
and in some instances worn and partly defaced; one 'map seems to be 
of what are now the counties of Luzerne, Bradford and Susquehanna; 
beginning at the Wyalusing creek, it contains 16,000 acres of land, and is 
in Dimon Bostwick's own handwriting, bearing date 1796, and is 
inscribed upon the back : " This survey encroaches ui)on no survey or 
town heretofore granted." 

The most ancient looking deed, or grant of land, among these old- 
time relics, is a certificate from- the Susquehanna Com pan v to Dimon 
P>ostwick, P'lihu Curtis, and the heirs of John Moss, granting them 
"title and right to Three Thousand Five Hundred Acres of Land, in 



(548 HISTORY OF BKADFORI) COUNTY. 

said Company's Purchase, which is located agreeable to the rules of 
said Company in a Township known by the name of Millsberry. 
Dimon Bostwick is entitled to Two Thousand, One Hundred Acres of 
Land, &c." It bears date November 28, 1796, Athens, signed by David 
Paine, clerk, witnessed by Lib. E. Page. 

In the same year (1796) Dimon Bostwick returned to New Milford 
anil married Lois, daughter of David Olmstead, of that place, and a 
lady of gentle disposition, possessed of much beauty of person and 
energy of character. Tliey came from Connecticut with an ox team to 
the Great Bend, and from that place down the river to the mouth of 
the AVyalusing, and up the creek in a canoe. This worthy couple 
commenced life within the humble walls of their log house, which 
stood on the banks of the creek, on what are now the flats belonging 
to the Bostwick homestead. Benajah Bostwick married Marv, sister 
of Lois Olmstead, and after several years followed his brother Dimon 
to the settlement in Pike. He was a man of genial, jovial disposition, 
and, like his brother, of sterling integrity, and a strong Episcopalian. 
The brotliers worked on peacefully together, Dimon after a time 
dividing the land, which he had purchased of the Susquehanna Com- 
l)any, with his brother. Nothing seems to have daunted the energy, 
industry and courage of these lion-hearted men who cleared our forests, 
and formed the township of Pike. Soon after there was a gristmill built, 
which was a great comfort and help, for Dimon Bostwick and others had 
carried grain on their shoulders sixty miles to get it ground, walking on a 
footpath, and wading the Wyalusing creek several times. In 1802, Dimon 
Bostwick built a sawmill, and sawed out lumber and built himself a 
house, comfortable and nice for those times, and moved into it in 1805. 
This homestead was only rebuilt in 1874 by his son Penett. There 
were born to Dimon and Lois Bostwick nine children: Almira (Mrs. 
Canfield Stone), Eliza (wife of Ilev. Samuel Marks), Julia, Randolph, 
Penett Marsliall, A'alvasa, Esther, Hannah and Sarah (wife of Rev. 
George P. Hopkins). Lois Olmstead Bostwick died in her eighty-first 
year, beloved and reverenced by iier children. 

In 1815, the assessment roll of Pike township, in the handwriting 
of Dimon Bostwick, contains the honored names of Bosworth, Bost- 
wick, Bradshaw, Brink, I'enham, Stevens, Hancock, Ross, Keeler, 
Ingham, and many others, including one ))hysician. Dr. Beuben 
Baker, and one merchant, Salmon liosworth. The average amount of 
personal property owned at this time by each num seems to have been 
one horse, one house, and two cows, in most cases also an ox team. 
Tradition tells us that these men were all fine-looking in face and 
figure, and also that there was a public library in this same town of 
Pike, in this far-off time. It was called the ''Friendship Library," 
and in the two leaves, yellow with age, which only are left to tell us 
what they said and Avhat they read, by the old fii'e places, with the 
tallow candle's light, there are " The Bye Laws of ye Eriendly Library." 
There was a board of dii-ectors, who met once a week, and were 
ordered " to attend to each Libraiy Day when the books Avere given 
out and returned." The Bye-Laws are too long to copy here. The list 
of books included classics, history, military tactics, philosophy, religion. 



lirs'l'ORY OF HK.VDFOHJJ COl'NIY. (iiO 

with here and there a book of poems, or work of romance. One l)oolv 
therein contained must have been very ancient; it is called the "Tlii-ee 
AVoe Trumpets." In 1814, tlie Parish of St. Mathew's Churcli was 
organized, and the names of the men, mentioned on the old asssess- 
ment roll, appear on the church chartei'. 

We quote the following from Dr. Edward Crandall, a neighbor of 
Mr. Bostwick and a prominent citizen of Pike township: " Dimon 
Bostwick died at his residence in Pike township, ]>ra(lford Co., Thurs- 
day morning, December 3, 1856, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. 
The subject of the above demands more than a passing notice at our 
hands, he being one of the last links connecting the history of the first 
settlement upon the Wyalusing creek. In the year 1792 he left his 
fathers house in New Milford, Conn., to seek for himself in the wilds 
of the Susquehanna Company's purchase of the State of Connecticut ; 
and having purchased two shares of land and located them, commenced 
to hew out of the dense unbroken forest a home; with a strong arm 
and determined will did he encounter the difficulties which surrounded 
him, and he faltered not until he had obtained what, to the pioneer, was 
a comfortable home. When the controvers}^ between the Pennsylvania 
claimants and the Connecticut settlers approached his possessions, there 
was aroused in him the lion of his nature, and he waged unrelenting 
opposition to the fraudulent claims of the land speculators. It, how- 
ever, embittered at least fort\' years of his life, and not until the last 
three years was the title and dispute fully ended. Warm and ardent 
in his attachments to his friends and family, he lived out a long life of 
faithful and devoted usefulness to the community and society in the 
place where he resided for the last sixty-four years ; the unbending 
integrity of his character would never jneld to speculation of any kind, 
consequently he abided at home in the midst of his family, and ate 
only of the products of continued industry and persevering toil. In 
1814 he associated himself with others in the organization of St. 
Mathew's Church, and continued a leading member, unwavering in his 
faith, a notable examjile of steady adherence and abiding confidence 
in the doctrine and creed of the Protestant Episcopal Church until the 
hour of his death." Mr. Bostwick bequeathed his estate to the two 
children who remained at the homestead, Penett Marshall and Yalvasa. 
The former rebuilt the old home in 1874; he was unmarried and lived 
at his birth-place until his death, which occurred April 25, 1891, in the 
eightN'-sixth year of his age. His two sisters now own the Bostwick 
homestead, Valvasa, and Sarah, wife of Rev. Geo. P. Hopkins, who 
was born in Philadelphia and is the youngest son of John Hopkins, of 
that cit}^ formerly of Dublin, Ireland. John Hopkins was the great 
grandson of Isaac Hopkins, of Coventry, England, who married a 
daughter of one of the Miss Gunnings of historic beauty. His wife, who 
was the mother of Rev. George Hopkins, was Catherine Davenport, 
the daughter of Edmund Davenport, an eminent lawyer of Dublin, 
Ireland, and of Huguenot descent upon her mother's side. She was a 
lady of marked Christian life and character, and high culture. Pev. 
George P. Hopkins now resides at the Bostwick homestead with his 



650 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

wife, and two daughters, Julia Eliza and Essy. He is at present in 
charge of the parish of old St. Mathews in the township of Pike. 

AVILLIAM BUST WICK, farmer, of Wysox township, P. O. A\^ysox, 
was born in Susquehanna county. Pa., April 1, 1840, a son of Madison 
and Amanda (Griltis) Bostwick, natives of Connecticut and Pennsyl- 
vania, respectively. In his father's family there were five children, of 
whom he is the third. AVhen he was thirteen vears of a^e he went to 
live with William Griffis, at Rummerfield, and when Mr. Griffis was 
elected sheriff, he lived in Towanda, and remained in the famih'^ some 
time. On August 12, 1862, he enlisted at Rummerfield, in Company I, 
One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., and was dischar":ed on sur^reon's 
certificate of disabilit}', December 29, 1862 ; in 1877 he engaged with 
II. M. Bostwick in mercantile business at Rummerfield, where he 
remained five years ; he was two years foreman for the Lehigh Valley 
Railroad, and in 1883 he purchased his present home where he has 
since resided and given his attention chiefly to farming. Mr. Bostwick 
was married, October 30, 1873, to Esther, daughter of Hiram and 
Lodoiska (Iluyck) Vannest, natives of Pennsylvania , and of Dutch 
origin. They have five children, as follows : Amelia Rahm, born 
February 22, 1875; Elizabeth E., born September 7, 1876; Jennie L., 
born October 8, 1879 ; William, born December 14, 1881, died 
September 18, 1882; Esther IL, born April 14, 1890. Mr. Bostwick 
is a member of the G. A. R. Post at Rome ; is a Republican in politics 
and has been school director in Wysox, and was postmaster at Rum- 
merfield from 1879 until 1882. 

E. E. BOSWORTH, merchant, Wyalusing township, P. O. Wya- 
lusing, was born in Smithfield townshij), this county. May 11, 1846, 
son of Dr. Henry C. and Maria (Bosard) Bosworth, natives of New 
York. His father was a graduate of the Geneva Medical College 
and practiced many years, being remarkably successful, but he gave 
up the practice of medicine about fifteen years prior to his death, and 
devoted his attention to mercantile pursuits at Osceola, where he died, 
December 5, 1870, aged fifty-eight years. Dr. Bosworth had a family 
of three children : E. E. (our subject) ; U. A., a farmer of Osceola, 
and C. H., a physician, of Osceola. E. E. passed his boyhood at 
Osceola where he received an academical education, then entered the 
University of Geneseo, N. Y., and after two years spent there, 
returned home and entered the mercantile business, becoming a 
partner in a hardware store at Osceola in 1870. He remained there 
until 1877, when he sold out and for two years was engaged in 
settling accounts and settlement of an estate, still conducting the 
post(^ftice there; then, in 1879, he came to Wyalusing and entered 
the firm of Bosworth, Stone & Compan}', which purchased the store and 
stock of H. S. Ackley. This firm began the operatmg of a general 
store, also the ])urchasing of hay, grain and all kinds of country 
produce, and dealing in salt, lime, coal, etc! The senior member of 
the firm was N. P. Bosworth, uncle of our subject, who died August 
4, 1886. The firm continued with E. B. Stone, until 188!», when Mi-. 
Stone went out and assumed control of the produce and grain (le])art- 
ment, and C. R. Stone became a member of the firm. E. B. Stone is 



HISTORY OF HKAI^FOKI) ('OUN'IY. 651 

now head of the firm of E. I>. Stone & Co., dealei's in liay and grain, 
of whicli our subject is also a inenil)er; their business, taken collect- 
ively, is the largest in this section; in their store they carry a large 
line of groceries and provisions, dry goods, clothing, boot and shoes, 
grain and seed. The business has increased more than $1(),00(» per 
year over what it was when tlie firm purchased it. Besides his 
mercantile interests Mr. 13osworth owns two-thirds of the store 
building and an elegant residence. He was united in marriage, 
January 7, 1880, with Adelaide Bosard, daughter of Arthur Bosard, a 
farmer, of Osceola, Pa. They have an adopted child — Catherine. 
The family worship at the Presbyterian Church ; he is a member of 
the Masonic Fraternity, and has taken the degrees of the Scottish 
Rite, is connected with Union Lodge, No. 108, Towanda, and is a 
Ttepublican in his political preferments. 

JAMES W. BOSWORTil, farmer. Pike township, P. (). LeRays- 
ville, was born on his present farm, August 25, 1822, a son of Reed 
and Amarilla (Peck) Bosworth, natives of Connecticut and of English 
and Irish descent, respective!}'. In their family there were six chil- 
dren, of whom James W. is the youngest ; the other children being , 
Nelson P., Henry C, Harriet, Susan and Elizabeth P. James W. 
Bosworth began life for himself at the age of twenty-one, farming 
and dealing in stock, driving large droves to Connecticut and southern 
Pennsylvania, though his trade has been chiefly in the home market. 
He now owns and superintends one of the finest farms in the county, 
the nucleus of which was settled by his father in December, 1812. 
Mr. Bosworth married Baura, daughter of John and Mary (Harkness) 
Bird, of SmitliHeld, this county, where they were early settlers, com- 
ing from Vermont. Mr. and" Mrs. Bosworth have two children : 
Martin B., born December 23, 1859, a commission merchant in Trini- 
dad, Col.; and Nelson E., born April 14, 18(52, engaged in farming 
with his father. Mi-s. Bosworth died January 1,1891. Mr. Bosworth 
is an independent voter, and is pledged to no' political party. 

JASPER P. BOSWORTil isamerchantofLeRaysville, Pike town- 
ship, where he was born, November 5, 1842, a son of John Frank 
Bosworth, also a native of Pike townsliip, and who was the son of 
Josiah Bosworth, a native of Connecticut and one of the pioneers to 
Bradford county. Josiah Bosworth was a son of Joseph Bosworth, an 
Englishman. Josiah and his brothers came to Pike township about 
1798, settling three miles south of LeRaysville, and in a little while 
Josiah opened his log ta,vern called the " Half-Way House," because 
it was about half-way between Towanda and Montrose ; he conducted 
this noted early-day hostelry many years, carrying on at the same time 
his large farm. In the 1812-15 war with England, Josiah Bosworth 
raised a company of men to go to the front. They organized, making 
him captain, and embarked and went down the river to Danville, when 
the end of the war was announced, and " Johnny came marching- 
home." Josiah Bosworth, who was one of thirteen children, was born 
in Litchfield, Conn., November 25, 1779, and died at the old family 
home, September 22, 1858, aged seventy-nine years. His family 
consisted of thirteen children, eleven of whom grew to maturity . His 



652 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

grandson, J. A, Bos worth, now resides on the old homestead ; James 
Bosworth, a nephew of Josiah, lives three miles south of LeRavsville. 
An episode in Josiah's pioneer life is related : On one occasion, on his 
return from church through the woods, he espied a bear, gave chase 
and treed him ; in order to keep him from coming down, while he went 
for his gun, was a problem he settled by tying his shirt around the 
tree: so Bruin had to patiently wait until Josiah's return, w^ho then 
dispatched him, and that bear's skin was a family trophy as well as a 
good winter cover until there was little or no fur left on it. John F. 
Bosworth opened the first drug store in LeRavsville, and also the first 
hardware store, in course of time associating in his business his son, 
Jasper P. Bosworth. They sold tlie drug store and gn^ceiy business in 
1874, when John F. Bosworth retired from active business life : he died 
December 10, 1889. His strong characteristics during a long and busy 
life were high integrity, a sleepless energy and a physical endurance 
that never tired or became worn out. At the age of seventy-five, he 
w^as elected collector, and was the first incumbent in that office after 
the constitutional chano-e in the law for collection of taxes — a trvino: 
^position for even a young man, but ho filletl it promptly and ably. lie 
had received a common-school education, and learned the harness, trunk 
and saddle-maker's trade, and followed the latter at LeRaysville, also 
carrying on the tanneiy store until 1853, when he opened a harness 
store in Waverly, when he was burned out in the great fire there. He 
opened his drugstore in LeRaysville in 1803, under the firm name of 
J. F. Bosworth & Son. His partner in the hardware store was -lames 
Gorham, and this was carried on three years, when Mr. Bosworth sold 
his interest to LeRoy Coleman. His wife was Ruth Ann Perkins, and 
they have had seven children, as follows: George and Elbert (both 
died voung) ; Lucilla (Mrs. Stephen C. Carpenter); Jasper P.; Amie 
(Mrs." Dr. R. S. Harnden, of Waverly, N. Y.) ; Sarah (wife of C. F. 
Chaffee, druggist, Waverly, N. Y.) and Dellie (Mrs. Dr. R. J. McCready, 
Allegheny City, Pa.). 

The subject of this sketch, Jasper P. Bosworth, was educated in the 
common schools, finishing at the AYaverly Institute. For a short time 
thereafter he clerked ; then entered his father's store as a partner, and 
when they sold out in 1875, he purchased his deceased father-in-law's 
interest in the firm of Gray & Lyon, changing to the present style of 
firm in the general store of Bosworth & Lyon. Mr. Bosworth is 
regarded as one of the ])rominent and leading men of this part of the 
count3\ In 1869, he \vas united in marriage with Anna A. Grav, eldest 
daughter of Cyrus W. and Dollis H. (Everett) Gray, and the fruits of 
this marriage are three children, viz. : Winifred, who died in infancy, 
Marjorie Lee, born in 1885, and Charles Herman, born in 1888. The 
famil}'^ woi'ship at tiie Congregational Church, of wiiich Mr. Boswoi-th 
is treasurei*. He is ])ast master in the Afasonic Fratei-nity, and is a 
member of LeRay Lodge, No. -117, A. Y. M.; is treasui-er of LeRays- 
ville Assembly, No. 213; treasurer of tiie sciiool board, antl was 
secretarv of the same three vears ; was borough auditor three years. 

J. ALONZO liOSWORTH, farmer, Pike township, was born on 
the farm where he now resides, November 13, 1836, and is the eldest 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 053 

in a family of eij^^lit children of J. K. and Mary A. (Codding) P>os- 
worth. His grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Josiah J>6s\vorth, came from 
Connecticut in 1798, and settled on the f;irni where he now lives, 
which was then a dense wilderness; the grandfather built the barn in 
1803, which is still standing on the old liomestead, and the house in 
1817, making all the nails by hand, and bringing the iron from 
Wilkes-Barre on horseback. Josiah Bosworth was a man of mucii 
military ability, and an officer in the War of 1812. The subject of 
this chapter spent his boyhood on the farm, until he reached the age 
of twenty -five. August 13, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, One 
Hundred and Forty-tirst P. V. I.; during the battle of Chancellors- 
ville he saved the old flag, and carried it from the field after four 
men had been shot down with it. for which act of gallant bravery he 
was presented with a cross as a token of such rare and sterling hero- 
ism. At Gettysburg he received a wound in the right leg, which 
disabled him for a time from active service; but as soon as able he 
returned to his regiment ; he lay w^ounded on the field nearlv fortv- 
eight hours without food or drink. Jjeside tiie battles mentioned he 
was in Fredericksburg and man}^ other important engagements, and 
fought with unusual bravery, until his regiment was mustered out, 
when he returned to his farm in Pike township, where he has since 
been engaged in farming. Mr. Bosworth was married February 13, 
1866, to Miss Lillian A., daughter of George and Susana (Scott) 
Lacey, and they have had four children. Mr, Bosworth is a member 
of the G. A, R. Post at LeRaysville, in which he takes a very active 
part, and is a strong Republican. 

LEWIS ALBA BOSWORTH, farmer, of Pike township, P. O. 
LeRaysville, was born at Stevensville, this county. May 30, 1835, a son 
of Lewis Luckey and Sarah A. (Hancock) Bosworth, natives of Pike 
township ; the former is of Irish and 'New England descent, and the 
latter of Dutch and New England. The father was a farmer and later 
a merchantat Stevensville, and from 181:6 to 1886 lived at LeRaysville ; 
was a])pointed postmaster during Lincoln's administration and held the 
position for twenty years; in his family were three children : Lewis Alba, 
Sarah Catherine (married to E. T. E. Becker, a lawyer at Mt. Carroll, 
111.), and Martha Arabella (married to E. M. Bailey, a merchant and 
manufacturer, of LeRaysville). Lewis Alba has lived on the farm, 
which he now owns, since he was six years old, and was educated in 
LeRaysville and Holland Patent academies. He began life for himself 
at the age of twenty -five, and in 1870 purchased the homestead of his 
father. He enlisted at Harrisburg, September 1, 1864, in Company E, 
Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry ; was in the Engineer Corps on coast 
survey, and was mustered out at Washington, June 5, 1865 ; then 
resumed farming, which he has since followed. Mr, Bosworth was 
married November 27, 1866, to Miss Elbertine L,, daughter of Jesse 
and Louisa (Gerould) Sumner, of Smithfield, natives of Bradford 
county. This union has been blessed with six sons : Jesse Lewis, Harry 
Alba, Guy Sumner, Hugh, Ray Luckey (deceased) and Arthur. Mr. 
Bosworth is a member of Spalcling Post, G. A. R., No. 33. 



654 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COLNTY, 

JAMES L. J^OTHWELL, insurance agent ajid coal dealer, Troy, 
was born in Troy township, this county, Xovenil)er 20, 1830, a son of 
James A. and Phebe (Blackwell) Botiiwell, and is ol" English and Scotch- 
Irish descent. His father was a native of Granville, Washington Co., 
Is. Y., a son of Lebbens and Nancy (Smith) Bothwell. His grand- 
mother, Nancy Bothwell, married, for her second husband, Samuel 
llockwell, and came to Bradford county about 1818; the issue of this 
union was one son, Lewis. By her first marriage she had five children: 
Alexander, James, Justin, Nancy (Mrs. W. S. Dobbins) and Mary 
(Mrs. E[)hi'aim Case), of whom James Bothwell, born in 1806, father of 
subject, was reared in Bradford county from twelve years of age. 
On attaining his majority he engaged in farming- in Troy township; 
later removed to Canton township, and cleared and improved the farm 
on which he resided fifty years ; his wife was a daughter of Thomas 
Blackwell, a native of England, who died in Burlington township, this 
countv, and bv her he had six children: James L., Thomas B., Nanc}' 
(Mrs. George Foss), Sarah (Mrs. D. B. Ci'andall), Lucy (Mrs. C. C. Paine) 
and Harriet (Mrs. J. W. Warren). James J^. Bothwell was reared in 
Canton township, and educated in the common schools. He cleared 
and improved a farm in that township on which he resided up to 1870, 
when he removed to Canton borough, and for six years was employed 
at bridge building for the N. C. R. R. Company, then was engaged in 
draying up to 1885, when he removed to Troy, and embarked in the 
coal business in which he still continues; he has also conducted an 
insurance business since 1889. In 1852 Mr. Bothwell married Sally, 
daughter of James and Caroline (Gilmore) Warren, of Canton town- 
ship, formerly of England, and the issue of this union was three 
children: Helen (Mrs. G. F. JCrise), Mary (JNfrs. Morgan Baldwin) and 
Fred (deceased). In 1888 Mr. Jjothwell married (the second time) 
Sarah, daughtei' of Stephen Stiles, of Burlington townshi)), by whom 
he has one daughter, Piid'be T. jVfr. Bothwell is a member of the 
Disciple ('liurcli and of the I. O. O. F. l^oliticallv he is a Democrat. 

LYMAN C. BOUGHTON, farmer, of South Creek township, P. O. 
Gillett, was born in Columbia township, this countv, February 22, 
1887, and is a son of Daniel and Maria (Bade}') Bonghton, the former 
of whom was born near Wellsbui-g, N. Y., the latter being a native of 
England. Daniel Boughton was born in 1810, and is now eighty-one 
years of age; he came to this county about 1825, locating in Colum- 
bia townsliip, where he purchased a fai'm of 100 acres of unimproved 
land, on which he built, and cultiv^ated (ifty acres of it; he sold this 
farm, and moved to South Creek township, on what is now known as 
" East Hill," where he bought a farm of 100 acres, six acres of which he 
cleared and improved by hard hibor; after selling this to advantage, 
he moved to Gillett, where he possessed himself of another farm in 
need of improvement, which, by his continual and intelligent skill, has 
become one of the finest in the neighl)orhood, consisting of 112 acres 
of fertile land, all under good cultivatitm. Daniel Boughton, after a 
long and useful life of eighty-one years, and sixty years of hard and 
incessant lal)or to subduct the wilderness, lias accomplished his task, 
and thus far the forest has yielded to his a,x, and the earth to his plow. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COl'NTY. G55 

lie is now retired from active life, and is living- with his sons ; his fani 
ily consisted of five sons and five daughters, nine of wiiom grew to 
maturity, and eight are now living. Lyman C. iJoughton was reared 
and educated in South Creek townsliij), and has always confined him- 
self to farming, like iiis father; at the age of twenty-four years, he 
enlisted in Company G, One Ilundred and Seventy -first P. Y. I.. 
served nine months and was honorabW discharged ; in 1803 he again 
enlisted, this time in the Twelfth N. Y. I. B., serving to the close of 
the war, at 'which time he was honorably discharged. On September 
4, 186{), he married Miss Cornelia Adams, of Columbia, and by this 
union there have been five children born to them, all yet Hving, 
viz.: Nina, Gracie, Arthur, Earnest and I^lanche. Mr. Boughton is an 
extensive farmer, iiaving a fine farm of 165 acres, his principal crop 
being hay; he also carries on dairying and general farming. He has 
lived on his present farm since 1865 ; has held the office of school 
director, and is a member of the G. A. R. Mrs. Boughton is a mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. 

DANVERS BOURNE, lumberman and farmer, P.O. Burlington, 
was born in Richmond, Cheshire Co., N. H., February 15, 1817, a son 
of Ilosea and Amy (Martin) I'ourne, the former of whom was a son of 
Stephen and Sylvia (Bump), and the latter a daughter of AVilderness 
Martin, who was the first white male child born in the above named 
town, both families beino- of English ancestry. The paternal great- 
grandfather of our subject was an Englishman and a sea ca})tain. 
Hosea Bourne was born in 1796 in New Hampshire, was a farmer bv 
occupation and in 1831 removed to Otsego county, N. Y., where his 
family of five children were reared. Dan vers Bourne came to Brad- 
ford county in 1837, and engaged in teaching school, at which he con- 
tinued twelve years. In 1849 he purchased a large tract of land in 
"West Burlington township, where he has since been extensivel}' 
engaged in the lumbering business and farming ; he manufactures 
lumber, shingles and lath, and has a fine planing and grist mill and a 
farm of over two hundred and thirty acres of prime land. Mr. Bourne 
was married November 8, 181^, to Marilda Riggs, of New Jersey, who 
died September 2, 1888, and he has three children living, as follows : 
Hester B., widow of C. W. Smith ; Ophelia M., wife of Clarence E. 
Brighiim, and EUery L., married to Sophia Spencer; he is a partner in 
his father's business, and is in reality manager. Mr. Bourne is a Re- 
publican, was nine years commissioner of the town, and one term 
auditor of the county. He is an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, as was also his wife, and has been superintendent of 
the Sunday-school twenty -one years, also an officer of the church since 
his connection with the same. He is much respected by the communitv 
and a wide circle of friends. 

ANSON H. BO WEN, farmer, of Warren township, P. O. Warren 
Centre, is a native of Warren township, this county, born June 25, 
1848, a son of William Clark and Angelina P. (Corbln) Bowen, Penn- 
sylvanians, also born in Warren township. William C. was a son of 
William and Abagail (Case) Bowen, natives of Massachusetts and of 
English descent, farmers who migrated to Amei-ica in the early days, 



656 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and located in Warren township, where the father of William C. died 
in 1852, and the mother in 1851; they had ten children, of whom Wil- 
liam C. is the fourth. lie commenced life when a youn<>- man as a 
blacksmith, and this and farming he followed during life, he having 
purchased the old family homestead. He was married in 1844 to 
Angelina P. Corbin, daughter of Penwell Corbin. Mr. and Mrs. Wil- 
liam Clark Bowen make their home with their son, Anson H. They 
had born to them four children, as follows : Abbie A. (Mrs. Burr 
Decker), of Binghamton; Anson 11.; Sarah M. (Mrs. Lafayette Dick- 
enson), who died in 1872; AVilliam C, who died in 1876. The subject 
proper of this sketch, who was reared and educated in AVarren town- 
ship, owns the old family homestead, inheriting part and adding 
thereto ; it contains one hundred and forty-five acres, is handsomel}'^ 
stocked with improved breeds of horses and cattle, and of the latter 
has some fine Holsteins. Mr. Bowen was married in Warren town- 
ship, in 1871, to Cornelia, daughter of Edward and Louisa (White- 
head) Stephens, natives of Vermont, of English stock ; (their family 
comprised ten children, all daughters, of whom Cornelia was the 
eighth). To Mr. and Mrs. Bowen were born three children, as 
follows: Archie B., Angle L. and Merton E. Mr. Bowen is a Demo- 
crat, and has filled the office of town clerk. 

BRAINERD BOWEN, tanner, Troy, was born in Pittsford, Rut- 
land Co.,Yt., November 21, 1828, a son of Laban and Esther (Crippen) 
Bowen, natives of Rhode Island and Vermont, respectively, of Welsh 
and Scotch descent, and who settled in Troy township, this county, in 
1833, locating on what is now^ known as the Iveyon farm; this his 
father cleared and improved, and resided thereon until 1843, when he 
removed to Troy village, and purchased the "Trojan Tannery,'' which he 
conducted until his death in 1849 ; his children were four in number: 
Brainerd, Lucy J. (Mrs. James Ballai'd), Mary A. (Mrs. Rev. William 
J. Reed) antl Annette (Mrs. John Creque). Our subject was reared in 
Troy from eight years of age, and received a common-school education, 
he learned the tannei-'s trade with his father, and in 1851 became ])art 
proprietor of the " Trojan Tannery " with which he has since been 
connected, alone and with others, and also has an interest in a tannery 
at Lansboro, Susquehanna Co., Pa., since 1889. Mr. Bowen has been 
thrice mari-ied ; his first wife was Ilan-iet I)ird, of Potter county, Pa. ; 
his second wife was Emeline Tracy, of Smithfield, and his third wife 
was Harriet, daughter of John Birchard, of Susquehanna county, and 
by her he has two children : ]\Iary and Nettie. Mr. Bowen is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church ; he has always taken an active 
interest in the welfare of Trov, and in politics he is a Republican. 

GEORGE A. P>OWEN, proprietor of creamery, P. O. Ilerrick, was 
born in Sus([uehanna county. Pa., March 3, 1859; his father, Robert 
S. Bowen, was born in Warren township, Bratlford county, July 13, 
1832 ; his ijrandfather, Al)ner P>owen, a native of Rhode Island, came 
with his father. James B<nven. to this county some time previous to 
1800, being the first settlers in Warren township; Bowen Hollow was 
named after them, and afterward changed to Warren Centre. There 
are two apple trees now in Warren Centre whicii were planted by 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 657 

James Bowen, the seed having been brought with him from Rluxle 
Ishmd in his vaHse ; these trees are on the farm now owned by J. J). 
Kinnev, and are supposed to be tlie oldest apple trees in this county. 
R. S. Bo wen, his son, was educated in the district school ; he first pur- 
ciiase^l a farm in Warren Centre, which he afterward sold, and then 
purchased the farm on wdiicli he now^ resides. George A. Bowen was 
born on this place, and attended the district school until his twentieth 
year, when he went to work on his father's farm seven years ; then 
worked in his brother-indaw's creamery in Warren Centre one year, 
after which he commenced his [)resent business, opening a creamery in 
Ballibay in 18S7. By hard work and honorable dealing with his patrons 
he has made it a decided success and a necessity in the community ; 
his business for 1890 was twenty-tive percent more than for 1887. 
Mr. Bowen married, January 2, 1884, Anna F., daughter of John M. 
and Catherine (Sleeper) Currier ; she is the eldest of five children, all 
of whom are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Bowen have had four children, 
viz.: Iva, born December 9, 1884 ; Lucy, born January 31, 1886 ; 
Ilarley, born April 19, 1887, and Amy, born April 7, 1889. The 
family are members of the Baptist Church, Warren Centre, and are 
among the best known and well respected people in the county. Mr. 
Bowen in his political preferences is a Democrat. 

GEORGE WARREN BOWEN, retired farmer, Warren, is a native 
of Seekonk, born February 28, 1811, a so"h of George and Sarah (Allen) 
Bowen, natives of Rhode Island, of Welsh and English stock. The 
father who was a farmer and shoemaker, immigrated to this county 
in May, 1811, and located in Warren township, being one of the 
eai'liest settlers in that dense wild wood, where with his own hands 
he girdled and felled the trees for his clearing; in 1827 he bought of 
his brother a gristmill, and in 1830 added thereto a sawmill ; he was 
the second in a family of nine children, and was the first of the 
familv to come to this countv, his four brothers following later — 
William in 1815, Noah and Brown in 1816, and Caleb in 1824; the 
brothers had altogether twenty-nine sons and daughters. George 
Bowen had one child which was seven months old when he came 
here, and this child is the subject of this sketch ; the father died 
February 14, 1844, the mother, September 1, 1858 ; they had twelve 
children — five sons and seven daughters— as follows : George War- 
ren, Noah C, vvho is now the oldest living person born in Warren 
■ township; Allen, who died in 1889, leaving a widow and four chil- 
dren, four now living; Martha (Mrs. Henry T. Newman, who has two 
children) ; Maria (Mrs. Josephus Sleeper, who died, leaving seven chil- 
dren ; Mr. Sleeper then married her youngest sister, Mary, the 
twelfth of the family, and he died in 1890, leaving a widow and two 
children); Nancy (Mrs. Nathan Young; Mr. Nathan Young died in 
1890, leaving one son) ; Lucinda (Mrs. Nelson Pratt, of Boston, has 
two children) ; Jacob, who died in 1846, leaving a widow and three 
children ; Romanda (Mrs. Jesse Newman; Jesse Newman died in 
1890 without issue); and Joanna (Mrs. David Brainard), who resides 
in Warren township. As stated, George W. was but seven months 
old when his father came to the county. Here he grew up a j)ioneer 



658 HISTORY OF RRADFORn COUNTY. 

boy, and as soon as he was old enonoli he went out to work as a 
I'ai'in hand, and with his wages of §10 a month paid for fifty acres of 
his father's farm; Avhen lie came of age had but a single dollar as his 
worldly possession, and now he owns one hundred and fifty acres of 
fine, well-improved farm land. He was married in AVarren townshij) 
to Sabra Young, danghter of Nathan and Lucy (Burton) Young, 
natives of Vermont, who came to Bradford county in 1816, and 
settled m Warren: their family were six in number, of whom Sabra 
was the eldest, born October 28, 1818; her father died in 1872, and 
her mother in 1874. To Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bowen were born 
seven children, three of whom died in infancy?", and four grew to 
maturity, as follows : George Nathan, married to Hannah McCreary 
(has two children) ; Oscar W., married to Julia Gallup (has three 
children); Lucy Anna (Mrs. Edward Pitcher) died in 1872; Zachary 
T., born December 6, 1847, is now a ])rominent farmer and manages 
his fathers farm (he married Lois R. Abell, daughter of Caleb and 
Itebecca (Gauff) Abell, of Rhode Island, who had five children, of 
whom Lois was the youngest; Zachary T. and Lois R. Bowen had 
two children, Lois Annah and Walter Abell, whose mother died 
February 12, 1888). Three generations it will be thus seen are under 
the roof-tree, and the above is an account of five generations of this 
family — one of the largest and most prominent families in the county. 
Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bowen are venerable with the frosts of 
many winters, yet bright, active and intelligent, and full of interest 
in the affairs of their younger heads about them. The father's 
family are Presbyterians, while the son's family are Methodists, and 
in politics the father and son are Democrats. 

RICHARD T. J30WEN, farmer and stockman, P. O., Warren 
Centre, Avas born in Warren township, this county, December 22, 
1843, a son of Richard D. and Sabina (Thayer) Bowen, natives of Rhode 
l5land and of English descent. The father was a farmer in this 
county, but had been a miller prior to coming here ; he removed to 
Bradford countv in 1837 and settled in Warren township, where he 
farmed the remainder of liis days, and died in 1881 ; his widow sur- 
vives. They had seven children, viz., Maria (Mrs. Dexter Chaffee, of 
Orwell); Mary (Mrs. Nathan Newman, of Warren) ; Martha A. (Mrs. 
Franklin Pendleton); Caleb N.. who enlisted in 1S()2. in Company D, 
Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and followed the hard service of 
his regiment in all its battles and marches (he was taken jirisonor 
while carrying dispatches, and died in Salisbury prison. Feljruary 21, 
1865); Richard T.; Joseph N., a farmer, and Horace E. Richard T. 
Bowen was reared in Wai'ren township, became a farmer, and is now 
the owner of sixty acres of land, all finely improved with good build- 
ings. He was mnrried in Pike township, in 1870, to Henrietta, 
daughter of Russell and Elvira (l)imon) McCrery of Connecticut, of 
Scotch-English descent ; her fatiier died June, 1S70, her mother sui'- 
vives; they had two children: Celinda (j\[rs. Martin W. Smith) of 
Tusoarora township, and Henrietta, who was born, educated and mar- 
ried in i'ike township. Mv. and Mrs. Richard T. I»ow(!n have one 



HISTORY OF HRADFORI) COUNTY. 6o9 

child. AVesle\' A. This is one of tlie most highly respected families in 
the county. 

FRANK A. BOWMAN, conductor, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Ulster, 
is a son of William and Eleanor J. (Harsh) Bowman, and was born in 
Ulster, November 22, 1846. His father was a common laborer, and 
the son was put to work at an early age ; in the summer he would 
drive the mules on the North Branch Canal, then attend school in the 
winter, and secured a fair common-school education ; he began driving 
when only eight years old, and followed the canal until July 24, 1870, 
when he began braking on the railroad, but worked only one year at 
that when he was promoted to freight conductor, which position he 
has since held. He enlisted in the army, February 14, 1864, in Com- 
pany D, One Hundred and Sixty-iirst Regiment N. Y. V., and was 
discharged as sergeant November 12, 1865 ; he participated in the bat- 
tles of Sabine Cross Roads, Pleasant Hill, Cane River, Morgangies 
Bend, Siege of Mobile, Ft. Blakesly, and was in the Red River 
expedition. His mother dying February 17, 1881, at the age of sixty 
years, his father makes his home with our subject, who has just com- 
pleted an elegant nine-room residence in the village of Ulster, this 
being a modern house and one of the finest residences in Ulster valley. 
Mr. Bowman was never married; he has been a member of the F. tV: 
A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, Athens, since 1871, and has taken 
the third degree ; is a member of Gillmore Post, No. 227, G. A. R., 
and held the office of commander for three successive years; is a mem- 
ber of the Iron Hall, in which he fills the chair of cashier of Local 
Branch No. 886: also a member of the Brotherhood of O. R. C, No. 
10, Waverly ; in his religious views, he is a Methodist, and in his polit- 
ical belief he is a strong Republican. 

JOSEPH G. BOYOE, finisher, Oliver's furniture factory. Troy, 
was born in Troy, Pa., August 16, 1847, and is a son of David and 
Nancy (Kevser) Boyce. Llis father was a native of Herkimer county, 
N. Y., born in 1802, and settled in Troy township, this county, in 
1826, where he cleared and improved the farm now owned by Caleb 
Case; in 1869 he removed to Ivansas, where he died in 1875 ; his wife 
was a daughter of John Kevser, of Troy township, by whom he had 
eight children : Hiram, Tliankful (Mrs. Henry Olds), Francina (Mrs. 
Moses Tngalls), James, Elizabeth, Josejjh G., Abigail and Edwin. 
Our subject was reared in Troy township, where, with the exception of 
twelve years, he has always resided ; he was in the Civil War, 
enlisting December 28, 1863, in Company E, Eleventh Pennsylvania 
Cavalry, and participated in the engagements in front of Richmond, 
Petersburg, Ream Station, Wilderness, Johnson Farm, Five Forks, 
and was at Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and was honorably 
discharged in August, 1865. After the war ended he learned the 
finisher's tratle in Troy, where he worked five years, then spent ten 
years in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, returning to Troy in 1880, 
where has since been in the employ of L. H. Oliver. In 1868 he 
married Sarah E., daughter of Stephen Wheeler, of Ti'oy township, 
and has five children : Newton (proprietor of "Troy House" barber 
shop), C. Ernest, Jennie, Dewitt and Alice. Mr. Boyce is a member 



660 HISTORY OF BKADFOKl) COUNTY. 

of the Metliodist Episcopal Church, of Gustin Tost, G. A. R., and 
politically is a Republican. 

J. W. BOYD, farmer and stock grower, Wyalusing- township, P. O. 
Wyalusing, a son of Charles and Elizabeth (Morrow) Boyd, was born 
in Wyalusing township, April 16, 1S65. He passed his boj^hood on the 
farm, and had the advantages of a good common-school education ; he 
adopted farming as an occupation, and has successfully pursued the 
same until the present time, farming on the old homestead in connec- 
tion witii his father, as well as operating a hay press and threshing 
machine in their season, until 1889, when he purchased his present 
home, known as the L. D. Biles estate. This is a well-improved and 
beautifully-located place, containing seventy-five acres, and Mr. Bo3'd 
has it well stocked. He was married, March 13, 1889, to Elnasa 
Stevens, and to them has been born one child, Florence Virginia. Mr. 
l)Oyd is an active politician, casting his interests wntb the Republican 
party. He now fills the office of town commissioner, having been 
elected to that i)osition in 1890. He is one of Bradford's energetic 
young farmers, and has created for himself a host of friends. 

FRANCIS BOYLE, hotel proprietor, in Rummerfield, was born 
in Wyalusing township, this county, August 11, 1841, a son of Patrick 
J^)oy]e who was born in County Cavan. Ireland, August 22, 1805. and 
grandson of Thomas J>oyle, wiio was born and died in Ireland andliad 
a family of seven children : Patrick, Ellen (wife of Mike O'Conneil), 
Michael, Thomas, Peter, James and Anne. Patrick came to this 
country in 1826, remaining one year on Long Island, then worked on 
the Erie Canal one year, then on the North Branch Canal three years, 
then went to Wyalusing and purchased 100 acres and added fifteen acres 
more, and built his house in 1867. He was a prominent and successful 
farmer, and the family are members of the Catholic Chui'ch ;, his politics 
are Democratic. He married, in 1827, Susan, daughter of Francis 
Flanigan, of New York City, and had six children, as follows: Anne 
(wife of J. J. O'Brien), John, Thomas, Francis, Peter and James. 
The mother died in Februarv, 1851, and he again married in October 
of same 3'^ear, Anne, daughter of Patrick Monoglian, and by this 
marriage had one child. Cornelius. Patrick Bovle died, August 22, 
1890. 

Francis, the subject of this sketch, attended school until his 
twentieth year; tlien worked on a farm until 1865. In 1866 he pur- 
chased fifty acresof land which he sold in 1870,then managed his father's 
farm until 1889, when he rented tlie ''Rummerfield Hotel," which he 
conducted until 1890, then returned home, and at his father's death he 
inh(.'rited the iiomestead. November 22, 1890, he purchased the " Rum- 
merfield Hotel."' ]\Ir. Boyle is a Democrat ; and the faniil\' are niem- 
l)ers of the (catholic Church. He married in 1876, Bridget, daughter of 
Michael and Sarah (Ilammersley) Ryan, the third of a family of seven, 
five of whom areliviufi", and of this mai-riaoe were born seven ciiildren : 
Susan, born April 29, 1868, wife of (ieorge McCrossen, they have 
one child, Francis, born Septeml)er 3(i, 1888; Sarah and Kate 
(twins), horn April *'., 1870; Annie, l)f)rn March 28, 1873; iMaiy, born 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. fJHl 

February 6, 1875; Patrick, March 11, 1879, and Michael, born IS'ovem- 
ber 25, 1881. This family is one of the leading ones of the county. 

Cx\PTAIN DANIEL BRADBUKY, machinist, Athens, is a native 
of Ulster county, N. Y., born September 23, 1830, a son of Thomas J. 
and Clarinda (liayes) Bradbury, natives of Ulster and Dutchess coun- 
ties, N. Y., respectively. The father is a retired farmer and resides in 
Southport, Chemung Co., N. Y., now eighty-three years old. Sub- 
ject's grandfather, Amirheuhama Bradbury, was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War, in Col. Shepherd's Massachusetts Regiment. 
The maternal grandfather, William Hayes, was a soldier in the War 
of 1812. Capt. Daniel Bradbury is the eldest in a famil}^ of seven 
children, of whom six are living. He was reared principally in Tomp- 
kms, N. Y.; worked three years on a farm, and at eighteen began an 
apprenticeship at the machinist's trade in Elmira ; then, in 1851, 
removed to Athens, and worked at his trade until 1856, when he went 
to Newark, Ohio, and from there to Buffalo, and thence to Corning, 
N. Y. Returning to Athens in 1858, he here worked at his trade 
until the breaking out of the Civil AVar, when he enlisted, April 23, 
1861, in the three-years' service, in Company F, Sixth Pennsylvania 
Reserves, and was appointed captain. He was wounded at Draines- 
ville, Va., December 20, 1861, and was an invalid in camp until March 
1, 1862 ; he was furloughed home, where he remained until May, 
when he returned to his command in Virginia, but after his examina- 
tion was rejected on account of his wound ; was dischai'ged from the 
service July 15, 1862. Returning to Athens he worked at his trade 
until 1867, when he went to Penn Yan, N. Y., and in 1870 to Elmira, 
same State, where he worked for Reid & Cooper, manufacturers of 
steam engines and general machinery, until January, 1885, when he 
came to Athens and worked in the Lehigh Yalley machine sliops ; he 
is now in the employ of Reid & Cooper. Elmira, N. Y. Capt. Brad- 
bury was married in Smithfield tow^nship, this county, to Miss Polly, 
daughter of Jared and Eliza (Hackett) Phelps, natives, respectively, of 
Massachusetts and Vermont ; the father, who was a farmer, was born 
January 24, 1789, and died August 17, 1869, in Smithfield. Mrs. Phelps 
was born May 20, 1795, and died May 2, 1839. Mrs. Bradbury's grand- 
father, Jared Phelps, served one full term of three years in a Connecti- 
cut regiment during the Revolutionary War, and soon after his 
discharge again enlisted for a term of three years, and served until 
the close of the struggle ; he was first a drummer, and afterward a 
fifer. Mrs. Bradbury is the youngest in a family of nine children that 
grew to maturity, and was born in Smithfield township, this county, 
December 4, 1831. To Mr. and Mrs. Bradbury were born four chil- 
dren, viz.: Thomas J., married to Clara Paul, residing in Argentine, 
Kan.; Harry B., married to Mary V. Massey, residing in New York 
C'ity (he is a reporter on the New York Trihune)\ Margaret E., and 
Asa, deceased. The Captain is a member of the G. A. R., Mallory 
Post, No. 285, and Union Veteran Legion, No. 28 ; he served two 
years as commander of the Post, and one year of the U. V. L.; is 
serving his second year as piesident of the Sixth Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Reserve Association. Politically he is a Republican. 

37 



<i6"^ HISTORY OF BKADFOllU COUNTY. 

DANIEL BRADP'ORD, a ])rominent and enterprising farmer of 
Columbia township, P. O. Sylvania, was born in Columbia township, 
this county, March 16, 1831, a son of Joseph R. and Mary (Monro) 
Bradford, natives of Rhode Island, who settled in Columbia township 
in 1829. where the father partially cleared and improved a farm, then 
removed to Tioga county. Pa., in 1837, where the father died in 1867, 
aged sixty-five years ; his children were as fcjllows : Levi D., Mary A. 
(Mrs. Alex. Smith), Daniel, Leonard J., Harriet (Mrs. Stearn Ashley) 
and William H. Our subject was reared in Tioga county, Pa., from 
six years of age, and received a common-school education. After 
reaching his majority he engaged in farming in Tioga county, until 
1865, when he removed to Columbia township, this county; since 
which time he has occupied the farm where he now resides, and has 
made all the improvements in buildings, etc. On March 30, 1853, he 
married Melinda, daughter of Robert and Mary (Gardner) Card, of 
Tioga county, Pa., formerly of Rhode Island, and has one son, Fred, 
D. Mr. Bradford is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Sylvania 
is a Republican in politics, and has served as county commissioner of 
Bradford count v two terms. 

SPENCER "^S. ]]RAINARD, farmer and stock grower, P. O. 
AVarren, was born in Warren township, this county, June 29, 1817, a 
son of Sidney C. and Eunice II. (Moore) Brainard, natives of New 
York and Vermont, respectively, and of Scotch origin. Sidney C. 
was a son of Isaac, born August 27, 1778, and his mother was Zeruah 
Spencer, born December 24, 1775 ; Isaac was the son of Timothy, who 
was born April 22, 1740, and his wife, Elizabeth Spencer, was born 
May 21, 1744. Sidney C. Bi-ainard was a farmer and carpenter, who 
came to Bradford county and located in Warren townslii]) in 1810, 
where heclearetl and opened the first farm in the township, the sj)ot 
being known for vears as the '" old clearing" (on this farm his son 
Spencer S. now resides), where he died May 16, 1884; his wife died 
March 10. 1870; they had ten children, of whom Spencer S. was the 
eighth. Our subject grew to his majority on his native farm, in time 
purchased the old homestead, and now has a line farm of one hundred 
acres, widely known to be as line as any in the townsliip. lie was 
joined in matrimony, in Warren township, with Mai'y E. Ilardic, daugh- 
ter of Stephen and I^naline (Stephens) Ilardic, natives of New Jersey, 
fai-mers of Camptown, and of German and English descent. Mrs. 
Ilardic died in 1864, the mother of six children, of whom Mary E. 
was the eldest. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer S. Brainard had born to them 
two cliildren, viz.: Rosabel and Arthur S. They are members of the 
Free Baptist ('liui'ch. Mr. Ihainard enlisted in the army July 12. 
1864, in Company D, Seventy -seventh N. Y. V. I., was sent to Elmira 
and guarded ])risoners ; he was disch.irged N()veml>er 19, 18()4, and 
returned to his liome. Three of his brothers and two brothers-in-law 
were in the service, Mr. Brainard is a member Of Spalding Post, No. 
33, and in politics is a Rei)ublican. 

PATRICK F. liliEXNAX, farmer, of Monroe township. P. O. 
Liberty Corners, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, October 20, 
1837, and is a son of John and Jolumna (Fogarty) Brennan. There 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 603 

were thirteen children in their family, of whom subject is the seventh* 
His parents dying in 1S55, he began life for himself, farming and 
teaming, and in 1861 he purchased six acres of land, where he now 
resides. When he had cleared and paid for this, he purchased more, 
and so on, until now he has sixty-two acres of well-cultivated land. 
Mr. Brennan was married December 25, 1858, to Miss Mary Ann 
McFee, daughter of Hannah M. Sullivan, and they have five children : 
George H., born January 14, 1860, resides with his parents, and is 
married to Alice Mc Daniels (they have one child, Thomas H., born 
September 14, 1890) ; Mary C, born March 31. 1863, married to Willis J. 
McDaniels, an employe in the Athens Bridge Works (they have one 
child. Anna E., born September 20, 1890) ; John M., born December 
IS, 1867, taught school seven terms in Bradford count\^ (was graduated 
from Miller's Commercial College, and is now in the employ of the New 
York Railroad Supply Company, at New York, where he is a member 
of the Y. M. C. A.); Thomas P., born April 11, 1873, died December 
4, 1881, and Frank A., born July 7, 1876. Mr. Brennan has always 
been a strong advocate of Democracv, as are all his children. 

GEORGE W. BRINK, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born in 
Branchville, Sussex Co., N. J., August 26, 1826, a son of Garret 
and Mary (Bowman) Brink, natives of Sussex county. Garret Brink 
followed the calling of an auctioneer many years, and died at the age 
of fifty. His family consisted of five children — three sons and two 
daughters — all of whom grew to maturity, and three are now living. 
George W. Brink, who is the fifth in the family, was reai'ed and edu- 
cated in Sussex county, N. J. At the age of twenty he married, for 
his first wife, Susan, daughter of Lewis Johnson, by which union there 
were born to them seven children — six boys and one girl — as follows: 
Andrew, Benjamin, Alfred, Willis, Frederick, Frank and Alice, all of 
whom are married and prosperous ; his second wife was Sarah Patter- 
son, ^vhom he married December 26, 1875. Mr, Brink removed to 
this county in 1856, locating in Wells township, where he lived until 
1878 when he removed to Bentley Creek, and has since resided here. 
His wife, Sarah, purchased what is known as the "Cook Place." Mr. 
Brink is an extensive dairyman, and has two registered Alderneys. 

T. W. BRIXK, P. O."" Brink Hill, who ranks among the most 
prominent farmers of Litchfield township, was born in Sheshequin 
township, this county, March 21, 1820, on the farm now owned by 
Rufus Mallory, a son of Benjamin and Rhoda (Rodgers) Brink, the 
former of whom was a farmer, and resided at the old Rodgers home- 
stead in Sheshequin from 1825 until his death. Our subject is the 
eldest of four children, of whom Amanda mari-ied Henry McKinney, 
and died in 1883. Benjamin Brink married, for his second wife, Polly 
Forbes, and by her had two children, viz., Delila, married to Philip 
C/rans, of Athens, and John F., married to Emily Crans. The grand- 
father was a soldier of the War of 1812. T. W. Brink was reared on 
the old homestead, and received a limited common-school education. 
Leaving school at the ao:e of seventeen years, he took charge of a 
farm in Sheshequin township, and at the age of twenty-one removed 
to the farm now owned by George Page, in Athens township, then 



604 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

returned to the old homestead, where he remained until 1859, in which 
vear he came to Litchfield on the farm he now owns, comjirising- two 
hundred and ten acres, of which one hundred and fifty are improved, 
with comfortable buildings. He has been twice married ; first time in 
1841, to Martha Harrington, by which union were born eight children : 
Mary, married to George W. Morse of Washington, D. C; George, 
married to Gwilda Carmer, and resides at Litchfield ; Henry, married 
to Kate McGovern, and lives in Athens township ; Dell, who first 
nuinied Orlando Pai-k, and for her second husband married Perley 
J*halin, of Athens; Alonzo, died at the age of six ; Alfred, died at the 
ao-e of two; Henrietta, died in infancy; Fred, married Ida Munn, and 
lives on part of his father's farm. Our subject nuirried for his second 
wife, in 1869, Clarissa McKinney, third m the family of six children 
of Joseph and Mary (Bidlac) McKinney. Mr. Brink is a Kepublican, 
and has held various town offices. The family are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal (Uiurch. 

SAMUEL N. IHlOTs'SON, retired merchant, Orwell. John 
Bronson came from England in Colonial times with a colony under the 
leadership of Ilev. Thomas Hooker, in 1630, and settled at Hartford, 
Conn.; he was in the bloody Pequot War of 16.37, and removed to 
Tunxis (P^irmington), about 1641 ; he was one of the organizers of the 
Farming-ton Church, October 13,1652; he died November 28, 1680, 
having reared a family of seven children, of whom the fifth child, 
John, the ancestor of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, 
was born in January, 1<)44; he became an early settler of Waterbury. 
where he died, itis family consisted of seven children, of whom 
John, the eldest in this branch of the family, was born in 1670, and 
removed from Waterbury to Southington, where in January, 1697, he 
was married to Rachel Buck, of Weathersfield, and had seven 
children, of whom Jonathan, born May 14, 1706, married Abigail 
Clark, Mav 17, 1732, and lived in Soutliington, where he died, August 
20, 1751 ; his family consisted of ten children, of whom the second, 
John, born July 16, 1735, married, foi- his first wife, Sarah Barnes, 
March 30, 1758^ and soon after settled in Wolcott, where she died 
December 17, 1804; he then married the widow of Curtiss Hall, 
and died November 10, 1838, aged one hundred and three years, three 
months and twenty-five days; his family of six children were as 
follows: Joel, born ]\rarch 9, 1759; Isaac, born July 19, 17<'»1 ; 
Benjamin lUirnes, born August 19, 1763; Philenor, baptized April 27, 
1766; Hannah; John, born January 31,1776. Of these, Joel, who 
was the grandfather of Samuel N. Bronson, married (/ynthia Minerva 
Squires, Deceml)er 3, 1783, and had the following children, all now 
deceased: Ira, born Sei)teml)er 11, 1784; Samuel Scjuire (father of 
subject), l)orn Mav 6, 1787; Avis Finch, born October 27, 1790 ; Mary 
Woodruff, l)orn Julv 13, 1793; Nancv Barns, born April 25,1796; 
Joel, Jr., l)orn May 23, 1799; Cynthia " Minerva, born Augusts, 1809, 
and died March 14, 1891, at Kennctt Scjuai-c, Fa. 

|The Humphrey family in America dates from Michael Humphrey, 
"the emif^rant'' from England whose first record here is in 1643 in 
Windsor, Conn.; he nuirried October 14, 1647, Priscilla Grant, 



I 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 6G5 

daughter of Matthew Gi'ant, of Windsor, of wljoiii ex-I'resident U. 
S. Grant was of the seventh generation, lie had a family of seven 
children, of whom the tliird child, known as Lieut. Samuel^ was born 
May 15, 1G56, in Windsor. He mari-ied Mary Mills, and died June 
15, 17'>C), having had eight children, of whom the third child, known 
as Ensign Samuel, born May IT, ir>S<), in Simsbury, was married four 
times, reared nineteen children, and died October 16, 1759; he 
married his third wife, Lydia Noi-th, of P^armington, Conn., in December, 
1714, of whom his fifth child, known as diytt. Ezekiel (great-grand- 
father of S. N. Bronson), born August 28, 1719, in Simsbury, Conn., 
married Elizabeth Pettibone, October 2. 1740, and they had ten 
children: E/.ekiel, born May 28, 1741; Elijah, born September 20. 
1747; Elizabeth, born 1750; Frederick, born December 9, 1753; 
George, born 1756 ; Ann, born 1758 ; Giles (grandfather of S. X. 
Bronson), born 1760; Chloe, born June 28, 1762; Lydia, born 1769; 
Betsey, born February 12, 1771. Giles, the seventh child, a native of 
West Simsbury, Conn., married Elizabeth Case, of same place, and had 
seven children : Norman, born May 17, 1781 ; Sarah, born April 4, 
1783 ; Elizabeth, born June 3, 1785^; Lydia, born November 29, 1787; 
Lyman, born February 11, 1791 ; Ursula (the mother of S. N. 
Bronson), born August 1, 1794, and Anna. He died in 1816 in 
Burlington, Conn.J 

Samuel S. Bronson married Ursula Humplirey, April 28, 1814, and 
had the following children : Samuel 11., born July 12, 1815 ; a son, born 
November 18, 1816, and died ; Lyman II., born March 17, 1818 ; Cynthia 
Ann, born January 10, 1821 ; Perintiia, born July 7, 1823 ; and Samuel 
Newton, born July 2, 1825, the only survivor,"^ The subject of this 
sketch was first married July 21, 1853, to Margaret Garretson, of 
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Garretson, 
and by this marriage were born the following children: Edith May, 
born June 25, 1858 ; Jennie C, born August 21, 1859, and died in 
infancy ; Edith May, married to L. De Witt Griswold, May 9, 1878. 
This wife dying January 3, 1861, Mr. Bronson married September 19, 
1861, Mrs. Caroline C. Elsbree, of Warren, Pa., widow of James T. 
Elsbree, and daughter of Samuel Lyon, by which marriage there were 
two children : Ira Lincoln, born Mtiy 20, 1865, now in Chicago, and 
Flora A., born September 19, 1867." married to Charles W. Eastman, 
August 4, 1890. 

Samuel N. Bronson's father was a learned jihysician who practiced 
his profession at Burlington, Conn., and died aged thirty-nine years. 
He was a man of great promise to the people of his section, and skilled 
in professional as well as in church life. The grandfather was a soldier 
of the Revolution, and served under Washington ; he came to Orwell 
during his old age, and died here. The great-grandfather had served 
in the French-Indian War. After his parent's'death, Samuel N. made 
his home with his uncle Ira, and came with him to Orwell in 1839, and 
in 1840 Ira Bronson built the house where H. Champlin now lives, and 
there resided until his death. Samuel worked on his uncle's farm 
during boyhcxl, and secured an academical education. After reaching 
his majority, he began teaching school and was thus engaged winters, 



666 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

two 3'ears : then clerked in a general store at -Orwell Hill nearly five 
years, when he formed a partnership with 11. Z. Frisbie under the firm 
name of Frisbie & iironson, which continued for two years, wlien Mr. 
Frisbie retired, and a firm of four was formed, the style of the firm 
being Humphre}'^ & Co., which, two years thereafter, was dissolved, Mr. 
Bronson continuing alone in the building now occupied by Mr. Coburn, 
and changed to the old stand, now of Mr. Cowles, where he remained 
until 1871, when he retired from the mercantile trade and devoted his 
attention to real estate, steam saw and lathe mill, and other business. 
About 1853, T. Humphrey (or the company) started a tm shop and a 
cooper shop ; in 1856, S. N. Bronson purchased the coopering and 
tinware business, and soon had on the road one or two peddlers of 
tinware and notions — two years' peddling by Bronson & Doolittle, and 
for about ten years he was running it alone. 

Mr. Bronson was three times appointed postmaster, holding the 
office about eighteen years, and has held the position of first lieutenant 
in the Orwell Artillery Company, first appointed May 4, 1840. He 
has been a member of the Presbyterian Church all his life, an untiring- 
worker in the same, and an elder many 3xars, filling also the position 
of chorister, Sunday-school superintendent and treasurei' of the church, 
and of the Sunday-school. He is a Republican in politics, and lield 
numerous township offices; was town treasurei* during the years 1851- 
52-53-54-61-62 and 77, and town clerk during the years f883-84-S5- 
89 and 90. 

Pi. F. BROWN, farmer, P. O. Athens, was born in Pi'ovidence, R. 
I., April 28, 1850, is the son of S. W. and Harriet (Reynolds) Brown, 
natives of Providence, of whom the former was born July Y, 1801, the 
latter December 17, 1815 ; they removed to this county in 1852, locat- 
ing in Athens township, on what is now known as the Sawyer place, 
and resided there six years ; the mother died July 13, 1858, aftei" which 
tiie father sold the property to AV^illiam Sawyer, removing farther 
north and west, and purchased a farm. He subse(piently traded that 
for the one now owned by his son, B. F. Brown, and removed thither 
in 1876 ; he died in 1881, in his eightieth year; his family consisted of 
seven children, two sons and five daughters, four of whom are now 
living. Our subject, who is the seventh of the familv, was reared and 
educated in Athens in the common school, and always confined himself 
to farm work ; he beran business for himself bv buvinii" a farm of eiiihtv 
acres in 1876, on which he has worked faithfully and with effect; in 
1888 he added fifty-eight acres to the above. He was married in 1878 
to Miss Eliza, daughter of Warren W. and Anna Wilson, whose 
parents removed to this county from Kew York State, and by this 
union there were five cl^ildren, viz.: ]\rinnie. May, Harriet E., Anna !>., 
Susan E. and Fred W. Mr. P.rown is employed in mixed farming, and 
is a successful and enter]irising man ; his ))remises are well watered 
with never-failing s])i'ings; his stock is of the finest quality, some of 
them being registered. He has hekf various offices of public trust in 
the town ; is a member of the Iron Hall, and politicallv is a Re)>ublican. 

CHARLES J. BPtOWN was born in Towanda, June 9, 1839, and 
was the adopted son of Jesse E. Brown, Avho was a farmer, born in 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 667 

Wvalusing in 1797; moved to Slioslie(iiiin in 182;>, and died in 18.S2. 
Chai'les received his education in the coninion schools of ISheshecjuiii. 
His musical instructors were »!. (4. Towner and F. V. Bliss, and he has 
taught music twenty-five 3'ears. The farm he now occupies is the one 
his father lived on when he came to the township, and consists of 193 
acres, seventy-five of which are in the bottoms, all susceptible of cul- 
tivation. He was married July 16, 1861, to Maryan Seely, daughter of 
Joseph Seely, of Rome township. He has two children, a son, Han- 
ford, and a daughter, Etidin. Mr. Brown's ])oliiic:i.l views are Kepub- 
lican. His errand father's familv were in Wvoming at the time of the 
battle. 

CHARLES L. BROWN, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Towanda, a 
son of Barker and Elizabeth (Seltzer) Brown, was born in Wyoming 
county, June 6, 1849. His father was a native of this State, and his 
mother of Connecticut, whose ancestors were of German and English 
origin, and were agriculturists. Charles L., who is the third in a family 
of four children who grew to maturity, was educated in the common 
schools of Burlington township, and spent his early life on his father's 
farm. At his majority he became a tiller of the soil, and is now one 
of the leading and successful farmers of North Towanda, where he has 
a fine farm of 125 acres. He settled on his present homestead many 
years ago, where he soon added the dairy and milk business to his 
other interests. Mr. Brown was married August 20, 1868, to Sophia 
Morehouse, and there have been born to them six children. He is a 
genial, agreeable gentleman, and has a wide circle of friends. Mr, 
Brown votes the Republican ticket, and takes an active interest in the 
affairs of both township and county. 

CLARK M. BROWN, farmer and stock grower, Wyalusing town- 
ship, P. O. Wyalusing, is among the most prominent of Bradford's 
farmers, and was born Ma}^ 14, 1838, on the farm he now owns in 
Wyalusing township, a direct descendant of Thomas Brown, who was 
one of the most prominent of the pioneers of Wyalusing, and a son of 
Mason and Harriet (Harmon) Brown, His father was born at Brown- 
town, and was one of the prominent farmers of that section ; he had a 
family of ten children, as follows: Rachel, married to Lorenzo iVllen, 
and after his death was married to Hugh Daugherty ; David; Eliza 
(deceased); Hannah ; Emma, married to George Jackson and living at 
Paterson, N. J.; James, a farmer, of Wyalusing; Harriet, residing in 
Wyalusing; William, of Washington State; Libbie (deceased); and 
Clark M. Our subject was born and reared on a farm, and 
received a limited common-school education, following farming until 
1852. For ten years he was engaged in navigating the North Branch 
canal; then resumed farming, which he has since continued. In 1869 
he purchased the old homestead, and proceeded to improve the same, 
and now has as beautiful a home as the county affords, having added 
to his original farm until he owns 280 acres. He was united in mar- 
riage with Jane Woodfield, daughter of James Woodfield, of this 
county, December 2, 1860. This union has been blessed with nine 
children: Stella, married to Rev. John Nichols (soon after their mar- 
riage her husband was sent as a missionarv to India, and she accom- 



668 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

panied him there, where after a sojourn of a year he died ; she then 
returned to her parents, and was married, the second time, to Rev. 
F. 11. Crissman, now residing in Blairsville, Pa.); Charles R., of Syra- 
cuse; Lewis, of Stillwater, Minn.; Belle, Oscar, Jennie. Harmon, 
Homer and Clyde. The family are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, of "^Wyalusing. Politically Mr. Brown is a Democrat, and 
is one of the successful men of the county ; has always been a hard 
worker. Besides the accumulation and improvements of his land he 
has given his children the advantages of a good education, and has 
been a liberal supporter of all Christian and benevolent enterprises. 

D. K. BROWN, retired, Wyalusing, was born at Browntown, 
Wvalusing township, this county^ February 24, 1826, a son of Ira and 
Nancv (King) Brown. His father was also born in Wyalusing town- 
ship in 1801, a son of Daniel Brown, a survivor of the Wyoming mas- 
sacre. Ira, who was one of the pioneers of this section, had three 
children, of whom the subject is the eldest ; J. Morgan is the genial 
l^roprietor of the " Wyalusing Hotel," and Adaline is married to A. H. 
Kingsbury, of Towanda. The father was a farmer, and at his death 
had accumulated quite an extensive body of land, sixty -five acres of 
which remain in the possession of D. K. Brown. He was born and 
reared on the farm and educated in the common school. AVhen eight- 
een years old he started to serve an apprenticeship at the carpenter's 
and joiner's trade, with his uncle Nelson Brown, of Towanda. And 
after serving only two years he began for himself. He worked in 
Towanda two years, and then returned to AVyalusing whei'e he fol- 
lowed the trade to the present time, having been interested in the 
building of almost every house in Wyalusing, the bank building and 
many other buildings in Dushore, besides a great amount of work at 
Scranton and other points. He has recently remodeled and modernized 
his residence, making it one of the handsomest homes in Wyalusing; 
he has also erected an elegant workshop, which he has supplied with 
all modern machines for the use of his craft. With the contractors and 
builders of this county he ranks among the foremost, and besides fol- 
lowing his trade, he has taken an active interest in farming, and owns 
a productive little farm on the banks of the Susquehanna. Mr. Brown 
was united in wedlock, August 14, 1848, wnth Hettie, daughter of 
Joseph and Rachel (Birney) Stalford, pioneers of this county; her 
parents had the following children, besides her: Catherine, who mar- 
ried Joseph Baker and removed to Greenville, Ohio, where they both 
died: Samuel, who died at Danville, Pa.; John, who diet! in infancy. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born three children : AnnaE., boi'n 
November 5, 1849, married to C. A. Stowell, of Wvalusing; Francis A., 
born June 15, 1851, died September 29, 1852. and Emily A., born May 
9, 1854, married to II. J. Llovd, of Wyalusing. The family worship 
at the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Brown is an active 
member. Mr. Brown is a stanch Republican and has held various 
town and borouuh offices, being the first l)urgess in Wyalusing. 
Besides his other business he has been dealing in hunber, doors, blinds 
and all cari)enter's supplies. 



HISTORY OP BIIADKORI) COUNTY. 009 

D. S. JUiOWN, wagon maker, Wilawana, was born in Morrison, 
N. J., October 1, 181-t, a son of Aaron and I5etsey (Crane) Brown, 
natives of New Jersey. Aaron Brown migrated from New Jersey to 
Chenmng, N. Y., in 1810, wliere he resided two years; thence moved to 
Wellsbui'g (then called ISouthport), where he worked at his trade, 
wagon making, until his death, which occurred in 1848, when he was 
at an advanced age ; his children numbered five, all of whom grew to 
maturity, and two are now living. D. S., who is the second in the 
famil}^, was reared and educated in Wellsburg, N. Y., and learned the 
wagon maker's trade of his father. At tiie age of twenty -three he 
married Hannah, daughter of James and Margaret Burt, by which 
marriage there were two children : Martha and Emeline, both now 
deceased ; his second w^ife, whom he married December 9, 1843, was 
Polly, daughter of William and Fanny Seeley, by which union there 
were four children : Frances L. (was married to Charles Cain, and had 
two children — Carrie and Minnie — both of whom are married, and 
have each tliree children), Alice (married to Charles J. Howard, a mer- 
chant of Corning, IST. Y.), William (married to Eva, daughter of Dr. 
F. W. Keise, of Wilawana) and F. L. (deceased). William is a skilled 
mechanic and works witii his father, doing the iron work. Mr. BrowMi 
removed to Wilawana in 1845, and opened the first tavern in the 
village, which was then called Orcutt Creek, from which he retired 
after the hipse of two years. In 1847 he went into partnershi}) with 
Anson Beidleman in the mercantile business, but after three or four 
years Mr. Beidleman purchased the entire business, and Mr. Brown 
confined himself to his trade. In addition to his village property, he 
has a small farm of forty-five acres, which he works. He is much 
respected by his fellow-citizens who elected him to various i-esponsible 
offices ; he was postmaster seven years, and was then succeeded by his 
son William; was constable, assessor and school director; is a mem- 
ber of the Christian Church, and is a Democrat. 

EDWARD II. BROWN, of the firm of Brown, Rockwell & Co., 
merchants, New Albany, was born at Laddsburg, Pa., July 6, 1801, a 
son of John and Catherine (Ladd) Brown. His father, of Irish origin, 
was born in this State ; the grandfather, a farmer, was a native of 
Ireland. His mother is a native of Albany township, and a granddaugh- 
ter of Horatio Ladd, whose fathei", Ephraim and himself were of the 
first settlers in the township of Albany. Our subject was reared on 
his father's farm and educated in the schools of the township. To wanda, 
and Starkey Seminary, Yates county, N. Y. At the age of seventeen 
he commenced teaching school, which he followed some years, continu- 
ing his studies. In 1880 he engaged as a clerk in the store of Hon. S. 
D. Sterigere, at New Albany, and after nine months he purchased an 
interest in the business, w^hich had been successfully established more 
than twenty-five years, under the firm name of Sterigere & Co. Mr. 
Brown was married, in 1886, to Ella Sterigere, a daughter of the 
former owner of the business, Hon. S. D. Sterigere, who was in the 
State Legislature m 1884-85, being elected by the Republican party. 
Mr. Brown is a Republican in politics, but devotes his entire time to 
business, and is one of the substantial and o-rowing men of the county. 



670 HISTORY OF BRADrOKD COUNTY. 

F. 8. BROWN, ticket and Adams Express agent, Say re, is a native 
of Addison, \. Y., and was l)orn Marcli 29, 1854, a son of John N. and 
Saraii C (Langford) Brown, natives of New York State, tlie former 
of whom is a retired merchant, and has been postmaster at Addison, 
N. y., fifteen years. F. S. Brown, who is the fourth in a family of 
six children (of whom the youngest four are now living), received liis 
education in the public schools of his native place, and in 1872 he went 
to Athens and served a three-years' apprenticesiii]) at telegraphy ; 
from there he inoved to Towanda, and was operator at the upper 
depot for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company about three vears, and 
then was station agent for the Barclay Railroad Compan}^ about four 
years, after which he went to Elizabeth, and was in the superintend- 
ent's office of the New Jersey Central Railroad about a year ; then 
came to Sayre and worked in the offices until April, 1888, when he 
was appointed ticket agent and Adams Express agent at Sayre. Mr. 
Brown was married in Athens, October 13, 1875, to Miss Emma A., 
daughter of Edmund A. and Maria (Jackway) Kenyon, natives of this 
county, former of whom was a merchant a number of years in Athens. 
Mrs. Brown is the elder of two children, and Avas born in Windham 
township, this county, 1858. To Mr, and Mrs. Brown has been born 
a daughter, Bessie. Mrs. BroAvn is a member of the Baptist Church. 
Jn politics Mr. Brown is a Republican. 

JRA A. liROWN, farmer and stock grower, Wyalusing, was born 
in this county, August 13, 1854, and is a son of J. M. Brown (proprie- 
tor of the "Wyalusing Hotel") and Sarah A. (Jennings) Brown, who 
had two children, Ira A. and Carrie, the latter of whom married Richard 
McCann, a mechanic working in the Pullman Car Shops, Chicago. The 
moLlier dying while our subject was quite A^oung, he made his home 
with his grandfather, Ira Brown, one of the pioneers of this section, 
was educatetl in the common schools of Wyalusing. and worked the 
farm of his grandfather, who left the same to him at iiis death. He 
followed farming on the old homestead until 1884. when he went to 
Wyalusing borough and assisted his father in conducting the ''Wyalus- 
ing Hotel,'' remaining there four years; then returned to the old farm 
in W\'alusing township, where he has since resided, and which con 
tains 150 acres of as fine land as the county affords, all under cultiva- 
tion and well improved. In 1890 he began extensive lumbei- oper- 
ations, as the fai-m compi-ises a timber lot containing 200,000 feet of 
lumber, which he is now enoacred in fi:ettino' readv for market: has his 
farm well stocked with cattle and horses. Mr. Brown was united in 
wedlock, September 25, 1877, with Frances Cox, daughter of Corne- 
lius Cox, of Vaughn Hill, this county, and they have had three chil- 
dren, all now deceased. Mr. B)i'own is an active member of and class- 
leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics he is a 
Republican. 

JAMES R. BROWN (deceased) was a native of Vermont, born 
February 19, 1838, his parents being Christopher and Mary Brown, 
also natives of Vermont; the father died in 1882, the mother died 
several years ago; tiiey were the parents of live children, of whom 
James R, was the third. James R. Brown spent his young life in 



HISTORY OF BRADl'OKD COUNTY. 671 

Massachusetts, and in 1870 came to Jjradford county, first locating- in 
Or-well township, and tlielice went to AVindhaui townshi]), where he 
s{)ent the remainder of his thiys, and died possessed of a liigiily im- 
proved farm of fifty-two acres, lie married, in Massaciiusetts, Lydia 
A. Stetson, daugliter of Leonard and Sophia" P. (Alger) Stetson, 
natives of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, respectiveiy, of whicli 
marriage were born seven children, as follows: Mary (married Elmer 
Cole, of Litchfield), Alice M. (wife of Francis Strope. of Windham), 
Jennie. Arthur M., Stetson, llarry and Howard. James R. Brown 
departed this life in Windham township in 1885, greatly regretted bv 
everyone, and profoundly mourned by his family and friends ; he was 
known in life as a good man, a good and true friend, atfectioiuite 
father and a loving and devoted husband ; he served his country as a 
soldier, enlisting m 1864, in Compam' K, One Hundred and Ninth 
N. Y. I., serving until the close of the war, enduring many hardships, 
exposures and sickness, which eventually caused his death. He was a 
member of the K. of 11. 

JOHN H. BROWN, farmer and stock-grower, of Wyalusing 
township, P. O. Merryall, was born at Standing Stone this countv, 
December 30, 1832, a son of Benjamin and Jane (Houk) Brown, and a 
lineal descendant of Thomas Brown, the first of the name to settle in 
the county. The father was born at Browntown, April 27, 1782, and 
died Apvli 14, 1834; the mother was born at Stantling Stone, May 24, 
1792, and died October 28, 1872. Their family comprised the follow- 
ing named children: Guy (deceased), Septer, Lloyd, Blondine (married 
to John Tewillayen, whom she survives, and resides at Standing Stone), 
Ellen (married to Harry Clark), Collins L., Allen, Charles, Sarah (mar- 
ried to Austin Frost), and John IL, the youngest in the family. Our 
subject was educated in the common schools of his day, and upon 
reaching his majority adopted farming as an occupation, which he has 
since followed. He was drafted September 27. 1864, and served in 
Company I, Fifty -first Regiment Pennsylvania Drafted Infantry, serv- 
ing until June 2, 1865, when he was discharged. He was before Peters- 
burg four months, and at the attack on Fort Steadman. After the close 
of the war he returned to Bradford county, and in 1857 purchased a 
farm in Herrick township, where he resided until 1887, when he pur- 
chased his present farm in Wyalusing townshi]i. He now owns sixty- 
one acres of fine farm land, beautifully located and well im))rove(l and 
stocked, where he does a general farming business. Mr. Brown was 
married November 11, 1857, to Roxanna Coleman, who w^as born 
March 23, 1840, a daughter of Nathan Coleman (deceased), of Herrick, 
and this union was blessed with six children : Sarah J., born Sejitem- 
ber 29, 1860, married to J. Baxter, a farmer of Sheshequin ; Nelson, 
born October 28, 1866, died October 5, 1869 ; Nellie M., born July 18, 
1869, married to John Shooks, a farmer of Herrick township ; Anna 
M., born September 10, 1871, died July 25, 1878; Myrtella, born June 
3, 1874, and Frances S., born April 3, 1880. Mr. Brown is a charter 
member of Hurst Post, No. 86 G. A. R,, and in his political views he 
is a Democrat. 



G72 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

.1.11. lUlOWN", farmer, P. O. Canton, is a native of Soutli])ort, 
Chemung Co., N. Y., and was born June 18, 1857, a son of John and 
Martha C. (Wier) Brown, natives of Chemung county, N. Y. John 
Brown was in earl}' life a lumberman, and is now president and general 
superintendent of the Elmira Silver Mining Co.'s mines in Banner. 
Idaho, a j)osition he has held for eleven years ; was five vears a mem- 
ber of the Elmira Board of Supervisors and was chairman of the board 
for sometime. The subject of this memoir is the fifth in order of birth 
in a family of two sons and four daughters ; his brother William D. 
Brown organized the State Bank of Lisbon, Dak., and has held the 
office of president since the organization. J. H. Brown was reared in 
Southport, INT. Y.,and received an academic education at Cook Academy, 
Ilavanna, N. Y., where he attended two years. His father was the 
owner of Webb's Mills, consisting of one gristmill, two sawmills and 
timber land, and worked for his father two years; then he and his 
brother, William D., purchased the business from their father, and 
they operated the mills together about three 3^ears, when J. H, pur- 
chased his brother's interest, and in a short time sold and removed to 
Grover, Pa. In 1881 he was associated in the lumber business with 
W. J. Koy, three years, under the firm name of Brown & Rov, and 
they had one of the largest mills outside of Williamsport. This they 
sold to Mial E. Lilley, and Mr. Bi'own purchased a farm where Ezra 
Spaulding settled in 1790 and built the first hotel in this part of the 
county ; the farm contains one hundred and sixty acres, fine buildings, 
and is'^ under a good state of cultivation. Mr. Brown was first mar- 
ried in Elmira, N. Y., in 1879, to Miss Ida, daughter of Oscar W. 
and Mary Ann (Nichols) Streeter, natives of Connecticut. Oscar W. 
Streeter was a mine operator in California. Mrs. Streeter is a daugh- 
ter of Draper Kichols, who Avas a prominent lumberman, of Southport 
N. Y., and helped build the Northern Central Pailroad. Mrs. Brown 
who was the only child, was born in Southport, x\ugust 10, 1858, and 
died at Hinesville, Cla., while there for her health, April 4, 1889. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown were born two children : Fanny May and Nellie 
Louise. Mr. Brown was married (the second time) in Canton, August 
11, 1890, to Miss Belle C, daughter of Hon. B. S. and Achsah E. (Man- 
ley) Dartt. 

[Hon. B. S. Dartt was born September 8, 1826, in Charleston toAvn- 
ship, Tioga, Co., Pa., and there lived until he was seventeen years of 
age, Avhen he removed to Canton, and Avas apprenticed to Seneca 
Kendall to learn the carriage-maker's trade, where he remained three 
year-s ; then taught school one year. At the age of twenty-one he was 
united in marriage with Miss Achsah E., daughter of Thomas and 
Betsey INlanley, of East Canton. To this liap|)v union were born five 
children — one son and four daughters — namely: Thomas M. (deceased); 
Clara (deceased); Ida I., mariied to It. A. Ilazleton ; Fannie P., mar- 
ried to Charles D. Derrah ; and l^elle C. (Mrs. J. II. Brown). Mr. 
Dartt enlisted in Company C, Seventh Pennsylvania CaA^alrv, 
Avhere he w(;nt to the front as lieutenant. He i-omained in active 
service until "the last ivbel laid down his arms, earning his successive 
promotions by his personal bravery and good and faithful soldiership. 



HISTORY OF HHADFOHD COUNTY. 073 

and when peace returned to our country, the lieutenant returned to his 
liome with a major's straps on his worthy shoulders." In 186G Maj, 
Dartt removed with his family to Canton, and in partnership with Aaron 
Spaulding, engaged in the hardware business many years under the firm 
name of Spaulding cV: Dartt. After Mr. Spaulding's death, in 1874, Mr. 
Dartt carried on the business alone. He was a member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, and organized the first Sunday -school in Canton, 
of which he was superintendent many years; was' a member of the 
order of Good Templars, of which he was Grand Chief Templar of the 
State during the years 1875-76 ; a member of the G. A. E. Post and of 
the Masonic Fraternity. In 1871 he was elected to the lower house of 
the State Legislature to represent Bradford county, and served two 
successive terms with honor and credit to his party. He suffered sev- 
eral years from heart disease, and died at his residence in Canton, 
February 12, 1880, in the sixtieth year of his age.] 

Mrs. Brown is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. 
Brown of the Baptist Church. He is a member of the F. & A. M., 
Canton Lodge, No. 415 ; Troy Chapter, No. 261, and Canton Com- 
mandery, No. 64; is a member of the Keystone Grange, and president 
of the Union Agricultural Association. Politicallv he' is a Eepublican. 
L. O. BIIOWN, farmer. P. 6. Orwell, was born July 1, lS3(i. m 
Orwell township, this county, on the farm now owned by G. W. 
Brown, and is a son of Uriah S. and Pearlie (Howe) Brown, the 
former of whom was born in West Chester county, N. Y., but came to 
this county in early times. He had a family of sixteen children, 
twelve of whom reached maturity, viz.: E. P., G. W., Mehetable 
(deceased), Nathan (deceased), L. O., Anouslus (deceased), James H., 
Sallie S., Almira (deceased), Mary, Henry (who was killed at the second 
battle of Bull Pun; he was a^nember of the Sixth Pennsvlvania 
Reserves), Lucy (married to John Eastman) and TerrissaJ." The 
father in early life was a shoemaker, carrying his kit from house to 
house, traveling sometimes on foot and sometimes on horseback, and 
there were but few of the early families of this section of the country 
in his day who did not know him, and avail themselves of his skill. 
He had purchased a home in the wilderness where, in a rude log 
house, he left his wife and young children alone for days, while he 
pursued his calling, making and mending shoes to pay for his farm; he 
was killed by being thrown from a wagon by a run-away team in 
1865. L. O. Brown passed his boyhood on the old homestead and at 
the common schools. When twenty-one lie purchased afaim, and began 
farming, which he first followed 'in Windham, where he lived eight 
years ; then bought the farm he now occupies, com])rising one hundred 
and thirty acres, all finely imi)roved and well stocked. He was united in 
wedlock December 31," 1856, with Ellen, daughter of Jacob and 
Minerva (Tupper) Chubbuck, and to them have been born three chil- 
dren: Fred L., born October 11, 1860 (was educated in the common 
schools and at Orwell Hill Academy, and became a book-keeper in 
Wilkes- Barre ; he married Maggie Green); Ella M. (boi-n December 9, 
1865, died February 19. 1879), and Frank H. (born Januarv 1, LS7L 
residing with his parents). The familv are all members of the Methodist 



674 liISTOR\ OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Episcopal Cluircli, of which Mr. Brown is class leader and trustee. 
lie has been a member for over thirty years, and an earnest worker 
during- all that time. He belongs to the Prohibition party, and has 
held the office of school director, 

MORRIS C. BROWN, farmer, in Springfield township, P. O. Big 
Pond, was born February 28, 1837, in Chenango county, N. Y., a son 
of Benjamin and Didama (Crandall) Brown, the former a native of 
Massachusetts, and the latter of Chenango county. The father, who 
was a carpenter and farmer, removed to this county and settled, in 
1840, near where the son, Morris C, now resides, and cleared a large 
farm. He raised a family of nine children, of whom our subject is the 
third in order of birth. One of the sons, Joseph B., served all through 
the Civil War, and was promoted from the ranks to be captain. The 
father, who was a man of influence, and a faithful Christian, died at 
the age of seventy-five years, and the mother at the age of seventy-six 
years. Morris C. Brown was reared on the farm, was educated in the 
schools of the town, and at his majority became a farmer. He was 
married July 28, 1861, to Harriet Leonard, of Springfield, who was born 
May 10, 1845, a daughter of Carlton and Diantha (Gates) Leonard, both 
families having been among the early settlers in the towniship ; her 
father was a teacher in early life, was sheriff of Luzerne county. Pa., 
and a merchant, and died at the age of seventy-five years, in Mercer 
county; her mother is living at the age of sixty years. To Mr. and 
]\[rs. Brown have been born two children : Dora E., born Sej^tember 
18. 1864. wife of Burdell Smith, a farmer of Springfield township; 
Mamie J., born May 21, 1867, wife of Els worth Grace, a farmer of 
Smith Held township. Mrs. Brown is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Mr. Brown is a Republican in })olitics, and a member 
of the International Fraternal Alliance of Baltimore, Md. He has a 
fine farm of one hundred and seventy acres, and his principal business 
is now sheep raising, formei'ly dairying. He is a good neighbor and a 
kind friend, respected bv allwho know him. 

OSCAR M. BROWN, farmer and stockgrower, P. O. AVest War- 
ren, was born October 27, 1858, on the place he now occupies in Orwell 
township, and is a son of George W. and Betsie (Morey) Brown, the 
former of whom was born in West Chester county, N. Y., in 1822, and 
came to this county with his fathei' when six years old, and helped 
to im])rove this farm, occupying an old log honse which stood close to 
the present site of the house. Grandfather Uriah S. Brown was one 
of the early pioneers. The mother was a native of this county, and 
when married resided where Dr. Conklin now lives. The father spent 
the greater portion of his life on the same farm, but about 1867 lie 
))urchased one hundred and twenty-six acres of timber land in Warren 
township, and removed to it in 1884; spent three years there, and 
then proceeded to Nichols, N. Y., and i-etired from active life. He 
had a family of six children: Charles W. ISL l)rown, M. I)., of 
Elmirji, ; (ieorge I. of l)ubu(pi(% Iowa; Stephen A., decease<l. late of 
North Rend, Neb.; Martha J., married to James Baldwin; Oscar 
M., and Emma L., married to Seymour Canfield. Oscar M. was boi'n 
on a farm, and received his education in the common school. He is 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. G75 

the only member of the family that never tanght school. After reach- 
ing his majority, he farmed for himself, working with his father. On 
March 2, 1882, he was united in marriage with Elcena, a daughter of 
Charles and Frances (Chaffee) Diraon, in whose family there were 
eight children, Mrs. Brown being the fourth ; the parents reside in 
Pike township. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brown commenced 
housekeeping on one of his fathers farms, where they resided for three 
3'^ears, and tiien came to their present residence. Their union has been 
blessed with two children : William Irving, born September 19, 1885, 
and George W., born September 18, 1889. Mr. Brown has fourteen 
cows, seventy-five sheep and young cattle; carries on a dairy and is a 
patron of the Orwell Creamery. The improvements on the farm he 
occupies were put there b}^ his father; the house was rebuilt in 1856, 
and contains seventeen rooms. The family worship at the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and in politics Mr. Brown is a Republican. He is 
one of the successful business men of the county, as was his father who 
started with fifty acres of land and a log house, and worked his way 
up, until he is now among the largest land-holders of the county; one 
of its strong, self-made citizens. 

R. G. BROWN, miller, P. O. Grover, is a native of Canton town- 
ship, this county, born October 15, 181:1, a son of Orrin and Nancy 
(Wright) Brown, natives of Vermont. Orrin Brown is a farmer, resid- 
ing in Canton township, and is in his eightieth year; he is a son of 
Solomon Brown who was a native of Vermont, and an early settler 
in Canton township, near East Canton, where he died. Mrs. Xancy 
(Wright) Brown died in 1843. R.G.Brown, who is the youngest in 
order of birth in a family of three sons and one daughter, was reared 
in Canton township and received his education in the common schools. 
He enlisted October 18, 1861, in Company C, One Hundred and Sixth 
P. V. I., for three years, and participated in the following battles : 
Fair Oaks, Peninsular Campaign, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilder- 
ness. Spottsylvania, Petersburg; was slightly wounded at the battle of 
Antietam, and was mustered out in front of Petersburg October 18, 
186-4. Returning home, he engao^ed in the butchering business in 
Canton, which he followed two years; then worked two years in the 
Granville tannery, and one year in the Grover tanneries for Adam 
Junes. He purchased an interest in the Grover gristmill with E. W. 
Wolcott, and at the end of one 3^ear J. C. Roup succeeded E. W. Wolcott. 
Ten years after going into the business he bought Mr. Roup's interest, 
and in two years he sold to C. A. Junes, and jnirchased a farm 
one mile south of Canton where he still resides. He began running the 
mill for J. H. Eastgatein November, 1889. Mr. Brown was married in 
Canton township January 26, 1865, to Rebecca, daughter of George 
and Charlotte (Gregory) Williams, natives of JAizerne county, Pa.; 
she is third in order of birth in a family of nine children, and was born 
in Canton township, November 15, 1845. Mrs. Jh'own is a member of 
the Woman's Relief Corps. Mr. I3rown is a member of the G. A. R., 
Jngham Post, No. 91. l^olitically he is member of the Jlepublican 
party. 



676 HISTORY OF RHADFORD COUNTY. 

T. F. BllOWN, farmer and stock grower, Wyaliisino-, was born 
September 18, 1844, in the "Old Red Tavern," Browntown, lately 
burned, a son of D. W. Brown, and passed his boyhood on his fathers 
farjii at Browntown, where he received a common-school education, 
remaining at home until eighteen. On March 8, 1864, he enlisted in 
Company D, Fiftieth P. V. I., and served until May 3, 1865, when 
he was (Hscharged with his regiment. He received a gun-shot wound 
in the left hand during the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, 
which sent him to the hospital for about thirty days. In the fall of 
1804 he again was compelled to go to the hospital, from which he was 
discharged ; he was in all the battles from the Wilderness to Peters- 
burg ; after his return from the army he was a clerk in the employ of 
Stowel tfe Hazen, Ithaca, N. Y., one year; then returned to Browntown, 
where he farmed until October, 1881, when he removed to Ehnira and 
until the fall of 1883 was in the drug business with his brother, F. M. 
Brown, M. D. ; then returned to his farm where he has since 
remained. He has fifty acres of finely improved farm land which he 
cultivates and has well stocked with horses and cattle. Mr. Brown 
was united in marriage, November 16, 1871, with Matilda E. States, 
(hiughter of Capt. States (deceased), and by this union there are two 
children : Ernest L., born May 19, 1873, and Theo. Grace, born Octo- 
ber 3, 1880. The family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and he is superintendent of the Browntown Sunday-school ; is a charter 
member of Jackson Post, No. 84, G. A. P., and past commander. He 
is a Republican and takes an active part in politics, and has filled 
vai'ious town offices. 

ULYSSES FRANKLIN BROAVN, farmer, AVysox township, was 
born in Monroe, this county, March 19, 1830, a son of Ruel R, and 
Eliza (Manderville) Brown, natives of Pennsylvania. In their family 
there are seven children, of whom the subject of these lines is the 
eUlest. AVhen but a boy Ulysses F. Brown engaged in lumbering, and 
at twenty-one had learned the wagon-maker's trade, which business he 
followed*^ seven years. On September 13, 1864, he enlisted at 
Rochester, N. Y.,"^in the Fiftieth New York Volunteer Engineers, and 
was later transferred to the Fifteenth New York Volunteer Engineers ; 
was mustered out June 13, 1865, and returned to his farm where he 
has since resided. He was married May 14, 1853, to Mary, daughter 
of Andi'ew and Mary (Beard) White, natives of Pennsylvania, and of 
Irish and Englisli descent, icspectively. To them were born eight 
ciiil(h-en as follows: Orlando W., l)oni February 24, 1855; Howard 
S., born November 4, 1856; Mary M., born Januaiy 27, 1858; Ilattie 
C, born Februai-v 29, 1860 ; Earnest E., born January 8, 1862 ; Frankie 
IL, born October 27, 1864 ; L. V. Yeroque, born July 18, 1870, and 
Etta C, born January 16, 1874. Mr. Brown is a member of Steven's 
Post, No, 69, G. A. R., is a Republican and has held the offices of 
town commissioner and school dir(!ctor. 

JOHN L. BUUNDAGE. proprietoi- of the 'M'.i'unchigo House," 
Savi'c, IS a native of Oi'ange (;ounty, j\. V., born April 7, J855; his 
parents, Orsamus G and Phe'oe ('Kimbei') P>i-iin(lage, wei'o also natives 
of Oransre countv ; the father, who was a farmer, died in iiis native 



HISTORY OF HKADFORD COUNTY, (577 

home in 1887, in his seventy-ninth year; the mother died in 1880 in her 
seventy-third year. The great-grandfather Iviraber was a soldier in 
the Revokitionary War. John L. Brundage, who is the fifth in a 
family of seven children, was reared in Orange county, N. Y., until 
the age of sixteen years, when he enlisted, Ai)ril 24, 1861, in Compan}^ 
1), Eighteenth JST. Y. V. I. for two years; some of the engagements he 
participated in were the following : Seven Day's fight in the Penin- 
sular campaign. South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg ; he was 
mustered out April 28, 1863; and in October, 1864, he re-enlisted in 
Company G. Fifteenth O. V. Y. I., and was in Sherman's March to 
the Sea. He was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in June, 1865, and 
returned to Orange county, IST. Y., where he remained about one year, 
and_ then went to Waverly, N. Y., where he engaged in the bakery 
business, and follovred that about one year, lie engaged in the liverv 
business about a year, then commenced the manufacture of wagons, and 
followed that business five years, and then farmed for eight years in 
Tioga county, near Waverly. In 1883 he removed to Savre, antl 
worked at his trade in the locomotive works about two years'^ and at 
building and contracting; he erected a hotel adjoining "'his dwelling 
house on Thomas avenue, which he completed in Februarv, 1891; it is 
22x60 feet in size, three stories in height, containing seventeen rooms. 
Mr. Brundage was married in Sussex county, K J., in 1866, to Miss 
Cynthia J., daughter of Charles and Mary (Casterline) Newton, natives 
of New Jersey, but residents of Chemung countv, N. Y. Mrs. Brund- 
age was born in Sussex county, X. J.. August 21, 1846, and is the 
eldest in a family of eight daugh'ters. Mr. and Mrs. Brundage are the 
parents of two children, viz.: Charles K. and George A. Mrs. Brund- 
age is a member of Methodist Episcopal Church ; Mr. Brundage is a 
member of the G. A. R, Mallory Post, Xo. 285, and is post commander 
of the Union Yeterans Union, of Sayre ; is also a member of the Patri- 
otic Order Sons of America, and Sexennial League. He has served 
one term as school director in Tioga county, N.'Y., and was deputv 
postmaster at AVells Corners, Orange Co., N^Y., four vears. In politics 
Mr. Brundage is a Bepublican. 

G. C. BRUSTER, druggist, Sayre, is a native of Waverlv, X. Y., 
and was born October 3, 1862, a son of George N. and Rosannah H. 
(Ellison) Bruster, natives of Tioga countv, N. Y. The father was a 
mechanic, and died in Waverly in 1871,' in his forty-sixth year; the 
mother resides in Waverly. G. C. Bruster, who is the youngest in a 
family of three boys, was reared in Waverly, and received his educa- 
tion in the public scliools. At the age of sixteen he began clerking in 
a drug-store, which he followed until 1884, when he engaired in°the 
drug business in Waverly, and then came to Sayre in the^ spring of 
1886, and commenced in the same line. He was married in Waverlv, 
in 1886, to Miss. Ilattie E., daughter of Albert and Frances (Penney) 
Mullock, natives of Orange county, N. Y. She is the eldest in a fami'lv 
of four girls, and was born in W.iverly, April 19, 1864. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Bruster were born two children— Ralph and Ethvlen. The family 
are members of the Baptist Churcli. Mr. Bruster is a member of the 

38 



6?8 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Iron Hall, Sexennial League, and International Fraternal Alliance. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

CAPTAIN JAMES BRYANT is a prominent manufacturer in the 
borough of Towanda. In peace and in war this gentleman's name is 
indelibly inscribed upon the records of his county and countr3\ He is 
a New Yorker by birth, born July 20, 1833, a son of Daniel Br\'ant, a 
family of Scotch-Irish descent ; the father was a skilled blacksmith by 
trade. Capt. James Bryant was reared in his native Columbia county, 
and Avas orphaned when a tender child, and found himself alone to do 
battle with a cold and cheerless world ; but his strong Scotch-Irish 
blood stood the lad well in hand, and he battled nobly with cold and 
hunger, and when he was seventeen years old bound himself an appren- 
tice to the wagon-maker's trade, serving three years; then worked at 
it as a journeyman, and the Civil War found him at his bench, but one 
of the first to volunteer as a private in the mustering squadron, and 
from private, by hard, meritorious service, he rose, step by step, to a 
captaincy in Company G, Fifth N. Y. C, in the three 3'ears' service. 
He was under fire two hundred times, and in the fiercest of the carnage 
at Chancellorsville, Antietam, Gettysburg, and many other sanguinary 
fields. His horse was killed under him at Hagerstown, antl he was taken 
prisoner. May 17, 1864, at Poe River, Ya., and was sent to Gordons- 
ville, Va., and had a taste of nearly all the horrors of prisons in the 
South ; finally was sent to Macon, Ga., but, taking desperate chances, 
he escaped and wandered by the dead of night, in hunger and terrible 
exposures, for many weary miles, but was re-captured and returned to 
the prison pens. Not crushed, though dreadfully sore of heart, 
he watched his opportunity and again made his escape, and, for- 
tunately, this time, blind chance led him to the lines of the Union 
Army, and he was saved, and the model skelet(jn was nursed back to life 
and, in time, mustered out of the service. During his entire service 
he had kept a diary of his ])ersonal movtMnents, which was taken from 
him when a prisonei", but it afterwai'd fell into the hands of another 
soldier, who carefully preserved it and returned it to its owner, when 
he met him at the general muster out at Washington. In the 
language of Horace Greeley, this little morceau will in the long future 
furnisli some " mio:htv interesting i-eading." His discharge bears date 
February 1, 1865, when he returned to liis native |)lace, and, in 1867, 
he came to Towanda to make his permanent home. He ])urcliased a 
small wagon shop and commenced the manufacture of vehicles in a 
small way, but has rapi<lly inci'eased the trade and shop facilities, and 
now it is one of the prominent institutions of the borough, tur-ning out 
all kinds of carriages, wagons, sleiojis, carts and road wagons, and has 
from ten to twenty-five emjiloyes. Capt. Bryant was united in mar- 
riage at Kinderhook, N. Y., April 17, 1855, to INfargarct N. Peer, 
whosi; ])eople are of Dutch descent, and their children are as follows: 
May (Mrs. ('luu'les Armsti'ong) ; (!harles, wiio is one of the firm; 
Catherine (wife of .lessc June, a civil engineer of the Lehigh Railroad), 
and Nellie. The family are Presbyterians. Capt. Bryant was burgess 
and councilman of Towanda fr(mi 1872 to 1877, and is a prominent 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 679 

member of tlie G. A. R., Watson Tost, No. ()S, and lias filled nearly 
all its offices. Politically he votes the Republican ticket. 

A BR AM BUCHANAN, farmer, P. O. Austin ville, was born in 
Frankford township. Sussex Co., N. J., September 5,1828, and is a 
son of Henry and Eliza (Brink) Buchanan. He was reared in his 
native county, and in 1850 located in Wells township, this county, 
where he resided until 1870, when he removed to Columbia township, 
to the farm he now occupies, and where he has since resided. In 1856 
he married Margaret, daughter of Andrew P. and Anna (Case) Bow- 
man, formerly of New Jersey, and pioneers of Wells township. To 
Mr. and Mrs*^. Buchanan have been born three children: Irvin, Ger- 
trude (Mrs. Clinton A. Wolf) and Andrew Bowman. Mr. Buchanan 
is a prominent and representative citizen of Columbia township, as 
well as a leading farmer and dairvman, and raises very fine horses. 
Politicallv he is a Democrat. 

SAMUEL W. BUCK, attorney at law, Towanda, was born in 
Pike township, this county, June 9, 1855, a son of Perley H. and 
Elizabeth (Northrup) Buck.' His paternal grandfather, William 13uck, 
a native of New Hampshire, is said to have been one of three original, 
settlers of what is now LeRaysville, this county, where he cleared and 
improved a farm, and died. He was the father of nine children, ns 
follows: Matilda (Mrs. George Seymour), Mehitable (Mrs. Eliakim W. 
Todd), Lydia (Mrs. Simeon Brink), Lyman, William, Samuel, Perley 
II., Fidelia, and Paulina (Mrs. Alfred Cheeseman). Of these, Perley H., 
v.dio was reared on the old homestead, has always been a farmer in 
Pike township, and lias resided in LeRaysville since 1807. His wife, 
Elizabeth, was a daughter of Amos Northrup, at one time a i-esident 
of Bradford county, and of Connecticut stock; by her he had six chil- 
dren, viz.: Charlotte E. (Mrs. Martin S. Prentice), George W., Mary 
F. (Mrs. William J. Davies), Samuel W., Walter P. and Carrie L. (Mrs. 
Leslie A. Codding, deceased). Samuel W. was reared in his native 
county, educated at LeRaysville Academy and Union C-oUege. and was 
graduated from the latter in June, 1876. He studied law with Davies 
& Carnochan, of Towanda, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1870. 
He served as deputy treasurer of Bradford county ten years — [rum 
1880 to 1890 — and commissioners' clerk eight years — from 1883 to 
1890— and in 1889 was elected a member of the board of school 
directors of Towanda, upon which he is still serving. On Feb- 
ruary 1, 1891, he entered actively into the practice of law. Mr. 
Buck married, June 15, 1883, Amelia C, daughter of Henry C. und 
Agnes C. (Schermerhorn) Glen, of Schenectady, N. Y., and has two 
children : Agnes E. and Perley H. Mr. Buck is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church ; he is a Sir Knight Templar, and in politics is a 
Re])ublican. In 1881 he published a compilation of the " Road LaAvs, 
and Laws Relatino- to Township Officers in Bradford County." 

LOUDON BUDD a prominent farmer and stock dealer, P. O. 
Austinville, was l)orn May ?>0, 18-10, in Columbia township, this county 
on the farm where he now resides, and is a son of Albion and Aminta 
(Gernert) Budd ; his paternal grandfather. John Budd, a native of ^Nlaine 
and a ship-builder by trade, was among the pioneers of Columbia 



G80 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

township, settling on the farm now occupied by subject, and died there. 
Bv his wife, Poll}^ he had children as follows : Polly (Mrs. Phenias 
Clark), Phelina (Mrs. Daniel Watkins), Albion, Thomas and Achah, of 
whom Albion, father of Loudon Pudd cleared and improved most of 
the old homestead, and resided there until his death in 1856, at the age 
of fifty-eight. He was twice married, first time to Aminta, daughter 
of Peter and Ann (Budd) Gernert (pioneers of Tioga Point, and later of 
Columbia township, and who werenativ^es of Germany), and by her he 
had six children : Anna (Mrs. Ste))hen Wilbur), Emma (Mrs. John 
Van Wirt), Albion, Harriet (Mrs. Frank Parsons; has one daughter 
Harriet), Deborah and Loudon ; by his second wife, Celestia Parsons, 
he had two children : Mary (Mrs. Williard Harris, has one son, Loudon) 
and Sophia. Mr. Pudd was a soldier of the War of 1812, and a pen- 
sioner. The subject of this sketch was reared on the old homestead, 
where, with the exception of seven years, during which he lived in 
Elmira, he has always resided. He has been a buyer and dealer in 
stock since sixteen years of age. He married February 3, 1866, 
Catherine, daughter of Andrew and Ann (Case) Bowman, of Wells 
township, this county, formerly of Sussex county, N. J., and this union 
has been blessed with four sons : Albi(m L., Leon W., Andrew Tracy 
(who died at the age of six years) and Wesley L. (who died in infancy). 
Mrs. Budd is a member of the Baptist Church. Political!}^ Mr. Budd 
1*** f\ /PI n or*T*?) t* 

PtUFOS C. BUFFINGTON, farmer and stockman. South Warren, is 
a native of Warren township, and was born on the spot where he resides, 
x\ugust 14, 1820, a son of Benjamin and Experience (Coburn) Buffing- 
ton, natives of Rhode Island and of English stock. Benjamin's father. 
Preserved Buffington, married an Arnold, and this old couple had nine 
children, of whom Benjamin, the second in order of birth, came with 
his father's family to this county in the fii'st years of this century, antl 
located in Warren township, where the parents spent the remainder of 
their lives among the earliest pioneers, of whom they were ])i'ominent 
and elficient factors in building up the new, wild country. The father 
improved a small farm, and died in 1851, his first wife and helpmeet 
having preceded him to the grave in 1823 (their family numbered five 
children, of whom liufus C. was the fourth); his second wife was 
Rebecca Coburn. who died in 1840; his third marriage was with Char- 
lotte Gridle}^ Rufus C. Bufiington has s|)ent his life on the spot 
where he was born. He was educated in a limited way in the neigh- 
borhood subscription schools, but learned practically and well how to 
farm, and now has eighty acres Hnely imi)roved land. He was mar- 
ried in Warren township.' December 24, 1843, to Catherine, (hiughtcr 
of Samuel and IMary (Abel!) Whcaton, natives of Rhode Island and of 
English origin, and to them were boi'U niiK^ children, of whom Cath- 
erine was tlje second (slxi grew to Avoman hood in Warren township, an 
industrious and frugal farmer's (hiughter, and died December 11, 1884, 
leaving a daughter, Emma E. (Mrs. Judson Murphy, married January 
8, 1873) ; Judson Murpliy is the son of John W. and Delphine (Whit- 
aker) Mur[)hy, natives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively; 
he was reared in Warren township, and since his marriage has made 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. G81 

his home with his father-in-law, and manages the farm of liis father-in- 
law, and has sixty-three acres of liis own ; they have an adopted child, 
but no issue of their own. Rufus C. Eutfington has held the local 
office of commissioner and collector, and in politics is a liei)ublican. 

HIEAM E. 13ULL, county surveyor, P. O. Towanda, with resi- 
dence in East Towanda, was born in Orwell, this county, April 16, 
1854, and is a son of Edward C. and Mary A. I. (Stevens) Bull, natives 
of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, respectively, and of English origin. 
In their family there were seven children, of whom Hiram E. is the 
eldest. He was reared on the farm, educated in the common schools, 
and the Susquehanna Collegiate Histitute. At twenty he began life 
teaching, and taught eight terms. In 1877 he resigned his place in the 
Neath School to accept a position in the city engineer's office at Will- 
iamsport. Pa., where he remained for three years ; then located in 
Towanda and engaged in civil engineering and surveying. In 188(> he 
was elected county surveyor, and re-elected in 1889. He is a Repub- 
lican, On December 29, 1881, Mr. Bull married A. Elizabeth Frisbie, 
a graduate of Elmira College, Elmira, N. Y., class of 1878. She was 
born in Orwell, this county, January 2, 1855, and is the eldest daughter 
of Aaron Gaylord and Ordelia (Darling) Frisbie, natives of Orwell. 
Mr. and Mrs. Bull have two children : Mary Ordelia, born February 
20, 1886, and Isabelle, born September 21, 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Bull 
are members of the Presbyterian Church. 

JOSEPH BULL, farmer, Monroe township, P.O. Liberty Corners, 
was born in what is now Elkland township, Sullivan Co., Pa., Febru- 
ary 2, 1818, the son of Francis and Elizabeth (Lambert) Bull, natives 
of England. They came to America in 1801, and settled in Elkland, 
where they remained thirtv years, and then removed to the farm 
adjoining Joseph's on the west ; they had fourteen children, of whom 
our subject is the seventh. Jose})h Bull was reared on the farm, 
educated in the common school, and began life for himself at twenty- 
one, farming and lumbering, which he followed four years. He 
purchased his present home in 1842, and the next year he moved there, 
where he has since resided. Mr. Bull was married May 29, 1842, to 
Miss Anna, daughter of George and Margaret (Reed) Irvine, of 
Monroe;" she died April 9, 1881; they have three living children: 
James A., born April 22, 1846, carpenter and joiner, Towanda, married 
Miss Ann Sill, daughter of Joseph Sill, of Durell ; Florence M., born 
February 15, 1854, and Francis P., born February 15, 1859, farmer, 
Monroe, married Miss Mary, daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Hollon) 
Cook (they have two children : Harr}' and Maud). The family attend 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are strongly Democratic in their 
political views. 

C. W. BULLARD, clothier, Athens, is a native of Wyoming 
county. Pa., born January 16, 1851, a son of Thadeus F. (a farmer) 
and Editha (Pneunian) Bullard, the former a native of Pennsylvania, 
the latter of Connecticut. C. W. Bullard, who is the third in a family 
of eight children, received a public-school education, and in 1872 he 
entered Sterling & Son's store at Meshoppen, Pa., and clerked two and 
one-half years ; then went to Nebraska, remaining there until the spring 



082 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of 1882, when he returned to Athens. On March 20, 1883, he started 
in business for himself, where he is now located, and handles fine 
clothing-, boots and shoes, furnishing goods, etc.; the merchant tailor- 
ing- department is under the iirm name of Bullard & Mott, and is in 
the rear of the store room. Mr. Bullard has made his own wax^ in life. 
He was married in Fremont, Neb., October 22, 1879. to j\[iss Mar\'^ 
Tawney, who died in 1882; b}' this union there were two children: 
Ruth and Walter (latter deceased), Mr. Bullard was married, the sec- 
ond time, in Athens, December 27, 1883, to Miss Ella, daughter of 
Robert and Elizabeth (Thompson) Patterson (she is the second in a 
family of four children), and by tiiis union there is one child, Jessie. 
Mr. Bullard is a member of the I. O. O. F., Athens Lodge, No. 105 ; 
also of the Sexennial League. Politicall}' he is a Democrat, and has 
serv^ed one term as councilman. 

C. E. BULLOCK, farmer, Big Pond, was born in Smithfield town- 
ship, this county, December 4, 1845, a son of Isaac F. and Lucinda 
(Williams) Bullock, former of whom removed from Bristol, P. L, to 
this county when a boy, and settled in Columbia township with his 
father. The family trace their ancestry back to the " Maj'flower." 
The grandfather, Asa Bullock, was man}^ years an extensive cotton- 
mill owner, and was among the early settlers of Columbia. Ilis 
mother is a native of Smithfield townsliip, and removed with her 
father to Springfield in an early day, settling on the farm on which 
C. E. Bullock now resides, and on this property is the celebrated pond 
after which the postoffice is named. The farm comprises one hundred 
and fifty acres, under a fine state of cultivation, and productive ; there 
is also a feed mill on the place, which Mr. Bullock manages. He is the 
fourth in a famil}' of six children — five boys and one girl ; one of the 
brother's, Darius, was in the Civil War, participating in many hard- 
fought battles. Their father Avas an adjutant in the State Militia and 
held many offices of public trust in the township. Mr. Bullock's grand- 
father, Williams, was nearly related to the founders of Willliams 
College, A''ermont ; he cleared u]) the farm which Mr. Bullock now 
owns, and operated two sawmills at one time on the place. Mr. 
Bullock was married IVfarch 31, 1881. to Addie Leonard, daughter of 
Clement and Orpha (Havens) Leonard, former of whom came here 
when a boy with his father from Springfield, Mass., and were among 
the early settlers ; he died at the age of thirty-five years. Mrs. 
]>ullock's brother, Tim, was a soldier in the Civil War, having enlisted 
twice. Mr. Bullock takes an active interest in matters, both public and 
l^i'ivate. Hi [)olitics he believes in a government for the masses and 
not for the few. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bullock. 

C. E. lUfLLOCK, insurance agent, Canton, is a native of Canton, 
Bradford Co., Pa., born December 16, 1858, a son of Jesse E. and 
Betsey G. (Gerould) Bullock. Jesse E. Bullock was a native of Ver- 
mont, a merchant by occupation, and served as justice of the peace a 
number of 3'^ears ; ho died in Canton, in September, 1875, in his sev- 
enty-tliii-d year. Mrs. Bullock died in June, 1890, in her sixty-ninth 
year. The subject of this memoir, who is the only child by this mar- 
riage, was reareil in Canton and i-eceived his education in tlie borough 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. (;S3 

schools, attending also Lafayette (JolJege two yeaj's. lie was editoi- 
and ))ro|)rietor of the (kuiton Sentinel two years; then i-ead law under 
I\I. E. Lilley, and was admitted to the bar in 1884-. lie only jn-acticed 
his profession about two yea,rs ; was assistant cashier ot the First 
National Bank of Canton one yeai', and became a member of the 
insurance firm of Krise cSt Bullock in February, 1890, in which busi- 
ness he has since been engaged. Mr. Bullock was married in Canton, 
this county, in 1891, to Georgia, daughter of Ilolister Catlin. Mr. 
Bullock is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Canton Lodge, No. 
415, Troy Cha])ter, No. 2G1, and Canton Commandery, No. 64. Polit- 
ically he is a Republican. Mrs. Bullock is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

GEORGE E. BULLOCK, capitalist, Canton, is a native of LeRays- 
ville, this county, and was born January 15, 1844; his parents, Jesse 
E. and Margaret W. (Wright) Bullock, were natives of Vermont and 
Connecticut, respectively. Jesse E. Bullock removed from Smithtield 
to Canton in 1858; he was a merchant, and died in Canton in 1875. in 
his seventieth year. Mrs. Bullock died in LeRaysville in 1848. 
Darius Bullock, great-grandfather of George E., was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War. George E. Bullock is the eldest, and only one 
now living, of his parents' two sons; he was reared in LeRaysville 
until five years of age, when his pai'ents removed to Smithfield, wdiere 
they resided about nine years, and then came to Canton. He received 
an academic education ; clerked in his father's store, and afterwai'd 
was associated with him in business several years. In 1809 he went 
West and was engaged in the hotel business in Fort Scott, Ivans., and 
in various other business enterprises, spending most of his time in Fort 
Scott while in the West ; he returned in 1872, and was engaged with 
Burke, Thomas & Co. about four years. After his father's death he 
settled up the estate, and engaged in the grocery business, until 
November, 1890, wiien he sold his store. He was married in Canton, 
in 1870, to Harriet E., daughter of John and Patience (Hughes) Carr, 
natives of Tioga and Bradford counties, respectively; she was born in 
this county, and is the eldest of a family of three children. To Mr. 
and Mrs. George E. Bullock were born three children : Jesse E., How- 
ard C. and Margaret M. Mrs. Bullock is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Mr. Bullock is a member of the Masonic Frater- 
nity, Canton Lodge, No. 415, Troy Chapter, No. 261, and Canton 
Commandery, No. 64; is also a member of the G. A. R., Ingham 
Post, No. 91. He has served three terms as a member of the borough 
council, and in politics he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM A. BULLOCK, Big Pond, was born December 27, 
1839, in Smithfield, a son of Isaac F. and Lucinda Bullock. His 
mother, Lucinda Williams Bullock, was a native of Springfield town- 
ship, and his father of Rehoboth, Mass., wlio came to this State in 1817 
with his father, Asa Bullock, a large owner of cotton mills at one 
time. He settled in Columbia township. Isaac F. Bullock, who was 
a man of influence and a member of the Universalist Ciiurch, died at 
the age of sixty-six years. William T. Williams, father of Mrs. 
Lucinda Bullock, was an old settler in Springfield, formerly of Massa- 



684 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

chusetts, whose near relatives were the founders of WilHams College 
in that State. He owned a large tract of land of over two hundred 
and fifty acres, a part of which William A. now owns; his mother 
died at the age of forty years. William, who was the eldest of the 
family, was married first in June, 1868, to Carrie Harkness, who died 
in May, 18Y6. His second marriage was August 29, 1877, with Edith, 
daughter of Joseph and Orpha Clark. Her father, who was a native 
of Ireland, came to this countrv when a voung man. About the time 
of his marriage a terrible misfortune came to him, in the total loss 
of eyesight, but that did not make him discouraged, as some would 
have been, and by the united efforts of iiiraself and his estimable wife 
he bought and paid for a good farm. His wife, Orpha, was born in 
Hector, N. Y.;her childhood was spent in Monroe and her girlhood in 
Springfield. She was educated in the common schools, and became an 
excellent teacher ; taught several N^ears at Chemung, N. Y., and in 
llidgebury and Springfield. She was married tirst to Clement 
Leonard, by whom she had three children : Ada, who died at the age 
of two and one-half years, and Tim and Ada, who are yet living. Her 
second marriage occurred with Joseph Clark, by whom five children 
were born: Edith, Martha, Katie, Johnnie (now deceased) and Willis; 
she died in 1881, loved and respected by all. 

Edith C. Bullock, wife of the subject of this sketch, was born in 
July, 1851. She was a successful teacher before her marriage. Will- 
iam and Edith have had five children born to them : Grace, born 
January 28, 1879, who died at the age of eight months; Blanche A., 
born March 19, 1880; Harrv C, born January 18, 1882 ; Marv H., born 
February 10, 1884; and Katie C, born September 25, 1887." Mr. Bul- 
lock is a Republican, has been a justice of the peace ten years, and is 
serving his third term, which will make fifteen years in all; he was a 
charter member of the Grange, and first master.* The postoffice has 
been in the family many years, and is now kej)t by Mi's. Bullock, who 
has been postmistress nearly eleven years. Mr. Bullock has a small 
farm, which he manages himself. He is a man with many friends. 

GEORGE L. BUNYAN, farmer, P. O. Granville CentVe, was born, 
October 7, 1854, on the old homestead in Granville township, this county, 
where he now resides, a S(m of AVilliam and Roselta M. (Fitz-Gerold) 
Banyan. The father, who was a native of Melrose, Scotland, and a car- 
l)enterbv trade, settled in Granville township about 1838, and cleai'cd 
and improved the farm now occupied by his sons, George L. and Andrew, 
and died there. He was the father of eleven children; as follows : 
Mary (Mrs. John Jackson), Ann (Mrs. S. C. Wright), William, Silas 
(killed at Fort Johnson, North Carolina, July 3, 1863), Andrew, Frank 
(a soklier in the Civil War). Margaret (]\[rs. Newton Landon), 
Jeannette (AErs. (). Shepard), Eltie (Mrs. J. W. Duart), George E. and 
Alice (^[rs. Dayton Saxton). (Jeoi'ge L. Bunyan was reared on the 
old homestead where he has always resided. In November, 1876, he 
married Charlotte, daughter of Albert and Sarah (Andrews) Barnes, 
of Granville, and has seven children : Roderick, James, Sarah, Carrie, 
Maggie, Helen and Rush. Mr. Bunyan is one of the enterprising and 
progressive farmers of Granville. In politics he is a Republican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. G85 

MARCUS E. BURCll, drover, P. O. Auburn Four Corners, was 
born in Susquehanna county. Pa., November 20, 1853, and is a son of 
It. II. and Palnia (Harris) Burch, residents of Susquehanna county, 
former of whom has always followed farming, and latter is a daugh- 
ter of Milton Harris, a prominent mill-owner and farmer of Susque- 
hanna county, and a leader in the financial and political affairs of his 
county. R. H, and Palma Burch had a family of five children, viz., 
Marcus E.; O. P. Y., a stockman of Colorado ; Milton P., a partner of 
the above; L. H., a mine owner in Leadville, Col., and V. D., a farmer 
on the old homestead. Marcus E. Burch was born and reared on a 
farm, at the age of sixteen commencing business for himself, and 
with the exception of the years 1888 and 1880 spent in the stone busi- 
ness in Scranton, Pa., he has resided on a farm in Susquehanna county, 
where he was engaged in farming and stock dealing; in the spring of 
1891 he removed temporarily to Silvara. Pie was married December 
10, 1878, to Luzella Lowe, only child of William C. Lowe, a prominent 
farmer of Susquehanna county, and this union was blessed with three 
children: Amelia, Emory and Ennis. The mother of these children 
died August 10, 1889. Mr. Burch is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Meshoppen, and is a Republican in politics. 

BURCHILL BROTHERS. Arthur H., and Abraham B. and 
William, manufacturers and dealers in marble and granite monuments 
and all kinds of cemetery work, Towanda, are natives of Chemung 
county, N. T., and sons of Richard and Catherine (Driscoll) Burchill, 
natives of County Cork, Ireland, who came to America in 1854, and 
settled in Chemung county, N. Y., where their father engaged in 
business as a contractor, in which he continued until his death. The 
subjects of this sketch were reared in Chemung county, N. Y.; each 
served three years' ap])renticeship at the marble-cutter's trade, the 
second elder in Elmira, N. Y., and the youngest in Towanda. They 
established themselves in business in Tow^anda in May, 1878, where by 
careful attention to business they have built up a^successful trade. 
Arthur H. was born in 1854, and was married January 27, 1880, to 
Margaret L., daughter of John L. and Mary (O'Connor) Murphy, of 
Susquehanna county, Pa. Abraham B. was born in 1856, and was 
married N"ovember 23, 1881, to Annie, daughter of Peter and Kathe- 
rine (Waters) McDonald, of Sullivan county, Pa., and has five 
children, viz.: Katherine, Ellen, Annie, John and Mary. The junior 
member of the firm, William, was born in 1857, and married Mav 20, 
1890, to Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Ronan) Kendrick, of 
Towanda township. All the members of the firm are members of the 
Catholic Ciiurch, and in politics are Independent. 

ISAAC BURK, engineer, and postmaster at Say re, is a native of 
Easton, Pa., born April 9, 184-1, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Moser) 
Burk, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Pennsyl- 
vania. The father, who was a butcher, died near Trenton, in 1850 ; 
the mother now resides in South Easton. Isaac Burk is the second in 
a family of three boys, of whom one died at the age of nine; his 
elder brother, Andrew, was killed in the Civil War at the battle of 
Cedar Creek, Ya. Isaac Burk left Easton when he was eleven years 



680 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COL'NTY. 

old. and worked on a farm nntil lie was eif^htcen years of a^e ; then 
began an apprenticeship at the saddler's trade, working a short time. 
He responded to the call of his country for troops by enlisting, in 
August, 1802, in the nine-months' service, in Company C, One Hundred 
and Twenty-ninth, P. V. I., and went to the front; some of the 
important engagements he participated in were the battles of Second 
Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was 
discharged at Harrisburg, May 8, 1863, and re-enlisted in December, 
same year, in Company E, Forty-seventh P. V. V. I., and was with 
his regiment through the Ped River Campaign, under Banks ; also in 
the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Kane River, and was 
injured while helping to build a dam across Red river at Alexander; 
was with Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, battles of Winchester, 
Fishers Hill and Cedar Creek, Va. He was mustered out at Charles- 
ton Citv, December 25, 1865. Mr. Burk was married. August 8, 1S6S, 
to Edna, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Decker) Kilpatrick, natives 
of Pennsylvania (she is the second in a family of six children, and was 
born in Freemansburg, Pa., July 22, 1850). To Mr. and Mrs. Burk 
were born four children : William H.. Sarah, Elizabeth and Edna. 
After returning from the army, our subject worked two years in the 
Bethlehem Iron Works, and in 1869 went on the Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road as brakeman, and a year later began firing ; in Juh^, 1875, he was 
promoted to engineer, which position he held until December, 18!)0, 
when he was appointed acting postmaster at Sayre. He is commander 
of Mallory Post, No. 285, G. A. R., Dei)artment of Pennsylvania; a 
member of E. P. Hayden Command, Xo. 18, Union Veterans Union ; 
also a member of Sayre Division, No. 280, B. of L. E. Politically he is 
a Republican, and received the appointment as postmaster, March 17, 
1891, for four vears. 

CHARLES^ R. BURRITT, jeweler, Sayre, is a native of Delaware, 
Ohio, and was born October 8, 1855 ; a son of Rev. Charles D. and 
Orpha lanthe (Randall) Burritt, the former a native of Ithaca and the 
latter of Camden, N. Y. Rev. C. D. Burritt was a minister of the 
]\retliodist Ei)iscopal Church, and was president of the Delaware Sem- 
inary, Delaware, Ohio, when he died. May 7, 1856, in his thirty-third 
year; his widow survives. Tiie Burritts are of the same family as 
Elihu Burritt, "the learned blacksmith," of Massachusetts. Charles, 
who is the only child by the second wife, was graduated at the Fre- 
donia State Normal School in the summer of 1875 ; then went to Ith- 
aca, where he learned the jeweler's trade, and worked until 1881, 
when he moved to Bradford ; remained there nine months, and then 
returned to Ithaca and there resided until 1886 ; thence went to Bal- 
timore, and worked for one of the most prominent jewelers in that 
place about fourteen months, when he came to Sayre and started a 
jewelry store in May, 1887. In the fall of 1890 he completed a new 
brick block, 85x26," south of the " Wilbur House;" the hall above, 
owned by Burritt i*c Teed, is 50x26, and is well-fitted and furnished 
for a Lodge room, where thirteen diffei'ent Orders meet. Mr. Burritt 
was mari'ied, in Itiiaca, X. Y., in 1883. to Miss Emma I)., daughter of 
Horace and Harriet A. (Steemburg) Presher, the former a native of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. G87 

Tioga county, and the hitter of Saratoga county, 'N. Y.; Mr. Fresher 
was a fanner, and a soldier in the Civil War; was taken prisoner and 
was confined in Anderson ville prison eleven months, which ruined his 
health, and, lingering, he died in 1ST2 in his forty-second year; his 
widow resides in Ithaca. Mrs. l)urritt is the second in a family of 
three children that grew to maturity, and was born in Tioga countv, 
jST. Y., December 14, 1860. To Mr.\and Mrs. Burritt were^born two 
children, viz.: Nina May and Edna Lillian. The family are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; he is a member of the Patriotic 
Order Sons of America, Equitable Aid Union and International Fra- 
ternal Alliance. In politics he is a Republican. 

D. M. BURROUGHS, farmer, Franklin township, F. O. West 
Franklin, was born in Delaware county, N. Y., November 15, 1829, a 
son of Iliram and Catherine (Griffin) Burroughs, both of whom were 
born in Delaware county, N. Y.; they came to this county in 18i2, 
located in LeRoy township, and after one year removed to Monroeton, 
where they resided three years, after which they moved to Franklin 
township where they resided until their death. The father died Feb- 
ruary 27, 1875, at the age of sixty-nine years; the mother survived 
him seven years. Hiram Burrouglis improved and cleared a farm of 
sixty acres of valuable land. His family were nine in number — four 
sons and five daughters— seven of whom are now living. The subject 
of this sketch, who is the fourth in the family, was reared and edu- 
cated in Franklin township, and always lived and worked on a farm. 
On September 10, 1851, he married, at West Franklin, Miss Matilda, 
daughter of George and Ellen Robinson, and to them have been born 
tliree sons, as follows: Daniel G., married to Delilah, daughter of John 
and Eliza McKeel ; Remona, married for his first wife to Clara 
Robinson, and for his second to Miss Ella Green; and "Mc," his 
youngest son, who still remains single. Mr. Robinson was one of the 
early settlers in Towanda, and a weaver by trade, formerly from Fhil- 
adelphia, but a native of Scotland; he was a Revolutionary soldier. 
Mr. Burroughs depends mostly upon dairying, but is at the same time 
a general farmer. There is a mineral spring (sulphur) on his farm ; he 
has a valuable. sand-bank of two grades of superior building sand. ]\Ir. 
and Mrs. Burroughs are members of the Church of Christ 

ARTHUR B. BURROWS, Stevensville, was born October IC, 
1849, a son of Joshua and Harriet C. (Boswick) Burrows, former of 
whom is a representative of an old New England family, his mother 
being a descendant of the White family, who came over on the "May- 
flower." The father, who is a cabinet-maker by trade, came to Pike 
township, this county, in 1810, locating on the' farm now owned by 
his son, Arthur B., and later engaged in mercantile business at Stev- 
ensville, but is now living in Gibson, Pa. In his family there are six 
children, of whom ilrthur B. is the fifth. Our subject was reared on 
the farm he now owns, and was educated in the common school, and 
at Fort Edward Institute. He began life for himself, at the age of 
twenty-one, in mercantile business at Stevensville, where he remained 
ten years, and has since been employed as traveling salesman. He 
was married January 31, 1873, to Mary Alice Devine, and by her has 



688 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXIY. 

one child, Fay Arthui-, born December 13, 1873. This wife dying-, Mr. 
Burrows married, August 19, 1879, for his second. Anna E., daughtei" of 
Tliomas and Emeline (Whitney) Lyon, former a native of New York, 
of English-Quaker lineage, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania, of 
English and French origin, Mr. and Mrs. Burrows have two children : 
Urban J., born April lu, 1880, and Helen L., born October 21, 18S3. 
Mrs. Burrows is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. J\[r. 
Burrows is a stanch, zealous, life-long Democrat. He purchased his 
present home in 3 877, and has since erected the jfinest residence in 
Pike township. 

J. K. BUSH, a prominent clothier and dealer in gents' furnishing 
goods, Towanda, is a native of Stroudsburg, Pa., and is a son of John 
B. and Catherine B. (Detrick) Bush, the former a native of Hartfoi-d, 
Conn., and the latter of Berks county, Pa. J. K. Bush, was reared in 
Stroudsburg and Philadelphia, received a common-school education, 
and in 1865 located in Xew York City, where, for a time, he was 
emploved in a wholesale clothing establishment, and for several years 
was engaged as a contractor in painting and frescoing. In 1873 he 
came to Towanda, and embarked in his present business on Bridge 
street, where he continued a successful trade until the spring of 1891, 
when, to accommodate his increasing patronage, he removed to Main 
street, where he does an extensive business, occupying two large floors 
and carrying one of the largest stocks of goods to be found in Bi'ad- 
ford county. He was married November 19, 1870, to Elizabeth Fl, 
daughter of Edward Lamden, of New Rochelle, N. Y., by whom he 
has one son, Johnson L. Mr. Bush is a gentleman of industry and 
energy, and is a liberal and enterprising citizen. He is an attendant 
of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

ELLIHU I)UTTLES, farmer and stock grower, of Orwell township, 
P. O. South Hill, is a son of Jarves and Sarah AnnClIorton) Buttles, 
and was born in Orwell township, November 28, 1851 Jarves Buttles 
was one of the i)rominent citizens of his day, and was born in Connec- 
ticut, October 16, 1800; he was twice married — the first time, October 
21, 1828, to Alma Cowdrey, who was born August 19, 1805, and died 
July 2, 1843. By this marriage there were the following children : 
Otis J., born January 1, 1830, now of Herrick ; Lester F., boi'n April 
2,1831, died June, 1883; Emily J., born October 28, 1832, married to 
Lero}' Ilathway; Harlow J., born May 17, 1834; Samuel F., born 
January 5, 1836, died May 14, 1884 (was a member of the One Hun- 
dred and Forty-lirst Regiment, and received a gun-shot wound in the 
back, at the battle of Gettysburg, which finally caused his death); 
Eliza M., born October 20, 1838, married to Thonuis Smith; Juliana, 
born Deceinl)er 10, 1840, died January 12, 1860; Elizabeth A., born 
Decoinber 12. 1842, married to G. M. J'rince. For his second wife 
he mari'ied, March 7, 1848, Sarah Ann Horton, born October 8, 
1816, a daughter of John Horton, of Rome, and by this union there 
are two children, viz. : Levisa, born May 27, 1850, married to Jason 
Forbes, and Ellihu ; the mother of these children died August 7, 1881 ; 
and father October 5, 1890. Jarves Buttles came to Oi-wcll townslii]* 
in February, 1817; he was a manufacturer of wooden bowls, and built 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 689 

a factory ; he was an eloquent Methodist jireacher, and the first justice 
of the peace in this section. He performed many marriiige ceremonies 
and received all Icinds of payments ; there is a gentleman yet living in 
this county who split two hundred fence rails for Mr. Buttles to pay 
for his marriage ceremony. He was elected to the office of county 
commissioner; he was postmaster of South Hill over forty years, that 
office never having been out of the Buttles family. Ellihu liuttles 
was born and reared on the farm he now occupies, and attended 
the district school until nineteen years of age, securing a good 
common-school education. He engaged in farming on his pleasant 
place, containing about forty acres, a part of the old homestead, which 
at one time contained over tw^o hundred acres. He has been twice 
married, the first time December ;]1, 1872 .to Ellen Atwood, daughter 
of George Atwood. She dying February 16, 1883, Mr. Buttles was 
married April 8, 1884, to Mary E., daughter of Edward and Elizabeth 
(Barnes) Clark, of Standing Stone, who had a family of six children, 
of whom Mrs. Buttles is the eldest, born April 26 1862; her youth 
was spent in Standing Stone, where she received her earlier education, 
and she afterward attended the Towanda Collegiate Institute; tlien at 
seventeen 3'ears of age she commenced teaching, which profession she 
followed several years. To Mr. and Mrs. EUihii Buttles lias been born 
one child, Dora M. Mr. Buttles is a Republican in politics. 

S. S. BUTTS, farmer and apiarist, Wyalusing township, P. O. 
Wyalusing, was born in Monroe county, Pa. May 25, 1833, son of 
Peter and Mary (Place) Butts, the former of whom was born in Noi'th- 
ampton county, Pa., in 1801, and the latter in Monroe county. Pa., 
in 1810. His paternal ancestors were from Germany, and the' ances- 
tors on his mother's side were from Holland and Scotland. His father 
when fifteen years of age removed to Monroe county, where he married, 
learned blacksmithing, and worked at his trade until 1843, when he 
removed to Mehoopany township, Wyoming county, and devoted him- 
self to farming, until his death in 1879. They had a family of thirteen 
children, viz.: Hannah (deceased); William,'^a brick manufacturer and 
grower of tropical fruit, of Sorrento, Lake Co., Fla.; Susanna M., 
married to L. G. Burgess, farmer of Susquehanna count v; Catherine 
(deceased) ; Samuel (deceased) ; S. S. (subject) ; James P. (deceased) ; 
Charles resides on the old homestead ; Jerome S. (deceased) ; John 
P. (deceased) ; Theodore W. (deceased) ; Leonora F. and Frank H. 
(deceased). Our subject ])assed his boyhood in Mehoopany, was 
educated in the common schools and Wyoming Seminary, and began 
his career as a teacher, which he successfully followed 'many years, 
having a professional cei'tificate granted iiini. After fourteen 'years 
thus spent he turned his attention to farming and that, combined" with 
various other occupations, he has followed until the present. The 
years 1874 to 1886 he devoted to the organizing of the Order of Good 
Templars in Bradford and adjoining counties. "Lithe spring of 1866 
he purchased his present farm and removed to l^radford countv, 
where he has eighty acres of tinely im|)rove(i land which he has Avrll 
stocked, also owms the old homestead in Wyoming county, which 
contains one hundred aiul thirty -six acres. He is largely engaged in 



690 HISTORY OF I5KADF0RI) COUNTY. 

the bee culture, to which lie devotes much attention, especialW to the 
rearing of queen bees for market ; he has large apiaries on each of his 
farms. Mr. Butts was married December 1, 1864, to Ursula C. Bowen, 
daughter of Elias S. Bowen, of Wyoming county, and they have had two 
children born to theni : Mary L., born February 8, 18671 died June 15, 
1886, and George E., born February 19, 1871. Mr. Butts, although not 
connected with any church, is an earnest Christian worker, and to him 
is largel}'- due the erection of the beautiful union chapel of Lime Hill, 
which was erected in 1881 ; also the organization of the public library 
of that place; politically he is identified with the Prohibition party. 

JOHN N. CALIFF, attorney at law, Towanda, was born in Smith- 
Held township, Bradford Co., Pa., May 29, 1839, and is a son of 
Ilosea and Mary (Pierce) Calijff. Stephen Califf, his paternal grand- 
father, came from Vermont to Bradford county in 1816, and settled 
in Smithfield township, clearing and improving a farm, on which he 
resided until his death. Hosea Califf also cleared a farm in SmitliHeld 
township, and died there in 1881. John N. Califf was reared in Brad- 
ford county, and was educated in the common schools, afterward 
attended Waverly Institute, Waverly. X. Y.; he read law with Over- 
ton & Montanye, of Towanda, and was admitted to the bar in May, 
1864. For several years he was deputy register and recorder of Brad- 
ford county, and in 1871 he began the active practice of law in 
Towanda, and is recognized as a leading member of the Bradford 
county bar; he Avas district attorney for Bradford county in 1875-6-7. 
He was in the Civil War, enlisting in August, 1862, in Company 1>, 
One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., and after six months'' service 
he was honorabl\^ discharged on account of disability. Mr. Califf 
married, in 1865, Rosa, daughter of James McCabe, of Towanda. He 
is a member of the E|>isco])al Church, and is a Sir Knight Templar, 
Scottish Rite. Politically, he is a Republican. 

REV. STEPHEN A. CALIFF, Presbyterian clergyman. East 
Smithfield. was born in East Smithfield townshij), this countv, Febru- 
ary 29, 1836, a son of Allen and Hannah (Thomas) Califf, Wnier a 
native of Vermont, and latter of Rhode Island, of English descent; the 
family trace their ancestry to the year 1699. Gen. AVarren, of Bunker 
Hill fame, was related to our subject's family on the mother's side. 
•Grandfather Califf came to East Smithfield townsiiip in 1816, when his 
son Allen was four years of age. and here as a ]>ioneer he commenced 
farming. Rev. Stephen A. Califf. who is the eldest of tiiree children, 
was prepared for college at the Susquehanna (.'ollegiate Institute, 
Towanda. was graduated from Jefferson College and Princeton Theo- 
logical Seminary, and ordained in 1867. He first located as pastor at 
West Newark, Tioga Co., N. Y., three years ; then spent two years in 
ministerial labor in Wells township, this county, and three years at 
Mclntyre, Lycoming county, whence, owing to fniling health, he came 
to East Smithfield and remained till August, 1881, when he returned 
to Mclntyre, where he remained till 1884. in December of which 
year lieagain came to Smithfield where, in Ajjrilof the following y(;ar, 
he became pastor of the Congi'egational Church in the town of East 
Smithfield. Mr. Califf was married April 27, 1865, to Emily Matthews, 



HISTORY 01-- MHADFORI) COl'XTY. 691 

wlio was boi-n in Orwell, August 13, 18;'.3, the third in a. family of 
seven children of Sa-nmel and l>etsy W. (Fletcher) Matthews, former a 
native of Connecticut, and latter of Vermont ; the Fletchers trace 
their ancestry back to Robert Fletcher, who was born in 1592. Mr. 
and JVLrs. Califlf have had born to them live children, as follows: Alden 
M., born January 29, 18G6, was graduated from the Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute, Towanda, and is now at Princeton College: Alice 
L. and Casper A., born July 20, 1868, attending the Institute at 
Towanda : Martha and Grace died in infancy. Mrs. Califlf's grand- 
mother, Fletcher was a Ballou, niece of HoseaBallou and a cousin of 
President Garfiekl's mother. Mr. Califf owns and manages a farm, 
and is still officiating as pastor of the Congregational Church at East 
Smithfield. In politics he is a Republican. He is beloved by his Con- 
gration and a wide circle of friends. 

CHARLES O. CAMP, manufacturer of spokes. Camptown, was born 
in Wyalusing township, Bradford Co., Pa., October 19, 1865, a son of 
J. D. and Mary A. (Smith) Camp, natives of Wyalusing township, and 
is the third in a family of four children ; the eldest, Stella, married 
M. II. Rockafellow, a blacksmith now residing in New York ; Alice, 
the second, died when twelve years of age; the youngest, also named 
Alice, married Elmer Cox, a '^farmer of Pike township. Charles O. 
Camp was born and reared on a farm, was educated in the common 
schools, and at the Camptown Academy; when twenty years of age he 
began to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade, working a year with 
W. B. Camp, and two years with J. W. Lathrop ; he entered the 
employ of C. H. Amsby and operated the spoke tlepartment of the 
hitter's factory at Camptown, also learning carding, etc. In this position 
he remained until 1891, when he leased the factory and has since been 
haying a successful trade in both carding and spoke manufacturing, he 
being a skilled mechanic and machinist. Mr. Camp was married to Mary 
Graham, a daughter of Richard Graham, a farmer of AVyalusing; 
politically he is identified with the Republican party. 

GEORGE S. CAMP, farmer, P. O. He>-rick, was born near Camp- 
town, this county, June lY. 1819. His father, Isaac Camp, was born 
near Hartford, Conn., January 25, 1782. His grandfather. Job Camp, 
was also a native of Connecticut. Isaac Camp came to Camptown 
in 1800, and served an apprenticeship to the millwright trade, during 
which time he married, February 10, 1803, Mary Polly Lacey, the 
eldest daughter of Ebenezer and Lydia (Pratt) "^Lacey, of Luzerne 
county, Pa., and removed to New York State. He hadVorked at his 
trade several years, and his family had increased to six, when he came 
back to this county and located In Wyalusing township, in the year 
1816. In 1825 he purchased a farm'^in Ilerrick township, on which 
he remained the rest of his life, as a farmer and millwright, and 
died January 3, 1861 ; his wife died in February, 1876, in her ninety- 
second year. They had nine children : Clark C.'', Isaac, Joseph, Lydia 
A. (wife of M. Weldon), Albert G., Marietta (wife of (Miarles ()ver- 
peck), George S., Clarissa (wife of J. S. Crawford) and Thaddeus S. 
George S. Camj) came to Ilerrick township in 1825, in his sixth year, 
and attendetl what is said to have been the first school in Ilerrick 



692 HISTORY OF IJKADFOKI) COUNTY. 

townsliij). Tliis he attended nine years; his first teacher being Han- 
nah Smith, who afterward married his brother, Joseph Camp. After 
leaving school he helped his fatlier until his twenty-sixth 3'ear, when, 
in 1845. he married Maria Jenninfjs, a dauo:hter of John and Sarah 
(Overpeck) Jennings, the second in a family of seven children, five of 
whom are living. In 1849 he purchased, from his brother Joseph, a 
house and lot, in which he now lives. In 1850 his father divided the 
propertv, and George S. received, as his share, fort}" acres adjoining 
his first purchase. He has spent his whole life farming. He built his 
barn in 1851, and an addition to his house in 1859. Mr. Camp is a 
member of Wyalusing Baptist Church, and is a Republican. He and 
his wife have had four children : Emma, wife of C. J. Yosburg ; Lou- 
isa, wife of C. C. Wood; Lydia O., wife of George J. Johnson; and 
Priscilla. 

WILLIAM HENRY CAMP, wagon-maker and blacksmith, Spring 
Hill, was born in Pike township, this county, November 4, 1831, and is a 
son of Daniel and Harriet(Bosworth)Camp. natives of Pennsylvania, and 
of New England origin; in their father's family there were the following- 
children : William Henry, Theodore A., Charlotte M. (deceased), Irene 
G. (now Mrs. George Smith, of Philadelphia, Pa.), Reed B. and Daniel 
W. Our subject began life for himself at twenty-one, blacksmithing 
at Inghamtown, this county, remaining there two 3"ears, then went to 
Laceyville where he worked at his trade six years, removing to Camp- 
town where he worked a year and a half; then came to Spring Hill, 
where he has since been engaged in manufacturing and repairing all 
kinds of wagons, and doing general blacksmithing; indeed, it might be 
said that he is the only first-class wagon-maker in Tuscarora township, 
and has succeeded in his business generally. Mr. Camp was married 
October 10, 1855, to Miss Jennie, daughter of Israel and Eliza (Wells) 
Buck, of Wyalusing, and they have five children, viz.: Eldridge AVeston 
(born June"^7, 1858, died May 18. 1885), Lottie Estella (born March 10, 
1861, now ]Mrs. Lewis Rutan, of Wvalusing), Elzia Harriet (born Julv 
11, 18()8. died September 28, 1884), Perrin Wells (born October 2, 1872) 
and Victor Eugene (born May 13, 187(5). The family are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church at Spring Hill, and he is a member of 
the F. & A. M. at Laceyville. In politics he is an nnyielding advocate 
of the principles of Prohibition. 

A. J. CAMPBELL, a farmer in South Creek township, P. O. Wells- 
burg, N. Y., was born in Ridgel)ury township, this county, July 13. 
1832, a son of John and Mercy (Worden) Campbell. His mother died 
when he was two days old, and wdien two weeks old he was adopted 
into the family of Calvin West, who was captain of a company of 
militia, and was known as " Capt. West;" he was an extensive lumber 
manufacturer and an entorjirising man in all branches of business; he 
built several sawmills in his time, and was the founder of the gristmill 
at Wellsburg, X. Y.; also erected several dwelling houses; he ]iur- 
chast'd liv(? hundred acres of land from the owners, Alexander Johnson 
and (ieorge (4avit, of Philadelphia ; thisland was heavily timbered ; the 
timl)er, when manufactured into lumber, was ship])ed down the Suscpie- 
hanna river, also to New York and other Eastern markets. Mr. West 






HISTORY OF FiKAUFOR[) COUNTY. 693 

was inai-ried four times. His fii'st wife was Betsey Elizabeth (/ovill. 
whom he married in 1820, when he was fourteen and she was twelve 
years of age; to them were born seven children, all of whom grew to 
matui'ity. About the year 1871, when at the age of seventy, he dis- 
posed of all his property in the East, giving to each of his children 
about $3,000 in real or personal property or money, selling off the bal- 
ance, and with nearly $30,000 went to the State of Wisconsin, where he 
purcluised a large farm and built a palatial residence, also a large stock 
barn and other out-buildings to correspond. He died March 28, 188(5, 
at the advanced age of eiglity-eight years, Mr. A. J. Campbell 
remained with Capt. West until he was of age, according to a contract 
received from Alexander Johnson, who was boarding at Capt. West's 
while on business, about the time the child was adopted by him. Mr. 
Johnson gave the captain $5.00 if lie w^onld name the child 
Alexander Johnson Campbell after him. the $5.00 to be investetl 
in sheep at $1.00 a head, the sheep to be d<jubled ever}^ four years, 
until tlie child became of age; this was agreed upon, and the plan 
carried out for a number of years, but was finally neglected altogether, 
in consequence of which failure Capt. West gav^e Mr. Campbell eighty 
acres of good land ; he afterward made him an heir of the estate along 
with his own children, giving him eighty acres more. Mr. Campbell 
occupied this property in 1865, and he is now living on it. He spent 
seven years in the West, and three years one month and eleven days in 
the army. During this time he married, in Plarvard. 111., January 4, 
186-4, Nancy, daughter of Edward and Jane Hogan. At the time of 
his marriage he was serving his country as a soldier, in Company K, 
Second Wisconsin Cavalry, for the terra of three years, and was home 
on a furlough ; he served his time and was honorably discharged as 
corporal. To Mr. and Mrs. Campbell was born, in 1868, one son named 
Frank M. E. Mr. Campbell carries on general farming, and is ])ros- 
])erous. Politically lie has been a Republica,n since the breaking out of 
the War of the Rebellion in 18(U. There is on his farm a mineral spring, 
known by many of the old settlers of the county as ''Dick's Lick,*' 
where many eleer have been slain, but the water has not yet been 
ana Iv zed. 

CHAUNCY C. CAMPBELL, farmer, P. O. Hoblet, born in lUir- 
lington, this county. November 11, 1843, is a son of George W. and 
Harriet (Kingsley) Campbell ; his grandfathei-, William Campbell, set- 
tled in P>urlington early in this century, ami was among the tirst set- 
tlers of that town. George W. CampbijU was a lumberman and 
farmer, in which business Chauncy was reared. When twenty years 
of age, Chauncy enlisted in the State Militia, and aft'^r a short time 
re-enlisted in the general service in the Civd War, and was in many 
hard-fought battles. Plis brother, George, was also in the service, and 
was a prisoner sixteen months. Chauncv Campbell is fifth of his par- 
ents' nine children. On January 1, 1867, he was united in marriage 
with Tempie, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Jerolomon) Van- 
Kirk, natives of New Jersey; she was boi-n April 20, 1847, and is the 
sixth in a fatnily of nine children, they being of German and French 
extraction. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have had four children, as fol- 

39 



(iOi HISTORY OF HHADFORI) COUNTY. 

lows: P]lmei- O., bom October 12, 18G7, married to Lucy Taylor; 
Joseph W., born February 20, 1871 ; Mattie J., born Marcli 8, 1879, 
and Harrison K., born September 29, 1882. Mr. Campbell settled 
twenty -three years ago where he yet lives, and now owns a fine farm, 
being a prosperous farmer, making dairying his principal industry. 
He is a member of the G. A. 11., and takes an active interest in the 
politics of the Republican party. The family are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is one of the trustees. 

DANIEL CAMPBELL, farmer, P. (). Litchfield, was born in 
Litchfield township. Brad ford Co.,Pa., August 14, 1830, on the farm now 
owned by T. W. Brink, and is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Struble) 
Campbell. Jacol) Campbell spent most of his life after he was seven- 
teen years of age in the township where he was born, following the 
agricultural and lumbering business. Jacob and Elizabeth Campbell 
had the following named children: Eliza Ann, married to Alanson 
Carner. and residing at Athens ; Sally Maria, married to I). S. Chand- 
ler, of Litchfield ; Ralph, died in Clearfield county, unmarried; Jacob 
S.. married to Ann Fredrick, and living at Hyatt's P^'erry, N. Y.; 
Daniel, Moses J., married to Mahala Russell, both deceased ; G. J., 
married to Phoebe Perry, who died some years since; C. H., married 
to Isabelle Fredrick', a farmer and blacksmith residing at Litchfield ; 
William B., married to Matlie (';impbell, of Litchfield. At tlie age of 
eighteen Daniel Cam])bell left school and engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, which he followed several year-s ; also carried on a lumber busi- 
ness in Clearfield county. He settled on a farm in Litchfield town- 
ship wliich he now owns. His wife's name was Leah Fredrick, and 
they have one son, who married Iluldah Carmer, and is now employed 
as clerk in Athens. Mr. Campbell is a member of the L O. O. F.. 
Litchfield Lodge, No. 938. and in politics is a Democrat. 

JESSE AV. CAA[PPELL, of the firm of De Lano ct Campbell, gro 
cers, Towanda, was born in (Jandoi", Tioga Co., N. Y., December 30, 
1854, a son of George W. and Evaline (White) Campbell, and is of 
Scotch and German descent. His parents settled in Bradford county 
in 1850. and are now residing in New Albany, where the father is 
engaged in farming. They were the parents of five children, as 
follows: Jesse W., Laura (Mrs. Frank Coolbaugh), Mary (Mrs. Earl 
Wilcox), Rhoda aiul Creorge W. Jesse W. (yam])bell was reared in 
Bradford county, and .received a common-school education. Fi-om 
May, 1879, till April, 1880, he was employed as a clerk at the "Inter- 
national Hotel," Tcnvanda, by S. M. Brown ; from there he went to 
the " Elwell House." in the employ of O. Kellogg, where he remained 
nearly four years. In Afay, 1884. he entered the employ of Powell ife 
Co., general merchants, with whom he renuiined until May, 1889, when 
hcentei-ed into partnershi|) with S. S. De Lano. in the ))i"esent gi'Ocer\' 
business, and they are doing a thriving trade Mr. (Jaiiipi)ell was 
married in May, 1881, to Mary, daughter of Thomas and P.ridget 
(Sup])le) Fitten, of Marshview. this county, by whom he has two chil- 
dren : Charles and Mary. He is a member of the Catholic Cliui'cli. 
and in politics he is a R('|)ui)lican. 



HISTORY OF RRADFOUD COUNTY. 695 

JOSEPH CAMPBELL, farmer, of New Albany townshi]), P. O. 
New Albany, was born in IVLoni-oe township, tins count}', March 27, 
1834, a son of John and Mary (Winter) Campbell, the former of whom, 
a miller, was of Scotcli origin and a native of Lancaster connty. Pa.; 
the latter was of Dutch ancestry, a native of ]\Ionroe township. The 
grandparents were among the early settlers in the county. The 
father attended the first mill at Masontown, and then built a mill in 
company with Jeremiah Blackman, near the line of IVlonroe and 
Albany, and has been connected with milling and farming all his life. 
The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm, and has 
followed farming man\' years. In February, 1862, he enlisted in Com- 
pany (t, One Hundred and Seventh P. V. I., and served one term ; in 
Januar}^, 1864, he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, and 
served altogether three years, three months and eleven days. While 
on skirmish line in front of Petersburg, he was wounded by a gunshot 
in the left arm, which necessitated amputation near the shoulder. 
He was in the service until May, 1865, and enjoys the largest pension 
in the township. Lie had three brothers, four brothers-in-law and five 
nephews in the Civil War. Since his return home he has been a 
teacher, having taught sixteen terms of school. Mr. Campbell was 
married, December 25, 1859, to Lurinda Brown, of New Albany, born 
in 1842, and to this union were born two children, both of whom died 
in infancy. Mr. Campbell is a quiet and much respected citizen ; a 
Republican in politics, he is well-informed in ])olitical matters. 

JOSEPHL^S CAMPBELL (deceased) was born in Burlington, 
this county, November 13, 1818. His paternal grandfather, James 
Campbell, one of the first, if not the first, settler in the town of Bur- 
lington, was of Scotch ancestry and directly descended from the 
Pilgrims, and his son, the father of our subject, was born in Massachu- 
setts and was a mere lad when the family removed to Burlington 
township. The grandfather, James, died here in 1813 at a great age; 
he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Our subject married 
Asenath Miller in 1841, and to them were born five children, of whom 
Delmer V. and Llomer C. (twins), born June 10, 1860, are now on the 
old homestead. Mr. Campbell was a man of influence and a Republi- 
can in politics; he was county commissioner atone time, and held 
other offices of public trust; lie died in 1874 at the age of fifty-five 
years. Mrs. Campbell survives him and is now aged sixty -eight 
years. Homer C. Campbell, who is a bachelor, owns one hundred 
and sixty acres of the old farm; Delmer V. own-; ninety-five acres of the 
same; it is as fine farming land as can be found in the township. 
Delmer Y married Julia Moscrip, daughter of William Moscrip, a 
farmer, a Scotchman bv birth, who came to America a voung man. 

STERLING K. CAMPBELL, farmer, P. O. Hoblet, was born in 
Smithfield township, this county, January 30, 1850, a son of Geoi'ge 
W. and Harriet (Ivingsley) Cam))bell, former of whom was born in 
Burlington township, and latter in Smithfield. this county; his great- 
grandfather was from Scotland. Sterling K. Campbell is the seventh 
in a family of nine children, of whom two sons, George and Channcy 
C, were in the Civil War; George served through the entire con/lict, 



696 HISTORY OF BKADFOKI) COUNTY. 

and was a prisoner tor thirteen months. Mr. Campbell, onr subject, 
was reared on his father's farm, and has followed agricultural pursuits. 
He was married, November 9, 1871, to Arlett Bird, who was born 
November 19, 1847, and died April 14, 1884; she was a daughter of 
Orpheus Bird, of Smithfield. To Mr. and Mrs. Campbell were born 
four children, viz.: Jennie B., born September 25, 1872; Ida M., born 
March 31, 1874; Lettie B.. born November 16, 187G, and Harry S., 
born August 28, 1878. Mr. Campbell has by perseverance and economy 
become the owner of a fine farm of one hundred acres, and he is a 
successfid business man. He is a member of the Knights of Honor ; 
he is a Republican, and an active worker, taking an interest in the 
affairs of the town, and in politics in general. 

AVILLIAM B. CAMPBELL, farmer, P. O. Brink Hill, was born 
October 25, 1846, in Litchfield township, Bradford Co.. Pa., on the 
farm he now owns, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Struble) Campbell. 
He received his early education in the common schools of Litchfield 
township, and at the age of twenty-one engaged in farming, which lie 
has since followed in connection with steam threshing; his farm, which 
he has greatly improved, having recently erected a fine residence 
thereon, consists of one hundred and twenty-five acres of land nearly 
all improved. Mr. Campbell married, in 1887, Mattie, daughter of John 
and Laura (Shockey) Campbell. She is the fifth of her parents' six 
children: George, tlie eldest, married Mary Henderson, deceased; 
Alice married W. Cowles, a wjigon-maker in Athens township; Frank; 
William (died at the age of two years) and Harry. Mr. and Mrs. 
Campbell have one child, Mabel L., a bright little girl of two years. 
Politically Mr. Campbell is a Democrat, and now holds the oiiice of 
postmaster at Brink Hill. 

CLARENCE A\\ CANFIELD, chief clerk and payn-.;istcr. Union 
Ih'idge "Works, Athens, is a native of Athens, born July 2, 1848, a son 
of John E. and Fannie E. (Reeve) Canfield, natives of Orange county, 
N. Y. His father was a prominent member of the Bradford bar, 
admitted to the practice in thiscounty. and devoted the best years of his 
life to his profession; he died in February, 1860, in his forty-first 
year; his widow survives. Mr. Canfield's grandfather, on his mothei''s 
side, was a soldier in the Revolutionai'v War. C. W. Canfield is the 
eldest in a family of five childr'cn, of whom two are. living. In Sep- 
tember, 1862, he joined the State Militia under Gov. Curlin's first call, 
but was out onlv a short time, after which he worked on a farm until 
September. 1864. when he went to Virginia, and was engaged in the 
Crovernment Construction C'or))s. Returning home after the close of 
the war, he was then for a time em))loyed in the engineei- cor))s of 
the Lehigh Valley e-xtension, and on the ()|)ening of the road, in 1868. 
was newsboy foi- a year; then joined the engineeiing department of 
the Ithaca A: Athens Railroad, and during the construction of same 
in 1870 and part of 1871 lie had chai-gc of the nortlici-n (Mid undei- 
the chief engineer. 

Early in 1871 Mr. Canlit'ld (entered the employ of Col. C. F. Welles. 
as clerk and bookkeeper, wiiere he remained until after his tleath. In 
JSovember, 1875, he began work for Kellogg A: Maurice (succeeded by 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 6;»T 

Union I'ridgo Company), and has been in tlicii- employ since. Mr. 
Canlield was nnirried in Jjinohamton, >\. Y.,in June, 187-5, to Ilattie C, 
daughter of Jahez and Fannie E. (Curry) Havens, natives of tliis county 
(she is the fourth in a family of seven children, and was born in this 
count V, August oO, 1840). To Mr. and Mrs. (Jantield were born two 
children : Mary I. and Fanny E. Mrs. Canfield is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. Mr. (Janlield is a member of the ¥. & A. M., 
Kuraf Amity Lodge, No. 70, Union Chapter, No. 161, Northern Com- 
mandery. No. 15; Lulu Temple A. A. O. N. M. S., Philadelphia; also 
Perkins Post, No. 202, G. A. II. He received, unsolicited, the unani- 
mous Democratic nomination for Congress (Fifteenth District) in 18ltO. 
made onlv one month before election, and reduced the old-time Repub- 
lican maforitv of between 5,000 and 6,000 to 2,2(»0. 

DANIEL C. CANFIELD, farmer, P. O. Austinville, was born May 
27, 1827, in Columbia township, this county, on the farm where he now 
resides, and is a son of Moses B. and Betsey (Crippen) Canfield ; his 
paternal grandparents were Oliver and Sally (Bradley) Canfield, who 
came from Redding, Fairiield Co., Conn., to Bi'adford county in 1800, 
and stopped for a year where Austinville now stands, clearing a small 
tract of land, and then removed to the farm occupied by subject, 
which, with the assistance of his son, Moses B., he (the grandfather) 
cleared and improved, and here he died. He was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier seven years, and did all the marching barefoot over the frozen 
ground and snow. He was the father of two children, Moses B. and 
Daniel, the former of whom succeeded to the homestead, on which he 
resided for many years; the last ten years of his life were spent in 
Rutland township, Tioga Co., Pa,, where he died in 1868, at the age of 
seventy-four years; his wife was a daughter of Roswell Crippen, of 
Delaware county, N. Y., by whom he had nine children : Sally (Mrs. 
Carlonus Spencer), Hiram, Polly (Mrs. Eben J. Bosworth), Daniel C, 
Lucy (Mrs. Silas Holly), Ann (Mrs. Henry Van Nocken), Melinda(Mrs. 
Wright W. Clark), Oliver (died in the "United States service during 
the late Civil War) and Louisa (Mrs. Leonard Baile}^). Daniel C. Can- 
field was reared on the old homestead, where he has always resided, 
and which has been in the Canfield name upward of eighty years. He 
married, February 10, 1856, Lydia, daughter of David and Lois 
(Brown) Edgeton, of Sullivan, Tioga Co., Pa., and by her he had two 
children: William D. and Emma (wife of Alfred Burleigh, but died, 
leaving one son, Harold C). Mr. Canfield is a leading and enterpris- 
ing farmer of Columbia township. In politics, he is a Republican. 

CHARLES H. CARD, farmer, P. O.Sylvania, was born in Colum- 
bia tow^nship, this county, December 5, 1842, and is a son of Henry 
B. and Sarah (Fish) Card. His paternal grandparents, Henry and 
Sally (Monro) Card, natives of Rhode Island, settled in Columbia 
township in 182!), and took up the farm now occupied by our subject 
and other members of the Card famih% cleared and improved it and 
died there. Henry Card was twice married, first to Sally Monro, by 
whom he had ten children: Martha E. (Mrs. H. N. Fish), Henry B., 
Mary (Mrs. Thomas Ames), Sarah T. (Mrs. Benjamin Calkins). Eliza- 
beth (Mrs. Reuben Nash), Julia S. (Mrs. James M. Thompson), George 



G98 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

M.. Caroline M. (Mrs. N. E. Calkins), Thomas M. and IJannah. Henry 
Card's second wife was Catherine Miller, l)V whom he had three chil- 
dren : Anson M., Harriet and Joseph B. Tlie father of our subject 
was reared in Columbia township from thirteen years of age, and in 
1843 removed to Sullivan township, Tiogo Co., where he cleared a 
farm which he still owns, and he resides in the township. By his wife, 
who was a daughter of Robert Fish, of Sullivan township, he had 
three children who grew to maturity: Charles H., Homer B. and 
Martha E. (Mrs. Frank Beardsley). In 1861 H. B. Card was elected 
treasurer of Tioga county for the term of two years. Charles H. 
Card was reared in Tioga county, Pa., was educated in common 
schools and Wellsboro Academy, and since attaining his majority he 
has been engaged in farming, stock-buying and butchering; for the 
past nine years he has resided on the old homestead in Columbia 
township. He was twice married : on first occasion to Mary, daugh- 
ter of John Benedict, of Columbia township, by whom he had one 
child, Flaude ; his second wife was Mary, daughter of Jefferson 
Bailey, of Granville township, and by her he has three children : 
Bowen, Ethel and Lula. Mr. Card was in the Civil War, having 
enlisted August 30, 1864, in Company A, Two Hundred and Seventh 
P. V. I., and was honorably discharged after nine months' service. 
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; in politics is a 
Republican. 

JOHiS 11. CAREY, farmer, P. O. South Warren, is a native of 
Connecticut, born December 13, 1823, a son of Daniel A. and Wealtliy 
(Hamilton) Carev, also natives of Connecticut and of English stock. 
They were among the early farmers of Bradford county, as they came 
to Warren township in 1825; indeed the recollections of the oldest 
inhabitants here are that there was but one house in sight when Mr. 
Carey and his sons cleared their farm ; the fathei' died in 1874, and the 
mother in 1882. They had a family of ten children, of whom John 
H. is the fourth in the order of birth. He grew up as a pioneer boy 
of the time, giving sparse time to the schools, and learning all about 
clearing and farming and lumbering, the latter being his winter work 
when he was still a lad. He is now the owner of the old homestead, a 
fine fai'm of one hundred and forty acres, one of the best in the county. 
He was married in Warren township, in 1852, to Betsey L. Newman, 
(hiughter of Nathan and Parmelia (French) Newman, natives of 
Massachusetts and of English extraction, the former of whom came to 
this count}^ in 1821, another pioneer to Warren township, and died in 
1878, the latter had died in 1874 ; they had fourteen children, of whom 
Mrs. Carey is the fifth, born and educated and married in Warren 
township.*^ The fruits of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Carey were 
four children, as follows: John Fremont, born July 21, 1856, the 
year Fremont became the lirst Uepul)lican candi(hite for President he 
mari'ied Jessie Smith, and has two children: Alice, born January 31, 
1888, and William H., born November 9, 1889) ; Jessie Florence, born 
June 2, 1858, married John G. Dimon, and has one child, Lena, boi-n 
August 9, 1880 (John G. Dimon, died July 9, 1881, and his wife fol- 
lowed him to the grave February 11, 1882); William II., born June 



HISTORY OF It ii A I) FORD COUNTY, (lOll 

21, 1860, was nuu'ried August 10, 1887, to Zoe W. rio[)son, and has 
one child, Mildred, born April 12, 1890, and Martha Alice, born Sep- 
tember 24, 18<i5. The voters of this family are llepublicans. John 
11. Carey and family are Methodists, of which church he is trustee 
and class leader; has held the offices of assessor and judge of elec- 
tions. His father was a pnjminent though (juiet, good citizen, was a 
justice of the peace a full term, and Avas re-elected, but on account of 
failing health declined to acce})t tiie second term ; he served several 
terms as supervisor. 

JOHN CARMODY, yard boss, Lehigh Valley Uailroad, Towanda, 
was born in Cappagh white, County Tipperary, Ireland, February 14, 
1826, and is a son of Dennis and Jane (Cormick) ('armody, natives of 
Counties Tii)perarv and Limerick, Ireland, respectively. He was 
reared in his native county, and educated in the Government schools. 
In 1848 he came to America, and in the spring of 1849 settled in 
Browntown, this county, where he was employed by Patrick Burke, 
contractor, for four years, and later was employed by the North 
Branch Canal Company nine years. He removed from Browntown 
to Wyalusing. where he was one year "section boss" on the canal, and 
where he served twenty-five years in the same capacit}', on what is 
known as the Lehigh A'alley Railroad, and also three years in Towanda 
as yard boss. Mr. Cai-mody married, in 1841, Mary, daughter of 
Michael and Jane (Hammersley) llyan, of County Tipperary, Ireland, 
by whom he had ten children, as follows : Jane (Mrs. John Whalen), 
Dennis (deceased), Sarah (Mrs. Michael Ryan), Mary, John, Michael, 
William (deceased), James, Thomas and Robert ; all the sons living- 
are energetic and enterjirising men, and are occupying good positions. 
Mr. Carmody is a member of the ('atholic Church ; in politics he is a 
Democrat. 

PHILO S. CARPENTER, M. D., Troy, was born in Springwater, 
Livingston Co., N. Y., April 15, 1848, a son of Seneca and Lydia 
(Bliss) Carpenter, natives of Massachusetts and of Puritan stock.' He 
was reared in Allegany county, N. Y"., and educated at Union Semi- 
nary, Rogersville, N. Y., where he was graduated in 1870. He began 
the study of medicine in 1871, with Dr. J. 'S. Doles, of Hornellsville, 
N. Y., and later studied with Dr. George St. John, of Canaseraga, 
N. Y'. He entered the Medical LJepartinentof the University of Wooster 
at. Cleveland, Ohio, September 1, 1872. where he was graduated in 
jMarch, 1875. Soon after he began the practice of his profession at 
Austinville, this county, where he remained nine years, when he took 
a post-graduate course at Belle vue Hospital Medical College and New 
Yoi-k Post Graduate School, where he was graduated in May, 1883. 
He then located in Troy, Pa., where he has been in active "practice 
since. Dr. Carpenter married June 27, 1875, Sarah M., daughter of 
Israel F. and Jane E. (Wood) Aber, of Canaseraga, N. Y., and by her 
he has three children: Floyd A., Hermann F. and Nina B. ' The 
Doctor is a member of the Baptist CJhurch, of the I. O. O. F., P. G., 
and of the Elmira Academv of Medicine. He is a Republican. 

CHARLES W. CARRIER, M. D., Troy, was born in Columbia, 
Chenango Co., N. Y., February 12, 1841, a son of John L. and 



700 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Barbara (Weaver) Carrier, and is of English descent. He was reared in 
his native State, received an academical education, and in 1859 began 
the stiidv of medicine with Dr. C. C. Cook, of Newtield, Tompkins 
Co., N. Y. In the fall of the same year he entered the medical 
department of the Buffalo I'^niversity, Buffalo, N. Y., where he was 
graduated February 25, 1862. In July, 1802, he was active as an 
assistant-surgeon in the U. S. Army, and served in that capacity until 
September, 1865. He then located at Xewlield, N. Y., where for a 
short time he practiced his profession in partnership with his preceptor. 
Dr. C. C. Cook. In 1 868 he located in Clinton county, Pa., where he was 
in practice two and one-half years, and at the same time was engaged 
in lumbering. In 1870 he returned to New field, again formed a part- 
nership with Dr. Cook and remained there until 1872 when he removed 
to Ithaca, N. Y., and was in practice there six years; in 1878 he 
located at East Burlington, Pa., and for three years he was physician 
for the county asylum; in 1884 he came to Troy where he has since 
remained. The Doctor has been twice married : first time to Louisa 
M., daughter of Simeon S. and Mary (Pierson) Bush, of Tompkins 
county, N. Y., by whom he has one son, Charles W., Jr. ; his second 
wife was Emma F., daughter of E. H. and Mary (Farwell) Kitchey, 
of Clinton county. Pa., by whom he has one daughter, Louisa M. Dr. 
Carrier is a member of the Tompkins county (N. Y.) and Bradford 
county (Pa.) Medical Societies, and is now filling the position of U. S. 
Pension Examiner. In politics Dr. Carrier is a Ftepublican. 

FRANK P. CASE, a prominent contractor and builder, of Troy, 
and a member of the firm of (Jase & Leonard, was born in Troy town- 
ship, this county, March 11, 1859, and is a son of Jareb and Louisa S. 
(Cady) Case. His great-grandparents on the paternal side were Ileu- 
ben and Experience (Nichols) Case, natives of the State of New 
York, who settled in Troy township in 1798, and in later life removed 
to Tompkins county, N. Y., where they died. The grandparents wei'e 
Elihu and Charlotte (Palmei') Case, and Jareb, the father of our sub- 
ject, their fourth child and tliird son, was born in Tro}^ township in 
1822, and partially cleared and improved the farm he now occupies, 
which was a part of the original homestead taken up by his grand- 
father Ileuben. He reared a familv of six children: William II., 
Mary (Mrs. Chester E. Decker), Charles J., Frank P., Ida (Mrs. 
Nathaniel (Treen) and Milton P. Our subject was reared in Ti'oy 
township and educated in the common scliools ; he learned the car- 
penter's trade with Caleb Burt, of Troy, and for seven years worked as 
a journeyman, one and one-half years of which time were spent in the 
Bradford oil regions. In January, 1885, he became a member of the firm 
of Case Bros, ik Leonard, which continued until January 1, 1891, since 
when the firm has been Case& Leonard. Mi". Case married November 
11, 1886, Lydia L., dautihter of (ieorge and Mary (Tears) Smith, of Sulli- 
van township, Tioga (Jo., Pa., and has one son, (^eorge F. Mr. Case is 
a wide-awake, enterprising citizen and a first-class workman. By 
strict attention to business and judicious catering to the wants of the 
people, this firm have built up a large trade, wliich is daily increasing. 
Mr, Case resides on a jiart of the old homestead. He is a member 



HISTORY OF P.RADFOKD COUXTY. 701 

of Priam Lodge, No. 2+7, I. O. O. F., of Ti'oy, and politically lie is a 
llepublican. 

JILUAM A. CASE, farinei-, justice of the peace, surveyoi- and 
engineer, Troy, was born December 5, 1825, in Troy township, this 
county, on the farm he now owns and occupies, a son of Elihn and 
Charlotte (Palmer) Case ; his paternal grandparents, Reuben and 
Ex[)erience (Nichols) Case, were natives of Hebron, AVashington Co.. 
and Ithaca, Tompkins Co., N. Y., respectively, and settled in Troy 
township, this county, in March. 1798, on the farm now occupied by 
our subject. They moved here with an ox team, cutting their way 
thi'ough the woods and following the beds of the creeks for the last 
25 miles of the way. Reuben built the first house in what is now Troy, 
then in Lycoming county, and calletl the place Casena. In later life they 
removed to Spencer, Tompkins Co., N. Y., and died there. Their childi-en 
were Elihu, Sylvia (Mrs. Russell Palmer), Timothy, Esther (Mrs. Milton 
Ilugg), Reuben, Philip and Ephraim. Of these, Elihu succeeded to the 
homestead, which originalh" consisted of 180 acres, and on which he 
made most of the improvements. He was a surveyor as well as farmer, 
and followed both occupations until his death ; he was a justice of the 
peace for forty \ears, a brigadier'-general of militia, and served four 
years as State Senator of his district, which comprised the counties of 
Bradford and Susquehanna, anti was agent and attornev for the 
Drinker estate from 1808 until his death in 1865. He built the first 
foundry and first sawmill in Troy, and oi'ganized the first Masonic 
Lodge in what was tlien Lycoming county. His children were: 
Edmund, Irene (Mrs. Charles N. Strait), Nathan, Jareb, Hiram A., 
Ad rial H. and William P. 

Our subject was reared on the old homestead, to which he suc- 
ceeded b}'^ will, on the death of his father. He began surveying when 
ten years of age, and has followed the business ever since ; he has been 
twice married, first, August 28, 1845, to Lephe A., daughter of Francis 
and Priscilla (Wilsey) Smead,of Troy township, and by her he had five 
children : William P., Allen F., Minnie, Lottie and Horace; his second 
marriage was September 2-t, 1877, with Eunice L., daughter of Stephen 
and Mar}^ (Bowe) Harkness, of Columbia township, by whom he has 
had two sons : Delos W. and Stephen E. Mr, Case's mother was a 
native of Vermont, a kinsman of Ethan Allen, and some of the land 
given to her father for his services as a soldier, is where the city of 
Montpelier now is. Her demise occurred in 1882. Mr. Case is a well- 
known citizen of Troy township, and has held the office of justice of 
the peace nearly twenty years; in politics he is a Republican. 

H. L. CASE, proprietor of the AYyalusing Creamery, Wyalusing, 
was born in Wysox, this county, April 24, 1845, a son of Lucius S 
and Clarinda (Cannon) Case, the former of whom was a native of 
Western New York, and the latter of Rome, Pa. Lucius S. Case 
was a farmer and an extensive contractor during the building of the 
North Branch Canal and Lehigh Valley Railroad. He died in Wilkes- 
Barre in 1886, in his seventieth year; his widow lives in Wilkes-Barre. 
Their family comprised five children, viz.: Phila, married to Mr. Thomas, 
of Syracuse, N. Y.; Raymond, resides at Jamestown, N. Y.; Anna, 



702 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

iiuiri'ied to E. A. Miller, of Wilkes-Ban-e ; J\[innie, a teacher in the 
Wilkes-Barre schools and residin*^ with her mother, and our subject. 
II. L. Case passed his boyhood on his lather's farm in Rome township, 
where he attended the common school, which, with one year spent at 
the Collegiate Institute, Towanda, constituted his school privileges. At 
the age of sixteen he entered the employ of George Nichols, a mer- 
chant of Home, where he remained until Februars' 24, 1864, when he 
enlisted in Company G, Fifth New York Cavalry, in which he served 
until July 18, 1865, when he was mustered out with his regiment; he 
passed through the severe campaign of 1864 and spring of 1865, end- 
ing with Appomattox, and for the length of his service saw as much 
war as any man in the army; from the Wilderness campaign until 
June 26th his regiment was under fire every day. After his return he 
entered the employ of S. N. Bronson, a merchant of Orwell Hill, 
where he remained from October, 1865, until 1876; then removed to 
LeRaysville and embarked in the hardware business, being associated 
with E. M. Bailey as partner ; after about two years spent in that busi- 
ness he sold his interest to Mr. Bailey, and then he conducted the first 
creamery in Pike township, which he operated until 1888, when he 
removed^ to Wyalusing and opened the first creamery there, which he 
still owns and operates. It has a capacity of 1.500 lbs. per day, his 
average output per month being 3,500 lbs. He has all the modern appli- 
ances and his butter is excelled by none. The institution is now in its 
fourth year, is constantly gathering favor with the farmers, as well as 
the consumers, and he finds am])le market for his butter at Wilkes-Barre 
and the general neighborhood. Mr. Case was united in marriage, 
December 31, 1866, with Lydia A. Mattison, a daughter of Thomas 
Mattison, of Orwell Hill, and to them have been born four children : 
George, at present at the School of Yeterinarv Surgei'v, at Ithaca; How- 
ard, manager of creamery at Leilaysville ; Thonuis, at iiome, and Lydia, 
who died in infancy. Mr. Case is a member of the F. ik A. M., and is 
connected with the Roman Lodge of Rome ; is also a member of the K. 
of 11. of Orwell Hill, and of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R., of Wya- 
lusing. Although Mr. Case has been a resident of Wyalusing but a 
short time, yet he has made a large circle of friends, and has placed 
his business on a solid foundation which will enable him to work to a 
grand success. 

SAMUEL R. CASE, mason, Granville Centre, was born in Troy, 
this county, January 3, 1849, and is a son of John and Julia A. (Ward) 
Case. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Case, who was a pioneer of 
Troy Township, where he died, liad sons as follows: Zina, Philander, 
Thomas, Samuel, Benjamin and John, of whom John, the father of our 
subject, and the only survivor, always followed farming, and has been 
a resident of (Tranville upward of thirty years; his wife was a daugh- 
ter of Eldi-ich Ward, and he has five children living: Minerva A. 
(Mrs. Charles Dickinson), Emeline, Fidelia (Mrs. Lyman Daley), John 
H. and Samuel R. Our subject was rearetl in Troy; was a soldier in 
the Civil War, enlisting, first in Company C, Seventh Pennsylvania 
Cavalry, in which he served five montlis, and afterward in Company F, 
Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavali-y, serving tifteen months, and was honor- 



HISTORY OF HRADI-'ORD COUNTY. 703 

ably discharged after the war. lie followed farmino' until 1875, when 
he began work at the mason's trade which he has since followed. He 
has been a resident of Granville thirty years. In 1869 Mr. Oase mar- 
ried Mary P]., daughter of Samuel and Louisa (Striitton) Ludington, of 
Troy township, and lias seven children: (Uara B., Eva M. (Mrs. Elmer 
(Konkle), Alida A., James N., Mabel L., Cora and Rodney. Mr. Case 
is a member of the 1. O. O. E. and G. A. R.; politicallv he is a Republican. 

WARREN CASE, a leading blacksmith of 'Troy, was born in 
Granville township, this county, April 13, 1835, and is a son of Abram 
and Sarah (Williams) Case ; his paternal grandfather, Aaron Case, a 
native of Vermont, and a pioneer of Troy township, was a miller bv 
trade and owned and operated a mill foi" some years ; he was killed in 
his own mill ; the maternal grandfather of our subject was Caleb Wil- 
liams, also a pioneer of Troy township. Abram Case, the father of 
Warren, a farmer by occupation, cleared and improved a farm in 
Granville township, on which he resided nntil his death. His children 
Were Olive (Mrs. Roswell Dunbar), Jabez, Andrew, Aaron, Caleb, 
Simeon, Nancy M. (Mrs. Miller Moore), Abigail (Mrs. O. H. Randell) 
and AVarren. Warren Case was reared in Granville township until 
eighteen years of age, served a two-years' apprenticeship at the black- 
smith trade, and in 1857 embarked in business for himself at West 
Burlington, locating in Troy in 1876, where he has built up a success- 
ful and lucrative trade and employs three hands. In 1856 he was 
married to Lucinda, daughter of Amosa and Sarah (Crippen) Greeno, 
of Troy township, and l)y her he had two children : Merritt and 
Arthur. Mr. Case is a member of the F. & A. M.; I. O. O. F., also 
Oscaloosa Fire Department of Troy. In politics he is a Republican. 

D. W. CHAFFEE, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Sheshequin, 
was born July 23, 1851, in Sheshequin township, this county, on the 
farm now owned by his brother John, and is a son of Charles and 
Adaline (llorton) Chafifee. His father was a farmer, and a native of 
New York, who came to Bradford in 1810, and settled on the farm 
adjoining the one named; his mother is a native of Pennsylvania; 
their family consisted of six children, four of whom are living : Charles, 
Mahlon, John and D. W. Our subject received his educaition in the 
common schools of Sheshequin, and after leaving school he followed 
teaching about five years, during winter, and farming in the summer. 
The farm he now owns was inherited from his father, who was one of 
the largest land owners and probably the wealthiest man in the town- 
ship at the time of his death. This farm consists of eighty acres of 
bottom land, the improvements on which, put on by him, are all ele- 
gant and modern ; the farm cost his father $7,3U0, and he has put 
$3,500 in improvements, making the farm one of the most desirable in 
the valley. Mr. Chaffee was married October 29, 1874, to Dell, daugh- 
ter of Simon and Mary Ann (Corbin) Brainard, of Windham; and has 
had three children, tAvo of whom are living, viz.: Festus M., aged 
eleven, and Charles S., aged two; Iniz W. died at the age of seven 
years. Mr. Chaffee is a Freemason, has taken the degrees of Master 
Mason, and is a member of Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, Athens. In 
his political views he is a Republican. 



704 HISTORY OF BR\DFORI> COUNTY. 

EPHRAIM CHAFFEE (deceased) was born April 25, 17(50, and 
(lied August 6, 1825; his wife, Elizabeth, was born January 30, 1761. 
and died April 21, 1853. They had seven children, of whom the eld- 
est, iSoah, born Februar\^ 22. 1780, married (Catherine Drapei', born 
January 14, 1780; he died April 30, 1869, his wife died March 28, 
1866. They had nine children, of u^hom Samuel B., the third in order 
of birth, born November 29, 1808, married, October 22, 1831, Maria 
Buffington, who was born May 29, 1815, and their family consisted of 
six children, as follows : Mary E., born June 26, 1832; Martha, born 
October 3, 183-t; Kufus D., born March 26, 1837. died September 6, 
1838 ; Cornelia E., born September 6, 1839, died November 28, 1875; 
Rufus A., born December 11, 1841, died September 24, 1864 ; Asenath 
A., born January 21, 1844. This wife dying November 4, 1845, Mr. 
Chaffee married, July 9, 1846, Betsey L. Pendleton, who was born 
June 23, 1824, and b}"^ her were two children, viz.: Samuel O., born 
August 31, 1848, died April 14, 1849; and Cordis M. Samuel B. 
Chaffee came to this county in 1819, and settled in Warren township ; 
he died October 4, 1888 ; his second wife survives. Cordis M. Chaffee 
was born August 10, 1850, and was reared and educated in Warren 
township, wiiere he commenced as a farmer; he has spent his life on 
a farm, and now owns two hundred and ninety-five acres, finely stocked 
and well improved. He was married in Warren township February 
14, 1872, to Lucinda J. Arnold, daughter of Chauncy W. and Caro- 
line (Talmadge) Arnold, natives of Pennsylvania and New York, 
respectively, and of English origin; they have had seven children, 
Lucinda J. being the second ; she was reared, educated and married 
in Warren township, and is the mother of three children, as follows : 
Leah, born May 21, 1875; one that died in infancy; and Torrance O., 
born March 3, 1886. The family attend the Methodist Ejnscopal 
Church, of which Mr. Chaffee is steward ; he is a Republican, and has 
filled the office of town clerk, antl is now commissioner. 

J(.)[IN H. CHAFFEE, farmer and stock grower, Shesiiequin 
township, P. O. Ilornbrook, was born on the Chaffee homestead, July 
13, 1843, a son of Charles Chaffee, and is the eldest and only son in 
this county, except D. W. Chaffee. He was reared on the farm, and 
received his education in the district schools and at the Sus(piehanna 
Collegiate Institute, Towanda. When nineteen years old he enlisted 
in the army in Company B, One Ilundi-ed and Forty-first P. Y. L, and 
was dischai'ged May 28. 186<» ; he was i)romoted to corporal. December 
5, 1863, and then to sergeant, January 1, 1865, and was wounded and 
captured at Chancellorsville, again wounded at Petersburg. He par- 
ticipated in the following battles: Fi-edericksburg, Chancellorsville, 
Aubui-n, Kelly's Ford, Morris' Farm, Mine Run. Wilderness, Laurel 
Hill, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Talopotomy, (-old Harbor, Peters- 
burg, Poplar Spring C/hurch, J>()ydton Road, Hatcher's Run and 
Sailors Creek, and was with the army at the sun-endei' of Gen. Lee. 
Mr. (Jhaffee does not know how he was wounded, but thinks it was by 
a concussion, caused by the explosion of a shell at Chancelloi-sville, 
which rendered him unconscious, and while in that condition he was 
cai)tured ; he was confined in Libby prison thirteen days and then 



HISTORY Ob' niiADKOIil) COUNTY. '^Oo 

paroled ; was exchanged Septembei- oO, and joined his regiment at 
Petersburg. He was struck by a piece of shell in the lumbar region 
of the back at Petersburg, June 16, 1804, causing ))artial ])aralysis of 
the left leg, from which he has never fully recovered, and for which he 
went to Lincoln General Hospital about two months. He was also 
struck by a spent ball at the battle of Mine Run. He rejoined his 
regiment sometime in September, after he was wounded at Peters- 
burg. Returning from the army he commenced business for himself, 
and taught school eight winter and two fall terms, and also operated a 
threshing machine sev^eral falls, then settled down on the old homestead 
or Hill place; then moved on the place that was occupied by hisfatiier 
before his death. He owns over two hundred and fifty acres in this 
county, eighty acres in Kansas, superintending the entire property, 
and raises cattle and sheep. Mr. Chaffee was married November 10, 
1871, to Marion I., dauohter of William E. and Fannie (Gore) Bull, of 
this county, and of this marriage there are two children: Adaline 
M., born May 20, 1873, and Ira P., born December 4, 1870. Mrs. 
Chaffee is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; he is a mem- 
ber of Watkins Post, No. 6S, G. A. R., Towanda, and his political 
views are Republican. Mr. Chaffee now fills the office of town com- 
missioner, and postmaster at Hornbrook; he has held several town- 
ship offices besides that of commissioner. 

N. P. CHAFFEE, dealer in boots and shoes, Athens, is a native 
of Warren township, this county, and was born October 29. 1883. a 
son of Orvilla and Amy (Lyon) Chaffee, natives of Pawtucket. R. I., 
and who came to this county early in life; the father, who was a farmer, 
died in May, 1888, in his eighty-sixth year; the mother in 1883 in 
her seventy-fifth year; grandfather Noah Chaffee was a soldier in the 
War of 1812 N. P. Chaffee is the fourth in a family of eleven chil- 
dren, of whom six are living. He was reared on the farm, and 
remained with his father until he was nineteen, when he served an 
apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade, which he followed untU he 
enlisted in the army in September, 1802, in Company D, Seventeenth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was injured at the skirmish at Occoquan. 
Va,,and was sent to Carver Hospital, Washington, December 23, 1802; 
was discharged January 30, 1S03 ; he is a member of the G. A. R.. Per- 
kins Post, No. 202, and also of the Union Veteran Legion, No. 28. 
He w^as married in Owego, X. Y., July 18, 1857, to Miss Celestia, 
daughter of William H. and Diadama "^(Hoskins) Spencer, natives of 
Connecticut (she is the eighth child of a family of nine, and was born in 
Orwell township, this county, January 28, 1840). To Mr. and Mrs. 
Chaffee have been born three children, as follows: Dudley K. 
(deceased), Ferris E. (a student at Colgate University) and Ina L. 
Mr. Chaffee removed from Orwell tow^nship to Athens in the spring 
of 1872. and opened a boot and shoe store. He is a Republican, and 
is one of the leading public-spirited citizens of the borougli. 

W. B. CHAFFEE, farmer and stock grower, Sheshequin town- 
ship. P. O. Ghent. \vas born in Bristol county. Mass., January 30, 1825, 
and is a son of Wilder and Sabrina (I>owen)" Chaffee. II is father, by 
trade a machinist, was born in Massachusetts and came to this countv 



706 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in 1833, locating in Warren township where he remained until his death, 
Ma3^ 7, 1S6-1-; his widow survived until December 18, 1880. The fatlier 
was sixty-eight years okl at the time of his death, and the mother was 
eighty-eight; they had five children, four living: W. B., H. B., ]\Iaria 
E. (married to George Harrington, of Pike, Pa.) and W. P. ; Lucy 
Elminie died February 15, 1864, aged nineteen years. AV. B. Chaffee 
was reared in Warren township, attending school until he was nineteen, 
and received an excellent education for the times. He learned the 
carpenter and joiner trade, and followed same about ten years. His 
first farm was in Warren township, purchased in 1835 where he lived 
two yeai's, then went to the Sheshequin valley where he rented a farm 
and lived two years. In 3 857 he purchased the farm he now occupies 
consisting of seventy acres, which he cleared, and where he put up all 
the buildings, all of which he has accumulated by his own exertions, 
lie has always been successful in business. Mr. Chaffee was married 
December 31, 1851, to Lucy A., daughter of Abram Gore, and grand- 
daughter of Samuel Gore. To Mr. and Mrs. Chaffee were born two 
children: Abram G., born February 28, 1853, nuirried to Sarah J., 
daughter of Joseph and Harriet (Browning) Haigh, and Sarah E., 
born August 12, 1855, married to H. G. Bidlack. The family are 
llniversalists in religion, and in politics Mr. Chaffee is a Republican. 
BYPtOX A. CHAMBERLAIX, jobber, Towanda.was born in Wind- 
ham township, this county. July 12, 184:5, and is a son of Joso])h 
and Margaret (Hartshorn) Chamberlain. The paternal grandfather 
Chamberlain, formerly of Unadilla, Otsego Co., N. Y., was a pioneer 
of Windham township, this county, and was a millwright by trade 'i 
in later life he removed to Freeport, 111., and died there. The nuiter- 
nal grandfather. William Hartshorn, was a native of Connecticut, a 
soldier of the War of 1812, and was a pioneer of Windham townshij), 
where he cleared and improved a farm, and resided there until his 
death. Joseph Chamberlain, who was a native of Unadilla, N. Y.. 
was a harness maker by trade, and settled in Windham township with 
his parents; in 1847 he removed to Orwell township, and worked at 
his trade there until his death in 1876. He had seven children who 
grew to maturity, among whom were : Fedilia C. (Mrs. Eli Merrill), 
Lodenra (j\Irs. Ezra liVon). Nancy (Mrs. Charles Colgrove)and Byron 
A. Our subject was reared in Oi'well townshiji, received a common- 
school edu(;ation and learned the harness maker's trade in the shop of 
his father. He was in tiie Civil War, enlisting August 20, 1862, in 
Company D, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., and was promoted 
to corporal in 1864; he participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, 
Gettysburg, Wilderness, North Anna, Cold Harbor, in front of Peters- 
burg and other engagements, and was at the surrender of Lee at 
Appomattox. In July, 1863, he was shot through the left thigh ;it 
(Tettysbui'g. and was shot thi'ough the neck in front of Petersburg- 
June 18. 1864. He was honorably discharged from the service in June, 
1865. In October, 1866, he came to Towanda, where he followed his 
trade as a journeyman frf)m 1867 to 1883. He drove a hack in 
Towanda, and since 1882 has l)een a jobber and contractor for the States 
IJne Coal Company. On JNIarch 27, 1866, he married Marthena, 



IlIsroilY OF RUADFOUl) COUNTY. 707 

daughter of Kuel and Eliza (Manderville) Brown, of Ivonie. this 
county, and lias two children, as follows: Bertha L. and Charles B. 
Mr. Chamberlain is a member of the G. A. R., and in politics he is a 
Republican. 

J. W. CHAMBERLAIN, physician and sm-geon, W^udusing, 
though comparatively a young man, has already climbed well toward 
the top of the profession in this county. He was born in W\^alusing 
township, August 3, 1859, and is a son of John F. Chamberlain (born 
September 14, 181-4, and died March 11, 1881) and Susan (Terry) 
Chamberlain (born April 6, 1818, and is still living). They had a 
family of live children, four yet living, viz.: Nancy Irene, George F., 
Jennie E. and J. W. Gilbert, the second child, died October 26, 1S63, 
being then twent\'-four years old. The father was for many years a 
merchant of Terrytown, and he purchased a farm on Lime hill, where 
he resided for several years; then in 1865 he conducted the warehouse 
and coal office at Wyalusing, remaining in business there for several 
years; in 1868 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and 
was the only man up to that time who received that high honor unso- 
licited ; after serving three years, he returned to Wyalusing and per- 
chased the Washington-Taylor farm, where he resided for about ten 
years ; then retired from active life and removed to the present resi- 
dence of the family, where he died. Among the many popular resi- 
dents of his native township none stood higher than he; industrious, 
intelligent and scrupulously honest, he commanded the respect of all. 
In early life he identified himself with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and contributed liberally to the support of the same; his 
views on the temperance question were strong, almost to radicalism, 
and in politics he was a stanch Whig and Republican, taking an active 
interest in the great political questions of his da}^; he was a successful 
business man. Dr. Chamberlain passed his boyliood on the farm, 
and in the village of Wyalusing, receiving his English education in the 
AVyalusing schools and AVyoming Seminary. In 1883 he began the 
stud\^ of medicine, entering college the same year, and in April, 1886, 
he was graduated from Jefiferson Medical College, Philadel])hia, tak- 
ing the degree of M. D., and was registered in Bradford county that 
summer, but went to Castleton, Ills, where he formed a partnership 
with Dr. Holgate, of that place, and practiced one year. He then 
returned to Wyalusing where he has been in active practice since, and 
has been ver\' successful. The doctor is a stanch Republican, and 
takes an active interest in ])olitics. His grandfather, Jabez Chamber- 
lain was one of the oldest physicians of the county, and a graduate ^f 
one of the old medical colleges of New York. 

M. CHAMBERLAIN, blacksmith, Silvara, was born at Lenox, 
Susquehanna Co., Pa., December 29, 1851, and is a son of Levi and 
Martha A. (Betts) Ciiamberlain, both living in Silvara, who had three 
children, two yet living: M. (our subject) and Pluebe (married to 
John A. Wood, a liveryman, of Nebraska City, Ivans.). M. Chamber- 
lain was born and reared on a farm, and wns educated in tlie common 
schools; at the age of twenty-two he began business for himself and 
followed farming one v ear, and be^an to learn the trade of blacksmith 



708 HISTOKY OF IJRADFOlil) COUNTY. 

ill the sliop of George E. Chamberlain, of Diniock, Pa., and 
remained there th.ree years; he then worked a short time with Mr. 
JVIcVicker. at Eaton, Pa.; iie worked as a journeyman about eight 
years. He was married January 29, 18S1, to Libbie Babcock, a 
daughter of jST. P. Babcock, a farmer, of Tuscarora, and for the 
following two years resided and worked at his trade in Wyalusing, 
then was one 3'ear at Elk Lake, and one year at Eaton ; then removed 
to 8ilvara, where he has pursued his trade up to the ])resent time, 
having built up a large and growing trade, and is recognized as one of 
the active business men of the village. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain 
have four children : Leo E., Fay, Lizzie and Willie ; politically Mr. 
Chamberlain is a Republican, but not an active politician. 

SAMUEL CHAMBERLIN", farmer, Wysox township. P. O. Myers- 
burg, was born in Susquehanna county. Pa., November 17, ISiO, a 
son of Lewis and Mary (Wood) Chamberlin, natives of Xew York and 
Connecticut, respectively, and of English origin. In his father's 
family there were seven children, of whom Samuel, who is the second, 
began life for himself at the age of twenty-one, and took up farming 
as his occupation; he has lived in his present home since 1842. He 
was married June 30, 1841, to Elsie Maria, only daughter of William 
and x^bigail (Russell) Moger, and this ha])py union was blessed with 
thirteen children, as follows: William, born March 1, 1842 (enlisted 
in the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, P. X. L, and was killed 
at Gettysburg); Alonzo. born August 14, 1843 (was taken prisoner and 
starved in Salisbury prison, North Carolina) ; Frances Adahne, born 
June 28, 1845 (married to Joseph A^anScouten, of Wysox, and later to 
Thomas Burdict. of Black Creek, Wis.); Mary A., born September 2. 
1846 (married ElishaStrope, of Wysox); Oscar F., born June 24, 1848, 
a farmer and lumberman of Tomahawk, Wis. (married to Elizabeth 
Emory); Helen IVf., born March 24, 1850 (married Josiah Smith, of 
Seymour, Wis.); Emma J., born December 16, 1851 (married John 
Hoaglin, of Wvsox) ; Charles H., born August 11, 1853, died October 17, 
1854; Charles M.. born April 16, 1856, now in Wisconsin; George M., 
born September 12, 1858, employed in a toy factory at Towanda 
(married P>lanche Luens, of Towanda); Harriet E.. born September 11, 
1861 (married Jesse Parkhill, a railroad engineer in Wisconsin k Samuel 
J., l)orn April 10, 1863, working his father's farm (married to Hetuline 
Reynolds, of AVysox); and AVilliam A., born April 15. 1866 (married 
to Cora Vanness, of Wysox). Mrs. Chamberlin died November 14, 
1888, and Mr. Chamberlin married, for his second wife, Mrs. Alonzo P. 
Jones' (n. ^"^bficca M. Twinina:), of Tow^anda, the eldest of four chil- 
dren of Henry and Chloe (Hickok) Twining, of East Smithfield, Pa. 
Her only brother, John H., was killed in the l)attle of the Wilderness. 
Her grandfather, Oliver llickok, was a ca]>lain in the War of 1812. Mr. 
Chamberliirs oreat-i'randfathci- and two brothers came to Amei'ica 
from England; his grandfather, William Chamberlin, was a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, and served through the entire war. Samuel (chamberlin 
was formerly a member of the Baptist Church, but now attends with 
his wife, who is in fellowship with brethren at Towanda. Mr. Cham- 
berlin was town commissioner several vears. 



H[STO[{Y OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 709 

II. I. CHANDLER, fju-nier, P. O. Athens, was born in Athens town- 
ship, this county, March 26, 1855, a son of Daniel 8. and Sarah M. 
(Campbell) Chandler, the former a native of Athens, the latter of 
Litchfield township. Daniel S. Chandler is the son of Samuel Chand- 
ler, who was born in Orange county, N. Y., and removed in 1805 to 
Tompkins county, same State, where he remained twenty years; in 
1825 he came to this county, locating on what is known as"'' rrosi)ect 
Hill,'' and ])urchased a farm which he cleared; he died April 23, 1850, 
in his sixty -eighth year; his \vife, Margaret, died October 12,1851, 
in her sixty-seventh year. His son, Daniel S., is now living on the old 
homestead, in his seventy-sixth year, and is the father of seven chil- 
dren, six of whom grew to maturity and are living at the present time. 
H. I., who is the eldest in tiie family, was reared and educated in 
Athens, spending one term in the Rome Academy. On September 30, 
1884, he married, at Nichols, N. Y., Miss Eva, daughter of William M. 
and Mary D. Harris. This union was blessed with two children : 
Walter D. and Grover L. Mr. Chandler is a general farmer, giving 
more attention to stock (of which he has a fine assortment) and grain. 
In 1884 he purchased what is known as the Eastabrook farm of 115 
acres. He is an enterprising farmer, and enjoys the full confidence of 
his townsmen, who elected him to the office' of town clerk ; politic- 
ally he is a Democrat. 

^M. C. CHAPMAN, superintendent Cayuta Wheel and Foundry 
Company, Sayre, is a native of Salisbury, Conn., and was born June 
25, 1836. His parents were William and Betsy (Crane) Chapman, also 
natives of Salisbury, Conn., the former of whom, who was a pig-iron 
manufacturer, was'bornin January, 1800. and died in 1879; the latter 
died m 1888, in her eighty-second year. M. C. Chapman is the seventh 
in a family of four sons and four daughters, all of whom are living 
except two girls. He was reared in his native place, and served an 
appi-enticeship in Barnum, Richardson & Co.'s Car Wheel Foundry, 
and worked there about five years; then w^ent to Chicago and helped 
establish the Barnum & Allen Car Wheel Foundry, where he remained 
a year, and then proceeded to New Haven, and had charge of the 
New York & New Haven Railroad Shops about five years; then went 
to the RamapoCar Wheel Works in Rockland county^ N. Y., where he 
remained five years; from there he came to Sayre in the fall of 1872, 
and accepted the position he now holds with the Cayuta Wheel and 
Foundry Company. Mr. Chapman w;is married in Salisburv, Conn., 
in 1866, to Miss Mary, daughter of William and Margaret (Hall) AYolfe, 
natives of Dutchess county, N". Y. Mrs. Chapman is the eighth in a 
family of eleven children, and was born in Salisbury, Conn., in 1845. 
To ]\Ir. and Mrs. Chapman were l)orn four daughters", as follows: Car- 
rie, Lydia, Bessie and Mabel. He is a member of the F. & A. M., 
Montgomery Lodge, No. 13, and a member of the Empire Order. He 
is a Re])ublican, and served six years as school director in the Inde- 
pendent school district of Sayre;\also as township commissioner three 
years. 

DANIEL CHASE, fa,rmer. P. O. Gillett, jvas boin in South Creek 
township, this county, in October, 1840, a son of Joseph and 

40 



710 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Margaret (Wilson) Chase, natives of Massachusetts and New York, 
respectively. Joseph Chase Avas a builder by trade, having been 
employed in his own neighborhood in the erecting of many buildings; 
he was the son of David Chase, a ship builder; removed to this county 
about 1826, first locating in South Creek, then Tioga Point, then went 
to Springfield, and finally to South Creek, locating on the hill east of 
what is called "Dunnings," where he remained until his death in 1874, 
in the seventy-sixth year of his age ; his family numbered twelve, ten 
of whom grew to maturity, eight of them now living; four sons 
served in the army in the Civil War — William, Wallace, Daniel and 
John ; William was captain ; John died of disease ; Daniel served in 
Company F, Twenty-third N. Y. V. I., foi- the term of two years, and 
was honorably discharged fi'om his command; then enlisted, for the 
second time, in Company A, P^irst N. Y. V. C, for the term of three 
years, or during the war ; he served until the close of the war ; was 
wounded at an encounter at Upperville, Va., and, during this term of 
service, he was promoted to first duty sergeant, in which rank he was 
discharged. He married at Gillett in 1879, Mrs. Williams, widow of 
the late Orlando Williams, and this union resulted in the birth of one 
son, John, now in iiis eighth year. Mr. Chase makes a specialt}" of 
dairving, having some very fine graded stock. He has filled the office 
of school director seventeen years ; has been town clerk, and now 
holds the position of commissionei- ; he is a member of the G. A. R., 
Good Templars and a Grange; politicallv he is Independent. 

DAVID CHASE, farmer, P. O. Gillett, was born in South Creek 
township, this county, in September, 1843, a son of Joseph and Mar- 
garet (Wilson) Chase, the former of whom was born in New bury port, 
Mass., the latter in New York. Joseph Chase was a carpenter and 
builder, the son of David Chase, a ship-builder by trade. Joseph 
came to this county about the year 1880, first locating in Athens. 
then called '' Tioga Point,'' from which place he removed to Smith- 
field, thence to Sjiringfield, and finally came to South Creek township, 
locating on the hill east of what is now called " Dunnings," where he 
remained until his death, which occurred in 1877, when he was in his 
seventy -second year. He reared a family of fourteen children — eleven 
sons and three daughters — who grew^ to maturity, of whom eight are 
now living, four were in the army, and one died of disease contracted 
there. David, who is the eleventh in the family, was i-eared and edu- 
cated in his native township, at the common school, and in his early 
life he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he works more or less in 
connection with his farm. He spent two years in California, and aftci- 
his return, in January, 1877, he nuirried Jeanette, daughter of Will- 
iam and Khoda Ann Chapman, which union resulted in the birth of 
four children : David W., Nettie X., Chester A. and Lulu. Mr. Chase 
is eng.iged in what is termed " mixed farming;" is a man of influence, 
and has held various offices of trust ; has been constable, collector and 
school director, and at the present time holds the office of assessoi-. 
He is a member of the various orders : Good Templars, I. O. O. F., 
K. A. U., and of the Grange ; politically he is a Iie])ublican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 711 

WILLIAM r. CHASE, farmer, P. O. Gillett, was born in South 
Creek township, this count}', November 25, 1845, a son of Benjamin 
and Susan (Wilson) Chase, natives of Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
shire, respectively. They came to this county about 1820, locating on 
the farm now occupied by their son William ; theii* family numbered 
eleven, ten of whom grew to maturit}^ and seven are now living. Our 
subject, who is the ninth in the family, was reared and educated in 
Soutii Creek township. On December, 1866, he married, at Bentlev 
Creek, Elizabeth, daughter of John and Almina Cummins, and by this 
union there were five children, four of whom are now living, as 
follows : Eva, Rubv, Charles and John. Mr. Chase entered the army 
in 1864, in Company B, Tenth New York Cavalry, and served until 
the close of the war ; he was honorably discharged and now draws 
a pension. He is a general farmer, and pays especial attention to 
grain raising. He is a member of the G. A"^ E., and politically is a 
Republican. 

A. N. CHESLEY, farmer, P. O, Granville Summit, was born in 
Granville township, this countv, May 25, 1837, and is a son of Simon 
P. and Eliza (Dudley) Cliesle\\ His paternal grandfather, Simon 
Ciiesley, was a native of Canada, was a soldier of tiie Revolutionary 
War on the American side, and was among the pioneers of Franklin 
township, this count\^, and later of Granville township, where he lived 
until his death ; his wife was Betsey Shafer, by whom he had five 
children, as follows: Simon, Philip, Margaret (Mrs. Henry Downs), 
Susan (Mrs. Orrin Pratt) and Malachi. Of these, Simon, born in 
Luzerne county, Pa., was a farmer by occupation, and cleared a large 
tract of land on Granville Summit ; he was a soldier in the Civil War. and 
died of disease contracted while in the service of his country. His wife 
was a daughter of Abner Dudley, of Burlington, this county, and by her 
had eight children: A. Neton, Betsey (Mrs. Henry Tinklepaugh), 
PhiUp, Eunice (Mrs. David Webb), Margaret (Mrs. Edgar Van Horn), 
John, Susan (Mrs. Michael Collins) and Mary (Mrs. Philander Flem- 
ing). A. Neton Chesley was reared in Granville township, and has 
always followed farming. He married Eliza J., daughter of Roswell 
and Harriet (Loomis) White, of Canton township, this county, and 
has one son, Oscar, who married Sadie, daughter of Lewis and" Sarah 
(Shoemaker) Spalding, of Granville township, and has two children: 
Clarence R. and Roy. Mr. A. N. Chesley and his son are enterpris- 
ing citizens of Granville, and in politics are Democrats. 

C. A. CHILD, merchant, Franklindale, was born in SmithHeld, 
Bradford. Co., Pa., March 8, 1857. He is the son of A. E. and Marian 
A. (Phelps) Child, the former of whom was born in Warren, R. I., the 
latter in Smithfield, Pa. His father is the son of Edward Child, a 
ship-builder, of Rhode Island, who removed to and settled in Smith- 
Held in 1819. His father and family moved to Smithfield at the 
same time, and were obliged to come'^by water to New berg, N. Y. 
and then by luml)er wagon to Athens, Pa.; there were four families 
altogether, and tiiirteen in number. At that time land was of- 
fered them, anywhere between Athens and South Waverly, at $1.00 
per acre. Edward Child engaged in farming, having a family, 



712 HISTORY OF HRADFORU COUNTY. 

later, of eleven children, but only six of them grew to maturity, and 
but three are now living. For quite a number of years Edward Child 
went to Warren or Bristol, R. L, and worked at ship-building from 
April to December, and a part of the time on ships engaged in the slave 
trade. After working as above at J>ristol. R 1,, Chas. Child's father 
commenced learning the wagon-makers trade, but after two years was 
obliged to discontinue on account of poor health, and was, later on, 
clerk in different stores, taught school, etc., and carried on the grocery 
business in Smithfield from 1877 to 1889; he sold out at the age of 
seventy years, on account of poor health. 

Chas. A. Child, the subject proper of these lines, who is the second in 
the family, was educated at the common school in Smithfield ; at the age 
of fourteen he went to clerk in a store at Emporium, Cameron Co., Pa., 
which he followed successfully until he now owns and controls a large 
establishment. In 1878 he went in business for himself in Smithfield, 
and in 1880 he removed to Franklindale. where he now commands an 
extensive business in drugs and general merchandise. At the age of 
twenty-two he married, in Sheshequin, April 23, 1879, Miss AHne, 
daughter of Elisha and Eliza Newell, the former a native of Sheshequin, 
and the latter of Orange county, N. Y. To them has been born one 
child, Harry, born May 24, 1886. In conjunction with the store Mr. 
Child has held the office of postmaster eleven years; politically he is 
a Republican. 

RIIFUS W. CHILD, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born 
A))ril 12, 1845, in East Smithfield, a son of Christopher and Harriet 
(Wright) Child, the former a native of Rhode Island. They came to 
this county in early life, and settled on a farm near where Rufus W. 
now resides. The grandfather, Christopher (Jhild, was a sea captain, 
born in 1775, and a descendant of the Welch nobility ; the family 
have a crest, printed in London in 1797, presented to the captain by 
his relative. Sir Josias Child, which indicates that the name of Child 
was one of considerable note in England. Rufus W. Child, when 
seventeen years of age, enlisted in the service of his country, in Com- 
l)any K, One llundi'ed and Forty-first P. \\ I., and went to the front; 
iiis brother Chi'ist()j)her was also in the AVar of the Rebellion. Mr. 
Child went west in 1879 to Dakota, where he dealt largely in cattle, 
remaining in the West ten years. . He was married August 20, 1885. to 
Franc A., one of a family of ten children, six of whom are living, 
born to George and Elizabeth (Smith) Partholomew, of Ulster, natives 
of this county ; h<'r father's family were of the ])ioneers of Sheshe(juin. 
Ml'. (Jhild owns a fine farm of two hundred acres in East Smithfield 
township, and is |irinci))ally engaged in dairying and stock i-aising, his 
cattle being of the Durham and Ilolstein breeds. He is a thorough 
and prosperous farmer. In politics he is a Republican, was elected 
county commissioner, and served several years while in Dakota. Mi', 
and Mrs. Child have had no children. 

FRANCIS CHILSOX, miller and farmer, I'. O. Macedonia, was 
ijorn in the town of Asylum, this county. May 20, 184-I-, and is a- son 
of David and .lane (Bennett) Chilson, natives of Asylum tijwnship, 
this county, and pioneers of Macedonia. Grandfather Bennett was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 713 

in the War of tli(3 Revolution. Tiie subject of this lucuioir was reared 
<jn his father's farm, and educated in the schools of the neighborh(jod. 
When twenty years of age he enlisted in Company I), One Hundred 
and Forty-first P. Y. I., and was in sixteen battles of the war for the 
Union, acquitting himself with distinguished honor at all times. At 
the close of the war, he returned home and commenced farming on his 
own account, lie was first married, in 1864, to Ella l>enjamin (now 
deceased), and they had one son, GlennieB., born July 27, 1S7-4. Mr. 
Chilson afterward married Adelia, daughter of 8."^ P. Henson, of 
Burlington, and there have been born to them three children, as 
follows: Carrie L., born August 29, 1882 ; Jennie, born November 29, 
1886 ; and Leon H., born June 8, 1890. Mr. Chilson now owns the 
Smith Mills where he does a business in milling, sawing lumber and 
making shingles aiul also cider in its season. He now manufactures 
more buckwheat flour than any other miller in the county ; he is a 
member of the Patrons of Industry, and in politics he is a Republican. 
Mr. Chilson and family are wideW known as being among our most 
prominent and highly respected people. 

L. S. CliUBEUCK, farmer and stock grower, Orwell, was born in 
Orwell, this county, February 20, 1822, and is a son of Nathaniel 
Chubbuck, Jr., who was born in Connecticut, September 5, 1789, a son 
of Nathaniel, Sr., born October 16, 1764, married November 27, 1788, 
to Chloe Eaton, and died March 13, 1825; she was born March 4, 1768, 
and died October 11, 1832, and had a family of tw^elve children, as 
follows : Nathaniel. Aaron (born August 4, 1791, married to Matilda 
Dimmick, and died August 19,1881), Hannah (born February 16, 1793, 
married to Josej>h Hamilton, and resided in Windham where she died 
August 7,1865), Dr. John (born February 22, 1797, a phvsician of 
note, and surgeon of the First Regiment of iEngineers, Corps d'Afrique, 
in the service at Bragos and Santiago, Texas, in 1863-64; he died in 
Binghamton, N. Y., March 18, 1878), Jacob (born March 5, 1797), 
Shelden (born June 3, 1799, died March 22, 1804), James (born April 
5, 1801, married to Pamelia Keeney, and died Februarv 7, 1873), 
Chloe (born December 8, 1803, married to Levi Frisbie, and died 
August 20, 1860), Daniel O. (born May 17, 1805, married Polly Oak- 
ley ; was a farmer of this county for many vears, but finallv removed 
to Mount Yernon, Iowa, where'he died June 3, 1880), HoHis S. (born 
March 13,1809; he practiced medicine at Orwell Hill manv years, 
and removed to Elmira, N. Y. where he built up a verv large practice 
and died there March 4, 1883), Austin E. (born June 16"^ 1810, was first 
a farmer then a merchant at Elmira, and became a successful Metho- 
dist minister of the Genesee Conference, and died in Elmira, April 15, 
1882), Francis S. (born March 10, 1812 ; he followed farming in Orwell 
until 1849. when he joined the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Ciuirch ; for many years w^as a successful and brilliant 
preacher; was chaplain of the 'First Regiment of Engineers, Corps 
d'Afrique, in service at Bragos and Santiago, Texas, in 1863-64; he 
died at Nichols, N. Y., May 15, 1890). Nathaniel Chubbuck came to 
this county in 1811, and after a short absence, when he returned in the 
spring of 1812, he found the roof of his log cabin crushed in bv the 



714 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

snow, but with the assistance of neighbors this was soon repaired, 
and with a chest for a table and shingle blocks for chairs, he began 
housekeeping in the wilderness. He lived in the old log cabin thirteen 
years, and thei-e the first Methodist sermon ever delivered in that 
township was preached in 1813 by Marmaduke Pierce, who came from 
the oldest settlements do'wn tlie river at Mr. Chubbuck's invitation. 
Mr. Chubbuck shortly after joined the church and preached to his 
friends and neighbors many years. Soon after coming he built a 
tannerv, and combined tanning and shoe-making with farming and 
lumbering. To him and his wife were born eight children, four of 
whom reached maturity, as follows : Natlianiel J. (born 1812, and 
died in 1890; had passed the greater portion of his days at Monroe- 
ton, and commanded the respect of all who knew him), H. J. (born 
March 8, 1819, and is now a prominent farmer of Warren township), 
L. S., Hollis L. (born August 23, 1828, in the employ of the Govern- 
ment teaching the Indian schools). 

L. S. Chub^buck was born and reared on the farm he occu])ies, 
receiving a common-school education, and a course at Towanda 
Academy. At the age of sixteen he began teaching, and followed it 
many years; during his earlier years he would teach in the winters, farm 
during the summer, and attend the Academy of Towanda during the 
fall term. Completing his academical course, he continued teaciiing 
and farming nearly thirty years, then quit teaching and devoted his 
entire attention to farming; lias always made his home on the old 
homestead, and has assisted in clearing over 100 acres thereof; now 
owns 170 acres of fine farm land, which his son assists in managing, 
and which is well stocked. Mr. Chubbuck was united in marriage 
August 21, 1845, with Phoeba, born September 1, 1822, the fifth of a 
family of nine children of Daniel and Deborah (Ilichardson) Glcason, 
of Connecticut. To Mr, and Mrs. Chubbuck have been born four 
children : Mary E. (born February 1, 1847, married to Dr. O. D. 
Stiles, of Elmi'ra, N. Y.); Melville E. (born June 17, 1852, married to 
Stella Pitcher, and is now bookkeeper in the employ of D. T. Elvans, of 
Towanda): Clara E. (born April 17, 1854, married to C. W. Stevens); 
Ephton E. (born February 3, 18(52, married to tJennie Mauley ; he is 
a school teacher, also assists his father on the farm ; he was married 
February 17, 1888, and has one child, Manley Eaton. I^esides their 
farm business the father and son are extensive drovers, shi])- 
ping to markets in the southern part of the State. Mr. Chubbuck 
has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Orwell, 
since his sixteenth year, and is an earnest worker in the same ; he 
now iiolds the position of recording steward and secretary of the board 
of trustees ; he is a Republican, and has held the oifice of auditc^r of 
the township for thirty years, with the exception of three vears, when 
he held the office of town commissioner. 

O. J. CIIUIjBUCK, Towanda, was born in Orwell townshi]), this 
county. May 7, 1825. His father, Jacob Chui)buck, was the fourth 
child in afamily of twelve — ten sons and two daughters — of Nathaniel 
and Chloe Chubbuck. Jacob Chubbuck was born ]\Iarch 5, 1797, in 
Ellington, Tolland county. Conn., whence lie came, in 1814, with his 



HISTORY OF BKADKOKD COUNTY. "J 15 

brothei" Aaron to Orwell. He retui-ned to his native place where he 
was married to Minerva Tiipper, October 7, lSr.>, and then brought lier 
to the Orwell farm, where he lived until about a year before his* death 
in 1873. At the time of his coming there was a small log house, and a 
clearing- of about one acre, all else around him being an unbroken for- 
est. Here he reared his family of six children — three sons and three 
daughters. The subject of this sketch being the second. The Chub- 
bucks are of Englisli stock; two brothers, Charles and Nathaniel, 
immigrants, landed at Plymouth, Nathaniel settling at AVareham, 
Mass. His son, Ebenezer, was in the French-Indian War, fighting 
under the British flag, and afterward was in the Revolutionary Wnv, 
rising to the rank of lieutenant in the line; he died in 1810. llis son 
Nathaniel (grandfather of subject), with his wife, Chloe, and daughter 
ChIoe(Mrs. Levi Frisbie). came to Orwell in 1818 and settled near his 
sons, Nathaniel, Aaron and Jacob. He ])urchased a large tract of land 
in Orwell, which, in time, became the farms of O. J. Chubbuck, E. C. 
Bull, Charles Pendleton and C. J. Chubbuck. The family came from 
Connecticut in the primitive pioneer way — an ox-cart, driVen by their 
son James, while the other boy, Daniel, drove the cows. Nathaniel, 
grandfather of O. J. Chubbuck, was born October 16, 1764, and died 
March 13, 1825; his wife, Chloe, was born March 14, 1768, and died 
October 11, 1832. Nathaniel Chubbuck, Jr., was born September 5. 
1789, and died August 1, 1865. 

O. J. Chubbuck, the subject of this sketch, was reared in Orwell 
township, at the old family home, receiving his education in the pub- 
lic schools and in an Academy. In the winter of 1844-45 he com- 
menced teaching, but as the wages of teachers were small here, he 
went to Schuylkill, Berks and Columbia counties. He was, from the 
first, one of the most active school men of his day, and took a promi- 
nent part in organizing the Bradford County Teachers Association, 
which first met in January, 1855. In 1857 he was secretary of the 
Orwell School Board, and sent a request to the county superintendent 
of schools (Charles R. Coburn) to hold a County Teachers Institute at 
Orwell, antl the first Institute in the county was in Orwell commenc- 
ing September 7, 1857, of which Mr. Chubbuck was president and one 
of the principal teachers and lecturers therein. It is not amiss to 
explain here that he was, in his school work and in much of his educa- 
tion, a self-made man, one who rapidly rose and was widely honored 
as one of the leading educators in the county. In 1863, during his 
second terra as justice of the peace, he was elected county sujierinlend- 
ent of schools; he served his term and was re-elected in' 1866, serving 
two full terms, and was a chief factor in organizing the graded schools 
of the county. At the Institute of 1857, of which he was president, 
he exhibited a school-room globe of his own make and pattern, con- 
structed and mounted very much as are those now found in our Public 
Schools. His devotion to his office and interest in the schools of the 
county are visible in the effects still in force. In 1872 he was elected 
register and recorder of Bradford county, filling this as other ofti- 
cial positions, with fidelity, ai^ility and eminence. In an active, busy 
life he has not been a man of inerely one idea. He, early in life 



716 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

espoused the cause of temperance, being an active and zealous member 
of the I. O. G. T., and a representative of his Lodge in the Right 
Worthy Grand Lodge at Ithaca, before the Grand Lodge of Pennsyl- 
vania was organized. Since the repeal of the "local option la\v," in 
1875, he has been an open and avowed advocate of prohibition. His 
addresses on the subjects of education for the young and temperance 
for all have become a part of the county's literature. Earnest in his 
convictions and fearless in their defense, he has never been touched 
with bigotry or fanaticism. And in the patient yeai's of his active 
life he has been enabled to evolve a system of mental philosophy, 
which, in his mind, bears a like relation to the truths of mental 
science, as the Oopernican sj'stem of astronomy does to the movement 
of the Heavenly bodies. A study of the form and motions of the 
earth led to a correct system of astronomy ; so the study of the 
motions in one's own mind may lead to a knowledge equally as con- 
clusive and satisfactory. This seems true in his case, and seems in line 
with Scripture. This rather abstruse subject he has not pushed upon 
the public; he is content at present to leave the whole to the future, 
merely with this suggestion, confident it will at some time be taken up 
and carried to the full. He will remain more |)rominent as a chief 
promoter of our schools, and as an organizer and lecturer on schools 
and temperance, in his writings and published addresses. He was a 
delegate to county and State conventions, and as a member and officer 
in society meetings, and as a promoter of the prohibition party, he 
has stood as a central figure. Before the Prohibition State Conven- 
tion in 1882 he delivered an address that attracted wide and favorable 
notice. Mr. Chubbuck has been twice married : his first wife was 
Eunice Hicks, to whom he was married June 28, 1849 ; she died 
December 10, 1857, and he married, May 5, 1859, Ann E. Keeney, 
the daughter of Simon Z. Keeney, of Scotch and English descent. 
The family are active members of the Methodist Church, and he takes 
a prominent part in the Sunda\^-school, of which he was superintend- 
ent iVi Orwell, and a Church trustee. He is a member of the K. of P. 
Lodge, No. 290, and has served as deputy and keeper of records and 
seal, and representative to the Grand Lodge. 

REV. S. A. CHUBBUCK, minister of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Orwell, was born August 9, 1830, on the farm now owned by O. 
J. Chubbuck, in Orwell township, and is a son of Jacob and Minerva 
(Tupper) Chubbuck. His grandfather, Nathaniel Chubbuck, was a 
native of Connecticut, who came to Orwell in early times, and located 
in the neighljorhood, purchasing a large tract of land. He had a large 
family of children, many of whom distinguislied themselves in their 
various professions. John was a physician of note ; Hollis also was a 
physician, and practiced many years in Orwell, then in Elmira ; A. E. 
was a Methodist Episcopal minister of the Central New Yoi-k Con- 
ference ; F. S. was also a minister of the Wyoming Conference, and 
died in Nichols, N. Y., in 1890, being the last of that family; Aaron 
was a justice of the peace in Orwell man}^ yeai'S and associate judge, 
occuj)ying the bench with David AVilmot; and Jacob (the father of S. 
A. Chubbuck), a farmer, was one of the best-known citizens of the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 717 

county. He reared a family of children as follows: Harriet Af., mar- 
ried to George Crowfoot, whom she survives ; (). J., of Towanchi ; ('hloe 
E., married to P. W. Champion, of Lanark, 111.; S. A.; Ellen M., mar- 
ried to Leonard O. Brown ; Tracy J.; Julia M., who died, aged twelve 
years. IS. A. Chubbuck was born and reared on a farm, and received 
his education in the common schools and at Orwell Hill Academv. 
He became a surveyor, followed that occupation some time, and has 
done a large amount of surveying in this county ; went West about 
185-1:, and located in Minneapolis, Minn., working at the carpenter and 
joiner trade a short time ; then entered mercantile business there. He 
joined the church, and feeling a Divine call to preach he sold out his 
business and began his ministerial work in 1859; was ordained deacon 
in the fall of 1860, and for ten years was an earnest worker on the 
western frontier. He returned to his native State, entered the Cen- 
tral New York Conference, with which he was connected about twentv 
years, and in 1890 he was superannuated; he then purchased his pres- 
ent farm, which was a part of his grandfather's estate, and contains 
100 acres of fine land. Mr. Chubbuck was united in wedlock, Septem- 
ber 21,1862, with C. B. Pendleton, daughter of Charles and Aurelin 
M. (Buffington) Pendleton, and to them have been born two children: 
Allie L. and Charles P. Mr. Chubbuck is a Prohibitionist, an earnest 
worker in the vineyard of the Lord, and his labors have been crowned 
with noted success. Surrounded by an interesting family and a host 
of friends, he is now en loving a well-earned repose. 

TRACY J. CHUBBUCK, farmer, P. O. Orwell, was born on the 
old homestead in Orwell township, this county, January 1, 1810, and 
is a son of Jacob Chubbuck. He passed his boyhood on the farm, and 
received his education in the common schools. ' On August 6, 1862, he 
enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fortv-tirst P. Y. I., and 
served in the ranks'' until just before the battle 'of Chancellorsville, 
when he was detailed on detached service, as a member of the brigade 
band. He was in the battle of Fredericksburg, while in the ranks, 
and was under fire in almost every engagement of the regiment sub- 
sequent to that ; although scratched several times by both ball and 
shell he vyas never seriously wounded, though, being on detached dutv, 
he was in many dangerous foraging expeditions. After seeing as 
dangerous and as hard service as almost anyone in the army, he was 
mustered out with his regiment, returned home and resumed farming, 
the first summer with his brother, O. J. Chubbuck, the next season on 
the Erie canal with his brother-in-law, George Crobutt, then for some 
time was in the West. Returning home, he was united in marriage, 
February 3, 1869, with Nancy M., daughter of Peleg and Marv 
(Seely) Tripp, of New York, whose family consisted of eleven children, 
of whom six reached maturity, viz.: Seymore, Nancy M., William, 
Jonathan (deceased), Jacob and Emma (married to Nathan Grant). In 
1869 Mr. Chubbuck purchased his farm where he has since resided. 
R.heumatism and heart trouble came to him tiirough exposure during 
his term of service, which renders him unfit to do manual labor, but 
he oversees his farm which contains ninety acres of fine farm land. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Chubbuck have been born two children: Clarence T. 



718 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

(a jeweler, boin Januaiy 2-1, 1872), and Cora E. (born February 24, 
1877). Tlie family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church of 
Orwell Hill. He is a member of the Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., 
at Rome, and has filled the chairs of junior and senior vice-commander ; 
is a Proliibitionist, and has iield the otiice of school director. Mr. 
Chubbuck has passed his life, with the exception of the time spent in 
the army, in this section, where he and his estimable lady have built 
up a large circle of fi'iends, and are noted for their geniality and 
hosi)italitv. 

CALVIN W. CHURCHILL, retired farmer, Granville township, 
P. O. Le Roy, was born in Stockljridge, Berkshire Co., Mass., July 23, 
1809, a son of Alvah (who was a son of Jacob Churchill) and Aurelia 
(Andrus) Churchill, who settled in Granville township, this county, in 
1817, locating near Granville Centre, where the father worked at the 
tinsmith's trade and farmed on a small scale until his death. Alvah 
Churchill and his wife, Aurelia (daughter of Elisha Andrus, formerly 
of Berkshire, Mass., who settled in Granville township in 1820), had 
four children: Achsah (Mrs. Dunham Ross), Calvin W., Amanda 
(Mrs. Harry Bailey) and Fayette. Calvin W. Churchill, from nine 
years of age, was reared in Granville township, where he has since 
remained; he cleared and improved the farm of eighty acres he now 
occupies. He has been twice married ; his first wife was Lura, 
daughter of Hugh and Prudence (Bailey) Holcomb, of Le Roy town- 
ship, and by her he had three children, who grew to maturity : Olney, 
Lutilia (Mrs. Hollis A. Holcomb) and Martha (Mrs. D. S. Sherman); 
his second wife was Mrs. Mehitable (Ralyea) Gee, of Granville town- 
ship. Mr. Ciiurchill is one of the oldest living residents of Granville 
township; he is a member of the Chi'istian Church, and in politics is a 
Republican. 

JOHN CLAPPER, farmer, Tuscarora township, P. O. Silvara, 
was born in New Baltimore, N. Y., a son of William P. and Catherine 
(McCarg) Clapper, the former of German lineage and the latter of 
trish, both being natives of New York. His father, who was a car- 
penter and joiner by trade and a soldier in the War of 1812, reared a 
family of nine children, as follows: Hannah M. (deceased), married to 
David Jay, of Jiroome county, N. Y.; Peter, a farmer in Tuscarora : 
Margaret (Mrs. P. F. Llardee); John, the subject of these lines ; Will- 
iam, a farmer in Tuscarora; Sally Ann (Mrs. Edward Merbaker), of 
Rome; Mary Jane; Julia (Mrs. William Featherly), and Abram, a 
farmer in Michigan. Mr. Chipper learned the carpenter and joiner's 
trade and worked at it with his father until 1840, when he settled on a 
farm in Tuscarora townshij), ;ind has since been engaged chiefly in 
farming, but occasionallx^ working at his trade. He married, for his 
first wife, Harriet, daughter of J, C. and Margaret (French) Culver, of 
Sheshequin, by whom he had ten children, viz.: Elmer L., a merchant 
in New York; Amelia (deceased); James, a farmer, in Tuscarora; Icelda 
(Mrs. Nathaniel Strickland, in Tuscai-ora) ; Margaret (deceased); 
Daniel L., a farmer in Tuscaroi'a ; Catherine (deceased) ; Harriet (Mi's. 
Joel Carter, of Montrose) ; John F., a farmer in Pike, and Angeline, 
married to Wallace W. Gaylord, of Wyalusing. Mr. Clapper married. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTV. 719 

for his second wife, Malvina, daughter of George and Fannie (Phelj)s) 
Maxfield Bennett, of Tuscarora. Mr. Chipper is a stanch liepublican, 
and has held the office of scliool director nine years ; constable, six 
years; assessor, three years; commissioner, six years, and several 
minor offices ; he is a friend of honest government, and a man of 
whom the community may well be proud. 

BENJAMIN CLARK, farmer, P. O. East Canton, was born in 
Orange county, N. Y., August 25, 1822, a son of Samuel and Hannah 
(Van Fleet) Clark, also natives of Orange county. Our subject came 
to Bradford county in 1847, locating where Lindly Stone now lives, in 
Le Roy, where he resided live years, after which he removed to his 
present residence. He was reared and educated in Orange county, N. 
Y., and on February 9, 1841, he was united in marriage with Arniinda, 
daughter of Noyse and Nancv Wickham, of Orange county. He 
enlisted in the Twelfth New York Cavalry, Company I, serving 
one year, after which he was honorably discharged, and he now 
draws a pension of $8.00 per month. " lie is the father of four 
children, three of whom are now living: Nancy M., married to Holcey 
Clark; Elmira J., married to John Shoemaker; and Harding, married 
to Ella M. Dunbar, by which union there is one son, Harry Ashton, born 
May 18, 1875. Mr. Clark resides on a farm of fifty-two acres of well- 
improved land, all of which is under cultivation ; he raises grain, stock 
and butter. He is a member of the Church of Christ, and of the G. 
A.. R. Politically he is an Independent Republican, and has been 
honored with several town offices, all of which he discharged with 
credit. 

B. M. CLARK, undertaker, Rome, was born July 22. 1845, on the 
farm owned by his brother, and is a son of Harry and Ellen (Brown) 
Clark, natives of this county. His boyhood was passed on his father's 
farm, and in attending school in Rome and Orwell ; he afterward 
learned the trade of mason. His first farm was the old homestead 
which contained one hundred and twenty acres, which he sold to his 
brother, and in 1876 he built his present residence — an elegant house 
containing all modern conveniences. He was united in marriage 
October 20. J 868, with Eliza Vought, daughter of John and Esther 
(Horton) Vought (the former born at Standing Stone, and the 
latter in Sheshequin), whose famil}^ consisted of six children of which 
Mrs. Clark is the second. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have an adopted child. 
May, now in her twelfth year ; the family worship at the Baptist 
Church. Mr. Clark is an unsw^erving Republican in politics, and has 
held the office of township commissioner for two years, besides other 
local offices. The Clark family are well-known and highly respected 
by a large circle of friends. 

GILBERT M. CLARK, shoe merchant, contractor, and dealer 
in horses, Towanda, was born in Athens township, this county, Sep- 
tember 14, 1846, and is a son of Samuel S. and Rachel (Smith)^Clark, 
both natives of New York State, who settled in Athens township about 
1830, where his father engaged in lumbering and farming, and cleared 
and improved the farm on which he at ])resent resides ; their childi-en 
were Charles M., James H., Samuel W., Gilbert M. and Rachel A. 



730 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

(Mrs, Edgar Knight). Our subject was reared in Athens township, 
where he received a common-school education. During the late Civil 
AVar he was engaged in buying- horses for the(4overnment, and in 18(U; 
settled in Towanda, where he was engaged as a contractor on what is 
now the Lehigh Valley Railroad, one and a half years. In 1868 he 
embai'ked in the shoe business, Avhich, with the exception of one year, 
he has since carried on. Since 1885 he has also been engaged as a con- 
tractor on street paving, and since 1887 as a buyer and seller of Cana- 
dian horses. On January 20, 1870, he married Mary, daughter of 
Abraham and Eliza (Reed) Clark, of Angelica, N. Y. Re is a Royal 
Arch Mason, Scottish Rite, and is a past high priest of Chapter No. 
108 of Towanda; politically he is a stanch Democrat. 

Hx\RRY CLARK, retired farmer, Avas born in Rome township, 
Bradford Co., Pa., May 1, 1808, and is the son of Laflet and Lois 
(Parks) Clark. Laflet Clark was a native of Pennsylvania, who came 
to this county and located at Standing Stone several years prior to 
Harry's birtli, and was a pioneer farmer and lumberman of this 
section ; he died in Rome township at the advanced age of eighty-four 
years. Harry Clark spent his boyhood in the wilderness, attending 
school as much as the opportunities would permit; his first teacher 
was Lena Woodburn, and he was present when that school-house was 
demolished by a cyclone ; he passed his boyhood and early manhood 
in clearing awa}'^ the forests, and has made thirty-seven trips down the 
river lumbering, walking all the way on the return trip, which usually 
required five days ; he earned the money Avith which to buy his first 
pair of shoes by cutting the timber from one acre of land, and then 
got cheated in the shoes ; he now owns one hundred and thirty acres. 
Mr. Clark was twice married, first, January 27, 1839, to Ellen Brown, 
who died October 11:, 1854; for his second wife he married, January 
19, 1855, C. O. Parks; he has had six children, five by his first wife, and 
one by his second, viz. : John U., B. M., Laflet, Lemuel, Ellen (married 
to Oscar Middaugh), Frances (married to William Loyd). Mr. Clark 
is one of tiie old landmarks of this section, having spent his long, and 
useful life witiiin the township's borders ; he is a Republican. 

II. L. CLARK, of the firm of Gleason 6c Clarks, tanners, Canton, 
was born in Canton, this county, June 23, 1869, a son of Byron W. and 
Elizabeth (Mitchell) Clark. He is the third in order of birth in a fam- 
ily of four children, and was reared in Canton, and received his educa- 
tion in the graded schools of that place; took a course in bookkee])ing 
and stenography at the School of Commerce, in Elmira, N. Y., and 
taught the latter l)ranch a short time in the college there. He held 
the position of private seci-etary for the ])i-osi(lent of the New York 
and Pennsylvania Telephone Company, in New York City, about two 
months, then returning to Canton, he purchased in May, 1887, an 
interest in the Canton tannery, which he has been connected with 
since. He was married in Canton Fel)ruary 6, 1890, to Ida G., 
daughter of Henry and ]\Liria (Griffin) Spencer, natives of Union 
townsliip. Tioga Co., Pa., and Canton townshij), this county, respect- 
ivelv. Henry S])encer is a farmer, and resides in Canton township. 
Mrs. Clark is the only child, and was born in Canton townshi}), Octo 



HISTORY OF HUADFOiil) COUNTY. 721 

ber 11, 1867 ; she is a member of the Disciple Church, Mr. Clark being 
a member of the Baptist. Politically he is a Prohibitionist. 

J. FRED CLARK, of the firm of Gleason & Clarks, tanners, is a 
native of Tio^a county. Pa., and was born March 14, 1864, a son of 
Byron and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Clark, also natives of Tioga county. 
The father, who was a druggist and banker, served as burgess of the 
borough, and was a school director, being a member of the board when 
the school was established ; he died in 18Y9, in his forty -eighth year. 
Mrs. Clark married the second time, and is now the wife of L. R. 
Gleason, and resides in Canton. Our subject, who is the eldest in a 
family of four children, was reared in Tioga county. Pa., until four 
years of age, when the family moved to Canton. He received his 
education in the borough schools, and theElmira School of Commerce. 
He clerked in his father's drug store until 1880, and then attended 
the high school, studying special branches in 1882 ; went West and 
traveled through different States six months, after which he returned 
and went to work in the Canton tannery, and in 1884 he purchased 
from the heirs his father's interest in the drug store of Clark & Whit- 
man, and was m the drug business until 1887. Selling his interest to 
his partner, J. O. Whitman, he, with his brother, H. B., bought a one- 
half interest in the Canton Tannery, since which time he has been 
superintendent of the business. Mr. Clark was married in Addison, 
jN\ Y., in 1885, to Frances C, daughter of George and Anna (Baldwun) 
Taggart, natives of ISTew York ; her father was a merchant and hotel 
keeper; he served as quarter-master during the war, and was made 
brevet major for gallant service. Mrs. Clark is the third in a family 
of four children, and was born in Addison, iS"". Y., September 28. 1863^ 
she is a member of the Episcopal, Mr. Clark of the Baptist, Church. 
Politically, he is a Prohibitionist. 

S. S. CLARK, farmer, Athens township, P. O. AVilawana, was born 
October 25, 1810, in Candor, Tioga Co., N. Y., a S(m of Samuel S. and 
Mary (Van Tile) Clark, both of whom were born in Orange countv, 
N". Y., of English and Dutch descent. S. S. Clark, Sr., was the son of 
Jacob Clark, a soldier of Revolutionary fame. Jonathan Van Tile, 
his grandfather, was also in the Revolutionary AVar. S. S. Clark died 
about 1824; his wife in 1814. Our subject was four years old when 
his mother died, and fourteen at the time of his fathers death ; he 
is the fourth in a family of eight, only two of whom are now living; 
he is eighty-one years old and is in good health. He removed to this 
county in November, 1835, locating in what is now known as Wila- 
wana, but then as Orcut Creek, and a wilderness, but by patience and 
hard toil he has made it a paradise. Daniel Orcut was the first settler. 
and sold Mr. Clark his lot of thirty -five acres, to vvhich he has added 
two other lots of fifty and twenty-three acres, respectively. In De- 
cember, 1831, he married Rachel, daughter of Waiteand Rachel Smith, 
and to this union were born seven children, five of whom are now liv- 
ing, as follows: Charles M.; J. IL, a contractor on the D. L. & W. R. 
R.; S. W.. grain dealer in Elmira, N. Y.; G. M., who has a shoe store 
in Towanda; and R. A. (Mrs. Knight). Mr. (Mark is a retired farmer, 
living with his daughter, Mrs. R. A. Knio-ht, on his own homestead : 



tT2 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

his wife died May 4, 1877, at the age of sixty-four years. He has held 
the office of justice of the peace ten years ; is a member of the F. tfc 
A. M., and politically he is a Democrat. 

ISAAC CLEAVER, of Cleaver ct Bailey, prominent dealers in gen- 
eral merchandise, Troy, was born in Covington, Tioga Co., Pa., Janu 
ary 21, 1843, a son of Samuel and Mary E. (Jackson) Cleaver, and comes 
of Quaker stock. He was reared in his native county and received a 
common-school education ; when twenty years of age he began his 
business career as a clerk in his native town, and in 1865 located in 
Troy where he was clerk in the store of Newberry & Peck until 1874, 
when he was admitted into partnership, and that business was 
conducted under the firm name of Newberry, Peck tfe Co., until 
January 1, 1890, when Messrs. Newberry & Peck retired, and the 
firm has since been Cleaver & Bailey. Mr. Cleaver married, in 1867, 
Maria L., daughter of James H. and Lydia (Palmer) Willour, and by 
her has two children : Harry and Mary Emily. Mr. Cleaver is one 
of the live enterprising businessmen of Troy,and a popular merchant ; he 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Sir Knight Templar, 
and in politics a Republican. 

E. J. CLEVELAND, attorncN^ at law and insurance agent, Canton, 
is a native of Mason ville, Delaware Co., N. Y., born July 7, 1856, a 
son of Dr. J. E. Cleveland, of Canton, also a native of Masonville, born 
August 4, 1829 ; his parents were Josiah D. and Lucy (Bryant) Cleve- 
land, natives of Connecticut. The Doctor began the practice of med- 
icine in his native place in 1859, and in the fall of 1860 cameto Canton ; 
after remaining about eiii'ht months he removed to Ogdensburg, Tioga 
Co., Pa., where he practiced until 1875, then returned to Canton, and 
has followed his profession in that place since. He was married in 
Franklin, N. Y., in 1850, to Nancy T., daughter of John and Phoebe 
(Iviff ) Lyon, natives of Bloomville, Delaware Co., N. Y. Mrs. Cleve- 
land was born in Bloomville, N. Y., March 17, 1827. The subject of 
this memoir, who is the younger of two children living, was reared in 
his native place until three yeai'S of age, when the family removed to 
( )g(lensburg, Pa. There he remained until 1875, when he removed to 
Canton, and has since resided here. He received his education in the 
graded schools, and took private lessons of Prof. H. E. Raessly, now 
superintendent of the Tioga County Schools ; began reading law under 
Davis A: Carnochan in 1878, and was admitted to the bar in Febi'uai-y, 
1881 ; engaged in tlie insurance business in 1885. purchasing the agencies 
of Jolm A. Moody and R. M. Manley. He was mai'ried in Canton. 
July 16, 1884, to Jennie F., daughter of Francis S. and Elizabeth W. 
(Davis) Elliott, natives of J>radl'ord county. P^-ancis Elliott was a 
l)uil(ler and contractor, and died in Canton in 1880, aged sixty years. 
Mrs. Cleveland is the fifth in the order of birth in a family of three 
daughters and three sons, and was born in Canton township, this 
county, in Octoi)ei' 1S59. To Mr. and INlrs. Cleveland were born two 
children : Florence J. and Eloise F. Mrs. Cleveland is a membei" of tlu' 
I )i.sci|)le Church. Mr. (Meveland isamember of the F. & A. M., (Canton 
Lotlge. No. 415, and Troy Chapter, No. 261 ; also a membei' of the 
I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, and holds the office of U. G. of 



HISTORY OF HHADFORI) COUNTY. 723 

the Canton Encain])ment, also the office of S. W.; is secretai-v of the 
Innes Hose Co.; secretary of the Equitable Aid Union, and secretary 
of the Underwriters Association. Politically he is an Independent, and 
is serving his second term as justice of the peace. 

FRANKLIN COBURN, farmer and stock grower, P. O. Warren 
Centre, is a native of Warren township, this county, born July 18, 
1831, on the farm where he resides, a son of Daniel H. and Harriet 
(Dening) Coburn, natives of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, respect- 
ively, and of good old English stock, Daniel was the son of Moses 
and Maria (Ilorton) Coburn, of Connecticut. Moses came to this 
county about the year 1800, and located in Wan-en township, where 
his wife died in December, 181:9, he dying June 1, 1850 ; tlieir children 
were nine in number, as follows: Daniel H., Roswell L. (married to 
Lucy Keeler, both deceased, leaving five children), Frances (Mrs. James 
Olmstead, who died, the mother of seven children), Phebe (Mrs. 
Nathan Young, Jr., who died July 27, 1844, her husband June 2, 1890), 
Mary (deceased), Augustus (married to Sophia Manning, had four 
children, and both died in 1873), George (married to Caroline Barton, 
and had four children), Harriet (Mrs. Herman Knapp, had three 
children, and she died in 1880) Betsev (Mrs. Landers) residing in 
(Jwego. Daniel II. Coburn was reared in Warren township, and died 
in 1876; his wife in 1872; they had six children: Fi'anklin, Maria 
(Mrs. John C. Manning), Mary S. (Mrs. Newman N. Bowen, who had 
four children and died in 1876), Ellen (Mrs. Lewis A. Bosworth, died 
in 1864), Julia (Mrs. George M. Griswold, of Owego, has three 
children) and Daniel F. (who served his countr\' in the Civil War in 
the One Hundred and Ninth N. Y. V. I., and was killed January 16, 
1865, bv the explosion at Fort Fisher; at the time of his death he was 
a lieutenant). Franklin Coburn grew to manhood on the farm, and 
learned a more practical life than that of books, but was sufficiently 
advanced to teach school several terms, going to New Jersey, in 1851, 
to teach, returning in 1866, and has since devoted his time wholly to 
his farm of one hundred and forty acres. He was married in New 
Jersey, in 1856, to Catherine M. Mauley, daughter of Rev. John and 
Martha Vandeveer, natives of New Jersev, and of English descent, 
who reared a famil}^ of seven children, Catherine being the second 
(she was reared and educated in Ncav Brunswick). To Mr. and Mrs. 
Coburn have been born five children, as follows : Charles R., marrietl 
to Carrie Chaffee, and has one child, Ilattie ; Martha D. ; Daniel F. ; 
Sarah D. and Maud E. The family worship at the Presbyterian 
Church, of which Mr. Coburn is elder; in politics he is a Republican. 

J. P. COBURN, merchant, Orwell Hill, was born in Warren town- 
ship, this county, December 16, 1837, a son of Sidne\^ and Lois (Mer- 
ricle) Coburn, whose ancestors came from Connecticut to Warren town- 
ship, this county, in an earl>' day. Sidney Coburri wjis born in War- 
ren township in 1802, and died in 1844. He had a family of four 
children, of whom J. P. is the youngest ; the mother died May 6, 
1891. J. P. Coburn lived on his father's farm and received his early 
education in the district schools, and at Towanda (Collegiate Institute. 
He began his attendance there, teaching winters, and continued his 



724 HISTORY OF HRADFOHI) COUNTY. 

attendance, teaching during the winter terms four years. On August 
13, 1S62, he enhsted in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-first 
llegiment ; was soon promoted to corporal, and was on detached duty 
as clerk in the commissary department ; he was nevr off duty or 
absent a dav from his brigade during his time of service. He was 
mustered out with his regiment, returned home and resumed teaching 
and farming until 1SG9, when he sold his farm and formed a*partner 
ship with A. C. Frisbie, opening a store at Orwell Hill, where he has 
since remained. In 1876 he purchased his jiartners interest, and has 
continued alone ; was elected a member of the Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania in 1882, serving one term. Is a stock-holder and one of the 
managers of the Orwell Creamery Company, which was organized in 
1887 (the compan}'- manufactured about 47.000 pounds of butter in 
1890, and paid the farmers over $7,000 for milk). He was one of the 
corporators of the Orwell library in 1876, and has ever since been its 
librarian. Mr. Coburn was married in September, 1871, to Harriet 
G., a daughter of Lewis Barns, and they have four children : Sidney 
L., Lois I)., Carrie E. and Gertrude. The family are members of the 
Presbyterian Church, of which he is secretary, and member of the 
board of trustees ; he has been a member of the F. & A. M. over 
twenty years ; is a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., and in 
]K)lities he is a Republican. 

LEWIS B. COBURN, hardware merchant, T^jnvanda, was born in 
"Warren township, this county, September 22, 1845, and is a son of 
George and Caroline (Barton) Cbburn. His paternal grandfather, 
Moses Coburn, was a native of New England and a pioneer of War- 
ren township, where he cleared and improved a farm, and reared a 
family of nine children, as follows : Daniel, Roswell, Augustus, 
Frances (Mrs. James Olmstead). George, Harriet (Mrs. Llarmon 
Knapp), Mary, Phebe (Mrs. Nathan Young) and Betsey (Mrs. 
Landers). The maternal grandfather was Lewis Barton, a ])ioneer of 
Susquehanna county, Pa. George Coburn spent most of his life in 
farming and teaching school, for wliich his services were much sought. 
He died in Tioga county, N. Y., in 1878; his children were: Arabella 
(Mrs. John Kelley), Caroline, Lewis B. and Edward. Lewis Ij. Co- 
burn was reared in Tioga county, N. Y., and educated in the pul)lic 
and commercial schools of Syracuse, N. Y., and at the Owego Acaci- 
emy, Owego, N. Y. He began life as a clerk, and in 1886 engaged 
in the liardware Inisiness in Towanda, where by close attention to the 
wants of the people he has built up a lucrative trade. In 1868 he married 
.Mary, daughter of Charles and Harriet (Dickerson) Ames, of West 
Warren, this county. Mr. Coburn has been a resident of Towanda 
since 1869, and is one of its representativ^e citizens and business men ; 
politicallv he is a Repul)lic;m. 

EDGAR II. C()I)I)IN(;, editor of the LeJlaysville Advertiser, 
was born Ai)ril 4, 18.')6. in Pike townsiiip. thiscoun;./, a son of Dr. David 
S. and Asenath Celinda (Ladd) Co(hling, the former a native of 
Dutchess county, X. V.. and the latter of Albany townshi)), this 
county. Mr. Codding, who is the eighth in a family of ten children, 
was educated at the LeRaysville graded scliool, and began life foi* 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 725 

himself by teaching the Beecher school in Pike township, when but 
eighteen years of age. He taught six years, and then spent about 
one year in the West, where he was engaged in mercantile business ; 
then followed the grocei'y business in Lellaysville, two years, after 
which he was employed by George Bailey, two years in the mercantile 
business. In January, 1887, he purchased the Leliaysville Advertiser^ 
and later admitted F. M. Wheaton as partner. On January, 30, 1884, 
Mr. Codding married Helen, daughter of George S. and Lucy (Cor- 
bin) Gorham. who were among the earl_y settlers in Warren township. 
Mrs. Codding is a member of tlie Congregational Church. Mr. Cod- 
ding in his })olitical views is a Republican. 

COLONEL JOHN A. CODDING, Towanda. Every old and long 
established community, b}'^ an unwritten law of selection, tends toward 
the process of sitting out and placing at the fore some recognized 
common leader in our social and business life. These chosen men lead, 
not by virtue generally of any written law. but mostlv by that instinct 
of cohesion and dependence upon superiors tiiat is an under-current in 
every social life, and in all communities. In the rude and wild tribes 
these leaders are their lighters, and the degrees of civilization are 
measured by the domination of mind, and to this advance in time 
comes that yet higiv type of " mentor and friend '' who combines 
integrity of character with broadening of intellect. The appositeness 
of these reflections, linked to the gentleman's name that heads this 
sketch, will be apparent by the briefest recital of the public and private 
])ositions of honor and trust that the good will of his old neighbors and 
friends have put upon Col. Codding through a continuous generation 
of years. Forty years ago he was an humble mechanic, and an occa- 
sional short winter-term school teacher, and was in 1853 consti'ucting 
canal locks, railroad bridges, stone and brick buildings, and plaster- 
ing houses and, though by nature retiring and negative, yet his 
neighbors found him out, and from a private adviser and friend they 
promoted him, by their spontaneous will, from the trowel and the 
liammer to high sheriff of the county, in which he served from 1854 
until 1857, and was then made deputy-sheriff', and was in this position 
three years from 1857 to 18fi(». In 1862 he filled, by appointment of 
Gov. Curtin (who had already sent him, unsolicited, a full captain's 
commission), the difficult and responsible office of commissioner of 
the draft, and he performed its every duty with eminence and fidelity. 
A short parenthesis just here is necessary : When the war came Col. 
C(jdding was by far tiie leading military character of the county. He 
had had vast experience anil varied service in the old State militia, a 
strong military organization in peace times. He had served for yeai's 
as Brigade Inspector, t^ e district then being composed of five counties, 
and in this service had j/assed the grades of captain, major, lieutenant- 
colonel to Brigade Inspector, a most responsible position, with suffi- 
cient salary to command his undivided time and attention. He thus 
served until the old military organization of the State was changed in 
1845. and at the breaking out of war the Governor looked naturally to 
him as the one man of military affairs in Bradford, and was ready to 
give him any position he might prefer, He began organizing and 

41 



72G HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

drilling- a company, and soon this grew so large that it was divided 
into two companies, and it fell to the second company to go e7h masse 
into the service, while Col. Codding continued to raise and drill men 
and forward them to the front. In this way he rendered his country 
invaluable service. 

In 18S0 the Colonel was made clerk to the prothonotary of Bradford 
county, and served to the satisfaction of the entire community, four 
years ; in 1880 he was made a magistrate, has filled the office con- 
tinuously since, and was again elected for five years, from May, 1891, 
where perhaps, as mutual friend of neighbors, hot and eager for legal 
frays, he has rendered more valuable services to a greater number of 
people than has probably any other man ever in the county. In 1876 
he became president of the Eureka Mower Company, Towanda, and 
his clear judgment and quick perceptions were of the highest measure 
to that concern. In 1854 he was tlie close friend of Hon. David 
Wilmot and Judge Mercur, in founding in this State the Republican 
party, where, as everywhere, his advice was clear cut, carrying much 
weight, and he was a real factor in swinging the great Commonwealth 
into line where a Lincoln was to lead and a Grant to command. 

The social side of this man's life is not so easiW written, but it is in 
the hearts of the many whom he has befriended in the hour of trial 
and great need, attested joyfully by all in open glad acts at every 
opportunity. lie has now reached that age, but that is all, when the 
average man would begin to retire from active life. Born in Dutchess 
county, jST. Y., July 6, 1819, of David and Susannah (Wood) Codding, 
the son of an honest mechanic, and himself successfully passing the 
degrees of the mechanic's craft, from the humblest to the highest. 
His father's family came to Bradford county in 1823, locating in 
Pike township, and in time the father taught school and became a 
distinguished minister of the Protestant Methodist Ciiurch; he died in 
August, 1874. His family numbered six children, of whom John A. 
w^as the fourth in the order of birth. He now looks back with no 
inconsiderable ])ride upon some of the substantial buildings m this 
county and in Elmira, N. Y., that are yet evidences of his skilled hand, 
wljen he was a young mechanic on the threshold of his long, useful 
and honorable life. In November, 1847, John A. Codding and Per- 
ciller L. Hodge were joined in the l)onds of wedlock at her home in 
Lellaysville ; she was a daughter of Rev. James and Rebecca (jMiller) 
Hodge, natives of Pennsylvania. Of this union there were four 
children, as follows: James 11. Codding, John W. Codding, Dr. 
Charles L. Codding, of Duluth, and Mary (Afrs. Alexander II. Davis). 
Mrs. Codding departed this life Februar\' 4, 1888. 

Dr. Charles L. Coddinu' was born in the court-house in Towanda, 
while his father was sherilf; is a distinguished physician of Duluth, 
i\rinn. ]\rrs. Mary (Codding) Davis is a resident of Duluth, Minn. 
Two of this family of children have gone out from the roof-ti'ee, bear- 
ing in their hearts the admonitions of their childhood home, and two 
are here in lluiir native place, while all have so deported themselves as 
to advance along that higher plane of life that comes of the wise and 
gentle ministralious imj)arted to I hem in their lender childhood, lion- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 727 

oring a parent that has honored them by their exeniphiry and upright 
lives — all of them have inherited well that shield that would turn as 
Avholly harmless every shaft of envy or detraction that might be cast 
at them. Mr. Codding lias been a consistent and ])rominent member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church during the past thirty years, much 
of the time serving as class leader, and has been secretary and treas- 
urer of the church iifteen years. During thirteen years he was judge 
of elections ; for many terms was a member and president of the 
school board, and was largely instrumental, while in that body, in the 
building of the elegant school-house in 1873. He is a Royal Arch 
Mason. He was apj^ointed census enumerator in 1880, and performed 
the duties of that otiice completely, and to the entire satisfaction of 
his official superiors. 

JAMES 11. CODDING, a leading member of the Bradford county 
bar, was born in Pdce township, this county, July 8, 1849, and is the 
eldest son and child of John A. and Perciller (Hodge) Codding. He 
was reared in Towanda from live years of age, and educated at Sus- 
quehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda, and Dartmouth College. 
From 1S68 to 1876, he was engaged in the hardware business in 
Towanda with Cotlding tie Russell. After that he studied law with 
Henry Streeter, Esq., was admitted to the bar in February, 1871), and 
has been in active ])ractice of his profession since. On Septem- 
ber 15, 1870, he married Blanche, daughter of Theodore and Martha 
(Clark) Wells, of Muncy, Pa., and has one son, Arthur. In 1890 i\Ir. 
Codding was the Re])ul)lican candidate for jiresident judge for the 
Thirteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, but was defeated in elec- 
tion by the Independent Rei)ublican fusion with the Democrats ; polit- 
ically he has al\va3^s been a stanch Republican, and never, even in the 
bitterest political campaign ever witnessed in the county, was he person- 
ally assailed, and no man in the county to-day stands fairer in name 
and fame among his neighbors of all classes. 

JOPIX W. CODDING, district attorney, Towanda, was born in 
Pike township, this county. June 10, 1854, and. is a son of John A. 
and Perciller L. (Hodge) Codding. He Avas reared in Towanda, and 
was educated at Lafa3'ette College, where he was graduated in 1877; 
the same year he began the study of law in the office of Overton tS:^ 
Mercur, Towanda, and was admitted to the bar September 5, 1879, and 
has since been in active practice as a meml)erof the law firm of James 
H. & John W. Codding. He was married November 12, 1890, to 
Anne E., daughter of Maj. Elias W. and Mary J. (Taylor) Hale, of 
Towanda. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, Towanda, and 
has been chairman of the Bradford County Republican Committee 
three years, 1880-1887-1888; was elected district attorney of Brad- 
fonl county in 1889, and has discharged the high office with marked 
fidelity and ability. Mr. Codding has been a Republican, ever stanch 
in his politics, and true and trusted in his friendsliip, and is accounted 
one of the strong and leading attorneys of Bradfoi'd countv. 

P>ELA COGSWELL, retired Free Will Baptist minister, Silvara, 
was born in Tuscarora township, this county, January 10, 1817. The 
Cogswell family were among the earliest settlei's of Tuscarora, and 



?28 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

have always been prominent in the history of their section. The 
progenitor of the family, in America, was John Cogswell, born in 
Westbury, England, in 1592, who sailed May 23, 1635, on the ship 
•' Angel," to America, and was wrecked off the coast of Pemaquid, 
but, together with his vvnfe and four sons and five daughters, was 
washed ashore, August 15, same year, all escaping death. From this 
man the subject of this sketch is descended as follows : John, William, 
William, Edward, Samuel, Edward, Edward, Elisha, Elisha, Bela, 
subject, being of the ninth generation from John Edward. The grand- 
father was (piite a prominent chanicter in the early settlement and 
development of Tuscarora ; born March 24. 1767, at New Milford, 
Conn,, he married Bertha Beeman, February 10, 1770, and nine years 
later removed to Frenchtown, this county, and being a miller by occupa- 
tion, it is presumed that he found employment in the early mills of that 
section; about the year 1800 he removed to the valley of Tuscarora 
creek, near the present site of the village of Silvara, aud established 
a permanent home, which is still in the possession of his descendants ; 
he had a family of nine children, the second. Elisha, being the father 
of Bela; he was born in Iji-adford county, April 4, 1792, mai'ried 
January 7, 1816, to Hannah Ford, and died June 4, 1873; his children 
were : Bela, Niram J., Jarvis B., Caroline M., Emeline F. Elisha was 
a farmer by occupation, and owned the farm now occupied by Bela; 
he also followed lumbering and shingle making to a considerable 
extent; was a soldier of 1812, and served his country faithfully 
through that l)rief but bitter struggle; was an ardent lover of the 
chase, and his faithful rifle furnished provender for his family during 
the period when food was so scarce that they otherwise would have 
suffered. It is an historical fact that he purchased a yoke of oxen to be 
paid for in venison, giving a ton thereof for the cattle ; he secured this 
amount by the agreed time, all killed with his old Hintlock rifle ; he 
was a member of the Methodist p]piscopal Church, and over fifty 
years steward and trustee of his church. Bela Cogswell mai'ried 
October 19, 1837, Eunice Prentice, and aftei- her death married, May 
22, 1870, for his second wife, Mrs. Lydia Fuller, widow of llev. Still- 
man F'uller. Bv his first marriage he had the following children : 
Abel B., born March 7, 1839, died January 28,1857; Sophrona M., 
born July 4, 1841, married John Ruger, a farmer of Tuscarora ; Emma 
K., born'March 16. 1844, mnrried Joseph II. Atkins (lie was asoldier of 
the Rebellion, and was wounded in battle, from the effects of which he 
died shortly after his return home); Mary A., born July 2. 1846, married 
L. B. Lacev, an undertaker, of New Laceyville, Pa.; Stella A., born 
September" 22, 1849, died October 30, 1887 ; Tlosmer E., born July 4, 
1854 (was accidentally shot while hunting, November 16, 1876) ; Ward 
B., born March 27, 1868, merchant, of Silvara, Pa. Our subject was 
reared on a farm and had only the ediic;itional advantages ail'orded by 
the common schools of th;it d;iy; at the age of sixteen he began 
teaching, which he followed about three years, and then turne<l his 
attention to farming, which, with more or less j^ersistency, he h;is 
followed until the present. At the age of sixteen he was licensed to 
preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and remained with that 



HISTORY OF JJKADFOliO COUNTY. 729 

(loiiomination until Novenibei- 24, 1856, when lie cast his lot with the 
Free Will Baptist Church, with which he lias since remained; he was 
hirgely insti-uuiental in causing the Free Will Baptist Church of Sil- 
vara to be built, and is the only pastor that church has had ; he has 
hibored as a minister over fifty years, and always for the love of the 
cause, as he had to make his living- by other means ; he is a Republican 
in politics, and has served as justice of the peace from 1845 until 1800; 
has also filled the various town offices. Mr. Cogswell is now 
approaching the autumn of his life, and owns and resides on the old 
homestead of his father, which has been in the family for nearlv a 
century, and where, lovetl and respected by all, he expects to await 
the summons which will call him to his reward. 

CHA.RLES C, COLE, locomotive engineer, Savre, is a native of 
Elmira, N. Y., born January 15, 1851, only child of Charles and Ger- 
trude (llazen) Cole, natives of New Jersey ; the former served as post- 
master at Elmira, and died in Buffalo, N.' V., in 1854; the latter died 
in 1851. Charles C. Cole, after the death of his father, was taken form 
Elmira to Danbury, Tompkins Co., N. Y., to the home of his uncle, 
Avith whom he lived until he grew up. In 1877 he went to Ithaca, N. 
Y., and ran a stationary engine for Trieinan & King, and Williams 
Bros., seven years, and was then employed as a brakesman on the G. I. 
& S. R. R.,and after being four years with the emplov, he began firing, 
and was promoted to engineer September 2, 1890. lie was married m 
Brookton, X. Y., January 12, 1874, to Miss Elizabeth McWhorter, a 
member of the Congregational Church, an exem])lary Christian woman, 
and who died in January, 1877. Mr. Cole was married, the second time, 
in Newark Valley, January 18, 1887, to Miss Lucy Travis, whose parents 
are natives of this county ; her father was a farmer in early life, but is 
now employed in the maciiine shops in Say re ; her mother died in 
July, 1884, in her sixty-fourth year. Mrs. Cole was born in Burling- 
ton township, this county, April 29, 1864, and is the youngest in a family 
of eleven children. MV. Cole is a member of the' Sexennial League, 
and Peoples Benefit Association, and in politics is a Republican. 

C. H. COLE, M. D., Sheshequin, was born in Kingston, UlsterCo., 
N. Y., April 4, 1818, and is a son of John and Catherine (Letts) Cole, na- 
tives of the same place, the latter of whom was at the Wyoming mas- 
acre, being a child at that time; her father fled with his famih^, and 
being closely pursued by savages swam the river with three cliildren 
clinging to his clothing, and she was one of the three, he escaped 
Avith his children and fled through the wilderness to the Hudson river, 
subsisting on roots and berries, which they could gather in the woods. 
John Cole died in Geneva, N. Y., in 1849, aged eighty-five: his wife 
had died in 1846 at the age of seventy-five, lie was a soldier of the 
Revolution, was at the battle of Kingston, and saw the village burned 
by the British ; the mother was also present at the event, and stood 
on Hurley mountain and watched the flames consume her childhood 
home. Though but a lad, he carried a musket and stood at his post with 
the best soldiers of the Continental Army. In the family there were 
eleven children, two of whom survive— one daughter and himself. She 
married Stephen Newell, and is now a widow. Dr. Cole's early life was 



730 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

spent on a farm, and he received his early education in the public scliools 
of New York. His professional education was received at the Geneva 
Medical College, where he was graduated in 1848 ; while reading medi- 
cine he taught a considerable time. He began practice in Barton, 
N. Y., then went to Tioga county. Pa.; in 1854 he moved to Mcllenr}^ 
county, 111., and engaged in the practice of medicine there four years, 
and then came to Sheshequin, where he has since made his home. On 
December 2, 1862, he enlisted in the army ; was examined in a class of 
298 seeking commissions, and received his commission as assistant-sur- 
geon ; fifteen days later he was promoted to surgeon of the One Hun- 
dred and Seventy-second Regiment P. V. I., with rank of major; was 
with the Army of the Potomac, and was mustered out August 1, 1863, 
and he is a pensioner, drawing $30 a month. In 1837 he was married 
to Sylvan, daughter of Aaron Walker, of Ncav Hampshire, and there 
were born to this marriage two children : Caroline, married to Dennis 
Porter, who was accidently killed in 1888, and William Henry, a phy- 
sician in Henry county, 111. The mother of these children dying, the 
Doctor married, June 15, 1859, Hannah Horton, daughter of David 
and Hannah (Newell) Horton, and by this marriage there is one child, 
John Franklin. Ilayden S. Cole, grandson of Dr. C. H. Cole, is a 
graduate of West Point, and is at the present time located at St. Paul, 
Minn. Dr. Cole is a Democrat, and has been for years the leading- 
physician of this section of the country. 

DAVID W. COLE, dealer in coaf, wagons, lumber, shingles, etc., 
Wysox, was born August 14, 1829, in what is now Asylum (then 
Wysox) township, this county, and is a son of Solomon (who was a 
son of Solomon) and Sarah (tyron) Cole, natives of P>radford county; 
the father died in 1876, aged eighty-four. Grandfather Cole, who was 
one of the earliest pioneers in the county, settled in what is now Asy- 
lum township, and took up a large and vahuible tract of land. ^ He 
reared a large family. He was a farmer who, while laboring afield, 
axe in hand, measuring his strength against the dark old forests, found 
time to read medicine and theology, and, in company with his brother, 
Dr. Daniel Cole, who was one of the most ]irominent physicians of 
the county in his day, fed and cured men's bodies and saved souls. 
David W.' Cole, who'^is the second in a family of six children, who 
grew to their maturity, was reared in his native place, receiving his 
early education at the neighborhood schools of his day. He became 
a farmer for a short time; but, impelled by a something that had 
mixed with his boyish dreams, he gathered his little bundle, joined 
those who go down to the sea in ships, and was soon found before the 
mast upon the salt waters. During the latter part of this time he was 
sailing on the lakes, on the "J. C. Anthony," a vessel of his own 
building, which he controlled six years. AYlien the Civil War broke 
out he went to the Southern waters, in Government employ, with the 
blockading Heets, and had charge of Government vessels, serving dur- 
ing the entire war; and while not a regidar enlisted soldier, he had 
often stood picket guard over Government suj^iJies, and as a sentinel 
to wai'u against an approaching enemy. He left the water in 1878 
and returned to his old Wvsox home, "a common "land lubber" once 



HISTORY OK URADFORD COUNTY. 731 

more, and removed to his present liome in 1884. On flune2'2, 1853, 
Mr. Cole was united in marriag-e with Catherine, daughter of Amos 
Sigler, of Geneva, N. Y., and of Engh'sh descent. Of this union there 
is one child, Nellie (Mrs. Henry B. AVilson). Mrs. Cole is a member 
of tiie Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Cole was made a Freemason 
at Madison, N. Y.,and a Chapter member at S\'racuse. In politics he 
is a Republican, and has often been a delegate to important county 
conventions of the E.ej)ublican part3\ 

J. H. COLE, physician, Gillett, was born in IJinghamton, 'N. Y., 
October 24. 1817. a son of Benjamin and Abigail (Fanning) Cole, the 
former a naiive of Rhode Island. About the year 1820, Benjamin 
Cole came to this county from ]>inghamton with his wife and four 
children, the journey being made by horse and wagon, and located in 
Leona. Springfield township, where he purchased two hundred acres 
of wild land which he cleared. His life was that of a pioneer, sur- 
rounded by all the usual hardships ; his house was of logs and bark, 
and like all other early settlers much of his fare was obtained in the 
woods and streams. During this time there were born to him four 
more children, making a family of eight, five of whom grew to 
maturity, four now living. Dr. Cole, who is the third in the family, 
was reared and educated in Springfield, and early showing a preference 
for the medical profession, began the study under Dr. W. Hopkins, 
of Wellsburg, JN. Y.; then attended the Washington Medical College, 
in Baltimore, Md., two terms (1839-40); subsequently attended one 
term at the BuftVilo Medical College, from which he was graduated in 
1854. The Doctor's first practice was at Bentley Creek, this county, 
where he remained two 3'ears, and then removed to Wells township, 
where he practiced with success twenty -five years, after which he came 
to Gillett where he now resides. On July 13, 1843, Dr. Cole married 
at Wells, this county, Catherine, daughter of Geheil and Emily Ayres, 
and there were born to them three children, two of whom, Dorleskie 
and Inez, grew to maturity, but are now deceased. The Doctor has 
held the office of postmaster in Wells township, seven 3a^ars, and was 
also town clerk, showing the confidence reposed in him by his fellow 
citizens. He practices according to the regular school of medicine. 

WILLIAM F. COLE, farmer, P. O. Macedonia, was born in 
Asylum township, this county, October 22, 1820, and grew to manhood 
on his father's farm, where he now resides. He is a son of Samuel and 
Betsy (Sherman) Cole, natives of New York State, born of Yankee and 
Dutch ancestry. Samuel Cole was a soldier in the War of 1812 and a 
pensioner. The son was educated in the schools of the town, and when 
of age commenced farming on his own account. He was first married 
in 1849 to Mary E. Sterigere, and there were born to them seven chil- 
dren, four of whom are living, as follows : Edward A., born July 24, 
1852, married to Frances Wilcox ; J\[ary I., born September 14, 1858 ; 
Willis W., l)orn in 1858, married to Charlotte Shinnefelt ; Clara I., 
born July 23, 1860, wife of F. E. Yanness. 

Mrs. Cole died May 1, 1864, mourned by all who knew' her, and 
August 27, 1864, Mr. Cole married Martha A. Watson, who was born 
September 9, 1844, daughter of Jairus and Rebecca (YanLoon) Wat- 



732 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

son, of New Albany, this county, and there is one child, Alice G., born 
December 9, 1865, wife of George G, Stevens. Mr. Cole is a Repub- 
lican, and has been school director many years ; he has never taken an 
active interest in ])olitics, but has attended closely to iiis farming inter- 
ests. He owns about tAvo hundred and sixty acres of land, and has been 
an extensive grower of small fruits, together with general farming; he 
has had a crop of grapes every j'ear for the past sixty years, and has 
had one of the finest peach orchards in the countv. 

WILLIAM WALTER COLE, farmer, Minnequa, is a native of 
Minnequa, Canton township, this county, and was born April 30, 
1840, a son of D. R. and Mahitabel (Roberts) Cole, natives of Phila- 
delphia and Canton, respectively. His father was born in Philadelphia, 
Pa., in 1812, and was reared there until seventeen years of age, when 
he came to Canton township ; he learned the whip-maker's trade in 
Philadelphia ; from 1833 until 1839 he had a boot and shoe shop, after 
which he followed farming; he died March 29, 1890. Mrs. Cole was 
born in 1816, and died in 1882. Our subject's grandfather, John 
Joslin Cole, was a native of Connecticut and went to Philadelphia 
when a young man; he was engaged in mercantile business there for 
some time, then went West, but returned to Canton township, where 
he died in the spring of 1865. His great-grandfather, Washington 
Cole, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and lived in New York 
State several years, where he died. William Walter Cole, who is the 
fourth in the order of birth in a famih' of eight sons, was reared in 
Canton township, receiving his education in the select schools of Can- 
ton, and taught three terms. At the breaking out of the Civil War, 
responding to his country's call, he enlisted August 24, 1861, in Com- 
pany F, Eleventh P. V. C. (for three years' service), formerly Har- 
lem's Light Cavalry. He was in active service and served under (tcus. 
Cautz, Sheridan and Wilson, and was mustered out at Jones' Neck 
Landing, August 24, 1864. Returning home he re-enlisted, February 
20, 1865, this time in tlie Government Construction Corps, and served 
until the close of the war. Since his return home Mr. Cole has 
followed farming, having purchased the feed-mill he now owns, in the 
fall of 1873, and built a sawmill in addition to it in 1875, that was 
run about three years. He was married in Canton, December 25, 
1868, to Nettie A., daughter of Andrew and ]\Iariette (Ruggles) 
Richards, natives of Vermont; her father was a mechanic, and died 
in Lisle. J>roome Co., N. Y., in 1848; her mother married, for her 
second husband, Solomon Morse, and resides in East Ti'oy. Mrs. Cole 
is the eldest in order of birth in a family of three children ; she was 
born in Broome county, N. Y., April 13, 1842. To Mr, and Mrs. Cole 
have been born nine children, as follows: Ezbon Walter, Ferris 
Edward, Andrew G., Charles R., David R., Asa G., Nettie E., Lavan- 
tia and Lavernia (twins). The family are members of the Clu-istian 
Church. Mr. Cole is a member of Keystone Grange; politically lie is 
a liepnblican, and has served one term each as constable and school 
directoi'. 

HENRY II. COLEMAN, farmer and stock raiser, Orwell, was boi-n 
in Pike townsliip, this county, in September, 1856. His father, Russell 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 733 

Colemiui, was also born in Tike townshi}), March 15, 1823, and his 
grandfather, Ileuben Coleman, a native of Connecticut, came in early 
life to this county where he engaged in farming. Russell Coleman began 
life on a farm when quite young. He purchased, from the heirs of 
the estate, fifty acres, which with the fifty acres he inherited from his 
father made a total of 100 acres. In 1883 he retired and has 
since lived in LeRaysville. He married Harriet, daughter of Henrv 
and Annie (Brown) Goodell, and they have had six children, viz^.: 
Ransford, Annie (wife of Martin Sammon), Russell (died in infancy), 
Henry H., Emma (wife of Charles Shales) and Joseph II. Mrs. Rus- 
sell Coleman died March 6, 1868. Henry H. Coleman attended 
the common schools until his twentieth yeal', when he began farm- 
ing. In 1889 he purchased his present impr'oved farm of 134 acres, 
the house on which was built in 1870; in 1890 he reconstructed and 
enlarged the barn. Mr. Coleman married, in 1876, Alice II., daughter 
of George C. and Henrietta (Taylor) Atwood, the third of a family of 
fourteen children, eleven of whom are living. Mr. Coleman is secre- 
tary and a charter member of LeRaysville Lodge of the Farmers 
Alliance. He is a member of the Independent party. The family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Coleman's great- 
grandfather served in the Revolutionary Armv. Mr. Coleman had an 
uncle, Orrin Coleman, who sei'ved in the War of the Rebellion and 
lost two fingers. 

LEROY COLEMAN, merchant, LeRaysville, was born September 
29, 1848, in Pike township, this county, a son of Jose])h and Irene 
(Buttles) Coleman; the former, a farmer, was a native of Pennsylvania 
and of New England origin, and the latter was of Massachusetts and 
of Welsh descent. Their family consisted of six children, of whom 
Leroy is the eldest; the only other living member of the family is 
Madison J. Coleman, who is engaged in mining and stock dealing in 
I^ueblo, Col. Leroy Coleman began life at the age of twenty -two • 
years, teaching school ; he taught two years and, after one year, 
engaged with J. J. Gorham in the hardware business in LeRaysville. 
In 1886 they admitted A. E. Woodruff as third partner, thus foi-ming 
the ])oi)ular firm of Gorliam, Coleman & W^oodruff. Leroy Coleman 
was married July 28, 1872, to Miss Huldah, the fifth in the family of 
eleven children of Charles and Amanda (Denton) Reynolds, who came 
to Pennsylvania from New York in 1845. Of nine children in the 
family who reached maturity, eight were school teachers. Mr. and 
Mrs. Coleman have no children ; they are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of which he has been trustee several terms; in poli- 
tics he is a Republican, and has been councilman and burgess several 
years. Mrs. Irene Coleman is the mother of LeRoy Coleman, with 
whom she lives, at the age of sixty-one years; her father, Jonathan 
Buttles, came from Massachusetts and settled in Orwell in 1835; in 
his family were eight children, of whom Mrs. Coleman is the eldest. 

TIMOTHY COLLINS, farmer, P. O. Overton, is one of the lead- 
ing farmers of the neighborhood in which he has long made his home, 
and was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1826, a son of Daniel and 
Jennie (Dailey) Collms,"^ natives of the same place. Daniel Collins 



734 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

diet! in 1S52, and liis widow in 1862. Timothy, who was the eldest in 
a family of five children, grew to maniiood in his father's family in his 
native ])lace ; he came to America in 18")!, located in Overton, and 
commenced the herculean task of cuttino: down the f>:iant trees of the 
forest, and clearing a farm in the gloomy woods. A poor boy, with 
no exterior aid, cleaving his own way in life against odds that, to the 
ordinarv young man, would be most appalling. But the results of 
his incessant labors are his present comfortable homestead of 100 
acres, under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Collins was united in 
marriage, in Wyoming county, with Ellen, daughter of Michael and 
Mary (Cuney) Curran, natives of Ireland, and of this union there are 
four children, as follows: Jennie (wife of W. P. Kelley), Mary E., 
Daniel J. and Michael J. The male members of the famil}' are of the 
Democratic persuasion in politics, and ail the family are exemplary 
members of the Mother Church. The Collins home is one of the com- 
fortable farm houses of Bradford county, where their friends and 
visitors come bv the hundreds. 

COLONY "BROTHERS (Charles E. and Thomas), manufacturers 
of lumber, lath and shingles, Sylvania, are natives of Troy, this county, 
and sons of Charles and Julia (Ferguson) Colony, who located in W^ells 
township, this county, in 18-41, and in Troy in 1851. The father, who 
was a mill-wright and bridge-builder by occupation, built a large num- 
ber of bridges in various parts of the country. In 1861 he removed to 
Austinville, where he died in 1864. He was a native of Bainl)ridge, 
Chenango Co., IST. Y.; reared a familv of four children: William, 
Charles E., Augusta (Mrs. Jolm F. Hunt) and Thomas. Charles E. 
and Thomas were reared in Bradford county, and located in S3'lvania 
in 1881, where they have since been engaged in lumbering, operating 
the mills formerly owned by H. & P. Peck. They turn out over 
6,000,000 feet of lumber annually, operate ai)laning mill in connection, 
and give em])loyment to from nine to forty men in busy seasons of 
the year. Charles E. is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and, 
politicallv, both are Republicans. 

DR. SAMUEL FLSIIKR COLT. Wysox, minister of the Presby- 
terian Church, and president of the Bradford County Medical Society, 
is a native of New Jersey, born at Paterson, April 19, 1817, and is the 
son of Samuel and Phcebe Colt, latter of whom was a daughter of 
Nathaniel Andrus, who was a descendant of Governor Andrus, of 
Connecticut, a family of English stock. Both grandfathers served 
honoi-ably through the Revolutionary War. The father was a mer- 
chant and iron manufacturer, noted in his day and time as pre-eminent, 
in respect to both his business qualities and his superior mechanical 
genius, that made him an advanced leader of his time; he was a 
captain in the War of 1812, and raised his own company; and was a 
ruling elder in the Presb\'terian Church ; he died in 1825. His 
family consisted of four sons and one daughter, of whom Samuel F. is 
the youngest, and only survivor. He was reared mainly in Newark, 
N. J., where he I'ead medicine in the office of Dr. J. G. Goble (a class- 
mate at Princeton of Washington Irving). He then entered the 
regular classical curriculum at LaFavette College in the class of 1837 ; 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 735 

took the full three-years' course in the Princeton Theoloi^ical Seminary, 
from 18;>7 to 1841, and immediately he was enoai>ed m foundino- the 
Presbyterian Mission of Atlanta county, New Jersey. He was exam- 
ined and licensed to the sacred ministry by the Presbytery of Ne'.v Bruns- 
wick, and was ordained at Ma^^'s Landing by the Presbytery of West 
Jersey, remaining until 1843, when he came to Bradford county, and 
was located at Merryall as pastoi- of the Wyalusing Church, remaining 
nine years. From this field and lal)ors have originated eight successful 
Presbyterian Churches, viz. : Meshoppen, Dushore, Rush, Stevensville, 
Ilerrick, Terrytown and Sugar liun, the Wyalusing Second and 
Camptown. He next removed to Towanda, where he founded the 
Susquehanna Collegiate Institute which was opened in 1854, and 
remained principal five years. In 1859, he went to Pottsville and 
founded the Second Presbyterian Church of that place. Here he was 
actively and successfully engaged, w4ien in 1861 the cloud of war did 
lower upon our nation. He promptl}^ enlisted in the ninety -sixth P. 
V. I., and at the organization of tiie regiment Avas elected chaplain, 
and was with his command in the field. During his service in the 
army he received twenty-five members to their first communion in the 
camp and field. After a year's hard service, he resigned on account 
of broken health, and returned to Pottsville ; then again took up 
his ministry (the Church having retained the pastorate for him). He 
was deeply interested and successful in recruiting men for the armv. 
He was pastor at Pottsville until 186G. Dr. Colt was actively inter- 
ested in founding the Freedman's Board of the Presbytei-ian General 
Assembly, and served a year as secretarj^ In 1867, at Williamsport, 
he held a series of successful meetings during eight weeks, residting in 
several hundred conversions. He was called to the pastorate at Troy, i.riis 
county, where he remained a year and returned to the Susquelianna 
Collegiate Institute at Towanda, at the urgent solicitation of its friends 
and trustees. His health failing at the end of five years, he spent the 
next thirteen years actively engaged as a missionary in Sullivan county, 
where he at the same time practiced medicine and surgery ; during 
this period he built a church at Laporte. In 1885 he removed to his 
present home in Wysox. In 1887, he was appointed, bv Gov. Beaver, 
a member of the Forestry Commission ; is a member of the State Med- 
ical Society ; president of the Bradford County Medical Societv ; 
trustee of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute and was trustee of La- 
fayette College from 1857 to 1881. In his medical profession, his 
tastes run largely to the more exact science of the side of surgery, 
where he has performed some delicate operations successfully. Dr. 
Colt has been married twice. To him were born eighteen children, 
twelve of whom are living. Many of Dr. Colt's sermons have been 
published and attained a wide circulation, and his contributions to the 
educational journals have been many ; he has built up many churches, 
and has founded some of our prominent literary schools ; is secretary 
of the incorporated Presbytery of Lackawana. His ^vork still goes 
on, and his theological armor is kept burnished. His old-time 
eloquence and beauty of diction have not failed. He still preaches, 
on an average of three times a month, to interesttxl congregations, and 



730 HISTORY OF UKADFOKD COUXTY. 

in liis veneraole age is respected, rev^ei'enced and loved b}" all ; a thougiit- 
ful shepherd ; a pious, good and unselfish man. 

IIEV. TirOMAS J. COMEKFOKD, pastor of St. John's Nepo 
mucene Catholic Church of Tro\', and St. Michael's Church of Canton, 
and Assumption B. Y. Churcli of Cascade, Pennsylvania jVIissions, was 
born in Pottsville, Pa., June 26, 1857, a son of John and Katherine 
(Devey) Comerford, and of Irish descent. lie was reared in Wilkes- 
Parre, Pa., and educated at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, same State, 
took a classical and philosophic course at St. Vincent's College, Pitts- 
burgh, and began his theological course at St. Mary's Seminary, Cleve- 
land, Ohio, which he finished at Grand Seminary, Montreal, Canada, 
in 1882. He was ordained to the priesthood at Scranton, Pa., Novem- 
ber 16, 1882, and was assistant pastor of St. Peter's Cathedral of that 
city one year. He was then transferred to Wilkes-Barre, wiiere he was 
assistant pastor of St. Mary's Church four years. In October, 1887, 
Father Comerford was appointed pastor of St. John's Church, Troy, Pa., 
and Missions, and during his pastorate has purchased a parochial resi- 
dence, repaired the interior of the church in Troy; repaired and built 
an addition to St. Michael's Church, Canton, and purchased all equip- 
ments necessary for conducting services there. The church and mis- 
sions have had a steady, health}^ growth and the spiritual condition of 
his people is ninety-nine per cent better than ever before. 

EMERY L. CONANT, farmer, Wilmot township, P. O. Sugar 
Run, was born at Owego, N. Y., December 11, 1846, and is a son of 
Alfonzo and Amanda (Barton) Conant, natives of New York, born of 
New England parentage. He was reared until seventeen years of age 
at Owego, X. Y., when his parents removed to this county and settled 
in Wilmot township, where he began life for himself at twenty -one, 
farming, and in 1878 he purchased his present farm of two hundred 
and fourteen acres, which includes some of the best farming land in 
Bradford count\% all in an excellent state of cultivation. He was mar- 
ried December 9, 1868, to Miss Maria, daughter of Milton and 
Lucretia (Bennett) Carson, of AVilmot, and thev have eight children, 
viz.: Clarinda, born Api'il 4, 1870 ; Lorena, born"^ xApril 29, 1871; Mai-- 
tin L., born June 8, 1872; Amanda L., born July 10, 1875; Milton A., 
born November 25, 1878; Pearl A., born August 25, 1885; Hertha, 
born January 20, 1887; and John H., born August 16,1889. Mr. 
Conant is a member of the I. O. O. F. at Sugar Run, and in politics he 
is a Republican. 

JOSEPH E. CONK LIN, farmer, Wysox township, V. O. AVysox, 
was born at his present home in Wysox townsliij), April 7, 1842, a son 
of John and Joanna (('onipton) Conklin, who came from Orange 
county, N. Y., in 1840, and located on the farm now occupied by 
Joseph L., which was partially cleared ; they had four children : Franc 
(deceased), married to John R. Post, a farmer in Wysox; Sarah Ann. 
married to Nornuin White, a farmer in Wysox ; Allen P., a farmer in 
Wysox, and Jose|)h L. Joseph L. ('onklin was reared on the farm, 
educated in the common schools and William P. Iloi-ton's select scIkjoI ; 
lie remained at home with his ])ai"ents until thcirdcath, and then became 
the owner of the homestead, which is one of the finest fai-ms in 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COCNTY. 737 

Wysox townsluj). lie was married March 27, 1867, to Charity, 
daughter of William and Eunice (Billings) Patterson, natives of 
Orange county, N. Y., they have two children: lola E., born May 20, 
1868 (married January 7, 1891, to Harry C. Shores, a farmer in Wysox) 
and John W., born December 11, 1869, who is at home. Mrs. Conk- 
lin is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bond Hill. Mr. 
Conklin is a firm believer in the policy of the Democratic party, and 
is at present assistant assessor in Wvsox. 

WILLIAM II. CONKLIN, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. Mvers- 
burg, Avas born October 12, 1838, a son of Joseph and Sopiiia L. 
(Pierce) Conklin, natives of Orange county, N. Y., and Wysox, 
respectively. Joseph Conklin came to Bradford county about 1830, 
and engaged in the tailor's trade ; he located on the Barstow farm, 
afterward owned by J. W. Poole and now by William II. Conklin. 
He afterward removed to Myersburg, and later purchased at sheriff's 
sale sixty-five acres of land*^ where William H. Conklin now resides, 
and there followed farming and tailoring until his death, which occurred 
September 1, 1875, when aged sixty-seven vears. He was married to 
Sophia L. Pierce, August 23, 1837^ The Pierce family are of earlv 
New England stock. Mrs. Conklin's grandmother, Lydia Shepiierd, 
was a descendant of the Shepherd family that came to this countrv in 
the "Mayflower." Mr. and Airs. Joseph Conklin w^ere blessed witli 
two children: William II. and George! the latter of whom was born 
March 17, 1842, and was married to Nancy Coolbaugh, and is now 
engaged in farming in Wysox township. 'William II. Conklin was 
educated in the common school, and afterward attended Williamsport 
Commercial College. He is now the owner of the homestead and 
mucii other valuable farm and mill propei'ty in W^ysox. He is a 
Eepublican in politics, and has held the offices 'of town commissioner 
and justice of the peace, being familiarly known as " Squire " Conklin. 

CYPtlTS COOK, farmer and stock growei-, of Orwell townshi]), 
P. O. Potterville, was born in Orwell township, thiscountv, February 
16, 1818, a son of Joel Cook, who was born in Litchfield countv, Conn'^ 
December 29, 1791, came to Orwell in 1810, and after a short sojourn 
returned to Connecticut, but came back to Orwell in 1811, and settled 
jiermanently in this county ; he was the son of Joel Cook, Sr., and 
Diana (Dunbar) Cook, natives of Connecticut, who had a familv of 
ten children, of whom lie was the youngest; his father was a lineal 
descendant of Henry Cook, a native of the countv of Kent, England, 
who had immigi-ated to Massachusetts and settled at Plymouth, ]irior 
to 1640. Joel Cook, Sr., served his country in the Revolutionarv War, 
enlisting in the army under Washington in 17T6 ; but after a time 
spent in the service he was taken sick and died. Joel Cook, Jr., spent 
his life in agricultural pursuits, clearing his land and fitting it for the 
plow; Avas prominent in all the movements of his day having a ten- 
dency to better the condition of his neighbors ; was the first to organ- 
ize a Sunday-school in Orwell township", and was largelv interested in 
the tem])erance movement of 1829; he Avas a great reader, and famil- 
iarized himself Avith the best literature of his time, besides spending 
many of his leisure hours studying jiis Bible; his life was pure from 



738 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

his childhood to his death, which occurred May 12, 1886; he was 
united in marriage. May 22, 1814, with Polly, daughter of Dan, Sr., 
and Polly (Chubbuck) Russell, and had a family of five sons and one 
daughter, viz.: Darwin, born April 1, 1S15, a graduate of Easton Col- 
lege and Princeton Theological College, and who became a Pres- 
byterian clergyman ; May, born October IS, 1816 ; C3'rus ; Seth, born 
Sept. 18, 1822, of Orwell; Ralph, who died at the age of twentv; 
Philip B., born January 17, 1832. Cyrus Cook spent his boyhood on 
a farm, receiving fair educational advantages at the common schools 
of his time, and attending select school at LePaysville, and also 
Lafayette College. In 1839 he began teaching, which profession he 
followed several 3'ears, and then commenced farming. In 1811 he 
])archased a farm close to Potterville, which was covered with a 
ilense forest, and there resided several years in a log house, much of 
his time eno-a^ed in clearino- his farm. After eight vears he removed 
to the place now owned by his son, Avery, where he resided until 
1866 ; then came to his present place, and devoted over ten years of 
his life to lumbering and rafting down the river. Mr. Cook owns 
fifteen acres of as beautiful land as is to be found in his section of the 
county — well fenced, mostly with stone wall, and he has built over 
600 rods of wall in his time; the farm is well stocked with cattle, 
sheep and horses. Mr. Cook was united in marriage, September 16, 
1840, with Caroline A., daughter of Oliver and Mary (Keith) Ells- 
worth, the former of whom was one of Orwell's pioneers, and had a 
family of eight children, of whom Mrs. Cook is the seventh. To Mr. 
and j\[rs. Cook have been born five children, as follows: Avery C, 
born May 21, 1841, married to Augusta Darling; Joel D., born August 
21, 1843, married, for his first wife, to Amanda Upson, and after her 
death to her sister, Phoda (he is a farmer and stock grower in 
Nebraska); Oliver E., born August 14, 1845, mari'ied to Sarah Lent; 
Emma A. born July 1, 1849, mai-ried to George Stocking, a farmer of 
Nebraska: and R. P., born April 4, 1856, married to Addie Crawford. 
Mr. Cook's family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; 
he is a stanch Republican, and has been called by his friends and 
neighbors to everv local office at their disposal, and was assistant 
revenue collector during 1879-80. 

WILLARD COOK, farmer and stock grower, "Windham Centre, 
was born in Windham, Bradford county, July 1, 1849. a son of William 
and Betsey (Hartshorn) Cook, natives of New York, who came to 
P>radford county in 1835, and located in Windham township, on the 
land now the home of the son. This land was cleared and improved 
bv William Cook, chiefl}' by his own hands, and to farming he added 
milling, becoming, from a poor boy, one of the most pi'ominent men 
in Windham township. At the time of his death, in 1886, his farm 
contained 500 acres of well-improved land: his wife had preceded 
him to t\\o. li'rave. in 1873, and their family consisted of four children, 
of whom Willard is the eldest. He grew to his majority in the fam- 
ily home, I'eeeiving a fair English cdncation in the |)ublic schools, and 
i)ecame a farmei'. At his father's dcatli h(^ received his portion of tin; 
estate, the land being 195 acres, to which he added, from time to time. 



HISTOKY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 739 

and now owns 2()(> acres of fine fai-ni hind, all under good cultivation. 
Mr. Cook was nuirried to Delphene, daughter of Verus N. and Eliza 
(Hill) Boardnian, of Tioga county, Pa., who came to this county in 
1847, and settled in AVindham. Mr. Boardman enlisted in March, 
1863, in the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth P. Y, I., Company I, and 
was in the battles of Petersburg and Gettysburg, and died in Beverly 
Hospital, N. J., in lS(i4. Mr. and Mrs. Willard Cook have had chil- 
dren : Myrtie M., born October 24, 1878; and Leon W., born Se})tem- 
ber 27, 1889, died December 9, 1890. Mr. Cook is Democratic in his 
political affiliations. 

ZERI COOK, farmer, P. O. Potterville, was born in Orwell, this 
county, Januar}^ 8, 1822, a son of Uri and Ph(X)be Cook, the former 
of whom was bo)'n in Connecticut in 1780, and came to this county in 
1818 ; they had a family of six children, viz.: Sallie (mari'ied to Gris- 
wold Mathews); Elizabeth (married to John Black); Syrinda (deceased); 
Fannie (married to Isaiah Potter); Zeri and Laura. Zeri Cook was 
married to Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Newcome, of New York, and 
by that marriage bad a family of five children, viz.: Delette (married 
to Leroy Corbin, of Potterville, Pa.); Annette; Fanny (married to 
D. W. Carry, and resides in Philadelphia); Peed ; and Carleton, of Ham- 
monton, N. J. Uri Cook was a prominent man in Orwell township; 
was many years a deacon of the Presbyterian Church, and might be 
called the father of that church organization in Orwell. The house 
which Peed Cook now occupies was built nearly seventy-five 3'ears 
ago, on the farm of 200 acres of land, of which he cleared the 
greater part ; Zeri and his son, Reed, still own 140 acres. Reed 
Cook, who manages the homestead farm, was born and reareel on 
it, and received the advantages of a common-school education. When 
twenty-four years old he began farming, and with the exception of 
two summers passed in the AVest, he has spent his life so far on 
the old farm. He was united in wedlock June 11, 1884, with 
Frances, daughter of Irani and Harriet (Pendleton) Manchester, of 
Warren township, this county, and to them have been born three chil- 
di-en: Robert (born May 20, "^1885); Leora (born January 23, 1887); and 
Paul (born July 7. 1889). The famil\' are membei's of the Congrega- 
tional Church. Zeri Cook was striken with paralysis, which deprived 
him of the power of speech and of the entire use of one side, but he 
bears his affliction with fortitude and resignation. He and his son are 
Re])ublicans in politics, and the latter now holds the office of school 
director. 

CHESTER J. COOLBAUGH, Towanda, was born in Wysox 
township, this county, March 20, 1844, and is a son of Moses and Sally 
(Hickok) Coolbaugh. His great-gi-aiid father, Moses Coolbaugh, was a 
pioneer of Wysox township, whei'e he reared a family of four sons and 
three daughters : AVilliam, Cornelius, David, Samuel, Elsia (Mrs. 
Ridgeway), Eleanor (Mrs. William x\llen), and Sarah (Mrs. Pierce). 
Of these William, who was a farmer of Asylum township, lived and 
died there on the farm now owned and occupied by his grandson, 
AVilliam Acklev. His children were Moses, Harry, flohn. lietscy 
(Mrs. Amos Ilolbert), Sally (Mrs. Jonathan Stevens), Polly (Mrs. 



740 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Llovd Ackley). and Ellen (Mrs. Joseph Sill), Of these Moses, a native 
of Bradford county, was for many years a pilot on the North Branch 
of the Susquehanna river, and in later life carried on farming and 
Innibering- in Grandville township, on what is known as " Coolijaugh 
Hill;" he died in Lycoming county, while away from home, at the 
age of seventy-nine years. Moses and Sally (Hickock) Coolbaugh 
had six children as folloAvs: Euth, Amanda, Prax\% Emma, Sally 
and Chester J. Chester J. Coolbaugh, who was reared in Bradford 
count}^ received a common-school education ; in 1863 he began clerking 
in a store at Trov, this county, being employed in different stores up 
to 1808, when he came to Towanda, where he has been employed by 
Evans & Ilildreth in same capacity for twenty years. In April, 1875, 
he married Melissa D., daughter of Dan ford and Deborah (Rockwell) 
Chaffee, of Rome, and has one son, George W. Mr. Coolbaugh is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the K. of P. and K. of 
IL. and in politics he is a Democrat. 

EUSTIS A. COOLBAUGH, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. Wy- 
sox, was born November 5, 1819, near where the creamery now stands 
in Wysox, a son of Samuel and Nancy (Ogden) Coolbaugh, the former 
of whom was a native of Wysox, of Holland origin, the latter a native 
of Wyakising, of Irish lineage. Samuel Coolbaugh was a farmer, and 
also did considerable mercantile business ; he owned the farm where 
E. A, Coolbaugh now resides, and operated two sawmills thereon, raft- 
ing his lumber in large quantities down the river ; also built and 
ojierated a gristmill. In his family there were ten children, of whom 
our subject, who is the second, was reared on the farm and educated 
in the common school and Towanda graded school. At the age of 
twentv-seven he engaged in business for himself, farmino- and lumber- 
ing for a short time, and also carried on mercantile business ; he pur- 
chased his present home from his father, and has smce given his atten- 
tion chiefly to farming, being one of the best farmers in Bradford 
county. Mr. Coolbaugh was married August 10, 1846, to Harriet, 
daughter of Amos and Harriet (Hinman) York, and they have had 
born to them six children, viz.: Frances Elmore, born Novemi)er 24, 
1847, died July ;}0, 1848; Frances Alice, born March 2, 1849, married 
Richard E. (J. Myer, now in Kansas; Elizabeth Ellen, born October 10, 
1850, married Harry Seaman, mailagent at Ilarrisburg, Pa.; Nancy C, 
born May 16, 1852, married George Conklin, farmer, Wysox; Henry Y., 
born May 27, 1854, is emploved in the Elmira Bridge Works, Elniira, 
N. Y.; Jesse Allen, born February 6, 1856, died July 14, 1876. Mrs. 
Coolbaugh dying April 25, 1856, Mr. Cooli>augli married, June \-J. 
1857, Soplironia Elmore York, a sister of his first wife, and this happy 
union has been blessed with one son and three (hiuulitei-s; Albert E., 
born December 28, lS<iO, employed as lineman by the Towanda Elec- 
tric Company; Harriet W., born October 29, 1862, married Dr. Addi- 
son A. Armstrong, of Fail- Haven, N. J.; Wealthy Ann, born May 27, 
1865, mari'ied to Albert Lent, a farmer of AYysox township, and Agnes 
S., boi-n XovemlxM' 16, 186(5, living with her pai'onts. The family are 
members of the Presbyteri:in Church, at Wysox, of which Mr. (V;ol- 
baugh is elder and trustee; he is a member of the Masonic Lodge at 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 741 

TowaiuUi, and is a cliarter lucmbcr of Wysox Grano-e ; in politics he 
is Deiiioci'atic, and has been scliool director, town clerk, and justice of 
the ])eace ten years. Mr. Coolbaugh's great-grandmother, Wigton, 
was in the fort at Wyoming at the time of the massacre, but, being 
Avarned by a friendly squaw, made her esca})e. 

JEFFERSON L. COOLBAUGII, farmer, P. O. Liberty Corner, 
was born Ma\' 28, 1831, in Monroe township, this county, and is a son 
of Absalom and Catherine (Bull) Coolbaugh, natives of this county, 
and of Dutch and English ancestry, respectively. He is the eldest in 
a family of five children, and was reared on his father's farm. Fie was 
united in the bonds of matrimony January 11, 1869, to Savannah, 
daughter of Madison and Rebecca (Place) Decker, of Monroe count\% 
Pa., and who was born Decendjer 15, 184-2, the seventh in a family of 
fourteen children, thirteen of whom are living, all but one being in 
this county. There have been no children born to this union. Mr. 
Coolbaugh's mother, hale and cheery at the age of eighty-eight years, 
lives with him. Mr. Coolbaugh is a successful farmer, and has a very 
fine farm in one of the very beautiful locations of the county. Fie is a 
Republican, and has held nuiny places of public trust. He is a genial, 
honorable gentleman, and is noted as one of the ])rominent and most 
honored citizens of old Firadford county. He carries on general farm- 
ing, raises some fine horses and other stock, and in his dairying makes 
a specialty of fine butter. Mrs. Coolbaugh is a consistent member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

RODNEY II. COOLEY, farmer, P. O. Troy, was born in Spring- 
tield township, this county, April 16, 1830, a son of Isaac and Margaret 
(Kent) Cooley. Isaac Cooley was a native of Springfield, Mass., and 
settled in 1807, in Springfield township, this county, where he cleared 
and improved the farm now owned by our subject, comprising over 
200 acres of land. He resided in this township until his death, 
which occurred in 1868, when aged eighty-four years; he was a deacon 
of the Baptist Church; was county auditor, 1829-31; commissioner of 
Bradford county, 1832-34, and a member of tiie State Legish^ture, 
1836-37; politically he was a F)emocrat. His first wife was Betsey 
Norman, by whom he had four children: Norman, Mary (Mrs. Beley 
Adams), Jane (Mrs. Caleb S. Burt) and Isaac. For his second wife he 
married a daughter of Beley Kent, of Springfield township, formerly 
of Schenectady, N. Y., and by her he had two children: Rodney II. and 
^[aria (Mrs. James Allen). Rodney II. Cooley was reared and educated 
in Springlield township, succeeded to the homestead at his father's death, 
on which he remained until 1879, when he removed to Troy, where he 
lias since resided, but stills owns the homestead. He married, in 1860, 
Elsie A., daughter of El>en F. Parkhurst, of Springfield township, and 
has one daughter, Anna P. Mr. Cooley is a well-known and promi- 
nent citizen of Bradford county; in politics he is a F)emocrat. 

G. M. COONS, proprietor of tlie ])laning-mill. Canton, is a native 
of New York, born December 23, 1839, a son of Philip M. and Polly 
(Fay) Coons, natives of Chenango and Onondaga counties, N. Y., 
respectively ; the former was of German and the latter of English 
descent ; the father was a stone cutter and salt boiler, also followed 

43 



742 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

farming; he died in Canton in ISTo, in his sixty-third year; the 
mother died in 1S60, in her forty-fifth year. The great-grandfather 
Fay was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. G. M. Coons, who is 
the fourth in a family of five children — two daughters and three sons 
— was reared in his native place until twelve years of age, when the 
family moved to Union township, Tioga Co., Ta., where he made his 
home until the breaking out of the war, working the principle part of 
the time in the lumber mills in Williamsport. lie first enlisted in 
May, 18G1, in the three months' service, and re-enlisted in November, 
1861, in Company D, One Hundred and Sixth P. Y. I; some of the 
engagements in which he partici|)ated were the siege of Yorktown, 
Fair Oaks, Savage Station, White Oak Swamj), Malvern Tlill, Second 
Bull Klin, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Wilderness; he 
was slightly wounded at Antietam, but did not leave the field, and at 
the battle of the AVilderness, May 6, 18G4, he received a flesh wound in 
the right arm. He was mustered out at Petersburg, November 1, 1864, 
and returned to Tioga coimty, where he farmed one year. In 1869 
he moved to Lycoming county, Pa., where he remained one year ; then 
in December, 1870, he came to Canton; he had worked one year in 
the lumber business in AV'illiamsport, and in 1871 he embarked in the 
business for himself. In 1872 he purchased an interest in a sash and 
blind factory, the firm name being I.ewis & Coons; they built a large 
factory on Mill creek. Canton borough, and at the end of three 3^ears 
A. B. Brain bought Mr. Lewis' interest, and the firm was known as 
Coons & Brain; they enlarged the plant, but eighteen months after this 
change the Minncqua Improvement Company's dam burst, and a 
column of water twenty-two feet high entirely destroyed the factory. 
Mr. Coons continued tlie business alone, built his present mill, and is 
doinfj a successful business. He was married in Tio<i:a countv. Pa., in 
1867, to Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. William and Rhoda (Lapluim) 
Braine, natives of England; her father, who was a Wesleyan min- 
ister, moved to Knoxville, Tenn., where he died. Mrs. Coons was 
born in Sullivan county. Pa., in March, 1848, and is the fiftii in order 
of birth in a family of ten children. To Mr. and Mrs. Coons were born 
four children, as follows : Jennie L. (deceased), one that died in infancy, 
Giles il and Howard S. The family are members of the Afethodist 
Episcopal Church. Mr. Coons is a member of the G. A. R, Inuham 
Post, No. 91, and of the Union Yeteran Legion, No. 48. Politically 
he is a llej^ublican, and served one term on the borough council. 

CORT COOPER, farmer, P. O. Litchfield, was born September 16, 
185t'», on the farm whei'e his father now resides, a son of J. H. and 
Ehza (Cranse) Cooper, natives of Yermontand New York, respectively. 
J. II. Cooper, a farmer by occu|)ati()n, came to Litchfield township in 
1840, where he has since remained; his family consisted of the follow- 
ing named children: Alvin (deceased), Amanda,, Louise (deceased), 
Cort and AVilliam, latter married to Jessie McKinney and living on the 
homestead. Cort Cooper was reared on the fai'm and received his 
(iarly education in the schools of Litchfield and Rome townships. 
Leaving school when eighteen years of age, he began farming on the 
property where he ninv resides. He married, November 8, 1877, Delia 



HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY, 743 

S., (laughter of Henry and Lucretia (Fitler) Case, and to this union 
have been born three children: Amanda. Jessie and Bernice. Mr. 
Cooper is the owner of nitiety-five acres of land, fifteen of which are 
finely impi'oved ; he keej^s a chiiry for family use, and raises cereal 
crops; his farm is well stocked, and on it he has a fine, handsome 
Percheron yearling colt, weighing lOGO ]>ounds. In politics Mr. Cooper 
is a Republican, and has held the oliices of assessor and school 
treasurei'. 

JOSEPH F. COOPER, merchant, Warren Centre, was born July 
17, 1841, in Warren township, this county, a son of Robert and Anna 
(Steenburg) Cooper, natives of England and New York, respectively. 
The father came to this country in 181S, first settling in Susquehanna 
county, but removed to Bradford about 1822; he was by trade a 
cabinet-maker, and engaged in farming in connection with his trade. 
In 1842 he commenced merchandising at Warren Centre, and was in 
time succeeded by his son, Joseph ; the father died in 1869, and his 
widow departed this world in 1883; they had thirteen children, the 
second and third of whom died, Charlotte in infancy, and Charles 
when nine years old ; those who grew to maturity were : Angelina 
(Mrs. Curtis Bostwick); Charlotte (Mrs. Dr. Alfred Pierounet); James 
E., of Newark valley, N. Y. ; Emma E. (Mrs. John Jones) ; Betsy 
(Mrs. Theodore Randell); Charles (died aged twenty-nine, in 1865); 
Maiy (Mrs. Augustus Olmstead, who died, aged twenty-seven, in 1864, 
leaving a son, Robert, and husband); Robert (was killed in the battle 
of Chancellorsville, in 1863; he enlisted, in 1861, in the One Hundi'ed 
and Forty-first N. Y. V. I., and participated in all the battles of his 
regiment); Jose])h F. ; Rebecca T. (Mrs. Roger B. Ilowell) and 
Elizabeth B. (who died in 1871, aged twenty-four). Joseph F., who it 
will be seen was next but one to the last of this large family, was 
educated in the common schools and finished in Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) 
Commercial College in 1863. Soon after leaving school he engaged in 
merchandising, and was one of the first to commence building up 
Warren Centre in its present site, in 1882, and to him is mostly due 
the credit of the business importance of the place. Both his store and 
residence are among the fine buildings of the count}^; in his store is a 
large and varied stock, suitable to a country trade, consisting of dry 
goods, groceries, drugs, boots and shoes, etc. Mr. Cooper was married 
in AVarren township, to Emma, daughter of William and Abig.iil 
(True) Green, the former of whom, an Englishman, came to America 
in 1817, and settled in Philadelphia with his parents, when he was 
eight years of age. For eleven years he sailed before the mast, all 
over the world, before he was thirty years of age, and when he was 
tired of roaming he came to Susquehanna county, in 1839, and 
removed to Bradford in 1855 ; he is a quiet and respectable farmer, 
and now makes his home in Warren with his son, E. O. Green; his 
wife came to New Hampshire in 1820, locating first in Springville, but 
removed to Bradford about 1827 and located in Warren, where she 
was married in 1841; they had three children, of whom Emma was the 
eldest. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have a son, Robert, who is in his father's 
tore. Mr. Cooper is a Republican; was postmaster nineteen years 



744 HISTORY OF RRADFORD COUNTY. 

and went out only when ho was not in accord with a new administra- 
tion; was town clerk and treasurer, two terms each. An incident of 
his lathers life is, that when he reached New York, on his Avay West, 
he had but one shilling, but boklly pushed oat on foot for his destina- 
tion, and reached Sus(|uehanna county, went to carpentering and 
built many houses, and among other experiences walked twelve miles 
to and from work (once a week) for one hundred days on the old 
Owego bridge. While living in AVarren he built a church, in Leltays- 
ville, walking eight miles; then built the church in his own township, 
and no matter where he worked he never spent any time '* nooning." 
His eldest son, w^ho was nine years old, when he was working on the 
LeKaysysville church, helped to haul lumber. These are lessons in 
thrift and industry that posterity may well look at. 

ALFRED B. Y^ORBIN, a leading farmer of Warren township. P. 
O. Warren Centre, is a native of Warren township, this county, having 
been born May 5,1840, a sonof Alonzo D. and Mary Ann(Prince)Corbin, 
natives of that township. On both sides they were farmers and earlv 
])ioneers of Bradford county, who endured the severe trials and hard 
experiences of those advance couriers of civilization, who helped to hew 
away the deep forests; the mother died April 28, ISTl, and the father 
was laid by her side September 15, 1889. They had three children, 
viz.: Alfred B.; Elmira (Mrs. Jonathan Ross) of Susquehanna county, 
and Mary Jane (Mrs. John M. Dowley), of Binghamton, who has three 
children: Steven, Ella and Mamie. Alfred B. Corbin received his educa- 
tional training at the neighboring schools.and learned to use the axe, hoe 
and plow, and to plant and cultivate the usual farm crops of this locality, 
lie became a successful and prominent farmer, and now owns thirty- 
three acres of land — a choice farming spot well cared for. He has 
been thrice married; his first wife was Olive, daughter of Joseph 
Sleeper, and by her tliere was one child, Frecklie, avIio died in infancy. 
This wife dying April 3, 1863, Mr. Corbin married, November 24, 18(i4, 
Romanda M., daughter of Abel Prince, and by her had one child, 
Manson E., whose mother died December 23, 1870. and in 1872 Mr. 
Corbin was married to Dorcas A., daughter of Edward T. and ^laria 
(Haner) Cornell, who was of English extraction, former a native of 
Rhode Island, latter of New York State. To this union have been 
born two children: Harriet (Mrs. Edmund W. Chaffee, who has two 
chikiren, Frank L. and Fred) and Dorcas. In his political preferences 
Mr. Corbin is a Republican, but he is more of an honest farmer than 
an active politician, and he loves his country, his family and his 
friends. 

G. G. CORBIN, merchant, Potterville, was born in Warren town- 
ship, this county, January ('», 1837, and is a son of Ira W. and Hetsie 
(Shurts) Corbin, the former of whom was born in Warren townshij), 
February 15, 1811, and is now living on a farm near to Potterville; he 
is a son of Oliver and Lucy (Ilill) Corbin, the former born in Connecti- 
cut, removed to Nichols, N. Y., and afterward to Warren townshi]), 
ai)OUt 1810. Ira W. Corl)in followed teaching over thirty years; he 
had several brothers who were teachers and met with great success in 
that professi<jn; he was nuirried March 5, 1835, and had seven children, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 745 

viz.: George G., Pamelia (deceased), Jacob I>. (deceased), LeRoy, 
Einma A. (married to James Lewis, of Towanda), Amanda (married to 
Fredericiv Wells, of Elmira, N. Y.) and Franlc (inai-ried to George 
Chamberlain, of Towanda). G. G. Corliin passed his boyhood in 
AVarren townshi[), and Avas educated in the common schools and at 
Camptown Academy. After attaining his majority be began teaching, 
and followed it about sixteen years. In 1863 or '04 he })urchased a 
farm on which lie made his home until June, 1877, when he removed 
to Potterville, and embarked in merchandisino- with A. G. Frisbie, but 
after one and a half years Mr. Frisbie retired, and Mr. Corbin has con- 
tinued in tlie business to the present time, conducting a general store, 
on July, 3, 1861, he was united in marriage with Ellen E. Newell, and 
tQ them have been born six children, as follows: Mary (born June 23, 
1863, married to Wilbur Gorham, a farmer of Orwell), Newell G. (born 
November 9, 1865), Dewitt G. (born July 28, 1874), Cora St. Leon 
(born December 6, 1875, died in infancy), Georgiana (born October 8, 
1878), Winnie L. (born November 4, 1884). Mr. Corbin is a Repub- 
lican, is a school director and for the last twelve years has been justice 
of the peace. 

J. T. CORBIN, physician and surgeon, Athens, is a native of 
Warren township, this county, and was born July 26, 1819; his par- 
ents were Oliver C. and Lucy B. (Hill) Corbin, farmers, natives of 
Connecticut ; the father came from Connecticut to this county in 1801, 
and with live brothers went to work to clear up homes in the forest. 
His mother, with her family came to Owego in 1796, and they were 
married in Owego and removed to Warren, Pa. Oliver C.CJorbin died 
in Athens in March, 1870, in his eightj^-seventh year; Mrs. Coi-bin 
died in 1880, in her ninety -fourth year. Dr. Corbin is the sixth in a 
family of nine children, who grew to maturity, six sons and three 
daughters. He completed his medical education and began to practice 
his profession in Athens, in February, 1848. The doctor was married 
in Athens, in 1850, to Miss Mary A. Tozer, daughter of Julius and 
Meribah Tozer, the former a native of this county, and the latter of 
Otsego, N. Y. Mrs. Corbin was born in Chemung countv, N. Y., 
July 22, 1826. To Dr. and Mrs. Corbin were born the following chil- 
dren : One that died in infancy; Mary (deceased); Annadell (wife of 
Prof. William H. Benedict, of Elmira,^ N. Y.); Julius T., an attorney 
at law; John E. (deceased); and Ida W. 

ALVAH M. CORNELL, farmer, P. O. Altus, was born at Swan- 
sea, Mass., August 22, 1825, a son of Levi and Fannie (Luther) Cor- 
nell, natives of Bristol county, Mass., who settled in 1827, in Columbia 
township, tills county, on a farm now occupied by our subject, which 
his father had clearetl and improved and resided on many years; the 
last twelve years of Levi's life were spent in Austinville, where he died 
July 19, 1874, aged seventy-seven years. He was a son of Asa and 
Martha (Mason) Cornell, and his wife was a daughter of Rev. Childes 
and Lucy (Kelton) Luther, all of Bristol county, Mass.; tliey had seven 
children who grew^ to maturitv as follows: Frederick P., Level M., 
Alvah M., William C, Sally M. (Mrs. John Ilowland), Lucy L. (Mrs. 
Hosea C. Wolfe) and Mary J. Alvah M. Cornell was reared on the 



746 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

old homestead in Columbia townsliip from two years of age, and, with 
the exception of one year, he was superintendent of the County Poor 
Farm, has since resided there. On June T, 1849, he married Betse\', 
daughter of Nathan and Nancy (Rockwell) Bullock, of Leiloy town- 
slii}), this county, and by her had three children: Fannie (Mrs. Uel C. 
Porter), Edith (Mrs. Merville Sweet) and Albert M., the latter of whom 
resides on the old homestead farm, married to Emma, daughter of 
Charles and Hannah (Andrews) Talbot, of Bristol county, Mass., antl 
the}' have one daughter, Eva M. Mr. Cornell is a prominent citizen and 
one of the leading and enterprising farmers of Columbia townshi}). 
He is a member of the Universalist Church, and of the Patrons of 
Husbandry; in politics he is an Independent. 

JAMES W. CORRELL, of Dobbins & Correll, general hardware 
dealers, Troy, was born in Northampton county. Pa., June 27, 1849, a 
son of Philip and Maria (Dutt) Correll, and of German descent. He 
was reared in his native county and educated at the State Normal 
School at Millersville ; he served a three years' apprenticeshij) at the 
carriage-maker's trade in Tunkhannock, Pa., and afterward worked as 
a mechanic six years at Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Towanda and Ti'oy, 
locating in Troy in 1875, where he followed his trade three years. In 
1878 he removed to Canton townshi}), and in the fall of same year 
eml:)arked in general merchandising ;it East Canton, in whicli he con- 
tinued four years as a member of the fii'm of Beardsley A: Correll. In 
188y he returned to Troy and formed a partnership with Mr. John E. 
Dobbins, in the hardware business, under the firm name of Dobbins & 
Correll, in which he still successfully continues. Mr. Correll was 
married October 24, 1877, to Mary L., daughter of Myron H. and 
Harriet L. (Lamkin) Annable, of LeRov township, and has one 
daughter. Ella G. Mrs, CorrelTs father servetl three years as a soKlier 
in the Civil AV^ar with credit, and was honorably discharged. A 
younger brother of Mr. Correll, Rev. Irvin II. Correll, has been a mis- 
sionary of the ]\[ethodist Episcopal Church in Japan seventeen years. 
Mr. Correll is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 
politics is a Republican. 

REVEREND CHARLES C. CORSS, a resident of East Smith- 
field, was born May 22, 1803, at Greenfield, Mass., a son of Asher 
and Lucy (Grennell) Corss, of English descent, originally of French ; 
the ancestors are sup})osed to have come from France to England at 
the time of the persecutions of the Huguenots; his grandfather, 
Grennell, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Corss was lifted 
for college at Leicester Academy, also Ilojikins Academy, and was grad- 
uated from Amherst College and at Princeton Theological Seminary; he 
was ))receptor of Deerfield Academy in 1831 to 1832, and a teacher at 
West Springlield, 1832 to 1833; Avas first located asa pastorat Kingston, 
Pa., December, 1834, and in 1830 came to Athens, Pa. He was twice 
married, first at Kingston, September, 1830, to Ann,(!l(lest sister of Ex- 
Governor Iloyt ; they had born to tliem five children, of whom four are 
living, as follows: Charles, a lawyer at Lock Haven, Pa.; Nancy; Fred- 
erick, physician, at Kingston, Pa., and Ann H., wife of AVilliam F. 
Church. Mrs. Corss died in 1851. He located at East Smithlield in 1847, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 747 

and has now continued in the ministry sixty-seven years, lie married 
his present wife, JAiceha I'iielps, ol' Kast SmiLJilield, June 6, 186(5; she 
was born July 27, 1821. Mv. Corss is the author of "A cake not 
turned," and '' Presbytery of Susquehanna," also an abrido-euient of 
Haly burton's " Great Concern of Salvation.'" lie is much respected 
b\^ all who know him, 

JOHN H. CORY, physician, Springfield, was born in Springfield 
township, Bradford Co., Pa., January 17, 1852, a son of Dr. William 
and Maria (Mattocks) Cory. William Cory was born in Connecticut, 
and moved to Springfield township, this county, when twenty -two 
years of age ; he studied medicine under Dr. Wilder, at Spring-field 
Centre, and commenced practice in 1845, continuing thirty-five years; 
he had a large and lucrative business and accumulated a fortune. He 
was a prominent Freemason, and died at the age of sixty-seven years. 
The mother of John U. Cory was of a family of old settlers of the 
county; her grandfather, " Squire " Mattocks, moved to Springfield 
township when there were only five families here; her father lived to 
be ninety-one years old. Dr. Cory was educated in the schools of the 
township and at the Elmira Academy ; he studied medicine with his 
father, and attended lectures at the New York Eclectic Medical Col- 
lege, graduating from there in the spring of 1878, and commenced 
practice with his father at Springfield Centre, where he has since con- 
tinued ; he has a large and lucrative ]iractice, and is much respected by 
a large circle of friends. The doctor was married December 5, 1881, to 
Hattie, daughter of Phillip and Harriet (Chrittenden) Sweet, of Ulster 
(she was born in June, 1855). There have been born to Dr. and Mrs. 
Cory three children, as follows: William S., born in August, 1883; 
Edwina D., born April 10, 1885 ; and Vere A., born May 9,1887. 
Dr. Cory is a member of the F. & A. M.; is a Democrat in politics, 
and takes great interest in political matters. 

ALBERT COVELL, farmer, in Springfield township, P. O. Big 
Pond, was born March 5, 1834, in Springfield township, this county, 
a son of William and Perlina (Cooper) Covell, former of whom, a 
farmer by occupation, was a native of New York State, whence, when 
a young man, he removed to this county, and settled in Ridgebury town- 
ship. He reared a family of six children — three sons and three daugh- 
ters — the subject of this sketch being the fifth. The youngest son, 
Piatt, was a soldier in the Civil War. The father died in 1874 at the 
age of seventy-four years, and the mother died at the age of sixtj'-nine. 
Mr. Covell's paternak grandfather was in the War of 1812, and expe- 
rienced all the hardships incident to those stirring times. Albert 
Covell was educated in the schools of his township, and reared to 
farming and lumbering, the former of which he has continued to 
follow, and he has acquired a fine property, being now the owner 
of a farm of 235 acres of well-improved land. He was married, 
October 4, 1860, to Lovina Alfred, who was born November 3, 1840, 
second youngest in a family of three daughters born to Andrew and 
Hannah (Carr) Alfred, of Tioga county, Pa., farmers and natives of 
Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Covell have had born to them six chil- 
dren, as follows: Grant A., born August 30, 1862, was graduated from 



748 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Cornell University and is now a professor in the State Agricultural 
College, of Oregon ; Effie D., born August 20, 1864, wife of Fred May; 
Carrie, born August 8, 1866 ; Jessie, a teacher, born September 30, 1868; 
Blanche, born July 13, 1870; Florence, born June 10, 1886. Mr. Covell 
is a Democrat in politics, and takes an active mterest in the affairs 
of his party; is a Freemason, and is much respected by his neighbors 
and a wide circle of friends. Dairying and stock-i'aising, chiefly 
Shoithorn Durhams, comprise the ])rincipal business on the farm. 

GEORGE L. COVERT, F. O. Covert, was born in AVard town- 
ship, Tioga Co., Pa., July 22, 1842, and is a son of Harry and Ortiiia 
(Field) Covert. His paternal grandfather, William Covert, formerly 
of Delaware county, N. Y., was among the pioneers of Armenia town- 
shi]), this county, settling on what is now known as the Bninham 
farm, and resided in the township until his tleath. His cliildren wei-e 
Harry, Erastus, Elizabeth, Ann (Mrs. De AVitt), Esther (Mrs. AVilliam 
Kinch), Malvina, Diana (Mrs. Simon Congdon). Of these, Harry, the 
father of subject, has spent most of his life in Armenia township, 
where he has cleared several farms. PI is wife was a daughter of 
•Abizer Field, of Armenia, and by her he had four children, as follows: 
Henry, George L., Edwin and Frances (Mrs. Arthur Youmans). Oui' 
subject enlisted September 12. 1861, in Com])any C, Seventh renn- 
sylvania Cavalry, and was taken prisoner at Gallatin. Tenn., August 
21, 1862. After four months he was exchanged, and he then joined 
his company at Nashville, Tenn. On November 28, 1863, he 
re enlisted, this time at Huntsville, Ala., as a veteran volunteer. On 
June 20, 1864, he was wounded in battle near Kenesaw Mountain, 
Ga.. being shot through the left lung and left wrist, and September 5, 
1865, he was honorably discharged from the service. ^About two 
years thereafter he attended the State Normal School at ]\[ausli(>]d. 
Pa., one year, or four terms, and afterward taught school one tei-m in 
Tioga county, two in Bradford and one in Clinton, all in this State. 
On January 18, 1871, he purchased a membersiiip in the AVilliams]>ort 
Commercial College, then under the management of Davis & Milch- 
ell, and was in attendance four months. Subsequently he took up 
telegra])hy, working for the American Union Telegi'aph Company 
about one year, and for the AVestern Union Telegraph Company three 
years. On Januarv 8, 1884, Mr. (Jovert married Marv J., dau<^hter of 
Albert Merriara, of AVellsburg, N. Y. In the fall of 1885 he built 
the first store in Armenia township, and here he carried on mercan- 
tile business two years. In the meantime he circulated petitions and 
worked for the establishment of a mail route from Troy to Fall Brook, 
and succeeded in getting it as far as Covert's, five miles from Ti'oy, 
the name of which i)ostoltice is "■ Covert," established in July, 1886; 
Mr. Covert was a))pointed postmaster, July 8, 1886; and in Octo- 
ber, 1887, he rented his store to Field Brothers, and May 11, 1891, 
he resigned the office of postmaster in favor of O. D. Field, who 
is now acting as postmaster. Mr. Covert has been successful in busi- 
ness as far as he has been able to attend to it, l)ut he has been in jioor 
health ever since he was wounded, and has boon unal)le to ])ei"form 
manual labor. l*rior to his enlistment in the ai'iny, his occupation 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 749 

was fai-niing, but he lias had to give up all l)iisiness on account of his 
iin))aii'e(l health, and he is at present living- on the old homestead in 
Armenia township. Mr. Covert is a member of the G. A. li., and m 
politics he is a Republican. 

EDWAED M. CO WELL, physician, East Smithfield, was born in 
East Smithfield township, this county, January 29, 1864, a son of Dr. 
Selden S. and Sarah A. (McCracken) Cowell, natives of Bradford 
county, born in Asylum, the former of whom is still in the practice at 
Scranton, Pa. Our subject's grandmother was a cousin of President 
John C^). Adams, and grandfather Cowell was a pioneer settler in 
Wysox. Dr. Edward M. Cowell is an only son ; he has one sister, who 
is the wife of Wilson F. Voorhis, of East Smithfield. The subject of 
this memoir was educated at the Collegiate Institute, Towanda, and 
Iliram College, Ohio, three years; was graduated at the Chicago 
Homa'opathic Medical College in the s])ring of 1885, and commenced 
practicing in East Smithfiekf the fall of that year. He was married, 
September 10, 1885, to Lillian H., daughter"' of Charles and Lvdia 
(Dunn) Huntington, of Athens, Pa., born January 19, 180G, and there 
have been born to them three children, only one of whom is now liv- 
ing, Margaret E., born July 20, 1890. The Cowells are a race of 
])hysicians ; the Doctor's father had four brothers who were of the 
same profession, and each of them have two and three children who 
are physicians ; for several generations back there have been members 
of^ the family who have followed this ])rofession. The Cowells are of 
Welsh extraction, and the Doctor's mother's family are of Scotch- 
Irish descent. Dr. Cowell enjoys an extensive and lucrative practice, 
and a wide circle of friends. He is a Democrat in politics, and takes 
an interest in the affairs of the township and county; j\Irs. Cowell is 
a member of the Presbvterian Church. 

GEORGE II. cox', florist, Towanda, was born in Warwickshire, 
England, and is a son of George H. and Mary (Walkei") Cox. He 
was reared and educated in his native place, where he served a three 
years' apprenticeship at the gardener's and florist's business. In 1870 
he came to America, locating in Canada for a time, and, after travel- 
ing considerably to see the country, he settled in 1877 m Sayre. this 
county, where he was engaged in business up to 1884, when he removed 
to Towanda and established himself in business. He has here since 
remained, has built up a successful trade, and is the only florist in 
Towanda, his place of business being on North Main street, where he 
has three spacious green-houses, two of which are 50 x 20 feet in size, 
the other being 40 x 20. Mr. Cox was married, in 1870, to Elizabeth, 
daughter of William and Margaret (McLaughlin) McMurray, of 
County i^rmagh, Ireland, and has three children, George H.,Emilie 
P. and Charles A. Mr. Cox is a member of the Episcopal Church, 
and in politics is Independent. 

REV. DAYID CRAFT is a lineal^ descendant of Lieut. Griffin 
Craft, who, with his family, was an immigrant in the first company 
that came to Boston in July, 1630, and settled in Roxbury, now 
Boston, on a piece of land which has been in the possession of his 
descendants, and in the Craft name until now. David Craft was born 



750 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in Carme!, Putnam Co., N. Y., October 3, 1832. He is a graduate of 
Lafayette College; studied theology at Princeton, N. J.; taught in the 
Susquehanna Collegiate Institute at Towanda, in 1857 and ^^8 ; was 
licensed to preach by the Susquehanna Pi'esbytery, March, 1860, and 
in the following September began preaching at Wyalusing. In 
August, 1862, the congregation having granted him leave of absence, 
he accepted the appointment of chaplain of the One Hundred and 
Forty-first Regiment, P. V. L, but resigned the following spring on 
account of continued ill health, and resumed work in Wj^alusing, wliicii 
he continued until January, 1891. In 1866, Mr. Craft published his 
"Wyalusing," which included a histor}^ of his church and of the early 
settlement of the town. This was received with so much favor that 
the Bradford County Historical Societ}'^ prevailed upon him to under- 
take the history of the count}^, which was begun with great reluctance, 
and published m 1877. In 1879 he delivered the historical address at 
each of the celebrations of the one hundreth anniversary of the "Sul- 
livan expedition against the Western Indians," held at Elmira, Water- 
loo, Geneseo and Aurora, in the State of New York. These were com- 
bined in a continuous narrative, and published by the Seneca County 
Historical Society in 1880; rewritten and enriched with numerous geo- 
graphical and biographical notes, was published by the State of New 
York in 1885. This has received the unqualified apjn'obation of 
eminent military men and historians, such as Gen. W. T. Sherman, 
Sidney Howard Ga3% W. C. Bryant and others. 

In 1887 he published the history of the One Hundred and Forty- 
first Regiment, which, by common consent, ranks among the very best 
of regimental histories. In 1891 he wrote the early histor}-^ of the city 
of Scranton, published by H. W. Crew, of Washington, I). C. Besides 
these he has been an almost constant contributor to the press of articles 
of a historical and literarv character. In the midst of these active 
literary labt^rs, Mr. Craft has had charge of a large and laborious held, 
where he has done most acceptable and successful work as a pastor. 
He has been also active in promoting etlucational and moral society, 
frequently called to speak at teachers' associations, temperance meet- 
ings, etc. In 1889, after passing through the subordinate offices, he 
was unanimously elected grand master of the I. O. O. F., of Pennsyl- 
vania, where he had the oversight of one thousand su])oi'dinate societies 
numbering al)out one hundred thousand members. On April, 1891, he 
accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Pi-esbyterian Church in 
Lawr9nceville. I'a., where he now resides. On June 11, 1861, Mr. 
Craft married Jane Elizabeth, daughter of the late Dr. G. F. and 
Abigail llorton, and two children — one son and one daughter, both 
unmai-ried — have been born to them. 

MACKAY CRAIG, merchant, lientley ('reekj was born April 6, 
1832, in Count}' Down, Ireland, a son of Joseph (a hotel kee])er) aiul 
Jane (Walker) Craig, natives of the same county and of Scotch-Irish 
ancestry. The famil}' immigrated to America when the subject of 
these lines was an infant, and settled near Burdett Schuyler Co., N. Y., 
where the father enfjaiied in teachinfj school, and after three vears 
they came to Ridgebury township, this county, where they engaged in 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 751 

farming; the famih' consisted of four sons and one daugliter. Mackay 
Craig" was reared on the farm and carried on farming for liimself until 
the spring of 1870, when he embarked in mercantile business at Bent- 
ley Creek. In the spring of 1874 he formed a partnership with E. M. 
Tuton under the firm name of Craig & Tuton, who have had one of 
the most extensive trades in the township; they carry a large stock of 
general merchandise, and are also dealers in agricultural implements. 
Mr. Craig was married, March 25, 1871, to Jane, daughter of liosea 
and Letitia (Wilson) Kennedy, farmers, of Springfield township; she 
had two brothers, Orr and Alexander, in the Civil War, both of 
whom saw much hard service, and were made prisoners. Mr. Craig's 
brother John was also a soldier in that war. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig 
have been born three children, one son and two daughters: Hosea and 
Letitia (twins), born March 25, 1872 (Hosea is a clerk in his fathei-'s 
store, and Letitia is the wife of Jud S. Tliompson, who is also a clerk 
in the same store), and Ethlyn L. born Ma}' 30, 1875, died Nov. -i, 187G. 
Mr. Craig is a Eepublican in politics, and has held several offices of 
public trust in his township. 

SAMUEL W. CRAIG, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born Ai)ril 
10, 1838, on the farm where he now resides, in Ridgebury township, this 
countv, a son of Joseph and Jane (Walker) Craig, of Scotch-Irish 
ancestry. The family removed to America in 1832. Our subject is a 
brother of Mackay Craig, a merchant, of Bentley Creek, and is the 
youngest in a family of four sons and one daughter; his father was 
killed by an accident at the age of forty-one years, and the mother 
died aged seventy -two years. His brother, John, was a soldier in the 
Civil War. Mr. Craig was reared a farmer, and has continued to 
follow that occupation, being now the owner of a fine farm of 200 
acres, including the old homestead, where he carries on dairying 
and sheep raising. The farm is nicely located on one of the finest 
elevations in the township. He was united in marriage, October 3, 
1867, with Laura, daughter of Hiram and Jane (Furman) Mason, of 
Columbia, who were among the earliest settlers of the township of 
South Creek; she was born February 8, 1848. Her grandfather 
Mason came from Ireland when only fourteen 3'ears of age, and settled 
in Delaware county, N. Y. ; her father is an extensive farmer and 
dairyman, now aged eighty-three years; her mother died at the age of 
seventy-six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig have been born one son 
and one daughter : Edwin M., born February 13, 1870, and Jennie, 
born November 3, 1872. Mr. Craig is a Republican in politics, and 
has been auditor, school director and judge of elections; also held 
several other offices of public trust. He is one of the enterprising and 
reliable men of the township. 

CHARLES H. CRANDAL, farmer, P. O. Stevensville, .was born 
in Pike township, this county. May 21, 1837, a son of Dr. Edward and 
Mary E. (Bosworth) Crandal, latter of whom is a daughter of Salmon 
and Sarah (Olmstead) Bosworth. Salmon Bosworth and his brother, 
Josiah, were the first of the name to locate in Bradford county, and 
in 1798 they settled on the farm where Charles H. Crandal now lives, 
coming from Connecticut. Dr. Edward Crandal was a native of New 



752 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

York, hoiMi of New England origin. In his family were ten children 
of wiiom, Ciiarles I J., the fiftli in order of birth, was educated in the 
common school, Saint Timothy's Hall, Md., and Kenx'on College, at 
Gambier, Ohio. He began for himself at the age of twent}' one on his 
fathers farm, but on August 10, 1862, he enlisted at LeRaysville, and 
was mustered in at Harrisburg in Company B, One Hundred and 
Forty-first Regiment P. V. I., took ]>art in the battle of Mobile and in 
several skirmishes ; was then detailed as a Hospital nurse, acting in 
that ))osition in the Patent Office and Lincoln's Hospitals, and the 
Washington and McClellan Hospital, at Nicetown, near Thiladelphia. 
In October, 1863, he was ordered to join his regiment, and was after- 
ward transferred to the First Mississii)pi United States Colored Troops 
as second-lieutenant, where he remained until the close of the war, 
being mustered out as captain Fit\y-first U. S. C. L, June 16, 1866, at 
Baton Rouge, La ; then went to Alton, 111., where he was engaged in the 
manufacture of a washing fluid until December, 1866, when he returned 
home, and has since carried on farming. In 1871 he purchased 
his present home of his mother, which contains 100 acres of 
fertile and well cultivated land. Mr. Crandal was married June 29, 
1871, to Mrs, Benjamin B. Babcock, daughter of Dr. Hiram and 
Elizabeth H. (Eastabrook) Knapp, of Orwell, the former a native of 
New York, and the latter of Connecticut. In their family there were 
ten children, of whom Armenia is the sixth, and of them two where 
physicians. Mr. and Mrs. Crandal have one child, Rowland J., born 
Ai)ril 5, 1874. The}" are members of the Protestant p]piscopal Church. 
In politics he is a Republican, has held the office of justice of the peace 
six vears ; has also been constable in Pike township. 

GEORGE A.CRANDALL, farmer, P.O. Troy, was born in Cortland 
county, N. Y., November 14, 1829, a son of Allen and Sarah (Chase) 
Crandall, natives of Cortland and Delaware counties, N. Y., respect- 
ively, who settled in Columbia township, this county, in 1835, where 
his father purchased a tract of three hundred acres, cleared a part of 
it. but later sold it and removed to Alba, where he died in 1876; his 
widow still survives at the age of eighty-two ; he was a carpenter by 
trade, whicii he followed as an occupation most of his life; his child- 
ren were : George, Burdette (deceased), DeWitt C, Ann (Mrs. James 
Reynolds, deceased), Henry, Minnie (Mrs. Edward Lewis), AVallace, 
Charles L. and Mary (Mi'S. J. W. Gould). Our subject was reared in 
Rradford county from six years of age, where, with the exception of 
two years, he has since resided ; in early life he followed the carpen- 
ter's trade, but his principal occupation has been farming; he has been 
a resident of Troy township upward of twenty years, and owns 17o 
acres of land. He married, in 1854, Mary E., daughter of Loomis and 
Emaline (Howland) Newberry, of Springfield townsliip, this county. 
Mr. Crandall is a well-known and respected citizen of Troy townsliip ; 
in ])olitics he is a Repidjlican. 

(;iLi5ERT B. CRANDALL, carpenter, P. O. Sugar Run, was 
born October 27, 1836, and is a son of Daniel D. and Melissa (Todd) 
Crandall, the former a native of Connecticut, born of New England 
parentage, the latter a native of Pennsylvania, of Irish lineage. He 



HISTORY OF BRAOKORD COUNTY. 753 

began life for himself at the age of twenty-four, farming and himber- 
ing in Wihnot township, continuing in same until August 11, lSr)2, 
wlien he enlisted at Towanda in Company H, Fifty-Seventh liegiment 
P. V. T. While in the service he was in the folh:)wing engagements: 
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsyl- 
vania. Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Weldon Paid, Deep Bottom, and 
several minor engagements; he received a slight wound in the foot at 
Fredericksburg, and was discharged June 10, 1865, when he returned 
and began farming in Wilmot township, which he continued five years, 
and then learned the car])enter's trade, ot which lie has since' been 
engaged in various parts of this State. Mr. Crandall was married Sep- 
tember 7, 1865, to Susan M., daughter of George Quick, of Wilmot. 
Mrs. Crandall died April 6, 1874, leaving one child, Stella; another 
daughter, Josephine, had died in 1872. Mr. Crandall Avas re-married, 
January 30, 1877, this time to Isabell B., daughter of William and Irene 
Gamble, of Bradford county. Pa., and tliey have one child, Cyrene 
M., born June 14, 1881. Mr. Crandall is a member of the G. A. P. at 
Wyalusing, and in politics is a Pepublican. 

"'ash BEL L. CPAjNTMEP, retired, Monroeton, was born in Monroe 
township, this county, January 6, 1809, and is a son of Samuel ami 
Sarah (ilubbell) Cranmer. His father, who was a native of New 
Jersey, a son of JSToadiah and Catherine Cranmer, settled in Monroe 
tow^nship about 1790, cleared and improved a farm which is now 
owned by subject, and died therein 1845 in his seventy-ninth vear. 
He was twice married, first time to Hannah ]\[iller, by whom he' had 
six children who grew to maturity: Josiah, Elizabeth (Mi'S. John P. 
Brown), Jedediah, John, Noadiah and Samuel; his second wife was 
Sarah Hubbell, by whom he had two children who grew to maturity: 
Ashbel L. and Enoch H. The subject of these lines was reared on the 
old homestead, whei-e he resided until 1863, since which time he has 
occupied his present residence in Monroeton. For twenty years, from 
1853 to 1873, Mr. Cranmer was engaged in mercantile business in 
Monroeton. He was also for some years extensively engaged in 
lumbering and contracting; erected the covered bridge known as the 
Rockwell bridge at Monroeton, in 1851, and the canal acqueduct above 
Towanda, in 1852. On November 18, 1834, he ma,rried Mary H., 
daughter of Joseph and Mary (Mason) Griggs, of IMonroe townshi|), 
and has had five children: Albert, Bernard,"Elma (Mi'S. Elias Park), 
Way land S. and Julia (Mrs. Hiram Sweet). Mr. Cranmer has always 
been a Democrat, and served as commissioner of Bradford county, one 
term; was a member of the board that erected the present court-house 
at Towanda; from 1840 until 1850 was a justice of the peace. 

CHESTER W. CRANMER, farmer, Smithfield township, P. O. 
East Smithfield, was born, October 22, 1835, in the house wdiere he 
now lives, a son of Calvin and Alniira (Hartman) Cranmer. The 
father came to Smithfield towmship when a young man, with his 
parents from Monroe, this count}^ His mother came wiien a child 
seven years of age, with her uncle, Samuel Morse, who was of the third 
family in the township. IMr. Cranmer's grandfather was a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, and a brave and v^aliant hero. He was united in mar- 



754 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

riage, August 29, 1855, with Flotilda, daughter of Judson and Xancy 
(Foster) Gerould. Her grandfather, GerouUl, was the fourth settler 
in the township, who came here in the spring of 1802; she was born 
October 26, 1835, the eldest of eleven. The Geroulds trace their 
genealogy back to Jacques (or James) Gerould, who was a French 
Huguenot, of the Province of Languedoc, and Avho, at the revocation 
of the *• Edict of jS'antes," which occurred in 1685, came to this coun- 
tr}?^ and settled at Medfield, Mass. He was a physician, and died 
October 25, 1760. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cranmer 
six children, live of whom are living, as follows: Orvil C, born Sep- 
tember 3, 1856. married to Rosna Soper; N. Adella, born September 
16, 1858, married to Henry Gates, of Milan ; Clarissa E., born June 
29, 1868, married to Daniel Truesdale, of Springfield ; Hattie C, born 
October 29, 1869, and Francis B., born July 2, 1875. Mr. Cranmer has 
a fine farm of about ninety acres, which he manages successfully; he 
is a natural artist, and has some very fine specimens of his woriv in 
wood and pencil. He was for a numlDer of years a designer and carver 
for a large furniture manufacturing firm at Chicago and Minneapolis. 
He is a Democrat, and has held several offices of public trust. 

HUGH CRAWFORD, proprietor of a saw and feed mill. Canton, 
is a native of Ohio township, Allegheny Co., Pa., born November 
28, 1840, a son of William and Harriet (Steward) Crawford, natives 
of Carlisle and Allegheny county, Pa., respectively. The father, 
who was a farmer, died in Ohio township in 1876 in his eighty -fourth 
year; the mother died in 1874 in her seventy -third year. Hugh Craw- 
ford is one of a family of twelve children — ten sons and two daugh- 
ters — of whom ten are living. He was reared in Allegheny county, 
receiving his education in the common schools, and afterward worked 
two years making brick for INfoore Bros., at ])ixmont. Pa., for the 
asylum that was being built there. On April 28, 1861, he enlisted in 
Com))any II, Eighth Pennsylvania Reserve, and re-enlisted September 
21, 1861, in Company B. Fourtii Pennsylvania Cavalry. He partici- 
pated in the following: The Peninsular campaign, the battles of An- 
tietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court 
House, Petersburo- and in a number of minor en<2:aoements; he was 
run over by a wagon July 11, 1864, and was mustered out in front oi 
Petei-sburg, October 28, 1864. He returned iiome and worked in a 
sawmill one year, and then, in 1866, went to Tioga county. Pa., 
whence, after remaining one year, he returned to Allegheny City, and 
was there one year when he removed with his family to Tioga county. 
Pa.; he went to Nevada where for a time he worked in timber, and 
then with his brother ran freight teams from Battle Mountain to Aus- 
tin, 104 miles, and from there to Carson City, 116 miles. They con- 
tinued in the fi'eight i)usiness about eighteen months; then returned to 
Ti(jga county, and purchased a one-half interest in a water-j)ower saw- 
mill, wiiich they changed to a steam ])ower mill. At the end of six 
years h(; sold and went to Fall Brook, where he opei-ated the Fall 
Prook Coal Company's mill two years; then moved to Canton, this 
county, October 7, 1886, and built the mill he now owns. He is exten- 
sively engaged in timber land, and carries on a grocery business as well. 



HISTORY OF HUADFORD COUNTY. 755 

In 1865 Mr. Crawford was married, in Troy, to Lucy, daughter of 
William and Elizabeth (Kiff) Mcintosh, natives of Delaware county, 
N. Y.; she is the fifteenth in order of birth of a family of sixteen chil- 
dren, and was born in Tioga county, Pa., in August, 1848. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Crawford were born seven children, viz.: William J., married to 
Meda Andrus ; Byron 11., married to Ada Watts ; Harriet J.; James ; 
Minnie (deceased); Lena I>. and Charles. Mrs. Crawford is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a member of the G. A. R., 
Ingham Post, No. 91, and Union Veteran Legion, No. 48. Politically 
he is a llepublican, and he served nine years as school director in Tioga 
couDtv, Pa., during eight of which he was president of the board. 

HARRISON CRUM, P. O. Athens, was born in Spencer, Tioga 
Co., N. Y., January 3, 1820, a son of William and J.ucinda (Hubbard) 
Crum, former of whom was a farmer living near Lake Champlain, and 
was an eye witness to the last naval battle between Great Britain and 
the United States, and with others was fired at by the British. In 
their family there were ten children (five of whom are living), of whom 
Harrison is the sixth in order of birth ; Peter lives at Spencei", N. Y.; 
James in Windham; Delila was married to James Underwood, de- 
ceased ; Amanda was married to David Watkins ; William died at the 
age of seventy-five in Illinois; Lois died about the year 1835; Char- 
lotte died about 1880; Emily died in 1884; McDonough died in 1887 
at Candor, N. Y. Harrison Crum was reared in his native place, 
receiving his schooling in an old log school-house, which he attended 
in the winters until he was fifteen ; at sixteen he commenced business 
for himself on a farm, working thereon four years, and for twenty 
years thereafter he w\as employed in carpentering and lumbering. In 
1863 he purchased the farm he now occupies, which contains sixty-four 
acres, and the comfortable surroundings amply attest to the persever- 
ance and industry of Mr. Crum, who, in his declining years, is now^ 
enjoying the fruits of his labor. He was married, in 1846, to Elizabeth 
Snyder, daughter of David and Hannah (Haner) Snyder, of Columbia 
county, N. Y., and they have four children ; Avista, married to John 
Rifenburg, of Athens; Lueyette, married to Frank Rogers, also of 
Athens; Cassandra, married to Horace Rogers, of Nebraska, and G. 
W., married to Hattie Allen, and, in his father's declining years, is 
assisting in conducting the farm. The family worship at the Baptist 
Church, and in j)olitics Mr. Crum is a Republican. 

GEORGE CUFFMAN, farmer, of South Creek township, P. O. 
Fassett, was born in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., December 16, 1819, 
a son of Asa Cuflman, a native of Germany, Asa Cuffman came to 
this country about 18L3, locating in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y.; 
where he owned and cultivated a small farm, living there the remainder 
of his life; he died in 1875, at the age of sixty-two years; his family 
consisted of six children, all of whom grew to inaturity, four are now 
living. George Cuffman the youngest of the family was reared and 
educated in Dryden, Tomi)kins Co., N. Y., he has followed farming as 
an occupation; starting at the age of nineteen for himself. When 
twenty-one years old he married, January 9, 1841, Susan, daughter of 
John Benjamin; they have had two children born to them, one of 



756 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

\vlioiii is now liviu<^-, Thomas T., mari'ied to Mary Ameigh, and has 
five children. In 1862 George Cutfnian entered the army as a private 
in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-first P. V. I.; served nine 
months, was honorably discharged, and now receives a pension of 
$12.00 per month ; he resides on a well-cultivated little farm of twenty 
acres, having completed a new and beautiful residence; when he first 
came to this county, in 1869, he settled near Tro}', removing later to 
his present residence. Mr. Cuffman is a member of the G. A. R., 
]'ettingill Post ; poiiticallv he is a Republican. 

RIJLANDUS CULP,"^ farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born 
November 27, 1824, in Elmira, X. Y., a son of Samuel and Polly 
(Miller) Culp, former of whom was born of German ancestry, in Tioga 
county, N. Y., and latter on Long Island, N. Y. Samuel Gulp was a 
farmer and lumberman. He reared a family of six children (of whom 
the subject of this sketch is the secimd), and died in 1884, at the age of 
eighty-three years, the mother having passed away in 1878 when aged 
eightj'-one. Mr. Gulp's great-grandfather, Gol. John Hend}^ was a 
colonel in the Revolutionary War in Gen. Sullivan's army, and was 
through Pennsylvania and New York States ; he was one of the first 
settlers of Chemung county, N. Y., having located in 1781, at the ])lace 
where Elmira now stands. Rulandus Culp was on the Erie and Che- 
mung Canal from the time he was fourteen 3^ears of age until about 
the year 1857, when lie settled in Springfield township on the farm 
where he now resides. He owns 220 acres of as fine prime land as 
there is in the township, and is one of the most successful and 
prosperous farmers, dairying being his principal business. On Decem- 
ber 25, 1848, Mr. Cul{) was united in marriage with Maru J., daughtei- 
of Joseph and Nancy (Gibson) Mayhood, of Springfield. She was 
born June 2, 1824. in County Down, Ireland, and her parents came to 
America, about 1840, settling on the farm where Mr. and Mrs. Gulp 
now reside; the father died aged eighty-six, and the mother at the 
age of seventy -three. JVIrs. Gulp had one brother, John Mayhood, in 
the Civil War, serving during the entire struggle. To Mr. and INFi's. 
Culp have been born six children viz. : Georgia, born July 25, 1850; 
Emma, born September 25, 1S54; Joseph R., born July 25. 1857, mar- 
ried to Carrie Aber; J. Thompson, born August 2, 1860, married to Jen- 
nie Gonzales; Jennie, born November 21, 1864; Grant, born March 4, 
1860. Mr. Culp is a strong Prohibitionist. Mrs. Culp is a consistent 
member of the Baptist Chui-ch. as are also her children: Georgia, Jen- 
nie and Joseph R. ' 

LAt\VYETTE J. C[TLVER, farmer and stock-grower, of Sheshc- 
(|uin townshijx P. O. Sheshecpiin, is a native of the same, having been 
born ]\[ay 23, 1831, a son of Daniel B. and Josephine (Horton) Culvei-. 
Timoth}'^ Culver, paternal grandfather of our subject, among the fii'st 
settlers of P>radf'oi'd county, participated in the Revolutionary War. 
The maternal grandmother, who was asister of Dr. Jayne, of Philadel- 
phia, was born on the Deiawai'e river. Daniel B. Cidver, father of 
Laruyette J., was born in Sheshequin township in Api-il, 1806, and di<'(l 
in the same township August 5, 1856, and his wife passed away in the 
following September, aged forty-nine years, both dying of typhoid 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 757 

fever. Their family nunil)ere(l seven children, of whom the followino- 
is a brief record : William died in infancy ; Jjafayette J. is the subjfjct 
proper of this memoir; Hiram enlisted in the service of his country in 
the Civil War, and gave his life for his country at the battle of the 
Wilderness; James resides in Buffalo ; Oran is'in this county; Emily 
(the only daughter) is married to L. II. Kilmer, of Shesliequin ; Mahlon 
died wiien young. 

Lafayette J. Culver was educated in the public schools, and com- 
menced work when very young, having to assist his fatiier, with whom 
he carried on farming, until the latter's decease. He then purchased 
the old homestead, which he cultivated seventeen ^^ears, when he sold 
the farm, moved to North Towanda and was connected with the flour- 
ing mill there, one year, although a resident two years; and thence 
went to AVysox, remaining six years. In 1881 he was commissioned 
by the Government Department of Agriculture, LeDuc, to raise the 
cane for the experiments in sugar-makingat AYashington, D. C, and 
remained there one year. Mr. Culver then purchased and moved to 
the farm he now occupies — the old Gore homestead — one of the first 
to be reclaimed from the wilderness in the county. The house on it 
was built by Judge Gore nearly seventy-live years ago, and is nailed 
together with nails forged by blacksmiths. The farm had fallen sadly 
into decay when Mr. Culver took possession ; but he repaired it, built 
new barns, put up fresh fences, and it is now one of the finest prop- 
erties in the county, located in the lower portion of the valley and 
abutting mountains, replete with old historical associations, alf com- 
bining to make it a most pleasant and desirable home. The farm con- 
sists of 400 acres, seventy-five of which are bottom land, only a small 
portion of it being unfit for cultivation. Here he grows about five tons 
of tobacco annually, and raises Oxford-Down sheep and Percheron 
horses. 

Mr. Culver was united in marriage January 21, 1857, with Mary 
Patterson, a daughter of Abraham and Caroline (Ashman) Patteisoii. 
Her ancestry on her fathers side Avas Scotch-Irish, on her mother's, 
German, and her paternal ancestor settled at Paterson, N. J., the place 
taking its name from him. Her maternal grandfather ran away from 
college in IJamburg, Germany, at the age of eighteen, enlisted with 
the Hessians on })urpose to get to America, to help fight for our inde- 
jiendence, and as soon as he arrived here he deserted and joined Wash- 
ington's army, with which he fought until the close of the war. Mrs. 
Culver's father's family consisted of six childi-en, born in Orange county, 
N. Y., viz.: William, of South Waverly; Nancv Ellen, who married Lor- 
enzo Dow Post, and died in Shesliequin; Henry ('. (deceased); J. S., of 
the Exchange Hotel, Athens; Eliza, wife of E. J. Newell, of Sheshe- 
quin, and Mary (Mrs. Culver). To Mr. and Mrs. Culver, have been 
born, two children, viz.: Josephine, married to P. C. Gore, of Sheshequin, 
and Carrie Ellen, who was married to Victor E. Piollet, but was left a 
widow within a few months. Mr. Culver was the first man to be 
drafted into military service in Sheshecpiin, but was rejected on account 
of physical disability. I'olitically he is a, Republican, and was elected to 
the Legislature, in 1888, by a vote of 4,000 majority; he has held all the 

43 



758 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lownshi}) offices. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the State 
Encampment, and has passed all the chairs. 

JOHN M. CUKRIEIl, farmer and stockman, Warren Centre, was 
born in Warren township, his natal day being June 29, 1839 ; he is a 
son of Jolin M. and Anna (Underwood) (/Urrier, natives of Vermont 
and Massachusetts, respectively, and of the rugged Scotch extraction. 
His father, who was a farmer, came to this county in 1815, being one 
of the earliest settlers in Warren township, and cleared his land and 
here made his ])ermanent home; he died in 1861; his Avidow died in 
1873 ; thev had twelve children of whom John M. is the seventh in the 
order of birth. Our subject commenced life on his own account as a 
farmer, and has labored patiently in his chosen vmeyard until the ])res- 
ent time, being now the owner of 105 broad acres, all in a high state of 
cultivation, with ample and elegant farm buildings, and well stocked. 
Mr. Currier w^as married in Chenango county, New York. November 1, 
1858, to Catherine Sleeper, daughter of Josephus and Maria (Bowen) 
Sleeper, natives of A^ermont and Rhode Island, res[)ectively; tliey had 
eight children, of whom Catherine was the eldest; she was reared in 
her native place and attended school at Greene village, N. Y. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Currier have been born children as follows: Anna (Mrs. 
George A. Bowen), of Ilerrick township, who has four children ; Geo. 
E ; Olive S. and Maria R. (twins) (Olive S. married Fred E. Pitcher 
and has one child ; Maria R. married James N. Clapp, of Tioga county, 
N. y., and lias one child) ; and ( Jrace L. with her jjarents. The family 
worship at the Regular J>aptist Church, in which Mr. Currier holds 
the offices of trustee ami collector; in politics he is a Re])ublican and 
has held the offices of assessor and commissioner. When he purchased 
the elegant farm he now owns there were but twenty-three acres 
cleared and a little log house was all the improvement — but little, 
indeed, to indicate its present wealth and elegance. The family is one 
of the most highly respected in the county. 

S. O. DAGGETT, jjropi-ietor of the •* Stimson House," Athens, is 
a native of Daggett's Mills, Tioga (Jo., Fa., and was born September 15, 
1846 ; his parents are J.ouis and Ellen S. (Wells) Daggett, residing in 
Tioga, the former a native of Tioga county, N. Y., and the latter of 
Yates county, same State ; the father has been engaged in the mer- 
cantile, luml)ering and hotel business. Subject's great-grandfathers, 
Daggett and Wells, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. S. O. 
Daggett is the elder of two living children, and his brother, W. L. 
Daggett, is the proprietor of the " Rush House," Bellefonte, Pa. 
Our subject completed his education in Manslield State Normal School, 
and when about seventeen years of age, engaged in the mercantile 
business in Tioga, and also in the lumbering trade. In 1870 he engaged 
in the hotel business with his father, in Lawrenceville, and was there 
six years; in 1878 in a hotel in Tioga, also with the " I'rooklyn House" 
a sliort time, and tluni the '' Pai'k Hotel " (a, summer resort), over two 
years; went to Horscheads an<l ran the'^Jiayant House" two years, 
and from there to Wellsboro in control of tlie "Wilcox House" six 
years; then to Blossburg, at the head of the "Seymoi'e House" about 
a year, and thence to Athens, March 2, 1890, and took charge of the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 759 

"Stimson House." He was tii-st niarried, in 1878, in Havana, N. Y., 
to Miss Ell, daughter of Ebeau and Helen (Miller) IJoynton, natives 
of Schuyler county, N. Y., and this county, respectively. She was 
the elder of their two children, and was born in Reading, Schuyler 
Co., N. Y., December 2e3, 1860, and died October 2, 1885 ; they had 
two daughters: Georgia and Leah. Mr. Daggett married again, at 
Watkins, N. Y., in March, 1880, his second wife being Miss Jessie, 
daughter of S. V. and Mary (Jeroe) Brown. She is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
Ossice Lodge, No. 317, Tioga Chapter and Teodotin Commandery, 
and is a Republican. 

JACOB DANIELS, locomotive engineer. Say re, is a native of Rhein, 
Germany, l>orn October 27, 1835, and is a son of Jacob and Maria 
(Hilbert) Daniels, natives of Germany; the father, who was a farmer, died 
in his native home in 1838, in his thirty-seventh year; the mother died 
in 1837, in her thirty-fifth year. Jacob who is the second in the family 
of three children was reared in his native place until the age of eighteen, 
when he emigrated to New Yoi'k City and from there moved to St. 
Clair, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where he worked in the coal mines about 
three years, and then found employment on the Little Schuylkill 
Railroad for a short time, he then went to firing for the Cata'wissa 
Railroad, and was on that line about three years when he was pro- 
moted to engineer, continuing in that employ until 1871, when he went 
on the Lehigh Valley Railroad as engineer, and has been in this employ 
ever since. He was married in Pottsville in 1855 to Miss Maria, daugh- 
ter of Fredrick and Hannah Ilenninger, natives of Pennsylvania and 
who was the fifth in a family of thirteen children; she was born in 
Catawissa Valley, October 10^ 1837, and died December 1, 1889; she 
was a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Daniels were born seven children, as follows : Jacob F., a locomotive 
engineer, married to Ella Stevens; Hattie, wife of Eugene Finch, of 
Binghamton. N. Y.; William H., a locomotive engineer, married to 
Ella Miller; Charles, a locomotive engineer; George B., deceased; Jesse, 
a fireman, and Robert F., deceased. Mr. Daniels is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church; of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
Sayre Division, No. 380, and of the Knights of Honor, A. O. II. M. and 
Red Men; in politics he is a Democrat. 

WILLIAM H. DANIELS, locomotive engineer, Savre, is a native 
of Williamsport, and was born in November, lS60,a son of Jacob and 
Maria (Ilenninger) Daniels, the former of whom was a native of Ger- 
inany and the latter of Pennsylvania. AYilliam is the third in order 
of birth, in a family of seven children ; was reared in Williamsport until 
eleven years of age, and then came with the familv to Waverlv ; 
received a public-school education, and in 1876 went^on the Lehigh 
Valley Railroad as brakeman, and October 26, 1881, was changed to 
fireman, and was promoted to engineer, October 19, 1886, and has held 
that position since. lie married, in Sayre, August 5, 1886, Miss 
Ella J., dauo-hter of James and Rebecca (Albright) Miller, natives of 
Pennsylvania; her father was a locomotive engineer, and is now in 
the employ of the same road, at the round-house in Elmira ; she is the 



760 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

eldest in a family of three children, and was born in Mauch Chunk. 
January 28, 1865. To Mr. and Mrs. Daniels was born a dauohter, 
Mabel; they are members of the E}iisco[)al Church. lie is a member 
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Sayre Division, No. 
380, and No. 1817, and is a Democrat in politics. 

CHAELES VIRGIL DARE, M. D., Troy, was born in Bridgeton, 
Cumberland Co., N. J., August 26, 1822, a "son of John and Rachel 
(Watson) Dare, and is of Scotch descent. He was reared in his native 
State, educated in the common schools of his day, and after servmg an 
apprenticeship at the drug busmess and for a time being one of the 
])roprietors of a drug store in Salem, N. J., he, in 1850, began the study 
of medicine with Dr. A. E. Small, of Philadelphia, and in the spring 
of 1854 was graduated from the Homeopathic Medical College of 
Pennsylvania. Same year he began the practice of his profession at 
Millviile, N. J., and in December, 185-1, he removed to Chester, Pa., 
remaining there until 1859, when he located in Troy, where he has 
since resided. He was in active practice up to September, 1864, when 
he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Eleventh N. Y. V. I. 
and in February, 1865. was promoted to assistant-surgeon of the regi- 
ment, in which capacity he served until his discharge in June, 18()5. 
On liis return home he resumed the practice of his ])rofession in which 
he still continues. On December 2, 1845, he married Harriet Osborne, 
daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Rose) Sheppard, of Cedarville, N. J., 
by whom he had six children, four of whom grew to maturity: Laura 
V. (Mrs. John L. French), Kate S. (Mrs. E.'F. Lummis), Charles W. 
and ]\[ary S. Dr. Dare is a member of the Presbyterian Church and 
an ex-honorary member of the Hahnemann Homeopathic Medical 
Society, of Pennsylvania; in politics he is a Republican. His only son, 
Charles W. Dare, was l)orn November 9, 1856, at Chester, Pa., and 
received an academical education, and for fifteen years has been 
engaged as a clerk in the drug business; was graduated from the Phila- 
delj)hia College of Pharmacv in 1882. Politicallv he is a Republican. 

JABEZ G. DAUGHERTY, proprietor of '^'Daugherty's Hotel," 
Wysox, was born in Belvedere, N. J., February 28, 18'^>5, son of Igna- 
tius and Sarah (Sidell) Daugiierty, natives of New Jersey and of Hol- 
land origin. Ilis father, wlio was a miller bv trade, reared a family 
of eleven children of whom J. G. is the third. Our sul)ject ac(piired a 
common-school education, and at twenty-one engaged in the milling 
business in Susquehanna county, where he remained one 3'ear, and then 
boated on the North Branch Canal two years ; then again carried on 
the milling business five years in Suscjuehanna county, and one yeai' 
in Monroeton. In 1865 lie ])urchas(Hl the \'anP)i-unt mill at Wysox, 
where he did a general milling business eight years; then sold out to 
R. S. Barnes, of Rome, and engaged in the hotel busin«;ss in Diishore, 
where he remained one year. He then located in his present place of 
business, where he hns since remained. Mr. Daugherty was married 
March 6, 1859, to Miss Samantha, daughter of John and Martha 
(Sickler) Smith, of Wysox, and they have had l)orn to them four chil- 
dren : Lillie R., born DecemixM' 1, 1859, married to George Sill, a 
farmer, Orwell; George McClelhin, born August 22, 1863 (was named 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUiNTTY. 701 

after Gen. George B. McClellan, and died November 6, 18()4, the dav 
of McClellan's defeat for the i)residency); John W., born Januarv 25, 
186S (is engaged with his father); and Martha E., born Mav 2, 1870, 
married to George Kidge\va3% of Wysox. Mrs. Daughertv and the 
chihlren are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Myers- 
burg; Mr. Dauglierty is a member of the Masoiiic Lodge at Dushore, 
and is a stanch Democrat. 

J. A. DAVIDSON, clerk with the Cayuta Wheel & Eoundry Co., 
Sayre, is a native of Orange county, N. Y., born May 10, 1855, and is 
a son of George and Elizabeth Davidson, natives of County Down, 
Ireland, who immigrated to New York City al^out the year 1842; his 
father is a soap manufacturer; his mother "died in 1859, in her thirty- 
eighth year. This gentleman is the sixth in order of birth of a family of 
seven living children; was reared in Orange county and received afair 
public-school education ; then clerked in a grocery store in Eockland 
county, N. Y., about six years, then in 1875, went to Eock Island, 111., and 
worked in his uncle's soap factory about two years ; returned to Orange 
county, and remained there about a year, and then came to Sayre, and has 
been in the employ of the Cayuta Wheel & Foundry Co. since. He mar- 
ried Miss Leora, daughter of John and Lucy (Wrigley) Bensiev, the 
former a native of this county and the latter of England. His wife is 
the second in the order of birth in a family of six children, and was 
born in this county May 6, 1859; to them were born three daughters, as 
follows : Margaret, Grace and Mildred. Mr. Davidson is a Republican 

THADDEUS B. DAVIDSON, farmer, Ridgebury township, P. O. 
Wilawana, was born in Ridgebury, this county, August 16, 1827, and is 
a son of Jonathan and Polly (Hrown) Davidson, the former a native 
of Scotland, the latter of New York. In ids father's family there were 
nine children, of whom he is the eighth. He was reared on a farm, edu- 
cated in the common school, ami began life for himself, farming, at the 
age of twenty-two, and has made this the chief occupation of°his life. 
Mr. Davidson was married July 17, 1853, to Miss Elizabeth, daughterof 
Mills and Sarah (Spencer) Carr, of Ridgebury, and thev had one child, 
Wilmot, born April 7, 1857, and died February 28, 1879. Mr. David- 
son may well be counted among the successful farmers of Bradford 
county. In his political predilections he is a Republican. 

EVAN W. DA VIES, farmer. Pike township, P. O. Neath, was born 
February 8, 1811, in Languik, South Wales, a son of William and Eliza- 
beth W. (Rees) Davies. His father, who was a tailor by trade, came to 
America in 1831, and started a tailor shop in Carbondale, Pa., where 
he died in 1833; in his family there were four girls and one boy, Evan 
W., the second in order of birth, and the only survivor. The subject 
of this sketch was educated in Wales, where he learned the tailor's trade; 
he worked at this successively in Carbondale, Pa., Owego, N. Y., and 
Towanda, Pa., and he has owned, and partially cleared, several farms; 
he purchased his present home of sixty-nine acres, in 1871. He has 
been twice married: first time to Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Mary 
Thomas, and second time to Eleanor, daughter of John and Mary 
Perry, and she is still living; they have no children. Mr. and Mrs. 



762 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Davies are members of tlie Congregational Chui'cli at Neath; he is a 
Republican in politics. 

E. W. DAVIES, postmaster, Athens, is a native of the borough, 
born June 30, 1845, a son of Thomas K. and Ascenoth (Wood burn) 
Davies, the former a native of Wales, the latter of Cherrv Valley, N. 
Y.; they died in Athens. E. W. Davies, who is the youngest in a 
family of ten children, received a public-school education, and also at- 
tended the academy at Atliens. He commenced, in 18()3, to learn the 
jeweler's trade in Caledonia, Ontario, working there about five vears, 
except the time he was in the Government service; from there went 
to Ba}' City, Mich., where he worked at his trade four years; then 
went to Ithaca, N. Y., and engaged in the jeweler's trade witii Mr. 
Phelj)s, under the firm name of Phelps & Davies, and continued there 
about five years, when he returned to Athens and embarked in the 
jewelry trade. He was appointed postmaster at Athens. March 20, 
1890, and took charge of the oflflce April 1. Being too young to enlist 
in the army, he joined the construction corps, and after the captur-e of 
Atlanta was discharged on account of sickness. Mr. Davies was mar- 
ried in Athens, in 1871, to Sarah, daughter of Benjamin and Marv 
(Tuttle) Wanzer (she was the eldest of two children who grew to 
maturity; she died in 1880 a faithful mother), by which union there 
were four children, one of whom is now living, Eugene W. Davies, Jr. 
Mrs. Davies was a member of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Davies was 
married, the second time, in Ithaca, N. Y., in 1882, to Miss Emma 
Hughes, the youngest in the family of six children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Thomas Hughes, natives of Wales. Mrs. Davies is a member of the 
Episcopal Church. He is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity 
Lodge, No. TO, and also of the Sexennial League, Athens. Politically, 
he is a. Republican. 

JOHN D. DAVIES. In the year 1832, David Davies, a tailor at 
Languik, South AVales, bade farewell to his native land and, crossing 
the Atlantic, made his way into northern Pennsylvania there to make a 
home for himself and familv, and enjoy the advantages of our free and 
grand Itepublic. The eldest of his children, John D.. who is the sub- 
ject of this sketch, may well be counted among the successful farmers 
of Pike township. He was born May 31, 1822, and in 1834 he and 
his mother, Elizaljeth (Ilov/ell) Davies, and five children followed their 
father to this country. John D. attended school in the old log house 
at South Warren, until his seventeentii year, and assisted the family 
in clearing a farm of 250 aci-es. At the age of twenty-four years he 
began life for liiniself, and engaged in mining at CarbonchUe, Pa., 
where he remained twelve 3'ears. In 1850 he purchased his ])resent 
home of seventy-five acres in Pike township. Mr. Davies was mar- 
ried July 12, 1851, to Ann, daughter of John and Mary (Davis) Ellis, 
of Carbondale, Pa., and this union has been blessed with the fol- 
lowing children: David Henry, born February 28, 1853, an eminent 
physician of Nanticoke, Pa.; .John Ellis, born August 8, 1855, a law- 
yer, of Duluth, jNIinn,; INfary E., l)orn May 23, 1857, married to The- 
ophihis Farnells, a farmei", of Middlctown ; Emma, i)orn A])ril 23, 1859, 
mari'ied to P>erton Jones, a fai'uier, of Pike township, and died Novem- 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. TG^i 

ber23, 1889; William (deceased) born October 27, 1863; Margaret 
A., born April 5, 18(55 (was graduated from the Susquehanna Collegi- 
ate Institute in 1888, and has since been teaching in Kanticoke graded 
school); liees O., born July 12, 18()8. a student in Colgate Academ\', 
and Sarah Jane, born October 18, 1878, a teacher of Warren township. 
David Davies died in j\[arch, 1888, at the age of eighty-five, and his 
wife, Elizabeth, died in ISoC) aged sixty-one. The family are members 
of the Congregational Church at Neath. 

MONTAGUE A. DAVIES, veterinary surgeon, Troy, was born 
in Potton, Bedfordshire, England, June 20, 1867, and is a son of Kev. 
B. T. and Jeannette (Packman) Davies, who came to America in 1871 ; 
the father, who is a clergyman of the Baptist Church, located in Troy 
in 1887, and for three years was pastor of the Baptist Church of that 
place. Our subject was reared in New York and Pennsylvania ; was 
educated in the public schools, and in 1885 began the study of veter- 
inary surgery, and was gratluated from the Ontario College of Veter- 
inary Surgery, Toronto, Canada, in 1889. Previous to his graduating 
he had practiced his profession in Tonaw^anda, and Lockport, N. Y., 
and has succeeded in building up a business that is daily increasing; 
he is a member of the Veterinary Surgeons' Society of Toronto. 
Politicallv he is a repubhcan. 

HON!^ WILLIAM T. DAVIES, Towanda, was born in Glamor- 
ganshire, Wales, December 20, 1831, and when but tw^o years of age 
came with his parent's family to this country and located in Warren 
township, this county, and is both a fair specimen of the products of 
Bradford county as well as of the ])ossibilities in this country of the 
average farmer boy in the race of life. His parents were David and 
Elizabeth Davies, who spent the remainder of their lives in this county, 
and whose family of children were ten, and in the order of birth as 
follows: John, Mary, Philip, Evan, Ann, William T. (these were born 
in Wales) and Thomas (died in 1881), Pees, Elizabeth and Catherine, 
born in Bradford county. Dr. Pees Davies is a ])rominent physician 
of Wilkes-Barre ; Mrs. Mary Davies (husband and wife the same sur- 
name) lives in Wisconsin, and the others in this county — but a link in 
the circle gone, in this average of sixty years, of the sons and daughters 
of David and Elizabeth Davies; a strong and virile race, truly, whose 
coming and wdiose lives have added much and detracted nothing from 
the line of illustrious men and women of the county. The father an 
humble Welsh yeoman, who became a citizen by choice of ado])tion, 
and reared his sons and (hiughters true Americans, imbued with the 
spirit of liberty and restless ambitions and high purposes of the best in 
this favored land. In this household of strong and healthy chddren 
were impressed the lessons of industry, frugality and probity, that 
distinguishes our agricultural classes,*^ and have proved the'^ strong- 
foundations upon wdiich have grown this broad and marvelous Union 
and sisterhood of States. Gov. Davies is now in his sixtieth year, in 
the high meridian of his mental and physical life, and the once rustic 
farm boy of Warren townsliip has just retired from the second highest 
office in the State councils, Lieutenant-Governor of the Commonwealth, 
and from the plow^ handle to the helm of State are the rising rounds 



704 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of the ladder, commencing- in the country school, the valedictorian of 
the class of '53 at Owego Academy, N, Y.; a student in the law ofiice, 
first of Judge Elwell and then in that of Judge David Wilmot ; 
principal of the Towanda schools 1856 to 1860 ; responding to the call 
of his country as a private, and, by rapid steps, captain of Company ]>, 
One Hundred and Forty-iirst Pennsylvania Volunteers, and in 1863 
reluctantly compelled from a long attack of typhoid fever to acce})t a 
surgeon's certificate of disability, and return a private citizen; and 
again an active lawyer forging his way to the front of the strong Brad- 
ford bar ; called b}-^ the suffrage of the people in 1865 to the office of 
District Attorney; sent a delegate to the National Republican Con- 
vention in 1876, and the same year elected to the State Senate, and 
re-elected in 1880, in which body he was fitly made chairman of the 
Judiciary General Committee; strongly supported for the office of 
State Treasurer in 1881; nominated in 1882 for Lieutenant-Governor, 
and defeated with the entire ticket, and again nominatetl for the same 
office in 1886 and elected. Step by step a busy and varied life, typical 
of the best features of our best form of civilization. William T. Davies 
and Mary Watkins were united in the bonds of wedlock. She is the 
daughter of William and Almira (liulett) Watkins, of Vermont, who 
came to this county immediately after their marriage in 1828, and 
settled in Towanda on the premises now occupied by Gov. Davies as a 
law office. Of t!ie Watkins family but two survive : Mrs. Davies and 
her brother, Hersey, of Oregon; another brother was the distinguished 
Col. G, II. Watkins who fell nobly battling for the Union at the head 
of his regiment in the charge on Petersburg, June 18, 1864, and her 
sister was Mrs. II. L. Lamoureux, who died in Towanda in 1885. The 
sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Davies, in the order of birth, 
were as follows: Irene M., Thomas W. (deceased), Guy II., W. T., Jr., 
and Mary E. 

A. M. DAVIS, conductor on the L. V. U. E., is a native of Fulton- 
ville, Montgomery Co.. N. Y., and was born June 20, 1833. Ilis 
parents were Benjamin H. and Eve (Vedder) Davis, natives of New 
York, the former of whom was a farmer, and died in Ilockford, III., 
in 1873, in his seventy-sixth year; the latter died in 1871, in her sixty- 
fifth year. The grandfather, Valentine Davis, was a soldier in the War 
of 1812. A. M. Davis is the third in a family of four children, of whom 
two are living. lie received an academical education in the old his- 
toric academy of , Athens ; was reared in Waverly from the age of 
four years until he reached his legal majorit}^ and began his railroad 
career by braking on the Erie four years; then went to Kockford, HI., 
in 1857, and farmed near the city. Eesponding to the call of his 
country, he enlisted in August, 1862, in Company C, Seventy-fourth 
III. V. I., and some of the engagements he took part in wei'e tlie bat- 
tle of Stone River and all the battles of the Atlanta cam])aign, Chica- 
mauga. Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and siege of Knoxville; 
was taken prisoner at Jonesboro, but escaped the same night; was in 
the Army of the Cumberland under Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas; was 
mustereci out at Nashville, Tenn.,in June, 1865, and returned to Rock- 
ford, where he was engaged in mercantile trade about three years ; 



frrSTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. ?65 

then engaged in the steamboat business on Rock river, as captain ; after 
which he traveled through Wisconsin, Iowa and lUinois on patent- 
right business, until July, 1876, when he was employed in braking on 
the Lehigh Valley Ilailroad. In May, 1877, he was promoted to con- 
ductor on coal train, and he was |)romoted to fast freight conductor 
from Waverly to Ilornellsville, in 1884, and in May, 1889. was pro- 
moted to extra passenger conductor. He was married in Waverly- in 
August, 1853, to Miss Sarah A., daughter of E. A. and Harriet (Young) 
Siiaw, the former a native of Green Bush (near Albany, N. Y.,) and 
the latter of Orange county ; the father was a saddler and harness 
maker, and died in Waverly in March, 1884, in his seventy-seventh 
year. The mother died April 30, 1874, in her sixty-ninth year. Mrs. 
Davis is the eldest in a family of live children, and was born in Orange 
county, N. Y., November 23, 1831. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis was born 
a daughter, Josephine Estelle, now the wife of Frank Bennett. Mrs. 
Davis is a member of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Davis is a member 
of the F. & A. M., Star in the East, No. 16G, Rockford, Ilk, and of the 
G. A. R. Politicall}' he is a Rejjublican. 

GEORGE E. DAYIS, superintendent Union Bridge Company 
Athens townshi}), P. O. Athens, is a native of Philadelphia, born June 
30, 1843. His parents are William E. and Ann (Marsden) Davis, the 
former a native of Wales and the latter of England. They came to 
this country in early life, and the father was a wool-carder. George 
E. Davis, who is the eldest in a family of six children, served an 
apprenticeship at the house carpenter's trade in Easton, Pa. On Janu- 
ary 7, 1803, he enlisted in Battery B, First P. L. A. and served until the 
close of the war; he was mustered out at Harrisburg in June, 18G5, 
returned home and eno^ao-ed in bridg-e building; he erected the first 
building for the Bridge Company at Athens, was the first regular 
superintendent the company employed, and has held that position up 
to the present time. Mi". Davis was married at Bloomsburg, Pa., in 
1865, to Miss Martha ]\[., daughter of Brigham and Susan (Geigei-) 
Bowdoin, the former a native of Massachusetts, the latter of Pennsyl- 
vania, who reside in Danville, this State. She is the second in a 
family of four children, and was born in Danville, Sept. 8, 1845. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born five children, viz.: Anna, Laura, Will- 
iam E., Charlotte M. and Mabel. The family are members of the 
Episcopal Church ; Mr. Davis is a member of the F. & A. M. Rural 
Amity Lodge, No. 70, of Chapter No. 116, and Commandery No. 16 
at Towanda ; he is a Republican, and served tw^o vears as burgess of 
Athens. 

SAMUEL J. DAYIS, farmer, and cooper, of Pike township P. O. 
Neath, was born in Middletown, Susquehanna Co., Pa., July 29, 1842, and 
is the eldest in the family of eight children of John S. and Catherine 
(Evans) Davis, natives of Wales. He attended district school, and assisted 
his father in clearing up the farm till the age of twenty-three, wdien he 
served a cooper's apprenticeship with David Campbell, of Owego, N. 
Y.; then started a shop of his own at Neath, which he has operated 
since in connection with his farm ; he also o])erated a sawmill several 
years, a portion of which is still standing near his residence. Mr. 



706 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

J);ivis was one of those who promptly answered the Governor's call for 
militia troops when the State was in danger at Gettysburg. He was 
married JMarch 20, 1801), to Mary Jane, daughter of M. R. and Lucy 
(Sheldon) Spafll'ord; her grandfather, Samuel Sj)afford, was one of the 
first settlers in Middletown townshi]). Mr. and Mrs. Davis have too 
children : Clara E. and Lucy C. The parents are members of the 
C/ongregational Church at Neath, of which Mr. Uavis is trustee. In 
his political views he is a Republican, 

JOHN H. DEAN, commissioner's clerk, Towanda, was born in 
South Creek township, this county, Januar}-^ 26, 1853, and is a son of 
Peter and Mary A. (Rellis) Dean. His paternal grandparents, John 
and Eliza (Miller) Dean, who were formerly of New Jersey, and 
])ioneers of South Creek townshi}), cleared a farm and died there; 
their family consisted of three sons and five daughters, as follows: 
"William, Caroline (Mrs. Lewis Mosher), Emily (Mrs. Martin Berry), 
Mary (Mrs. Hugh Findlay), Phebe (Mrs. Mortimer Harkness), Lydia, 
Peter J. and Elmer W. The maternal grandfather, who was a native 
of New Jersey, was among the first settlers of South Creek townshij), 
this county, where he cleared a farm and died. Peter J. Dean, father 
of our subject, was reared in Bradford county, a farmer, and improved 
considerable property in South Creek township; he held several offices 
during his lifetime — was constable twelve years; enrolling officer 
during the Civil War, and was sheriff of Bradford county during 1879, 
'80, '81. He died in South Creek township, in December, 1S8G. He had 
four children, viz. : John H., Edward C., William B. and A. Horton. 
John H. Dean was reared in South Creek township, receiving a 
common-school education, and was deputy treasurer of Bradford 
countv, under J. C. Robinson, in 1876, '77 and '78, and deputy sheriff, 
under his father, in 1879, '80 and '81, and in 1882, '83 and '81:"; he Avas 
engaged in the lumbering business, at Towanda, from 1883 until the 
fall of 1890; traveling salesman for the Dayton Flouring Mills, of 
Towanda, and Januarv 1, 1891, was appointed commissioner's clerk. 
He has been a resident of Towanda since 1876. Mv. Dean was 
married, January 24, 1879, to Annie, daughter of Benjamin and 
Pamelia (Gardner) Kuykendall, of Towanda, and has two children : 
Katherine and Annie. He is a Sir Knight Templar, and in politics is 
a Rei)ublican. 

REV. ALEXANDER D. DECKER, pastor of the :Methodist 
Episcopal Church, Wyalusing, was born in Portland, Pa., July 21, 
1860, and is a son of George and Caroline Decker. His father was a 
native of New Jerse}^ and his mother of Northampton county. Pa. 
His parents were farmers, and have a family of five chihlren, of whom 
the subject of this sketch is the fourth. He was educated at ]\[ontrose 
High School and Wyoming Seminar v ; his first a]>pointment as pastor 
was in May, 1885, at Harford Mills, N. Y., where he remained two 
years, and was admitted into the Wyoming Conference in April, 1886; 
in 1887 he was transferred to Tioga Centre, where belabored faithfully 
three years, and in LS90 he came to Wyalusing, where he has since 
l)een very successful. IMr. Decker was married ]\rarch 1(». 1886, to Ida 
M. Sumner, daughter of Rev. J. B. Sumner, now presiding elder of 



HISTORY OF URADFOllD COUNTY. 767 

Ilonesclale District, Wyoming Conference. She is a graduate of tiie 
art department of Wyoming Seminary. Tiiey have one cl)ild, Natalie, 
born June 23, 1890. As a pastor, Mr. Decker has been blessed with 
abundant success, and has tlie conlidence and esteem of all. 

EDWIN W. DECKER, farmer, at Durell Centre, was born Decem- 
ber 11, 1833, in Standing Stone townshij), this county, on the liummei-- 
field creek, a son of Philip J. Keyzer, who came from Switzerlaml 
with his parents to Philadelphia, and first settled in this county in 
1828. The subject of this sketch, his mother having died when he 
was two years old, was adopted into the family of Simeon Decker, 
at the time, and ever since assumed his name. lie was educated in 
the district chools, went one year to college at Towanda and one vear 
to Williamsport. He was reared on the farm on which he now lives, 
which is a very fine one under a good state of cultivation. He w^as 
married June 30, 18G5, to Nancy Brown, who was born at Sugar Run, 
this county, April 27, 1845, daughter of John P. and Uraia Brown, 
natives of Wyalusing township. Mrs. Decker's mother is living with 
them at the age of eighty-one years, a well-preserved lady who has a 
great fund of historical reminiscences of the early times in Bradford ; 
her grandfather was one of the pioneers of Wyalusing. Mr. and Mrs. 
Decker have three children, as follows: Florence U., born January 25, 
1869, wife of Edwin J. Benjamin ; Laura A., born April 2, 1871; Evan 
S., born March 2, 1881. Mr. Decker was in the Fifty -seventh P. V. I., 
Company (I, in the War of the Rebellion, and was imprisoned in Libby 
prison many months. He is a life-long Democrat, and a square free 
trader, and always active to take ])art on discussing the issues of the 
times. lie has always been held with respect and esteem by all his 
many friends for integrity, benevolence and his Christian virtues. 

SAMUEL S. DEKAY, farmer and stock-grower,. LUster, was born 
in Sussex county N. J., December 19, 1813, son of Charles Dekay, a 
farmer, a native of New Jerse}', and Clara Seely, of New York. He 
came from New Jersev in 1849, and located in Factorvville, Wvoming- 
Co., Pa., and came to this county in 1809 and located at north Towanda. 
He has been twice married: the first time to Amanda Wright, a native 
of New York, December 7, 1848 ; by this marriage there w^ere five 
children, viz.: Alice, (wife of Judd Smith); Charles (deceased); Fill- 
more; Emma and Eva (twins) (Emma married Everett Briggs, Eva 
is deceased). His wife died December 7, 1855, and September 10, 
1857, he was united in marriage to Lydia, daughter of Holden and 
Sarah (Billings) Capwell, natives of this State; by this marriage 
there are six children, viz.: Clara, widow of James Madden, Sie and 
Uri (twins, deceased); Lura; William; and Jud. Mr. Dekay 's early 
education was received in the country schools of Sussex county, N. J., 
and was quite limited. He now owns fifty acres of finely improved 
farm land, and keeps a small dairy ; he is a member of the Dem- 
ocratic partv. 

WESLEY H. DELANEY, engineer on the L. V. R. "R., Sayre, is a 
nativ^e of Tioga county, N. Y., and was born November 14, 1850; a son 
of John and Sarah (Hartford) Delaney, natives of Orange county. 



768 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

N. Y. The lather was a farmer in early life, was a soldier in the Civil 
War, and is now in the employ of the raili'oad company, with residence 
at Waverly, K. Y. Wesley H., who is the eldest in a family of tive 
children, was reared in Tioga county, N. Y., where he received a com- 
mon-school education. He came to Milltown in 1870, and worked in 
the L. Y. R. E. engine house from the fall of 1872, until he was pro- 
moted to Locomotive Engineer in May, 1880, which position he lias 
since held. He was married in Sayre, November 21, 1877, to Miss 
Sarah, daughter of John and Mary (Cochrane) Lamont, the former a 
native of Belfast and the latter of Coleraine, Ireland; they came to New 
York Cit}'^ in 1848, from there to Connecticut, then to Massachusetts, 
and removed to Sayre in September, 1873; the father resides in Sayre 
and works in the foundrv; the mother died in November 1885 in her 
sixty -fifth year. Mrs. Delaney is sixth in a family of nine children; 
and was born in Lime Rock, Conn., April 3, 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Delaney were born five children: Louis E., Mary F., Wesley L., John 
A. (deceased) and George H. Mr. Delaney is a member of the Knights 
of Honor, Patriotic Sons of America and the Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Engineers, Division No. 380, and is a Republican. 

ORRIN L. DELANO, of DeLano & Campbell, grocers, Towanda, 
Avas born in Westmoreland, Oneida Co , N. Y., in 1825, a son of Saf- 
ford S. and Clarissa (Cook) DeLano, and is of Huguenot stock. His 
ancestors came to America in 1680 and settled in Massachusetts. He 
was reared in his native State, educated in the high school of Rome, 
N. Y., and at the age of twenty removed to Brooklyn where he was 
engaged in the dry-goods business with his father until 1858; he then 
spent two years in the dry-goods business in Oneida countv, N. Y., 
and in 1860 located in Bath, N. Y., wiiere he was engaged in the dry- 
goods business ten 3^ears. In 1870 he came to Towanda, where he 
took charge of the grocery department in the store of Joseph Powell, 
in which ca])acity he served eighteen years. In 1889 he foi'med a 
partnership with J. W. Campbell in the grocery trade, under the name 
of DeLano & Campbell, in which they have since continued. Mr. De- 
Lano was married, in 1849, to Ann, daughter of John and Margaret 
(Robertson) I^ownie, of Leslie, Scotland, by whom he has five children, 
viz.: Margaret, Safford S., Florence, Alice and Julia. Mr. DeLano is 
a member of the Presbytei'ian Church, and in ]wlitics is a Democrat. 

R. B. DENMARK, proprietor of saw and planing mill, Grover, is 
a native of Chemung county, N. Y., and was born March 10, 1851, a 
son of J. J. and Cornelia (Smith) Denmark, natives of Chemung 
count}'^ and of near West Point, N. Y., respectively. J. J. Denmark was 
a carpenter and joiner by trade, and died in Canton townshij) in 1882, 
in his sixty-third year; Mrs. Denmark still survives him and resides 
in Canton. The gmndfather, Christopher Denmark, settled in Che- 
mung county, N. Y., and died in Union township, Tioga Co., Pa. 
The paternal grandfather, Nathan Smith, was a native of New York, 
and died in Tompkins countv; lie was a soldier in the War of 1812. 
R. B. Denmark, who is the sixtli in order of birth in a family of seven 
children. w;is reared in (Mieinung county until three years of age, 
when the family removed to Union townshij), Tioga Co., Pa., where 



HISTORY OF RRADFORD COUNTY. 769 

they resided seven years; then went to Fallbrook, and from there to 
Grover, where they resided about four years, and then came to Canton. 
Our subject was in N. S. Denmark's furniture factory nine years, and 
in S. J. Ilickcox's phming-mill, also nine years. He then removed to 
Grover, and built a sawmill, but, selling his interest, he went to Ken- 
tucky and was foreman for the Ilixson &Roddourn Lumber Company 
one year; then moved to Newfield, N. Y., and was in the lumber busi- 
ness there six months. Returning to Grover, he has since resided 
here. Mr. Denmark was married in Monroeton, in 1871, to Anna, 
daughter of James and Maria (Williams) Jones, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania ; she is the seventh in order of birth in a family of eight chil- 
dren, and was born in Canton township, March 27, 1850. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Denmark were born four children : Myrtie, Ralph (deceased), 
Carrie May and Jennie. Mr. Denmark is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
Canton Lodge. Xo. 321, and also of the Encampment, No. J 85, Can- 
ton. Politically he is a Republican. 

D. D. DEPUE, proprietor of the Seeley House, Towanda, was 
born in Vestal, Broome Co., N. Y., in 1854, a son of James and Eliz- 
abetli (Rose) Depue, and of French descent. He was reared and edu- 
cated in his native county, and began his business career in the hotel 
business. He conducted the "' Cottage House " at Great Bend, Susque- 
hanna Co., Pa., three years, and in 1881 erected the " Keystone (now 
Sawyer) House" at that place, which he successfully conducted until 
1886. In September, 1889, he purchased the ''Seeley House" at 
Towanda, a neat and commodious hotel, with accommodations for 100 
guests, and has built up a successful business, which is daily increas- 
ing. In 1878 Mr. Depue married Miss Carrie B., daughter of John 
G. Throp, of Candor, N. Y.,and has one son, Harry. 

CHARLES D. DERRAH, editor of the Canton Sentinel, horn at 
Rockport, Carbon Co., Pa., Sei^tember -1, 1858, a son of Joshua and 
Lavina (Krum) Derrah, natives of Norristown and Carbon county, Pa., 
respectively, of Scotch-Irish and German descent. Joshua Derrah was 
engaged in the meat business most of his life, at Maunch Chunk, Rock- 
port, Troy and Canton. He died at Canton in 1889, in his seventy-ninth 
year. Mrs. Derrah still resides in Canton. They had a family of four 
children, of whom three are now living. Charles D. Derrah^ who is 
the youngest in the family, was reared in Rockport until six years of 
age ; removed to Troy and was there about three and one-half years, 
when he caine to Canton. He received his education in the public 
school and Troy Academy, and at the age of thirteen began an appren- 
ticeship at the printer's trade, and helped on the first issue of the Can- 
ton Sentinel. At the age of sixteen he finished his trade, serving 
for three and one-half years in the Troy Gazette office. In April, 1878, 
he went to Detroit, and woi'ked on the Detroit F'ree Press as compos- 
itor for eighteen months, and was then appointed traveling agent for 
the same paper ; was then given a position in the job room, and had 
charge of the shipping stock and show printing, where he remained 
until January 1, 1883; then returned to Canton and purchased the 
Canton Sentinel. Mr. Derrah was married July 6, 1886, to Fannie P., 
daughter of Hon. B. S. Dartt, of Canton, a hardware merchant; her 



770 HISTORY OF BKADFORI) COUNTY. 

mother was Achsah E. (Manlev) Dartt, and resides in Canton (they 
had a faniilv of five children, o"f whom Mrs. Derrah is the fourth, and 
three are now living; she was born in Troy, August 24, 18()8). They 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a 
trustee. lie is a member of the F. A: A. M., Canton Lodge, No. 415, 
and of the I. O. O. F., No. 321 ; is secretary of the Union Agricultural 
Association, and has held that position for live years. Politically he 
is a Republican. 

ANDREW DESMOND, of Rome township, farmer and stock 
o-rower, P. O. Mversburg, was born in County Cork, Ireland, December 
25, 1844, and is" a son of Thomas and Mary (Cotter) Desmond, both 
natives of County Cork, Ireland ; his father was a farmer; he had two 
children, born in Ireland ; Mary the eldest married Timothy Desmond ; 
his parents are both living, and make their home with Andrew. His 
father's family came to this country in 1846, and resided in several differ- 
ent localities" before coming to Bradford county to make their home; 
reaching this county on Friday, the day of President Lincoln's assass- 
inati()n,"and located where they have since resided. Andrew spent his 
boyhood in Chemung and Lycoming counties, where he attended the 
public schools until nineteen years old, and then worked on the rad- 
road two years; came to Bradford county, and now owns 100 acres of 
o-ood land', all under cultivation ; the house is a frjuue one with all the 
conveniences, two stories, and was built in 1807; the farm is well 
stocked. He was united in marriage in October, 1880, to Hannah, 
daughter of John and Hannah (Sullivan) Hayes. Her father and 
inotTier, who were born in Cork, Ireland, were married September 8, 
1846, and had a family of fourteen children, viz.: Daniel, born July 6, 
1847; William, born July 4, 1848; Michael, born February 24, 1850, 
died January 13, 1854;' John, born January 11, 1852;' Ellen, born 
January 18, 1853, married to Thomas Dolan ; Mary, born February 24, 
1855; Charles, born July 6, 1856; Hannah, born March 8, 1858; Eliz- 
abeth, born January 28, 1860, died in infancy; Julia, born April 17, 
1861, married to Peter Hurly; Dennis, born April 2, 1863; Michael, 
born June 6, 1865; James, born May 6, 1868; and Catherine, born 
February 8, 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Desmond have had born to them one 
child, Tiiomas, born November 6, 1883. The family are all members 
of the Catholic Church, of Towanda. He is a Democrat, and a mem- 
l>er of the Farmers' Alliance. He is among the best fanners of this 
county, and came to this section when the country was almost a wil- 
derness; yet, by untiring industry, he has carved from the dense hem- 
lock forests a beautiful home, and with no assistance has secured a fair 
amount of this world's goods ; he is looked upon as a model farmer 
and enjoys the love and respect of all who know him. 

HA liRISON I )ETRICK (deceased), who, in his lifetime, was among 
the most successful and prosperous of Pradford county's farmers, was 
born on a farm in Monroe countv. Pa.. June 14, 1834, a son of John 
E. and Marv M. (Mt>rrev) Detrick, also natives of Monroe county. 
He was i-eai-ed on the farm, educated in the common school, and, as soon 
as he reached his majority, came with his sister to this county, where 
he managed his father's extensive landed interests. He located on tlu; 



HlsrOUY OF BltADFORl) COUNTY. 771 

farm now occupied by liis family, and there passed the rest of his days. 
After iiis father's deatii he purchased tlie farm and improved it until 
he had a beautiful home, containing one 160 acres of exceedingly 
fine farm land. Mr. Detrick was married April 24, ISOl. to May 
Anne, only daughter of Philip and Jane (Lamb) Sullivan, former of 
whom was born in Ireland, latter in Wyalusing. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Detrick were born two children: Earnest H., born Mav 9, 1S77, 
and Jennie M., born March 31, 1881. Mr Detrick died in ^1883 from 
injuries received through being thrown from a wagon, lie was a 
careful, neat and successful farmer, and a very hard worker. Since his 
death, his widow has had full charge of the farm, and its neat and 
tidy appearance, which compares most favorably with that of her 
neigiibors, shows abundantly that she has the skill to manage success- 
fully. Mrs. Detrick is a member of, and liberal contributor to, the 
Methodist Episcopal Church of Spring Hill. 

CMAllLES J. DETTIIA, carpenter and farmer, P. O. Ulster, was 
born in Montgomery county, Pa., February 12, 1850, and is a son of 
Christian and Martha (Davis) Dettra, natives of Montgomery county, 
Pa., his father of German and his mother of Welsh descent; his grand- 
father was a miller and one of the pioneers of Montgomery county. 
His parents came to Bradford county in the year 1870, locating in 
Ulster, where his father yet lives at the age of eighty-seven, being the 
oldest inhabitant of the township ; his mother died in Montgomery 
county in 188Y, aged seventy-four ; they were farmers. Charles attended 
the common schools of Montgomery county until sixteen years old, and 
received a good common-school education, and worked on his father's 
farm until nineteen years old; then secured a position on the Lehigh 
Valley Railroad as carpenter, 'building bridges, depots, etc, and has 
continued in the employ of the railroad twenty-two years. Ue owns 
thirty-eight acres of finely improved land, which he cultivates himself, 
growing tobacco and other crops ; he also keeps a small diiiry. Mr. 
Dettra has been remarkably successful in business, and has secured 
an independence entirel}' through his own exertions. He was 
married December 1-1, 1875, to Agnes, daughter of William and 
Jessie (Gallespie) Irving; they have no children. His fathers family 
consisted of twelve children, eleven of whom survive, four of whom 
live in this county, viz.: Louis, Joseph, Catherine (wife of H. J. Shaw) 
and himself, he being the tenth in order of birth ; is a member of the 
Rural Amity Lodge of Athens, F. & A. M., and Union Chapter, No. 
161, R. A. M., and of Northern Commandery, No. 11. K. T., of Towanda 
Lodge of Perfection, No. 140; also a member of the Iron Hall, Sex- 
ennial League, order of the Royal Ark, and of the Peojiles Benefit 
Association. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, of 
which Mr. Dettra is an elder and holds the office of' trustee ; his polit- 
ical views are Republican. 

A. J. DEWEY, farmer, of South Creek township, P. O. Wells- 
burg, N. Y., was born in South Creek, May 20, 1835, a son of James 
and Mahetable (Van Cam])) Dewey, natives of Vermont and Canada, 
respectivel^^ His fnther was the son of James Dewey, who removed 
from Vermont, near the Green Mountains, in the early history of this 



772 HISTORY OF HUADFOKD COUNTY. 

county, locating- on Bentley's creek, where he built one of the Hrst 
mills in that section of the county, being one of the pioneers. James, 
Jr., his son, settled on a new farm of 200 acres of wood land, on Avhat 
is now called Doty hill, he being one of the first settlers on that hill. 
His family consisted of six children who grew to maturity, three of 
whom are now living, as follows: Levi and Andrew J., and Eliza A. 
Callen. James, Jr., died August 14, 1872, at the age of seventy years. 
A. J. Dewey, the subject of this sketch, is the fifth in order of birth. 
At the age of twentv-three he married Sarah E., daughter of Charles 
and Lydia Loveland, on December 20, 1858, at ^Nichols, N. Y. There 
were born to them four children, all of whom grew to maturity and 
are now living, viz.: Eliza A., married to Dwight S. Parsons, deputy 
postmaster at»Ansonia, Conn.; Floyd H., Cora I. and Mary Elizabeth. 
Mr. Dewey has 100 acres of rich fertile land, which he bouglit of 
George Suffern, then known as the " Hillman place." He follows a 
mixed line of farming, and is an extensive butter maker; his stock is 
fine and graded ; he is a natural mechanic, doing all of his own building. 
The family are members of the Baptist Church; in politics he is a 
Re}>ublican. 

DEWEY BROTHERS, merchants, Gillett, were born in South 
Creek township, Bradford Co., Pa., C. P., in December, 1862, and E. O., 
in March, 1865. They were reared and educated in Ridgebury township, 
this county, C. P. taking a course at Warner's Commercial College, in 
Elmira, N. Y. They are ihe sons of Walter and Parentha (Sutlitf) 
Dewey, both of whom were born in Xew York and removed to this 
county about 1850, locating on what is now known as'' East Hill,"' but 
subsequently removed to Ridgeburv, where the father now resides, a 
prosperous farmer in eas}^ circumstances ; his family consists of eight 
children by two marriages, seven of Avhom grew to maturity, and six 
are now living. C. P. and E. O., who are the seventh and eighth 
respectively in the family, began mercantile business in Gillett on 
March 4, 1889, with a full line of goods adapted to country trade, and 
by their gentlemanly bearing to all they have won the esteem of their 
neighbors, and by close attention to business they have won the con- 
Hdence and trade of many. Their stock consists of a general supply 
of the best quality, and they handle a variety of agricultural imple- 
ments, such as mowers, reapers, etc., also harness, and are extensive 
dealers in butter. C. P. Dewey has lield the office of postmaster 
nearlv two years. The brothers are both married, C. P. having wed- 
ded May 20, 1885, May, daughter of A. E. and Marion Striton, and 
there were two children born to them, Blanche and Agnes. E. O. 
married, in January, 1890, Rose, daughter of Reuben and Clara Gi-is- 
w(jld. The i)rothers are members of the International Fraternal Alli- 
ance of Baltimore. Md., and politically are Rei)ublicans. 

GEORGE F. DEWING, farmer and stock grower of Warren 
townshi|), P. O. Warrenham, was born in Warren township. April 2'.), 
184G, and ti-aces his ancesti-y back some generations, ;is follows: An- 
drew Dowin": came from England nnd became a freeman of Dedhnin. 
Mass., in ir)46, and is so registered in Farmers' Geographical Register, 
Barkers Historical Collections, page 456; his son Andrew Dewing 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 778 

was born Novembei' 20, 1055, according- to the Dcdhani records; iiis 
son Edniiuul Dewing was born September 9. 1004, according to the same 
record; he married linth Dunklee, March 20, 172o, as noted in the records 
of Needham, and they had seven sons and daughters. The youngest 
was Ilezekiah Dewing, who was born September 9, 1740, as is shown bv 
the records of Needham; his son Michael Dewing was born in Wood- 
stock. Conn., in May, 1765 ; he married Iluth Coburn, and they had 
six children, of whom Andrew Dewing was second, born Jufy 19, 
1792, in Salisbury, Conn., and was the father of George F. Dewing, 
our subject. Andrew married twice, first Elizabeth Fahnestock, in 
1820, She died in 1821, and in 1845 he married Nancy Dobson, who 
bore him four children, viz.: George F., Elizabeth F. (Mrs. Dr. J. M. 
Newman, whose husband died in 1880, leaving her with two daugh- 
ters), Anna C. (Mrs. I. M. Young), who has three sons, and Andrew, 
who married Esther R. Coburn, and has four sons and a daughter. 
Andrew came to this county with his maternal grandfather in 1802, 
and died August 20, 1883, aged ninety-one years ; his widow died July 
24, 1887, aged sixty-nine. George F. Dewing spent his early life in 
Warren township, and farmed and taught school for a number of 
years and now owns a farm of ISO acres, that is well cultivated, 
and has elegant and commodious farm buildings on it and a 
residence which has just been completed. He was married in Wvsox, 
March 22, 1870, to Abigail daughter of Albert and Susan (Bull) Lent, 
natives of Pennsylvania and New York, respectively, and of Dutch 
and English extraction. To them were born ten children, of whom 
Abigail, a native of Wysox, was the eighth. To Mr. and Mrs George 
F. Dewing were born five children, who are the eighth generation 
of Americans of that name and family. They are as follows: 
Nancy, Francis T., Geo. Albert, Anna and Elizabeth. The family 
worship at the Presbyterian Church ; Mr. Dewing votes the Republi- 
can ticket. 

WILLIAM F. DeAVITT. senior member of the firm of DeWitt & 
Ballard, dealers in general merchandise, Tro3^ was born in Monroe 
county. Pa., August 24, 1848, and is a son of Caleb II. and Mary 
(Albert) DeWitt.' His paternal grandfather, Col. Joseph DeWitt, a 
native of New Jersey, was a pioneer of Wells township, this county, 
where he engaged in farming and merchandising and reared his 
family ; he was a colonel in the militia in Bradford county. The 
father of our subject, a native of New Jersey, was reared in P)radford 
county, but spent most of his life in Tioga county, where he engaged 
in farming and died ; his wife was a daughter of Peter T. Albert! of 
Monroe county. Pa., by whom he had four sons: Joseph II., William 
F.. John W. and Calvin II. Our subject was reared in Tioga county 
until twenty-one years of age, and was educated at the State Normal 
School at Mansfield ; on March 8, 1809, he came to Troy and for thir- 
teen years was a clerk in the general store of Leonard '& Redington. 
In 1881 he embarked in business with L. J. Ballard, under the name 
of Dewitt & Ballard in which he has since continued. He married 
twice, his first wife was Jennie, daughter of John and Mary (Dimm) 
Rooker, of Muncy, Pa., by whom he had one daughter, Helena; his 
u 



774 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

second wife was Blanche, daughter of Gen. George and Elizabeth 
(Miter) Armstrong, of Milton, Pa., by whom he has one son, William 
A. Mr, UeWitt is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; in 
politics he is a Democrat, and is one of the present school directors of 
Troy borough ; socially he is a Royal Arch Mason. 

JOEL DIBBLE, farmer, of Burlington township, P. O. Mountain 
Lake, settled here in 1847, in the wilderness, and cleared a large farm, 
having come from Dutchess county, X. Y., where he was born July 18, 
1824, a son of Sanford and Phebe (Denton) Dibble, natives of Dutch- 
ess county, and of English origin. Mr. Dibble has been obliged, since 
seven yeai's of age, to depend u})on his own resources for a livelihood, 
and necessity has taught him the strictest economy, but by great per- 
severance he has been enabled to accumulate a fine property, being 
now the owner of a farm of over ninety acres, under a good state of 
cultivation. He has been twice wedded : on March 6, 1845, he was 
married to Hannah Mead, by whom he had three children : YanWike, 
Washington F. and Charles. This wife died February 14, 1856, and 
December if), 1857, he married Elizabeth AYright. of Burlington, who 
was born March 19, 1838, in Dutchess county, N. Y., a daughter of 
Horace and Lydia Ann (Mead) Wright, of English extraction, and 
natives of the above-named county. Horace Wright was a soldier of 
the War of 1812. and Mrs. Dibble's brother, Thomas, was a soldier in 
the War of the Pebellion, losing his life through long exposure. Mr. 
Dibble has had, by his second wife, five children, as follows: Ella A., 
born September 29, 1858, died March IS, l.s70; Edgar, born March 7, 
1860; Clara, born October 2, 1804, died August 13, 1882; Oscar, born 
January 24. 1874, died February 2, 1877; and Cora, born November 

27, 1877. Mr. Dibble has been a successful farmer, and was many 
years an extensive shingle manufacturer. He is a Republican, and 
takes an interest in the affairs of the party. The family are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

LEYI S. DICK IN SO i\, farmer, P. O. Wetona, was born October 

28, 1823, in Haddam, Middlesex Co., Conn., a son of Daniel C. and 
Christiana (Clark) Dickinson, natives of the same place, born of Eng- 
lish and French descent, and who removed to Bradford county on 
May 1, 1840, settling in Springfield, near where Mr. Dickinson now 
rv'sides. I^aniel C. Di(;kinson was a farmei", and was in the stone 
quarry business a great many years; he and his wife were members of 
the (Jongi-egational (Miurch. The Dickinsons have a genealogical 
family history in which the ancestry is traced back to one, Nathaniel 
Dickinson, who settled near Boston in 1630, and among the relatives 
are f<uind the names of many men of prominence ; the father died in 
December, 1882, aged ninety-three years, and the nn^ther in 1852, at 
the age of fifty-seven years. The subject of this memoir was reared 
on the farm, educated in the public shools, and has been a farmer 
and a Inmboi-man ; is now the owner of 208 acres, in two farms, 
of as fine land as is to be found in Springlield township. He was 
married November 23, 1848, to Lucy Tracy, who was born January 14, 
1830, daughter of James O. and Anna (Watkins) Tracy, of Smithfield, 
and who were natives of East Haddam, Conn., the Tracy family trace 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 7?5 

their lineage back to the "Mayflower," to the time of Mary Chilton, 
who was tile lirst person on riyniouth Rock. Mrs. Dickinson's father 
died in February, 1870, aged seventy-nine years, and her mother in 
June 1872, aged seventy-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson have 
had born to them two children: Charles C, born March 11, 1859 (he 
married twice, first time to Nellie Grace, and on second occasion to 
Carrie L. Storch ; he is a farmer on the homestead) and Jay T., born 
July 28, 1864 (married T. Belle Brooks; he is a physician at Bine 
City, N. Y.). Mr. Dickinson is a Republican, but an independent voter; 
is well informed upon all matters of the day, and is strong in the 
temperance cause. The family are consistent members of the Congre- 
gational Church. 

W. S. DIEFFENBAUCH, Overton township, P. O. Overton, one 
of the prominent citizens of Ov^erton township, a farmer and mechanic, 
has spent tiie years of his life in the locality where he was born, July 
10, 1840, a son of Charles and Martha ( Mullen) Dieflfenbaucli, Pennsyl- 
vanians, of German and English descent, respectively ; the father was 
also a farmer and mechanic, and came to Overton with his family al)out 
the year 1836, where he died in 1876, his venerable widow surviving. 
Their children were seven in number, of whom the subject of this 
sketch is the second in order of birth. He spent his childhood and 
youth on the old homestead, early learning- the working duties of a 
farmer's boy, and about his shop became a skilled mechanic. From 
his father's estate he received fifty acres which he sold and then pur- 
ciiased his present place, containing fifty-eight acres. He was married 
in SuUivan county, in 1866, to Maria, daughter of Thomas and Mary 
(Bird) Norton, natives of England and Pennsylvania, respectively. Of 
this union there are children, as follows : Mary, wife of J. E. Trevis ; 
Martha V., wife of W. JST. Aylesworth ; Libbie L., wife of Edgar F. 
Kunes ; Charles T., with his parents on the farm; Bertha L. and 
Kittie B. The family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which he is a trustee, and has filled the offices of Sunday-school super- 
intendent and treasurer. He has also been school director, and in pol- 
itics he IS a Prohibitionist. 

GEORGE DILLIN, proprietor of Dillin's Flouring Mills, Troy, 
was born in Queen's County, Ireland, June 29, 1828, a son of Joseph 
and Eliza (Breathwate) Dilbn. who immigrated to America in 1831. 
and located at Underbill, Chittenden Co., Vt., living there nine years; 
then moved to Bradford county. Pa., settling in Springfield townshiji, 
and later, in Columbia township, where the father died in 1845. The 
mother afterward removed to Illinois and died there; their children 
were nine in number, viz.: Ann (Mrs. Alsinus Ward), Elizabeth, 
Hannah (Mrs. John Sheridan), Arthur, George, Sophia (Mrs. C. F. 
Crandall), Charlotte (Mrs. William Graves), Maria (Mrs. Henry Cole) 
and Joseph. Our subject was reared in Ireland and came to America 
in 1848, locating in Troy, this county, where, with the exception of two 
years spent in Smithfield, he has since resided, for forty years; he has 
been identified with the gristmill interests of Troy, learned the miller's 
trade at Long's mills, where for twenty-tliree 3'ears he was employed 
by II. F. Long, and, beginning in 1874, was associated for four years 



^r^g HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

with G F ViUe, as a partner in ViUe's mills. In 1S7S the mills came 
into the possession of H. G. McKean, of whom Dillin rented same or 
two years : in 1S80 he purchased the mill which he operated alone six 
vears when he admitted his sons, Arthur H. and Joseph R, into part- 
nership, since which time the mill has been conducted under the firm 
name of George Dillin & Sons; the original mill on this site was 
erected in 1847! and known as " Taylor & Dobbins Mill." Mr. Dillin 
was married in' June, 1855, to Lucy L. P^elps,of Ma.nsburg, Tiog.i Co., 
Pa, and has had nine children: Arthur IL, Joseph 1.., George A 
deceased) Philander W., Sophia, Rose (deceased), Ida B. (deceased 
SlTand Anna. Mr. Dillin is a member of the Methochst Episcopal 
Church , is a Roval Arch Mason, and politically lie '^^ Republican 

CHARLES biMON, farmer. Pike township, P. O. South Wauen, 
was born January 25, 1830, on the farm where he now^ lives, and is the 
Tldest of^t "n^ children of Gilbert and Hannd. (WH-n) D.mon 
natives of Connecticut; who came to Pike from ^ew lork State, in 
1817 Charles was reared on a farm and educated in the common 
school- benan life lor himself at nineteen, and embraced farmin^as his 
"Xat.'on, which he has followed since; has also worked at the car- 
penter's trade. He married, July 4, 1852, trancis ^l^\"g^^„^ ,«f ^^^J " 
ind Fannie (Medbrey) Chaffee; her parents came to l^''^^lfo»'^\^.^^\^^^y 
in 1824,andsettled in Warren township; they had t'e following ch.lch en. 
Edmund L., born April 4, 1853, died July 2o, 18..; Jo^ ^^/- \>^^^ 
October 23, 1854, died July 8, 1881;Fann.e E., born December 20 185b, 
mar^-ied to S. Edgar Chubbuck, a farmer in Orwell township; Martha 
E born December 20, 1857, married to Oscar Brown, a farmer in Orwel 
unvnship; Ida A., borA August 7, 1859, married to Puchard Andrews, of 
Lestersh^'re, N. Y.; Leste^r A., born May 12, 1862,^ died in infancy, 
Charles A., born Noyember 2, 18G4, died J""^ 2., 18. .; Jes.e A., born 
July 21, 1866, died October 25, 1890; Frances A., born Mav 29, 18.0, 
now livino- at home. In politics Mr. Dimon is an Imlependent vote.. 

THOMAS J. DINAN, JR., finisher and '^^^^'^f''''\l'''^^^^^^^ 
Towanda was born in Lancaster county. Pa., April 30, 18o9 a son 
o Thoni J. and Sophia (Fineour) Dinan, and is of I-f-^- .^-;;^^^;^ 
descent- his father was a native of Philadelphia, a son ot Pat ick Dinan 
whrwa's a native of Ireland, and one of the oldest mad --1 n.c o- of 
Pennsvlvania. Thomas J Dinan, Sr., who is a cabmet-makei b> tia le 
was a^soldier in the Civil War, and is a prominent member o the 
G A R • he has been a resident of Will.amsport, Pa., since 1871, uas 
elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature to represent Lyconv 
ing county in 1884, and is the only r^^i;^^'>''^f,, ^^'^^^^^^^^^ ,^ , fj^' ^^ 
olllce from that county; he is now custodian of he P" ',';;; ''{j^^,,^ J 
Wilhamsportandhas been chief clerk under SHperinteiulent Wayne 
two yearL Thomas J. Dinan, Jr., was educated in the -!;-^-^^^^ 
learnincr his trade in Williamsport, and has held the posiion of foreman 
n Zr^d' the largest shops in 'the country one in ^^^^ f "^J ^1^ ^' 
Pennsylvania, and is now contractor and foreman '" he fac oi^y ot 
J. O.^ Frost's Sons, Towanda. which position he has /^e'd /'"^^ 
coming to that place in 1888. In 1881 Mr. Dman ^muM-itnl He en 
dau-hter of J. H. and Elizabeth (Lane) McCuUough. ol Wdmingtoii, 



HrSTORY OF HRADKORD COUNTY. 77? 

N. C, and has two children living: Herbert and Soj)hia A. Mr. Ditian 
is a member of the German Ma^inerchor and Leiderkranz. and in pol- 
itics is a Republican. 

WILLIAM S. DOBBINS, retired farmer, Ti-oy, was boi-n in Bur- 
lington township, this county, June 27, 18(»0, and is a son of John and 
Rebecca (McKean) Dobbins. Ilis paternal grandfather, AVilliam 
Dobbins, who was of Irish parentage, settled in Rurlington in 1791, 
on what is now the County Farm, and lived and died in that town- 
ship; his children were: Robert, Daniel, John, William, Eleanor (Mrs. 
Johnson Miller), Jane (Mrs. Ebenezer Kendall), Susan (Mrs. Nathaniel 
Ballard), Sally (Mrs. Jutlge Reuben Wilbui-), Betsey (Mrs. Nathan 
Ballard) and Polly (Mrs. Jesse Woodruff) ; his wife' was Mary A. 
McLean. John Dobbins, father of our subject, located in Burlington 
township in 1701, and removed to Troy township in 1820, settling on 
Avhat is now known as the Joraleman farm ; later removed to near 
Dillin's Mills and died there; his wife was a daughter of James and 
Jane (Scott) McKean, of Burlington township, by whom he had ten 
children: Jane (Mrs. Elihu Newberry), Mary A.' (Mrs. Johnson Will- 
iams), Samantha (Mrs. Churchill Barnes), William S., Andrew 
McKean, Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph Hunt), Julia (Mrs. Samuel McNitt), 
Daniel, Rebecca (Mrs. Marvin Rockwell) and Sarah (Mrs. Norman 
Palmer). Mr. Dobbins was a prominent citizen of his day, and was a 
justice of the peace for twenty years. William S., the subject of this 
sketch, was reared in Troy and Burlington townships; he located in 
Troy with his parents in 1820, has followed farming most of his life, 
settling, in May, 1833, on the farm of 200 acres where he now resides, 
which he cleareci and improved, having cut the first stick on the place. 
He was twice married, his first wife being Nancy, daughter of Elibius 
and Nancy Both well, of Syracuse, N. Y., by whom he had ten chil- 
dren: Emeline S. (deceased), Andrew J., Nancy R. (Mrs. William 
Burgers), Marian (Mrs. John H. Grant), Emeline S. (second) (Mrs. A. 
H. Hepburn), William, James, John E., Samuel McKean and Thomas; 
his second wife was Sarah, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Hoffman) 
Widle, of Lancaster county. Pa., by whom he had three children: 
Thomas H., Mary and Leonora. Mr. Dobbins is one of the oldest 
citizens of Bradford county ; he served as constable of Troy three 
years in succession, was deputy sheriff of Bradford county three years, 
and sheriff of the county three years, being elected to' the office in 
18-18 ; he was delegate to the State Convention at Harrisburg several 
terms, and in his prime always took an active part in politics. Polit- 
ically he has always been a stanch Democrat, and sociallv he is a mem- 
ber of the F. t% A. M. 

WILLIAM A. DOBBINS, railway conductor, residence No. 
600 Central avenue, Indianapolis, Intl., is a native of Bradford county. 
Pa., born on his father's farm near Troy, the second son of William S. 
Dobbins. At the old homestead William A. Dol)bins spent his child- 
hood, learned to labor, went to school in the neighborhood, and in time 
became a student in the old Troy Academy. At the age of twenty he 
sought and found employment with a railroad, became a brakeman, 
and for the past twenty-five years he has been m railroad service, being 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



1 ^ , iU^ Q.t T finis Vimdalia & Indianapolis 

now passenger conductor ^n the SL Loui^ Vanca^ ^i^^^^ 

his «iite Miss Anna M.^f;^' .^l;^''^ ' ^ count' She wL some years 

rsr.nr y^l^^ ^-Sfl^:^^ "" ---^^^^ 
Si- £S bx f ^t:^« =r ^-■ 

occupation he follouxauntl lb78 ^^hen he ^^^^.^^^ partnership 

lianlware business at lio\, wit" f-/^- T„|,,,son until 188i, since 
existed under the Hrm name of 1^"' ^'^ " .^S "' °X^^ of Dob- 

l„eh time the ^--g has been «,luaejd^^^ ,,,^^,, „ ,, 

bins & Correli. Mr. Dobbins f /; J"^, ■ T^r^ternitv He is Past 
and is also an active member ^^ ti^^/\?^T''y.'74't Aio-b Priest of 

county, and is a son of John F. and Me ssa l^"i<^^W n^ .^^^ 

a natiVe of Terry township, ^>«™,^,^5,^"^^^\|iV The a er is the son 

of Wvalusing touniship, born ^ugus 22 Ibl • i e -^^^ 

of Edmund and Rebecca Dodge, he torne^^^^^^^^ 

December 21, 1777, the latter a na e ^^ En^ an L i^^ ^^.^^^^^ 

son of 01iverDodge,whocametotl scountN in.t ve^^ ^^ ^.^ 

about the same time the Terrys came, m lij J, ^^^^^ 

banks of the Susquehanna nver taking up .^^^^^^^ 'n e' was d stributed 

side and about 400 on the east sue, NNhich in ^ me w as ^ 

::;:^4 the heirs, -IV^lvt^maS^etvc^ll^nki^army. 
pioneer of the Dodge fami y, ^^a. a ma or "^^^ ^. -^ ^ by 
kdmund was twice married : his hrs ^^^.^JV^f^^^^AlpheS ; his second 
whom he had three children : (^\\^«'^,^;^"^',^^;^'if;^ as 

f:r dat Msi^ri!' mrt'!;;:t'oft^,,lX''^ei:r^^^^ ^ -e su. 



HISTORY OF BKADKOKI) COUNTY. 779 

ceeded his father on the old homestead, and reared a family of 
seven children: George Elliott, Marietta U., John E., J\''ancv, Davis 
D., Alta S. and Lucy E., live of whom grew to maturity and are now 
living. John E., the subject of this sketch, has always devoted him- 
self to agi'icultui-al pursuits. On September 15, IStlO, at the aoe of 
twenty-two, he married Miss Mary, daughter of Chester and Eliza 
8choonover, of Terrytown. He is living on the old homestead where 
his father, grandfather and great-grandfather resided before him, and 
is a general farmer, raising a mixed crop. He enjoys the full confidence 
of his fellow-citizens, who have elected him to the following offices 
commissioner (three years), treasurer, and justice of the peace, which 
position he now holds. He is a member of the F. & A. M. and of the 
I. O. O. F. ; politically he is a Re})ublican. 

BENJAMIN H. DOTY, farmer, P. O. Wellsburg, N. Y., is a son 
of Joseph and Mehitabel (Horton) Doty, of Dutch origin. The father, 
who was a farmer, removed to Bradford county in 1837, and, settling 
in the wilderness, he cleared the farm where Benjamin H. now resides, 
the famil}^ experiencing all the privations of the early pioneer's life. 
The parents reared a family of six children, three sons antl three daugh- 
ters, four of whom are now living; the parents were active and consis- 
tent members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church; the father died at 
the age of eighty-nine years, and the mother when aged sixty-two 
years. Benjamin H. Doty was reared on the farm, and followed agri- 
cultural pursuits successfully, till he is now the owner of 175 acres of 
fine land, including the old homestead, and carries on general farming. 
The ])roperty is located on a fine elevation in Ridgebury township. 
Mr. Doty was married April 10, 1856, to Mar-tha A.'Fassett, of 
South Creek, this county, a daughter of Philo and Permelia (Louk) 
Fassett ; her grandfather Fassett was one of the pioneers of the 
township of South Creek; her father, who is a farmer, is now aged 
eighty years, and her mother is aged eighty-one. Mr. and Mrs. Doty 
have had five children, four of whom are now living: Alice, wife of 
Edgar Berry, a farmer, in Springfield township; Kitsie, wife of Jose})h 
Craig, a farmer; Emma, wife of Charles E. YanBuskirk, an undertaker 
at Wellsburg, N. Y.; and Sumner N., married to Jenny Craig, of 
Ridgebury. Mr. Doty is a Republican in politics, has held several 
offices of public ti-ust, and is much respected in the community. 

L. H. DOUGLASS, merclumt, Hornbrook, was born inSheshequin 
township, this county. May 23, ISGO, a son of Elias and Catherine 
(Childs) Douglass, the former of whom was a carpenter. They had a 
family of four children, of whom our subject is the eldest, the others 
being : Lucinda, married to Robert Keller, of Athens; George (deceased) 
and Benjamin. L. H. Douglass grew to his majority in the vicinity of 
Hornbook, and attended the schools of that place until eighteen years 
of age, receiving a good common-school education, then learned the 
carpenter's trade with his father, and followed that until 1888, when 
he engaged in mercantile trade, opening a store at Hornbrook. He 
carries a fine line for a country trade, and does a yearly business of 
about $2,500. He married, September 30, 1885, Mary, the fifth child 
born to Lois and Julia (Webb) Brainard, who yet resides in Litchfield ; 



780 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

she is the fifth child. Mr. and Mrs. Douglass have two children: 
Georgia L., aged three years, and Sarah E., aged ten months. Mr. 
Douglass' political views are Democratic, and he is recognized as a 
prominent and valued citizen. 

D. II. DUART, farmer, Canton township, P. O. Windfall, is a 
native of York, Canada West (now Toronto, Ontario), born April 11, 
1819. His parents were John and Jane (Hicks) Duart, natives of 
County Down, Ireland, and Scotland respectively. John Duart immi- 
grated to New York City when a young man, was a stone mason by 
trade, and he helped build the main tunnel used by the New York City 
Water-works; he lost his health while engaged in working on that 
tunnel, and died in 1823, in his fortieth year. Mrs. Duart died at the 
age of seventy years. D. H. Duart, who is the fourth in order of 
birth in a family of seven sons and two daughters, was reared in 
Canada West, receiving a public-school education, and removed to 
Towanda about 1837, where he worked five years at the carpenter's 
trade; then came to Canton township, where he has since resided; 
he settled in the woods and cleared out his farm. He was mari'ied in 
Washington townshi]), Wyoming Co., Pa., in 1840, to Sarah, daughter 
of William and Elner (MN^ers) Place, the former of Vvhom was a farmer 
and died in his native home; her grandfather, James, Avas of English 
descent and died in Pike county, Pa. Mrs. Duart, who is the sixth in 
order of birth in a family of thirteen, was born in Hamilton township, 
Monroe Co., Pa., June 26, 1817. To Mr. and Mrs. Duart were born 
thirteen children, of whom two are now living: Mary Jane (wife of 
Hiram Thomas) and John W. (mariied to Effie Punyan). Mr. Duart 
IS a member of the F. & A. M., Tj-ojan Lodge, No. 300, also of the 
West Granville Grange ; ])oliticallv he is a ltepu!)lican. 

GEORGE W. DUBERT, farnier, P. O. Pig Pond, was born Octo- 
ber 29, 1855, in Springfield townshi]), this countv, a son of Antirew 
and Elizabeth (Fraley) Dubert, natives of Saxony, Germany, wlio 
came to this country when young- people, with their parents; they 
were agriculturists, and the father is still living. Grandfather P'raley 
is seventy -seven years of age. Grandfather Dubert was a soldier in 
the German army, and died in January, 1890, at the age of eighty- 
two years. Geoi'ge W. Dubert, who is the eldest in a famih' of four 
children, all now living, was reared on the farm and educated in the 
schools of the township ; he has been a carpenter and farmer. Tiie 
family are owners of a fine farm of 200 acres, dairying being 
the i)rincinal l)usiness. Mr. Dubert was mai'i-ied, October 12, 1887, to 
Estella W. P>urniuim, who was born August 10, 1804, a (hiughter of 
Orrin A. and Fannie J. (Itayner) Purnham, of Ridgebury, this county, 
who are stdl living in the county and are tillers of the soil ; her father 
was of English ancestry, tracing his lineage to the Wisners, who were 
among the Pilgrims of the " Mayfiower ; " her grandfather, Rayner, 
who had been in the War of 1812, and was a pensioner, died at the 
age of sevent}' years; and her grandmother died at the age of eighty- 
eight years. Mr. and Mis. Dubert have no children. They have a 
vei'V line home, the location being one of the best in the township, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 781 

having a magnificent prosjiect. Mr. Dubert is a llepublican, and 
takes an active ])ai't in political affairs. 

WILLIAM E. DUMOKD, farmer, V. O. Alba, was born in 
Armenia townshij), this county. November 12, 1845, and is a son of 
Jacob Y. and Harriet (Kitf) Dumond, nativesof Delaware county, K.Y., 
who settled in Armenia in 1S39, and cleared and imj^roved the farm 
occupied by subject. Jacob Y. Dumond was a son of James 
Dumond, and his wife a daughter of James Kiff ; their children were : 
James, Jane (Mrs. Samuel Kendreick), William E., Imogene (Mrs. 
William Barber), John II., Hamilton T., Clarence, and Florence (Mrs. 
Albert Moggan). William E. Dumond was reared in Armenia, and 
was a member of Company C, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalrv. during 
the War of the Rebellion, and after two years was honoi-ably dis- 
charged. Llis wife was Lelia, daughter of Asa and Mary (Harding) 
Pratt, and by her he has two children: Perry and Minnie. He is a 
member of the G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican. 

OLIVER G. DUNBAR, farmer. Springfield township, P. O. Big 
Pond, was born August 23. 18-12, in Troy township, a son of Alanson 
and Martha (Burk) Dunbar, natives of Springfield township. The 
father, a farmer, came from Connecticut in an early day, and settled 
at Troy with a large family; Mr. Dunbar's great grandfather was a 
Revolutionary soldier; the father lived to the age of fifty-four years 
and the mother to the age of sixty-seven years. Mr. Dunbar was the 
second in a family of eleven children, was reared on the farm and edu- 
cated in the schools of the township. When twenty-two 3'ears of age 
he enlisted in Compan}^ L, First New York Veteran Cavalry, under 
Gen. Sheridan, and did picket duty nine months; before this he was in 
the war as a teamster. He was married December 31, 186G, to Marv 
Jane, daughter of Alfred H. and Jane Strong, of Springfield, and 
who was born January 29, 1842, the youngest of the" family of four 
children; her two brothers, William IL antl Edwin C. Strong^, were in 
the Civil War. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar have had only one child, who 
died in infancy. He is the owmer of a well-improved farm of forty 
acres, which is under a fine state of cultivation, and has been a suc- 
cessful business man, is a good neighbor and a kind friend ; he is a Re- 
publican in politics, and has held the offices of school director, com- 
missioner and auditor several years, and also other positions of public 
trust; is a member of the I. O. O. F., P. of II. and of the G. A. R. 
WILLIAM H. DUNHAM, a leading farmer of Windham town- 
ship, P. O. Windham, is a native of Bradford county. Pa., born April 
5, 1834, a son of Llenry and Sybil (Wait) Dunham, of New York, and 
German extraction. The father was a mechanic, and one of the early 
settlers in Windham, having come in 1806, and lived until 1887; the 
mother died in 1890. They had ten children, of whom William H. is 
the fourth. He grew to his majority on the farm, and since he com- 
menced life on his own account has prospered. Receiving his share of 
his father's real estate, he has added thereto, until he now" owns ninety 
acres. In 18G1 he enlisted in Company H, Sixty-fourth New York 
Infantry, Second Army Corps, and was in the battles of Fair Oaks, 
Harrison's Landing and Antietam, when he was seized with typhoid 



782 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

fever, iind sent to the liospital in Washington; was honorably dis- 
charged November 20, 1862, has been an invalid continuously since, 
and is now a pensioner. He is a member of Warwick Post, No. 529, 
G. A. R., and, politically, votes with the Republican party. He was 
married, in 1863, to Elizabeth Hand, who was born in Windham town- 
ship, this county, a daughter of Alexander and Mary (Manchester) 
Hand. Of this marriage have been born five children : Howard (in 
Tioga county), Henry, Harrold (deceased), Sybil M. and William. The 
family are much esteemed by a wide circle of friends. 

E. L. DUNKLEE, insurance agent, Wyalusing, was born in Steuben 
county, K. Y., October 4, 1843, and is a son of Ellis and Lucinda 
(Bixby) Dunklee, natives of Vermont, of English origin ; his father 
followed contracting and building many years, and then purchased a 
farm in Steuben county, N. Y., where he has resided forty-eight years; 
his father Avas born in 1813. and his mother in 1817 and died in 1887; 
they had a family of seven children, viz.: Eli, farmer of Coopers Tlains, 
N. Y.;Melvina, married to Benjamin Balcona, farmer of Curtis, N. Y.; 
James, of Rochester, N. Y., who served m Company E, One Hundred 
and Forty-first New York Infantry, was wounded at Resaca and dis- 
charged on account of disability from wound; E. L.; Emma, married 
to Lorain Carpenter, and 'died in 1883; Clara, married to G. M. Bixby, 
a banker of Wyalusing who died in 1880; and Calista, married to 
Adelbert Scott, a farmer of Campbell, N. Y. Subject was born and 
reared on a farm, and attended the common schools of his district until 
seventeen years of age. August 28, 1862, he enlisted in Company 
E, One Hundred and Forty-first New York Infantry, and after a hard 
service, interspersed with sickness, and spending about eleven months 
in hospital, and making the famous campaign with Sherman from 
Atlanta to the sea, and then through the Carolinas to Washington, 
received his discharge, and was mustered out with the com])any. He 
returned home and entered Madison University, of Hamilton, N. Y., 
but after a four years' course, his health failed him, and he was com- 
pelled to leave school ; then went to work on the farm where he 
remained one year; was then a traveling salesman about five 3'ears; in 
1876 he came to Wyalusing and entered the bank with his brother-in- 
law, G. M. Bixby, remained until the hitter's death, since which time 
he has had charge of the Bixby estate, and been engaged in insurance 
business. He was united in marriage, September 25, 1872, with Grace 
I., daughter of Josiah and Sarah Ann (Richardson) Lewis, of N. Y. 
They have a family of five children : Helen, Emery J., Maynard D., 
Clara A. and Ellis. Mr. Dunklee is a member of Jackson Post, No. 
74, G. A. R, Wyalusing, of which he is (|uarterniaster. His family are 
all meml)ers of the I>aj)tist Church in which he is an earnest worker; a 
Republican, and has been town clerk for th(^ past ten years; and held 
the a))pointtnent as watchman in the State Senate in 1887 and 1888. 

RARCLEY DUNN, farmer, P.O. Franklindale, was born in Sussex 
county, N. J., August 10, 1830, a son of William and Mary (Y^etter) 
Dunn, the former of whom was born in New York, and the latter in 
Sussex county, N. J. William Dunn always lived in Sussex county, 
where he died; he was the father of ten children — eight sons and two 



HISTORY OF HRAnPORD COUNTY. 783 

daughters — all of whom grew to niaturitv. Our subject, who is the 
seventh in the family, was reared and educated in Sussex county, N. J., 
at the common schools ; lie boated twenty -seven years on the Dela- 
ware & Hudson Canal, and also the Erie Canal, at which he accumu- 
lated considerable money; the rest of his life was devoted to farming. 
After leaving New Jersey he located in Cai'bon county, Pa., where he 
lived four years, from which jilace he removed to Standing Stone, 
Bradford county, where he lived nineteen years; then remo\^ed to his 
])resent location in Franklin township, where he has since resided, 
twenty years. He was married, July 27, 1851, to Miss Sophia, 
daughter of Daniel and Ann Rough, natives of Luzerne county. Pa., 
and this union resulted in the birth of five children — three soris and 
two daughters — all of whom grew to maturity, as follows : Emanda 
A., Elmer, Cyrus, Clara B. and Henry W. Mr. Dunn is in easy cir- 
cumstances, enjoying the confidence of his fellow townsmen, whom 
he served faithfully as commissioner six years; he is a general farmer, 
devoting himself to all branches of agriculture ; he belongs to the 
Patrons of Industry, and politicallv is a Democrat. 

AUGUSTUS DURUZ, farm«r,>. O. Gillett, was born near Paris, 
P'rance, April IS, 1844, a son of J. P. and Mary Ann (Gordeaux) 
Duruz, natives of France. J. P. Duruz was a merchant, also an offi- 
cer in the French army. The family came to this country, November 2, 
1854, and first located on Long Island, remaining one year; then came 
to Sheshequin township, this county, where they were two years; from 
there removed to Towanda and purchased the Dan Bartlett place, 
wdiere he died in 1876, in his sixty-ninth year; his widow still survives 
him, aged now seventy -nine years, and is living in Towanda. Ti^.eir 
family consisted of eight children — five daughters and three sons — • 
all of whom grew to maturity, and six are living at the present time. 
The subject of these lines, who is the sixth in the family, was reared 
and partially educated in France, and in early life learned the carpen- 
ter's trade, at which he worked a number of" years. On July 4, 1867, 
he married, at Towanda, Emily, daughter of Henry and Emeline 
Jones; and there were born to them five children : Louise (married to 
Henry Sweeney, a farmer), Augusta, Charles, Eugene and Ella. Mr. 
Duruz moved to South Creek township in 1879, and ])urchased of 
John Livins what is known as the " Brown place," on which he is now 
living; he built a new house, and made many necessary improvements; 
is a hard-working, industrious man. He rents two farms which he 
oversees, besides his own which contains seventy-five acres; is a gen- 
eral farmer, raising grain, hay and stock; owns several blooded 
Jersevs, and has one very fine colt, registered ; there is an abundance 
of choice fruit on his place, all his own planting. 

DR. CHARLES S. DWYER, physician, Springfield, was born 
October 9, 1857, in Smithfield, this county, a son of Rev. W. H. II. and 
Mary J. (Greenleaf) Dwyer, the former of whom, born in Rutland, Yt., 
w^as a Baptist preacher, and organized the church at Canton, of which 
he was pastor some years, as well as at Troy, Alba, Wells, Columbia, 
Smitlifield Centre and LeRoy ; lie died at the age of sixty-seven years. 
The mother w^as born in Alba, and is still living, at the age of sixty- 



784 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

three years ; tlie paternal great-grand father, was born in France, and 
was educated for a Roman Catholic priest; his name was Devereaux, but 
on emigrating to this country changed it to Dwyer; he practiced law 
many years at Worcester, Mass.; his son, our subject's grandfather, was 
also a lawyer, and was at one time judge of Essex county, N. Y., and 
later in life, as a Baptist clergyman, was pastor of the church at Alba 
and at other places in the countw Dr. Dwyer. who is the seventh in a 
family of ten children, was educated at Smithfield, and studied medi- 
cine, attending lectures at the Bennett Eclectic Medical College, 
Chicago, 111,; was graduated in the spring of 1888, commenced his 
profession at Springfield in the fall of that year, and now enjoys an 
extensive and lucrative practice. He had three brothers in the Civil 
AVai', Malcom being acting assistant adjutant general at the close of 
the struggle. The Doctor was married, August 26, 1883, to Edna W. 
Teeter, of Springfield, daughter of AVilliam and Margaret (Watson) 
Teeter,and born February 27,1863 ; they have two children: A daughter, 
IVIargaret J., born March 12, 1886, and a son, Esmuld D., born August 
21, 1891. Dr. Dwyer is a Republican, a member of tlie Baptist Church, 
and enjoys the confidence of a wide circle of friends ; his wife is a 
member of the Disciple Church. 

FRANK EDWARD EASTABROOK, manufacturer of lumber, 
lath and shingles, Stevensville, was born in Potterville, this county, 
January 12, 1861, a son of Edward Jesse and Emeline (Potter) Easta- 
brook, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and a tailor and shoemaker 
by trade. In his family there were six children, of whom our subject 
is the fifth. Frank E. Eastabrook was educated in the common school, 
and at Warner's Commercial College, Elmira, N. Y.; he began life for 
himself at twenty, and took up lumbering as his occupation, which he 
has followed since. In 1883 he engaged in business with Elmer F. 
Stevens, and they do a very largo business. ]\[r. Eastabrook was 
married January 19, 1885, to Ella, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah 
(Rockwell) Stevens, and they have two children : Mildred C, born 
April 19, 1887, and Victor S., born July 31, 1890. Mr. Eastabrook is 
a member of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is Sunday-school 
superintendent ; he is a Republican, and at present holds the office of 
tax collector. 

A. J. EASTABROOKS, retired, Towanda, was born m Wysox 
township, this county, January 3, 1823, and is a son of William and 
Wealthy (Shurtliff) Eastal)rooks, whose nativity was Connecticut, both 
boi'n of remote English ancestry, of tlie class of yeomen who were 
among the ]iioneers of Bradford county, and located in Wysox town- 
ship, where the father died in 1826. lie reared a family of six chil- 
dren, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest, in the order 
of birth, of four sons and two daughters. The lad was favoral)ly sur- 
rounded for that day, and grew to manhood on a farm with his older 
brother, and, following in the line of his ancestors, became a farmer. 
He was soon widely known as a man of probity and rare intelligence. 
He (piittcd his fai-m in ISHO, and removed to Towanda, whore he en- 
gaged actively in business. WIhmi the war cloud burst upon the land, 
he was quick to respond to his country's call, and enrolled his name in 



HISTORY OF M RADFORD COUNTY. 785 

Company I, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves ; was assigned as a member 
of tlie regimental band, and was wounded and lost his arm at the sec- 
ond battle of Bull Run, August 21), 1862; his arm was amputated, and 
when he was sufficiently recovered he returned to his home. President 
Grant appointed him to a clerkship in AVashington, and he was there 
in that employ thirteen years, with a salary, a portion of the time, of 
$1,400 a year. He then returned to his Towanda home, and took his 
old place among the good people of the town as one of the much- 
respected leading men of the county, interested in all public affairs, 
lie has built his share of houses in Towanda, and contributed well 
toward the generalimprovement of the county's capital, and is now 
quietly enjoying the repose of life in his elegant mansion. He was 
married, July 1, 1844, to Miss Mary, daughter of Russell Pratt, and a 
sister of Dr. D. S. Pratt; she died in 1889. The family are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is a prominent official, 
as well as class leader. 

C. J. EASTABROOKS, farmer and stock grower, P. O. South 
Hill, was born in Towanda township, this county, November IS. 1838, 
and is a son of Judson and Eliza (Robinson) Eastabrooks, of Orwell 
Hill. The father, who was born in Hartford, Conn., July 31, 1812, was 
a farmer and carpenter; he had a family of six children, viz : Charles 
J., Elvira (married to Leonard Ross, and died), Mary (married to J. M. 
Davies, of Owego), Alice (married to Sands Dunham), Emma (living at 
home) and Edwin (died aged seven years). The subject of this sketch 
received his education in the common schools of the county, at the 
Academy of Camptown,and Towanda Collegiate Institute. He taught 
school until August 8, 1862, wiien he enlisted in Company D, One Hun- 
dred and Forty-first Regiment, P. V. I., of which he was made sergeant, 
and December 31,1862, he was promoted to commissary-sergeant, which 
position he filled until mustered out. He declined a second-lieutenant's 
commission. He served with his regiment until the close of the war, 
and was absent on but two short furloughs; his duties w^ere hard and 
dangerous, as he would have to issue rations at night generally, and 
would thus be exposetl to the dangers and difficulties incident to dark- 
ness; he served faithfully through the term of his enlistment, and was 
honorably discharged, at Harrisburg, and mustered out w^ith his 
regiment. After returning home lie ])urchased the farm now owned 
by Yernon Tyrrell, and continued there until 1872, when he sold and 
went to Rome, where he embarked in mercantile business with L. R. 
Browning, and was thereuntil 1875, when he again sold and purchased 
his present farm of 170 acres of fine land, in Orwell township, all 
under a high state of cultivation, which he has greatly improved, and 
has it well stocked with Jersey and Holstein cattle, sheep and horses; 
he has a match team of iron-gray draft horses that have taken first 
premium at fairs wiiei-ever exhibited. On September 26, 1865, he was 
united in wedlock with Ilermine C, daughter of George W. and 
Emmaline (Terrel) Prince, who had a family of three children, viz. : 
George M., Ilermine C. and Charles V. To Mr. and Mrs. Eastabrooks 
have been born three children: One died in infancy; Charles F. 
(deceased), and Charley B., born December 9, 1873. The family are 



786 JIISTOKY OF BRADFOKI) COUNTY. 

members of the MetJiodist Episcopal Cliurch, in wliicli Mr. Easta- 
brooks holds the position of trustee; he is a Freemason, and has taken 
the third degree; also a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., 
and is on the financial committee. A stanch Republican, he takes an 
active interest in the politics of his section, and has held various town- 
ship offices, being now an auditor of Orwell. Mr. Eastabrooks has had 
his own way to make in the world, and has been eminently successful. 
He was among the first to ofi'er his services to his country, and in that 
service lost his health. He and his excellent lad}'^ have a very large 
circle of friends in Orwell and adjoining townships, and enjoy the 
esteem and respect of all who know them. 

MARCUS EASTABROOKS (deceased) was born in Windham 
county. Conn., January 27, 1703, a son of Peleg and Rebecca (Salls- 
bery) Eastabrooks. He was married July 29, 1826, to Alathen Gray, 
of Connecticut, who was born July 30, 1800, and was a danghter of 
Jonas and Mary Gray, farmers. Marcus Eastabrooks came to Brad- 
ford county in 1820, and settled on the land now owned by Solomon 
Chaff'ee ; remained here two years, and then returned to Connecticut 
to bring the remaining members of the family — his father, mother and 
sisters. Sallie and Diana. His familv consisted of the following child- 
ren : l^evi, William, Jessie (drowned while quite small), Jessie, Marcus, 
Sylvester (died in infancy), Sallie, Diana (married to Eleazer Allis, Jr.), 
William and Reuben. Marcus was married in Susquehanna county, 
and on coming to this county he found a log cabin already erected on 
his land, in which he settled and began the life of a pioneer; his first 
cabin had neither door, window, nor chimney, nor was it even chinked; 
they would hang blankets for doors, and his wife would do her cook- 
ing out in tlie yard. He had no time to finish the house, but had to 
cut down the trees and ])lant among the roots; all the cultivatiim the 
crops received was the weeds being pulled when the\' became too rank. 
That fall he finished his home, harvested his little crop and the battle 
with the wilderness was fairly begun : his wife, besiiles attending to her 
young children and other household duties, would spin and weave all 
the linen and woolen cloth needed to clothe the family. The farm he 
cleared contained ninety-five acres, and he cho])ped and grubbcni tiie 
entire place, and fitted it for cultivation ; he built a small frame house 
in 1855, which still stands, and had a small sugar bush. Mr. Easta- 
brooks died, April 2, 1874, at the ripe old age of eighty-one, his wife 
having passed away July 7, 1877, aged seventy-seven. He was an Old- 
school Ba|)tist, but never l)ecame connected with any church ; in poli- 
tics he was first an Old-line Whig, and then a Republican. Mi-. Easta- 
brooks was one of the best-known ])i<)neers of this county, noted far 
and near for his integrity and hospitality, sobriety and industrv. No man 
ever went from his house hungry, or was refused the hospitable shelter 
of his roof; this trait of character lias been inherited by his daughters, 
who are noted far and near for their hosj)itality. To him and his 
devoted wife were born three daughters as follows: Nancy, l)orn July 
17. 1828, who assisted her father in his farm labors, chop))ing, piling 
brush and rolling logs as well as IxxMiig and harvesting <;rain (she 
married, December 7, 1S58, Chauncy Tingley, who died April 11, 1859, 



HISTORY OF BIIADI'OIID COUNTY. 787 

iind liis stricken widow bowed to the sore ailliction); Hannah, the sec- 
ond daughter, was born March 9, 1830, and Lucy, the youngest was 
born December 4, 1836. W. R. Pickering, an atlopted brother, is where 
these daughters make their home. This is one of the highly respected 
families of Bradford county. 

JAMES H. EASTGATE, superintendent of the tannery at Grover, 
was born in Ulster county, N. Y., October 6, 1S48, and is a son of Her- 
man Neal and Ellen (Mason) Eastgate, the former of whom at present 
resides in Scranton; the mother died October 8, 1848. Our subject is 
their only child, and was reared in Ulster county, receiving a public- 
school and academic education ; he learned the tanner's trade in Ulster 
county, N. Y., with Adam Innes. In 1865 he removed to Granville 
township, where he remained until July, 1871, when he came to Grover, 
in whicli place he has since resided, with the exception of from May 

21, 1884, until November 7, 1889, when he was in the Granville tan- 
neries. In September, 1889, he purchased the gristmill from Kobert 
Innes, which was just commenced, and he completed it. He was mar- 
ried in Granville, October 19, 1870, to Mary C, daughter of Adam and 
Helen (INFcNeil) Innes; she is third in order of birth in a family of 
eight children, and was born in Ulster county, N. Y., May 15, 1850. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Eastgate have been born three daughters: Sarah L., 
Helen R. and lantha E. Mr. Eastgate is a member of the F. & A. M., 
Troy Lodge, No. 306, Troy Chapter, No. 261, Canton Commanderv, 
No. 64. and of the I. O. O.^F., Lodge No. 687, Granville Centre, and 
has passed all the chairs of the Order. Politically he is a Republican. 

CALVm J. EASTMAN, blacksmith, Orwell, was born October 

22, 1838, in Guilford, N. Y., a son of George W.. and Lydia (Mann) 
Eastman; his father was a wagon-maker and carpenter and joiner, and 
came to Bradford county in 1840, and located in Rome township; then 
removed to a farm in Orwell, owned by his son, J. I. Eastman, and 
died there June 12, 1875; the mother isVith her son. In his father's 
family were the following children; Willis (deceased); J. L, married to 
Theodora Lewis, and Calvin, who spent his early life in Rome, attended 
school there, learned his trade of blacksmith "and worked at it eight 
years; then came to Orwell, in the fall of 1863, and worked twelve 
years ; then bought his present shop and has occupied it since. He 
married Mary, daughter of C. S. Smith, and to them have been born 
the following children, two of whom were born in New York: Eliza- 
beth (married to Marion Dunn); Charles W. (married to Flora Brown); 
Kate S. and Lewis E. The family are Presbyterians, and Mr. Eastman 
is trustee and chorister, assisted in the latter capacity by his wife; both 
are line musicians, as are their daughters. Kate taught school in this 
county several years; the children were all educated on Orwell Hill. 
Mr. Eastman is a member of the K. of H.; is a Republican and has 
held the offices of township treasurer and school ilirector. He and 
his family are much esteemed by a wide circle of acquaintances and 
friends. 

JOHN L EASTMAN, farmer and stock grower, P. O. Orwell, 
w^as born in Rome township, this county, October 23, 1845, and is a 
son of George W. and Lydia Y. (Mann) Eastman, the former of whom 



788 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

was boni in Ashfonl, Conn., Februurv 2, 1808, a son of Justice and 
Sallie (Farnhaui) Eastman, natives of that place, born in 1777 and 
1778, respectively, and who had the following children : Otis (born 
July 9, 1801, died in infancy), George W., Lucius (born April ;W, 1805, 
died June 22, 1870), Asa F. (born April 21, 1808, died in August, 1888), 
Lanson (born August 7, 1810, deceased), Hannah S. (born May 17, 
1813, married to Albert Ilicks), Sallie (born March 3, 1817, married 
to James Ilalbert, whom she survives), Mary Elizabeth (born July 3, 
1810, married to Xatlian Dickenson). The father was a carpenter and 
joiner, and also worked at wagon-making and shoemaking. He was 
married January 7, 1828, in Otsego county, N. Y., where he lived 
until 18-11, when he removed to Rome, wdiere he worked at carpenter- 
ing and wagon-making, and built the Methodist and Baptist churches ; 
also many residences; he lived there twenty-two years, and then 
removed to Orwell township, to the farm the son now occupies ; he 
was an extensive contractor in his day, and in 1837 was overseer of 
the carpenters and builders on the State Capitol at Madison, Wis. He 
died June 3, 1875; his widow^ survives. To them were born the 
following named children : Willis (born December 28, 1829, deceased), 
Lucv Jane (born September 28, 1833, died August 25, 1837) ; Calvin J., 
John I., and Sarah J. (born September 26, 1847, married to Theodore 
Lewis). John I. Eastman spent the greater portion of his life on a 
farm in Oi'w^ell township, and w^as educated in the common schools. 
He has followed farming with good success, down to the present time, 
and has lived on the old homestead. He was united in wedlock 
December 19, 1867, with Lucy A. Brown, and to them has been born 
a family of six children, viz.: Willis H. (born June 6, 1869), James E. 
(born Xovember 25, 1870), Lillie M. (born September 24, 1872), Flora 
B. (born December 15, 1875), George U. (born October 27, 1877), and 
Josie Irene (born November 6, 1886). The parents of our subject 
were both members of the Presbyterian Church, in Avhich the father 
was for many years an elder. In his political views the father was 
lirst a Democrat, and then a Republican, and he had held the various 
tow^n offices. John I. Eastman is a Republican, and has also held 
the various township offices. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman have a pleasant 
home, the old Eastman homestead, and has his farm well im])roved and 
stocked. lie is suri'ounded with a large circle of fi'iends. 

AVILLIAM II. EATON, locomotive engineer, L. V. R. R., P. O. 
Sayre, is a native of Tcnvanda, this county, and was born April 2, 
1850, a son of Gurden II. and Lucinda (Hoicomb) Eaton, the fornier a 
native of New York, and the latter of Ulster, this county. Tlie father, 
who was a cabinet-maker, and served a number of years as justice of the 
peace and constable in Towanda, died there in the spring of 1878, in 
his sixty-fourth year; the motherdied in 1856. in her thirty -ninth year. 
William II., who is the youngest in a family of five children, was 
reared in Towanda, and completed his education, attending the 
collegiate institute at that ])lace three tei-ms. He began work in the 
station l)a;!-":n<j:e room in Towanda in the fall of 1868, and was 
appointed baggage nuister same year; s(,^rved one year, and then com- 
menced firing on the road, and was on the line until 187-1. Afterward 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 789 

he worked with his father about two 3^ears, and was then eini)h)ye(l 
firing on the G. I. & S. R. 11.; was promoted to engineer in 1877, and 
ran one year and three months, wlien he went to Buffalo, and was on 
the P). S: AV. 11. R. braking three months ; tlien went on the N. Y. C. 
R. R. as conductor of a yard engine, remaining witli the company three 
years, after which he came to Sayre in 1883, fired one year, was then 
promoted to engineer, and has been running on the line since. Mr. 
Eaton was married in Waverly, N. Y., April 26, 1882, to Miss Emma, 
daughter of Jabez B. and Adelia (Rightmire) Harding, the former a 
native of Tunkhannock, Pa., and the latter of Tom])kins county, N. Y. 
Her father was a farmer in early life, and has been in the employ of 
the L. V. R. R. over twenty years as general yard master at Waverly 
Junction. Her great-grandfather, Elisha Harding, was in the Wyoming 
massacre, and had two brothers killed two or three days before the 
massacre, while hoeing corn. Mrs. Eaton is the eldest in a family of 
three children, and was born in Tom])kins county, N. Y., Marcli 4, 
1853. To ]\Er. and Mrs. Eaton has been born a son: Clarence Harding. 
Mr. Eaton is a member of the Order of Red j\[en, Iron Hall, Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Engineers, Division Ko. 380, and has been first 
assistant engineer since the Lodge was organized ; is secretary of the 
Locomotive Engineers Life Insurance Association, and in politics is a 
Democrat. 

PETER H. EDINGER, farmer in Tuscarora township, P. (). 
Spring Hill, was born in Stroudsl)urg, Monroe county, Pa., April 9, 
1844, son of David and Sally (Learn) Edinger, natives of Pennsylvania, 
and of German origin. Mr Edinger was educated in the common 
school, and learned the carpenter and joiner trade at Laceyville, with 
Samuel Gregory of that place, and at the age of twent^'-five he com- 
menced life for himself, working at his trade in Laceyville, Wyalusing, 
Tunkhannock, and various other places; about six years lateV he pur- 
chased his present place of 100 acres and engaged informing, at whicli 
he has since continued. He was married, March 7, 1877, to Miss 
Effie, daughter of Demmon and Abigal (Lacey) Ackley, of Tus- 
carora township, and the following named children are the fruits of 
this union; Harry Ackley, born July 31, 1882; Helen, born Januarv 
2, 1887, and Yernie Florence, born May 10, 1891. Mr. Edinger, although 
not a professional politician, is a firm adhei-ent of the principles of the 
Democratic party. 

JOHN W. EDSELL (deceased), late farmer in Pike towmship, was 
born August 12, 1835, and died March 14, 188(). He was married 
January 2, 1859, to Sarah E., daughter of Wells and Roth Pratt, in 
whose family there were ten children, Sarah E. being the sixth. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Edsell were born the following named children : Wisos 
W., a farmer; Salona L., who resides at home; Clarence S., a farmer; 
Yer-n<m L., at home; and Nettie (deceased). The famil}^ are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Republican in j)olitics. 

JOIIiSr M. EDSON, machinist and inventor, Towanda, was born 
in Wareham, Plymouth Co , Mass., May 8, 1847, a son of William and 
Eunice B. (Morton) Edson, and comes of Puritan stock. He was reared 
in his native town, and received a common-school education. On 

45 



790 IlISTOKY OF BRADFOKI) COL'NTY. 

August 15, 1862, when but Hfteen years of age, he enlisted in Company 
A, Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers. At Antietam he volunteered 
to go into the battle, as his father did at the battle of BalFs Bluff, 
whe're he was wounded, a ball passing through his body, on account 
of which he was discharged. After regaining his strength, however, 
he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment (Company A, 
Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers), and gave his consent to his 
son's going, and at Antietam the boy was shot down by his father's, 
side, being wounded in the right thigh. He was sent to the hospital, 
and honorably discharged in January, 1863, on account of disability. 
On Januarv 4, 1864, he re-enlisted, this time in Company F, Fourth 
Massachusetts Cavalry, and was in several skirmishes and at the battle 
of Deep Run, after which he was placed on the staff of Gen. Ord, 
Twentv-fourth Army Corps, as orderly; was afterward transferred to 
the First Division, Twentv-fourth Army Corps, under Gen. Terry, and 
later under Gen. Frisbie and Gen. Foster, and svas then transferred to 
the First Division, Tliird Brigade, under Gen. Plaisted, and later under 
Gen. Dandy, until the close of the war. He was at the battle of 
Hatcher's Run, in the charge of Fort Gregg and at the surrender of 
Gen. Lee at Appomattox. After the surrender of Lee our subject was 
on patrol duty at Richmond, Va., four weeks, and was then sent to 
Surrev in charge of seven men, to take the census of the colored peo- 
ple of thatcountv. After finishing his work there he was ordered to 
Richmond, where he was honorably discharjicd from the service in 
Januarv, 1866. He then returned "^home and followed the sea until 
1871. In 1867 he made his first voyage, a cruise in a whaling ship on 
the Pacific Ocean, steering about as far south as the Equator, near 
where they killed a sperm whale that yielded 120 barrels of oil. This 
was soon after the war, when oil was selling at $2.60 oer gallon; and 
though this was their onlv catch during a six months' voyage, still it 
paid them very well. Mr. Edson also matle two voyages to the 
Western Banks and the Graiul P>anks, cod fishing. He was always 
looked to in time of danger by the captain and crew as the safest 
man at the wheel, and on two occasions, during storms, he had to be 
lashed to the wheel for security. After his return from the sea he 
went to Boonton, N. J., where^he learned the machinist's and nader's 
trade, under Fuller, Lord & Co. and while with them he built the first 
nail self-feeder ever made. He has since that time followed nail mak- 
ing; has been emploved much of his time during twelve years at the 
Towanda Nail Works: has worked at the trade in the following States : 
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virgmia, 
Indiana. Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia. It is his mtention 
to abandon the nailing business in the spring of 1892, and devote his. 
time to inventing. He is the inventor of the " Edson Automatic Nail 
Feeder," now extensively used in the principal nail factories of the 
country. 

Mr. Edson was married, in is7;>, to Anna K., daughter of Gen. 
John Sheets, of Pottstown, Pa., and bv her has four children : Iliildaii 
M., Oscar N., Eunice B., and John M. Mr. Edson was connected 
with the National Guard of Pennsvlvania for five years, and repre. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 791 

sented the State in 1870-80-81 in the Interstate Military Matcii at 
Creedmoor. He was captain of the Soutli Chicago lUinois Kifle Ckib, 
three years, and of the Towanda, Pa., Rifle Club until he went West, 
and was always considered one of the best rifle shots in the State. 
He is a member of the F. <fe A. M., the G. A. R. the K. of L., also of 
the United Nailers of America and of the Amalgamated Association 
of Iron and Steel Workers. Politically Mr. Edson is Indej)endent. 

LEWIS EIGIIMEY, proprietor of Opera House, Sayre, is a native 
of Durham, Greene Co., N. Y., and was born April 17, 1833; his 
parents were John and Henrietta (Woodard) Eighmey, natives of New 
York State; his father was a farmer, and died in 1885, in his seventy- 
seventh _year ; his mother died in 1883, in her seventy -third year. Lewis'is 
the second of a family of six sons and five daughters; received a fair 
public school education, and commenced life on his own account in the 
timber business and also ran a sawmill, and followed this a greater 
part of the time until 1884, when he removed from his native place to 
Athens township, in February, 1849 ; in 1861 went to Troy, this county 
and enlisted, in October, 1861, in Company C, Seventh Cavalry; 
and was in the commands of Gens. Buell, Rosecrans and Siierman ; 
was taken prisoner August 21, 1862, at Gallatin, Tenn., by Gen. 
Monroe, and was paroled after three days, and sent to Annapolis, Md., 
and returned to his command March 1, 1863. When his term of ser- 
vice expired he re-enlisted and served until the close of the war, and 
Avas mustered out at Macon, Ga., August 25, 1865 ; returned to Athens 
and remained there about a year, then went to Pine Creek township, 
Tiog-a county, and was there two years, and from there ^vent to Warren, 
then to Pittslield, and remained there until 1873 ; then to Bradford, 
and during the time he was there drilled oil wells; he remained in this 
j)lace until 1882, when he removed to Sayre, and commenced building 
the "Opera House" which was finished in 1881; the building is so x 
51, three stories: first floor, stores, second, dwellings, and the third, an 
opera hall, 80x51, and stage 51x24, and 455 chairs. He married, in 
Athens township, in 1857, Susan, daughter of John and Katy (Decker) 
Westfall, natives of New Jersey; she is the fourth of a' family of 
seven children, and was born in Sussex county, March 10, 1844.' To 
this happy marriage was born a daughter, Linnia; they are members 
of the Episcopal Church; he is a member of the G. A. R,, Mallory 
Post, No. 285, Union Veteran Legion, No. 28, Athens and Union 
Veterans Union, No. 18, Sayre; a member of the school board of Sayre, 
and is a Republican. 

JOHN H. ELLIOTT, farmer, P. O. Stevensville, was born in 
Wyalusing, this county, October 17, 1833, a son of Harry and Euphe- 
niia (Beeman) Elliott, natives of Pennsylvania and New York, respect 
ively, and of New England origin. In their family there were six 
children, viz.: John II., Deborah (born Marcli 27, 1835, married to Dr. 
W. W. Smith, of Montrose), Ellen J. (born March 1, 1839, and living 
with John IL), Francis J. (born February 13, 1846, a farmer at 
Friendsville, Pa.), Clai'ence W. (born ]\Iarch 24, 1849, a farmer at 
Birchardville, Pa.); Alta M. (born September 23, 1854, living with our 
subject). John II. Elliott was reared on a farm, educated in the com- 



793 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY . 

mon schools, and remained witii his parents while they lived. He 
enlisted at Owego, N. Y., Se])tember 3, 1864, in Company D. Fifth 
New York Cavahy, was in the battle of AVaynesborongh and many 
minor engagements, was mustered out at Winchester, Va., June 13, 
1865. The family were all born in Wyalusing, but lived in Eonie 
from 1860 until 1868, and then returned to Wyalusing. In 1890 John 
H. and his two sistei's removed to the A. B. Burrows farm in Pike 
township, and in 1891 to the farm of Mr. Charles Cobb, where they 
reside at present. 

A. C. ELSBREE, retired, Athens, is a native of Warren township, 
this county, born October 3, 1821, a son of Joseph and Mary (Mackey) 
Elsbree, natives of Albany county, N. Y., who removed to this county 
about the year 1819. The father was a farmer, born July 15, 1790, 
and died in Windham township, this county, February 19, 1856; the 
mother was born January 20, 1793, and died July i, 1877. A. C. 
Elsbree, who is the third in a family of six children, removed to Athens 
township in April, 1845, and has devoted his energies to farming, 
dairying, also extensively engaging in lumbering, buying timberland 
and manufacturing the lumber and putting it on tlie market. In 1873 
Mr. Elsbree removed to the borough of Athens. He has three dairy 
farms and one stock farm, and has also given some time to raising good 
horses. jVIr. Elsbree was married in Windham township. February 12, 
1846, to Miss Nancy, daughter of Piatt and Laura (Pease) Rogers, 
natives of Windham township. Piatt Rogers was born Januarv 2, 
1796, and died June 30, 1873. Mrs. Rogers was born April 3, 1796, 
and died m February, 1866. Mrs. Elsbree, who was the eldest of a 
family of eight children, was born in Windham township, February 28, 
1819, and died October 8, 1888, a consistent member of the Baptist 
Church. To Mr. and Mrs. E'sbree was born one daughter, Jessie B., 
wife of Eugene Allen. Mr. Elsbree served one term as school tlirector 
in Athens townshij), and is president of Tioga Point Cemetery. In 
])olitics he is a Republican. 

J. L. ELSBREE, ex-county treasurer, Athens, is a native of Wind- 
ham township, this county, and was born December 6, 1837. His parents 
were Ira and Sally Ann (Dunham) Elsbree, also natives of this 
county ; his father is a farmer, resides in Athens township, and is now 
in his eighty -second year ; the mother died in August. 1887. J. L. , 
who is the youngesl in a family of four children, was reared on a 
farm and received a common-school education, and became a farmer, 
and combined, with that, lumbering and stock dealing, and, although 
not actively engaged in farming personally, he has the business carried 
on, and, with his father, has eight farms, seven of which they have 
farmed themselves. Mr. Elsbree leased the ground of the skating- 
rink, and afterward bought the building and fitted it up for an Opera 
House; he is also one of the companv tliat built the "Stimson House" 
block, and a stock holder in the Athens (/oach Works, and is president 
of the Tiahoga Insurance Company, of Athens. He was married in 
Athens, in December, 1881, to Miss Jane Farr, a daughter of John 
Farr, a native of L-eland ; she is the fourth of a family of seven chil- 
dren, and is a native of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Elsbree were 



HIST6rY of BRADFORD COUNTY. 793 

born three children, viz.: Anna, Joi)n T. and Rena, deceased. Mr. 
Elsbree was elected county treasurer in November, 1884, and served 
one term ; he served one term as councilman in Athens, and, while a 
Republican, is liberal and independent in his political actions; is a man 
of decided force of character, and at nil times pre-eminently has the 
courage of his convictions. 

N. N. ELSBREE, a farmer and stock grower, P. O. Orwell, was 
born July 31, 1857, and is a son of James L. and C. C. (Lyon) Elsbree. 
The father was born November 22,1833; a son of Martin Elsbree, 
who was born February 19, 1795. Tiie father was born in Windham, 
and was a farmer, owning a farm in Windham, and died July 1, 
1860; he had two cliildren : (ireorge F., who was born May 16, 1856, 
died August 10, 1856, and subject. The father died when N. N. was 
quite a small child, and the mother soon after married S. N. Bronson. 
N. N. Elsbree was reared in Mr. Bronson's family, and was educated 
at Orwell Ilill Academy, and at Towanda Collegiate Institute. Upon 
reaching his majority he began life for himself, and has devoted his 
attention to farmini--, stock raisino' and dealino- in cattle and horses. In 
1877 he purchased his pi'esent farm, which is the old Elswortli estate, 
and contains 147 acres. In 1887 he commenced breeding trotting 
horses, and now" has some ver}^ promising colts of the Ilambletonian 
stock; his favorite mares were sired, one by Gen. Grant and another 
by David Hume, and show marks of speed though not yet harnessed ; 
has seven colts sired by Kire, a lineal descendant from Rvsdyke's 
Hambletonian ; has a fine pair of i)lacks with which he won first 
premium at the Bradford Agricultural Society, both in 1889 antl 1890, 
and also owns two fine brood mares, sired by Venango Chief, he by 
Yenango, and he by Rysdyke's Ilambletonian, dam. Lady Deli von; 
with them he won first prize at the same fair in 1890, as best road 
team. His barns are all planned by himself, and are models of con- 
venience and elegance ; his stables contain as promising a lot of 
youngsters as the county has ever produced, and, besides his horses, 
he keeps a large dairy. Mr. Elsbree was married April 26, 1882, to 
Kate L. Frisbie, daughter of A. C. Frisbie, and they have two chil- 
dren : James A., born September 28, 1884, and Harry S., born 
February 9, 1890. Mr. Elsbree is a Republican, and holds the office of 
town treasurer and postmaster. 

PERRY H. ELSBREE, farmer, P. O. East Srnithfield, was born in 
the town of East Smith field, this county, March 7, 1853, a son of 
Joseph and Betsey (Allen) Elsbree, the former of whom was born in 
Cayuga county, N. Y., and came to this county with his parents when 
a boy, one of a family of nine children, that were pioneers to this 
county when it was a wilderness, and cleared the farm where Perry 
H. now lives; the father was a man of influence in political and 
church matters, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Chui'ch. Our 
subject's mother was born in Smithfield township, this county, and her 
father lived west of Smithfield Centre ; she was a teacher for many 
years, and a member of the Baptist Church. Perry H. Elsbree, who 
is fourth in a famil_y of six children, was reared on his father's farm 
and educated in the common schools of the town. His brother, 



794 HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 

Charles, was in the Civil War, and proved a <i,oo(l soldier. Mr. Elsbree 
was married in 1879 to Mary, daughter of J.Y. and Roxanna(Watkins} 
Huff, of Ulster, natives of New Jersey ; her grandfather, AVatkins, was a 
a justice of the peace and a hotel keeper, and was a man of great influence 
in his time. Mr. and Mrs. Elsbree have had four children, viz.: John 
Carl, born December 10,1880; Jesse David, born November 11, 1883; 
Claude Huff, born October 27, 1885 ; Bessie May, born October 25, 
1887. Mr. Elsbree is a Ilepublican, has been an auditor of his town, 
and is a man of fine qualities, highly respected by a large circle of 
friends. The family are members of the Baptist Church. 

EPHRAIM W. EL WELL, freight agent of the Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road, Towanda, was l)orn in Towanda, July 3, 18-45, and is son of William 
and Mary (Thayei') Elwell. His paternal grandfather was a native of 
Dutchess county, N. Y., and a pioneer of then orthern portion of this 
county. He resided, at Milltown (now Athens) for neai-ly fifty 3'ears. 
In later life he removed to Van Etten, N. Y., where he died at the 
advanced age of ninety-four years. His children were John, Nancy, 
Prentice, William, Evert, King, Edward and Phebe. The father of 
our subject was born in Athens. He received a good academical 
education, and taught school several years ; he worked foi- a time 
with his father who was a carpenter and budder. He studied law 
under the late Judge Williston, and for thirty years practiced law in 
the northern counties, residing at Towanda. In 3 862 he was elected 
president judge of the. twenty-sixth Judicial District and removed to 
Bloomsl)urg, Pa. He was three times elected to that office, and served 
therein for twenty-five years; at the age of eighty years, in 1888, he 
resigned. He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Clemana Shaw. 
by whom he had two children who grew to maturity, viz. : William and 
Clemana (Mrs. P. H. Smith) ; b}- his second wife, Mary L. Thayer, he 
had four children who grew to maturit}^, viz, : Ephraim W., Geoi'ge 
E., Mary L. (Mrs. N. U. Funk) and Charles P. Ephraim was reared 
in Towanda and Bloomsburg, was educated in the com,mon schools 
and at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Since ISO!) 
he has been in the employ of the Lehigh Valley liailroad (y()m])ariy 
and has held his present position since 1882. In 1872 he married 
Plarriet M., daughter of William and Catherine Neal of Blooms- 
burg, Pa., and has one daughter living, Katharine N. Mr. Elwell 
is a member of the Episcopal Church, and politically is a Democrat. 

JOSEPH M. ELY, furniture manufacturer, Athens, is a native of 
the citv of New York, and since 1868 has been a prominent and active 
citizen of the borough of Athens. In the ante-bellum days he was a 
merchant in his native city, and when Fort Sumter was fired on, his 
vessel, laden wMth stores, ha])pened to reach a Southern port just in time 
to be confiscated by the Confederates. He is a son of Jose])h M. and 
Julia A. (Camp) Ely, the former of whom was born in Springfield, 
Mass., and the latter in Tioga county, N. Y. Joseph M., Sr., went to 
New York City to take chai-ge of the Polytechnic School of that ])lace, 
and afterward was in the South, engaged in stock raising, and in 1859, 
came to Athens and established a select high school, and died here in 
1873, in his seventy -third year; his widow sui-vived until 1888, ami 



HISTORY OF BIIADFOKD COUNTY. 795 

died in her eighty -second yeiir. The great-gfund father of the snbject 
of this sketch on tlie maternal side was Captain Asaj)h Wliittlesj, of 
Revolutionary War fame, who was killed at Foi'ty Fort. The great- 
grandfather on the paternal side was Richard Ely, a sergeant in the 
Revolutionary War. The Elys came originally from Wales, and were 
among the earliest immigrants into New Enghmd. In the famih' of 
Joseph M. Ely, Sr., were seven children, of whom our subject Avas the 
second, and spent his young life in his native city, where he was well 
grounded in the higher education and prepared lo enter Yale College. 
IJ| on attaining his legal majority he became junior member of a 
wholesale grocery house, and successfully conducted this until the 
breaking out of the late war, when he entered the military service and 
became first corporal of the famous New York Seventh Regiment, 
National Guards, in the comjiany in which his brother was cat)tain. 
This organization answered promptly the country's first call for troops. 
He was in this service one year, and afterward was in the service 
quite a while at, and after the draft, at the time of the riots in New 
York. He then became a book-keeper in the New Y^ork Continental 
Bank. In 1868 he came to Athens and engaged in the hay, grain 
and coal trade until 1884-, when he accepted a position with the 
Athens Furniture Company and is still in their employ. In Januar}^, 
1870, he married Miss Lizzie, daughter of Robert and Margaret 
(Grinley) Hinshelwood, natives of Scotland and New York, respect- 
ively. Mr. Hinshelwood was president of the New York Bank Note 
Company. Both he and his wife died in New York City. Their 
family consisted of four children, three living, of whom Mrs. Ely is the 
eldest. She is a member of the Episcopal Church, and her husband of 
the Presbyterian Church, and a member of A. F. & A. M., Rural 
Amity Lodge, No. 70, Northern Commandery No. 10, Chapter No. — , 
and is a member of I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 165, and has passed the 
chairs; a member of the Veteran Association of the Seventh Regiment. 
He was chief of the Athens Fire Department, and organized the same, 
and was for years one of the active volunteer "fire laddies; " a member 
of the Excelsior Hose Compan\% No. 14, Ne^v York ; has served in 
the Athens borough council, and as borough clerk for years ; politically 
he affiliates with the Republican party, 

JACOB EMERY, blacksmith. Asylum, was born in Asylum town- 
ship, this county, May 13, 1833, and is a son of Jacob R. and Sarah A. 
(Ennis) Emery. Jacob Emery came to this town when a boy, and 
being a blacksmith his son learned the trade of him; he was third in a 
family of fifteen children; his brother, Levi, was a soldier and was 
killed in the battle of the Wilderness soon after his arrival at the front. 
Jacob Emery was married June 11, 1854, to Lucy A., daughter of 
James and Lyda (Merithew) English, and was born January 13, 1837, 
in Monroeton; her parents Avere natives of this country, her father be- 
ing one of the pioneers of Albany township and a preacher in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Emery is the eldest in a family of 
five children; three of her brothers, Orlardo, William and John, were 
soldiers in the Civil War. There have been boi-n to Mr. and Mi's. Emery 
eight children, (seven of whom are living) as follows: Ida, born^October 



796 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

13, 1855; Acta L., born April 5, 1857, married to James Warring ; Lucy 
E., born October 21, 1858, married to Theodore Sluyter ; James R., 
born April 3, 18C0, married to Mary Lewis; Francis O., born December 
29, 1862, married to Julia R. Piatt"; Mary N., born February 8, 1873, 
now deceased; Jacob L., born January 2*3, 1879; Levi E., born Novem- 
ber 8, 1880. Mr. Emery has always" been a Republican, but is inde- 
pendent. The family are members^of the Methotlist Episcopal Church, 
and he has been a trustee many years. The family are much esteemed 
bv a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 

(). ENGLISH, farmer, P. O. Terrytown, was born on Harland 
Hill, Monroe township, this county, May 25, 1811:, and is the son of 
James and Lydia (Merrithews) English, the former of whom was born 
in Albany, K Y., and came to this county, locating in New Albany, 
where he made his residence some time, but afterward removed to 
Monroe township, where he now resides, a prosi)erous, practical 
farmer; his wife died in 1851; his family consists of five children, all 
of whom are living. The subject of this sketch was reared and edu- 
cated in Monroe township, and has always been a tiller of the soil, at 
which vocation he has been successful. "^At the age of twenty-two, in 
1867, he mari'ied, in Monroe township. Miss Euphame, ihiughter of 
Peter and xVjuanda Aumick, and there was born to them one son, 
Addison, now sixteen years of age. In 1861 Mr. English enlisted in 
the Fiftieth P. Y. I., and served until the close of the war; he was 
severely wounded at the battle of Chantilla, Ya , at which time he was 
taken prisoner. He was honorably discharged as corporal, and now 
enjovs a life pension ; he is a member of the G. A. R . and also of the 
]\Iethodist Episco])al Chui-ch. He owns a neat farm of fifty acres, 
under perfect cultivation, with a beautiful house and spacious out- 
buildings, all of which he built recently ; he is a self-made nuin, 
respected bv his fellow citizens. 

FREDPJCK A. ENNIS, farmer, P. O. Standing Stone, was 
born in Standing Stone, July 6, 1818, a son of Alexander Ennis, who 
was born in Sussex county, November 21, 1816, and whose father was 
Levi Ennis. a native of Scotland, who came to this country when 
quite young and married, and had five children: James, Isaac, Sally, 
Anne (whose first husband was Ross Emory, and her second a Mr. 
Avres); Alexander and Westfall ; he died in 1857 and his wife in 1868. 
Alexander Ennis began life on a farm, and purchased of his father 200 
acres, and built his house in 1851. In 1837 he managed the old Stand- 
ing Stone Hotel, l)ut soon returned to his farm; in 1861 he went to 
Rummerfield, and opened a store and i)uilt a hotel; both were burned 
in 1866 ; he then built a store near Standin^^ Stone, which he cai-ned 
on until his death, March 10, 1879 ; was justice of the peace twenty- 
one vears, and a member of the Masonic Fraternity. He marrietl, in 
1837, Eleanor, daughter of Asa and Pha^be (Yought) Stevens, the 
former of whom was one of five childi-en, namely: Murray, Anna 
Amelia (wife of John M. Long), Fredrick A., Augusta P. (wife of S. 
W. Yaughan) and Asa S. ]\Irs Alexander Ennis died May 12, 1880, 
Fredrick A., the subject of this sketch, attended the district schools 
until his nineteenth year, then the Towanda Collegiate Institute a 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 797 

year, and was then in the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com- 
pany, where he remained fourteen years. In 1SS5 he purchased, from 
Peter Landmesser, the "Rummerlield Hotel," conducted it two years, 
and then returned to his farm. He inherited, at his father's death, 
in 1879, 112 acres of land, his present farm ; he was formerly a mem- 
ber of White Lilly Lodge, Xo. 8U8, L O. O. F., and was tax collector 
in 1871, and road commissioner in 188.5. May -4, 1869, he married 
Marion L., daughter of Benjamin and Libbie E. (Miller) Ingham. She 
Avas the youngest of four children. To this marriage there were born 
four children, as follows: Alexander, born June 24:, 1871; John R., 
born June 17, 1873, and two children who died in infancy. 

GEORGE S. ESTELL, salesman, Towanda, was born in Towanda, 
this county, January 24, 1854, and is a son of George H. and Sophia 
C. (Peck) Estell. His father was a native of Wyoming county, Pa., 
and a son of a clergyman, Edward Estell; he was a tailor by trade, 
and followed that business in Smithfield and Towanda some years; 
and was also engaged in the hotel business in Towanda, and the last 
eighteen years of his life were spent in Canton, this county, where he 
was engaged in the clothing business; his first wife was Sophia C, 
daughter of Hezekiah M. and Ruth C. (Flale) Peck, and a sister of 
Judge Benjamin M. Peck, by whom he had three children, viz.: 
Fannie (Mrs. O. F. Benson), Florence (Mrs. James K. Thomas, deceased), 
and George S.; his second wife was Mrs. Susan (Arnot) Spalding, of 
Franklindale, this county. Mr. Estell died June 2, 1885. His son, 
George S,, was reared in Towanda and received an academical educa- 
tion at Owego and Moravia, N. Y. At the age of eighteen he went 
into the register and recorder's office of Bradford county, where he 
filled the position of deputy recorder nearly three years. March 4, 
1875, he entered the prothonotary's office as cleik, and was in this 
position four years. January, 1879, he was appointed principal deputy 
prothonotary, which })osition he held under George W. Blackman 
four 3^ears, and latto'ly was assistant book-keeper and correspondent 
for the lumber firm of Shaw cfe Co., and since 1887 has followed the 
occupation of clothing salesman. Mr. Estell married, A])ril 2, 187G, 
Allenia I., daughter of Asa and Mary J. (Moody) Douglass, of 
Towanda, and has two children: Mary F. and Stanley D. He is a 
member of the F. & A. M., and politically he is an Independent- 
Republican. 

DAVID T. EVANS, prominent dry-goods merchant, Towanda, 
was born in Remsen, Oneida Co., N. Y., June 11, 1S44, a son of 
Thomas T. and Mary L. (Lewis) Evans, natives of Wales, who, in about 
1825, came to America and settled in Utica, N. Y. His father after- 
ward located in Remsen and engaged in farming, and in later life 
removed to Rome, N, Y., where he and his wife resided untd they 
died. David T. Evans was reared in Oneida county, N. Y., educated in 
the graded schools of Rome, same county, and began life as a clerk in 
the dry-goods business. In 1867 he became a member of the dry- 
goods firm of Williams, Evans t'v: Co., at Rome, N. Y., which partner- 
ship existed three years. In October, 1870, he located in Towanda, 
where he embarked in the dry-goods and carpet business with Henry 



798 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



(^ Ilildreth under the firm name of Evans & Iliklreth, which partner- 
ship existed until the death of Mr. Ilildreth in 1887, since when Mr. 
Evans has conducted a successful business alone. Mr Evans was mar- 
ried in 1871 to Alida M., daughter of Col. John W. and Charlotte 
(Moulton) Phillips, of Syracuse, N. Y., by whom he has two sons : 
Cliarles and Walter. Mr. Evans is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church, and in politics he is a Republican. _ ^, ,, , , , 

HENRY EVANS, farmer in Wihiiot, P. O. Ilollenback, was born 
Mav 14 1838, in Wvomin^ county, Pa., and is the seventh m the fam- 
ily of eioht children of Peter and Juha (Ellis) Evans, the former a 
native of Wales and the latter of Pennsylvania. He was thrown upon 
the world at the age of seven years, and was obliged to provide tor 
himself thereafter He enlisted at Troy, Pa., August 31, 18b4, in Corn- 
nan v A Two Hundred and Seventh P. Y. L, and continued in the regi- 
ment until the battle of Petersburg, when he was thrown from a 
steamboat, sustaining severe injuries to his back; he ^^f^ /hen taken 
to East Philadelphia Hospital, where he remained untd the close ot 
the war Mr. Evans was married, November 15, 1862, to Miss uiive, 
dauo-hter of Reuben and Jane (Crawford) Wandell and they haye 
thrcTe children: Schuyler B., born September ^ 5, 1863 ; Reuben W 
born November 22,1870; and Emma J born September 20 18^8 
Mr. Evans is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wilmot 
Centre, and is a Republican in politics. 

EDWARD A. EYERITT, physician, Burlington, was born in 
Dutchess county, N. Y., August li:i831, a son of Dr. John and Sanili 
(Coryell) Everitt, the former a native of Litchfield county. Conn, boin 
of Enolishand Puritan origin ; the latter a native of Nichols iioga 
Co N Y of French descent, a daughter of Judge Emanuel Coryell 
of that countv, and one of the pioneers a man of great i"«"e";;e in 
his time The great-grandfather Coryell owned a ferry at Trenton, 
N J at the time of the Revolutionary War. and assisted in transter- 
rincr Washington's army across the Delaware. Dr. John Everitt was a 
physician of Sotc in his time, and belonged to a race ot doctors, there hav- 
inc^ been from one to several in each family among his paternal ancestry 
as°far back as can be traced ; his paternal grandmother had a brother, 
L Samuel Elmer, and an uncle. Col. Samuel Elmer, in the Revolution- 
ary War, brave officers, the former of whom was shot dead while giv- 
ing orders ; Grandfather Everitt was also a soldier in the Revolution, 
as°was also his brother,who was a steward to Gen. AYashington. Our 
subiect was educated at Owego Academy, N. \.; attended lectures at 
Anil Arbor and Albanv Medical College, was graduated from there in 
1856,andentered the profession in Burlington in 1857 where he has 
since enioved an extensive and lucrative practice. He has been a dele- 
gate to the American Medical Association, and county physician many 
lears He has been twice married, first in 1856, to Harriet S. Great- 
sino-er, by whom he had one daughter and one son ; tiie latter is J )r 
John E. Everitt, a physician pracficing at Franklindale, '^ g''-^* "ate ot 
the University of New York; the daughter rmirried. May 4 1882, 
Alderman T. A. I^ugett, of Elmira, N. Y. Mrs. Everitt died in Decem- 
ber 1873, and in January. 1875, Mr. Everitt was married to Hattie 



HISTORY OF HKADFORD COUNTY. 799 

Phelps, of Jhirlino-ton, who was born Septoniber 2.5, I806, a daugliLei' 
of PJynn and Lucy (Kice) Phelps, of French descent, natives ot^Ver- 
niont. lie is an active Republican, and has been burgess of the 
borouo-h several terms ; has been a school director, and held several 
offices of public trust for the last eight years, and has been the secre- 
tary for that length of time, lie takes great j^ride in being the pos- 
sessor of a line professional as well as a general librarv 

MORPJS FAIPJ3ANK8, farmer, P. O. Austinville, was born in 
Columbia township, this county, August 23, 1834, a son of Samuel and 
Lois (Willey) Fairbanks, natives of Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
respectively, who settled in Columbia township in 1822, locating on 
the farm now owned by our subject, which they cleared and improved, 
adding to it from time to time until they accumulated 250 acres; here 
they resided until their death, the father dying on Julv 20, 181t), 
aged fifty-eight years, and the mother September 11, 1862, aged'sixtv- 
eig-ht; they were the parents of the following named children: Rosan- 
nah (Mrs. Nichols Ingersoll), Flavay (Mrs. James Wright), Petsey 
(Mrs. Albert Judson), Louisa (Mrs. Solomon Judson), George, Harvey, 
Jane (Mrs. A. B. Dewitt), Fannie, Charlotte (Mrs. L. C. Edson) and 
Morris. The sul)ject of this biographical memoir was reared on the old 
homestead where he resided unt'il he was thirty-five years of age. He 
was educated in the common schools, and has alwavs been a^armer. 
He has been aresident of Austinville since April 1, 1870. and in 1871-72 
he kept a hardware store there. On March 4, 1862, he married Sarah 
S., daughter of Harris and Susannah (Mansfield) Soper, of Rutland, 
Tioga Co., Pa., and they have one son, Harry. Mr. Fairbanks has 
been a justice of the peace of Columbia township eleven years, and 
re-elected for a term of five years in February, 1890; in 1871 he was 
treasurer of Columbia townshi]), and in 1876 he was assessor of the 
same township; in politics he is a Democrat. 

A. C. FANNING, one of Troy's leading attornevs, was born in 
Springfield township, this county, July 25, 1851, and is a son of David 
and Autis B. (Kennedy) Fanning. His paternal grandparents were 
Elisha and Betsey (Grace) Fanning, who settled in SpringHeld town- 
ship, this county, in 1812, clearing and improving the farm now 
owned by Amos Fanning, on which they lived and died. Elisha Fan- 
ning was a son of Elisha and Mary (Button) Fanning, of Massachusetts. 
He was twice married, and by his first wife, Betsey (Grace), he had 
six children: Amanda (Mrs. Ste])hen Mills); Eliza (Mrs. Ejihraim Sar- 
geant), David, Charlotte (Mrs. John Ward), William J. and Hiram. 
His second wife was Esther McKean, by whom he had two sons: Amos 
B. and Luther J. Of his children by his first wife, David, the father of 
subject of this sketch, is the only survivor. He was born February 15, 
1811, and • was reared in Springfield township where he cleared' and 
improved the farm on which he now resides, his wife was a daughter 
of Alexander Kennedy, of Colorain, Vt., an early settler of Spring- 
field township. He is the father of six children: Betsey (deceased), 
Mehina (Mrs. M. W. Smith), Amanda (Mrs. J. C. Leonard), Ira S., 
Melvin I), and Adell)ert C. A. C. Fanning was reared on the homestead, 
and educated at the State Noi'inal School at Mansfield, where he grad- 



800 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

uated in 1ST2. studied law with the Hon. Delos Rockwell, of Troy, and 
H. W. Patrick, of Athens, antl graduated from tiie Law Department, 
Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, in 1874, and in September of the 
same year he was admitted to the bar at Towanda. He immediately 
began the practice of his profession with H, W. Patrick, of Athens, 
with whom he was associated nearly a 3^ear, and in the fall of 1875 
located in Troy where he has been inactive practice. He was married 
April 16, 1885, to Jennie E., daughter of Edward E. and Louisa (Bal- 
lard) Looniis, of Troy, b}' whom he has two children: Adelbert Carl 
and Pauline. Mr. Fanning is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and socially he is a Sir Knight Templar. In politics he is a 
Republican, and was district attorney of Bradford county from 1881 
to 1884. 

JOHN QUI^^CY ADAMS FASSETT, farmer, of South Creek 
township, P. O. Fassett, was born in this county, near Troy, January 
29, 1825, a son of Philo and Marion (Wheeler) Fassett, natives of 
Vermont. The father of Philo was an officer in the army in the Revo- 
lutionary War. Philo Fassett was born March 3, 1787; his wife, 
Marion, September 25, 1791 ; they removed to this county in 1812, 
and located near Troy, on what is known as the " Ballard Place;" 
they were verv early pioneers, and lived in the vicinity of Troy about 
thirty years, during which time they were engaged in clearing their 
farm. They then removed to what is now known as " Fassett," near 
the Xew York State line, where Mr. Fassett purchased a tract of 300 
acres, on which there was an abundance of timber, which he manufact- 
ured into lumber ; also kept tavern about twenty years at the same 
place. The life of Mr. Fassett, like that of other early settlers, was 
uneventful; he reared ten children, all of whom grew to maturity, 
and six sons are now living. Our subject who is the seventh in this 
family, was reared in this county, attended school eighteen months at 
Elmira, N. Y., and the same time at Cortland, N. Y, He has always 
confined himself to farming ; has never married, and owns about eighty 
acres of fei'tile land; he has lived in Fassett since 1830. Mr. Fassett 
is a membei' of the Paptist Church. 

ANDREW FEE (deceased). — This gentleman was among Wya- 
lusing's l)est known and most highly respected citizens, born in Bally bay, 
County !Monaghan, Ireland. August 14, 182(), a son of Michael and Mar- 
garet (Martin) Fee, natives of the same place. His schooling was lim- 
ited, indeed, but being a constant reader, he acquired a store of knowl- 
edge that made him one of the best versed men on the topics of the 
times that the county has produced, and he was also a splendid busi- 
ness man. Both Andrew and his father were tailors. The father came to 
this country, bringing his family, wiien Andrew was fourteen years old. 
They located at Merrvall, and in 1849 Andrew began for himself in 
what is now Wyalusing borough. He erected a shoji and began a bus- 
iness career here, whicii ended only with his death. His shop stood on 
Main street, where he erected the store as it now stands, and there he 
conducted the merchant tailor business until ISfi^, when he was 
a])pointed revenue-assessor, and held that office until its abolition. In 
1852, upon the resignation of Maj. John Taylor, he was commissioned 



HISTORY OK HKADFOKI) COUNTY. 801 

postmaster, lie was connected with tliis olfice, almost continuously, 
until his death. This sad event occurred suddenly, while he was at 
work in liis office, March 3, 1885, and was caused by heart disease. He 
changed the last mail under Arthur's administration, and then sud- 
denly passed over the dark river; he was a diligent Bible student, read- 
ing it through in course. Intensely Presbyterian in hisreligious views, 
though not a communicant, no one Avas more active in their support, 
being an habitual attendant, a liberal contributor, both to church and 
all other benevolent enterprises ; in business he wasscrupuloush'^ honest 
and very methodical, and his death left a void in the community that 
no other can fill. He was a Mason, in regular standing with the 
Towanda Lodge, A. Y. M. He was also a member of an Odd Fellows 
Lodge at Lella3'sville ; was originally a Whig and afterward a Repub- 
lican, an active politician and of large influence in his vicinitv. He 
was united in wetllock, September 26, 1854, with Deborah A. Morrow, 
a sister of the'late Judge Morrow, she being the fifth of the children. 
This union was blessed with seven children, viz.: Edward "W., jwstal 
clerk at Milo, Iowa; Emma L., married to Charles D. Lyon, editor and 
postmaster at Milo, Iowa; Sallie M., married to Charles L. DeGroff, a 
merchant of Madilla, Neb.; Mary, a most successful teacher of instru- 
mental music at Milo, Iowa ; Margaret, a student in the Woman's Med- 
ical College of Pennsylvania, at Philadeli)hia ; Eleanor AY., married to 
Charles W. Cobnrn, of Jefferson Medical College, and Hattie, wdao died 
in infancy. After her husband's death, Mrs. Fee took charge of his 
estate, and showed her good business qualities by increasing the com- 
petence left her, besides rearing and educating her family. The fam- 
ily homestead is beautifully situated in Wyalusing. Mr. Fee embarked 
in independent life when twenty-three years old, without other capital 
than an honest purpose to accomplish a good work, to acquire a good 
name, and to owe no one ought but true manly esteem, and his prosperity 
shows, better than any words, his wonderful success. The family are 
esteemed members of the Presbyterian Church. 

MARTIN FEE, carpenter and builder, Camptown, was born in 
Ballybay, County ]\lonaghan, Ireland, January 9, 1830, son of Michael 
and Margaret (Martin) Fee, who were natives of County Monaghan, 
where his father was born June 24, 1798, and his mother in Sep- 
tember, 1795. Martin Fee's ancestors, both on his father's and 
mother's side, emigrated from Scotland to Ireland, in earh^ troublous 
times. They were Presbyterians, and suffered much for the truth's 
sake. His paternal grandmother was a Jackson, and an aunt of Gen. 
Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. Martin 
Fee, therefore, is Scotch-Irish, and descended from a peoj)le who have 
stood up for the truth, and battled for liberty. His parents and fam- 
ily, with the exception of one child, came to America in 1840, and 
settled in Bradford county; his father was a merchant tailor, and 
located in Mei-ryall, where he followed his trade until about 1852, 
when he purchased a farm, and was engaged in farming until a few 
years before his death, which occurred October 17, 1870 ; his UK^ther 
died March 15, 1854. His parents had the following children : Mary, 
married to John Nesbit, farmer, of Ilerrick; Andrew (see sketch); John 



gQ2 HISTORY OF BUADI'Oia) COUNTY. 

f(leceasecl) who was a blacksmith: James (deceased), was a tailor; 
llichard now a farmer residing- in Nebraska, and Martin Our subject 
durino- his earlv life, had the advantages of a common-school education 
•md alter reaching his majoritv attended the Collegiate Institute ot 
Towanda for several terms: soon after reaching his majority he began 
teachino- and followed that avocation several years, and attended school 
diirino- vacation. In 1857 he began learning the carpenter s and join- 
er's trade with Steward Bosworth, with whom he remained three 
years and then began contracting for himself, and has combined that 
business with farming, and followed the same to the present time. 
His building has been largely in Wyalusing, Herrick and Tuscarora : 
but he has done work in Wilkes Barre, Towanda and bayre; he has a 
beautiful location, where he lives, on a farm of thirty acres. 

He married, Julv i, 1864, Martha L. Jones, a danghter ot Thomas 
Jones who was a Welshman, and a i)rominent farmer ot Herrick. Her 
mother was of English origin. They have a familv consisting ot the 
foUowing childreiK Kosa, born September 22, 1865 now F^cep ress 
and teadier in the Collegiate Institute ot Towanda : Seth H., bo n 
Octol)er 31, 1867, now a clerk in a store, located in Tekamah, Neb., 
Gratit, born May 16, 1869, a carpenter and joinei^ and joi^eman on 
building in San Francisco, Cal; Elam K. born October 1 18^ Emma 
J born January 12, 1874; Asa, born October H- If^^ ^ ^^^J, ^^'^^^'^ 
Ai-line, born August 10, 1878, died November 27, 1881. Mr Fee is a 
member of the Bresbvterian Church of Camptown ; a membei- of the 
P of I Avery Association No. 3277; politically he wasa Eepubi- 
can until 1882, when he espoused the cause of the Pi'ohibition party 
and has since been identified with it. • u of +^,vn 

ULYSSES M FELL, miller, IJomet s lerry, was born m that to\\ n 
November 28, 1860, the youngest in the family of ten children of 
Samuel D. and Elizabeth (Kings) Fell, natives of Pennsylvania, iwo 
of his brothers were in the war for the Union, Joseph G as a raembei 
of Company C, One Hundred and Forty-First Regiment, P. V. I. , he 
served as sergeant-major, was three years in the service, and lost his 
life at the baUle of Gettvsburg ; George W. was in the same company 
and reo-iment. and was in service to the time of Lee's surrender Mi. 
Fell owns the flouring mills at Homet's Ferry, where he is conducting 
an extensive milling and shipping business; also owns and manages 
the ferry at that pFace. Ulysses M. Fell was united •" ma 7 many 
January 5, 1887, with Lou J., daughter of Andrew J and Etna 0\ e Is 
Elliott^natives of Pennsylvania, all of English ancestry. Mr. l^til ib a 
Ilepui)lican, and takes an active interest in public matters 

OLIYEIl I). FIELD, postmaster. Covert, was born in I>elhi, IN . 1 ., 
Aucnist 11, 1826, and is a son of Abiezer and Hannah (Wilbur) 
Field, natives of Taunton, Mass., who settled in Armenia town^hM>' 
this Jountv. in 1836, and cleared and unproved the arm no v ow nu 
bv David P.-irman and Harry Covert, where the tatluM- resided unt I 
his death. He was a nephew of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, of Keyo u- 

tionarv fame, and his wife, Hannah (Wilber), ^^f/-^ S''''" "p'u.n , '' 
same -eneral. and a .lirect descen.lant of the - Mayflower P Ignms. 
Abiez'er Field had eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity, as 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 803 

follows: A biezer, Jr. Clinstoi)her, Loretto (Mrs. Nati.an Traman), 
Calista (Mrs. James Lyon), Piiineas, Oritha (Mrs. llarrv Covert 
Adeline (Mrs. John lounians), Oliver D. and Georc^e. Oliver D 
l^ield u-as reared in Armenia township from ten years of acre. Since 
attaining his majority he has always been a tax payer in the township, 
thouo-h for ten years he was a resident of the State of New York 
lie was m the Civil War, having enlisted April 27, 1862, in C<)mi)anv 
C, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served three vears, wlien he 
was honorably discharged as sergeant of the comi)any. " Mr. Field has 
been tw.ce marrie^l, first time to Agnes F., daughte/of Timothy and 
Nancy (Wilson) Randall, of Armenia township, and by her he had 
seven children: Emma J. (Mrs. S. L. Sherman), Agnes (Mrs. George 
\anness. Mary (Mrs. Frank Harding), Hannah (m"s. Abner D. Pan- 
da 1), AdelmeBiirdette and Wilson. His second marriage was with 
Mi.. Volucia (Randall) Rogers, sister of his first wife. Mr. Field has 
been an ordained minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, thirty 
^JT' If f ?'l ^'^'' '' I'^epublican, has served one term as auditor 

Tof T'rW)"rr ^'\' ^^^" postmaster of Covert since Mav, 1891. 
P n w 1. '^u-^^'"'^^'-'"' township, farmer and stock-grower, 
I . O. A\ mdham. This is one of the leading farmers in Windham town- 

and Lucia (Johnson) Finch, natives of New York and Connecticut, re- 
spectively. James, whose parents were CeJey and Roxanna(Mead)Finch, 
wasa larmerand mill ou^ner, whocame to Bradford in 1835 and located 
in Windham township, and was soon known as a leading, enterprising 
citizen, and by his industry and thrift became the owner ?f 400 acres ot 
nigh y improved land, on which he was residing at the time of his death 
w liich occurred in the year 1876. His good \vife, the mother of his 
children, was tenderly laid by his side in the year 1883; she was adauoh- 
te of Parley and Luca (AVebster) Johnson. To them were born seven 

dipl!n"n?'''' 7^'°"''"''';''^^-, They were as follows: Adelia, who 
(lied n inlancy; Lucia, a school teacher, died in her sixteenth year, in 
Windham; Harriet, who u^s also a teacher, married Mr. Vaness of 
tZ ? I ' ' T '"''J''-'^^'' .^^'^^'' ^^^^« ^« practicing la^v in Humboldt, 
Wnd'hfn. ' t ^^^™T.^^^, Windham, and George: also a farmer, in 
Windham and a practical surveyor for manv velirs. The subject of 

f ^\n'f f^'';^'''"''?'!?^^'^"^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^'"ilV h(miestead, receiving 
oomn Pn'^'TrF '^ f^^'' ^'^^^^'^'^ education in the district schools, and 
donw T ^^'?;'''" ^'^^^'"^ '^^ ^ ^'^'™e^ '^"^l raiser of imoroved 

.d nnt. «?""!'• 1^^^ r^"^'^^^' ™«^^ t'^^^" the average 'school 
r\^J^JfS^^^y^^^^^^ of Reelsville and Owego, and 

hi'^nn,l^rf ''"'''''^'"fr^l^'"'^^ ^fter the d?ath of 

e t.?^ t? 1 '"^ ^'"rt^fr^ ^'^^ '^^^^'^'^ ^^ ^^'^ ^'^'^^ I^ei'-s in the real 
?ht ^o'nfr o f -f ^'* thereto, and in every respect greatly improved 

nwnt f' w/^ '' ''''''^ ''"^ ^^ ^'^^ '"^^t ^^^^"'^^^'^ homesteads in the 
«mW ? "" y'^'^'Sm^n he taught school several winter terms, 

reo /MH^f^'"'^ ^w, '^'^"^ ^'T' '^"^^ '-afterward ent(>red a law office and 

nf.nl fJ""''w^^''^^^'*^"^^^' '^"^^ was admitted to practice. He 
P.rW .'' n"" y?^ T^ '"-'^-' '" ^^''' practiceof law with his brother 
iarley, who had also been admitted, but the parents pleaded for at least 



804 HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 

one of tlio two to remain at the okl home ami this lot fell to Ira, wliich 
permanently fixed him on the old homestead, while his brother 
went to Humboldt, Iowa, and engaged in tiie law practice, and has 
met Avith brilliant and very flattering success. Mr. Ira Finch is 
a Mason who has passed the chairs of the Lodge, and has been repre- 
sentative to tiie Grand Lodge, New York, on two occasions, ISS-i and 
1S85. His home Lodge is at Nichols, N. Y. He is a member of the 
Democratic party, a gentleman of much culture and well read in the 
best literature of his time ; was at one time the Democratic nominee 
for prothonotary of the countv, and was only defeated bv the large 
party majority arrayed against him. Yet he has never been a politician, 
and votes as he believes to be the best interests for himself and his fellow 
citizens. Lie has filled the oliices of election commissioner, member 
of the Board of Elections, and is a justice of the peace. But his 
especial pride is his farm and its splendid herds of Jerseys, Aldernevs 
and Shorthorns, also Southdown sheep, and thoroughbred horses, both 
roadsters and draught horses. The family rank among the very first 
in the county, have a wide circle of acquaintances and hosts of friends. 

E. G. FITCFI & CO., furniture manufacturers, Athens. E. G. 
Fitch is a native of Delaware county, N. Y., and was born April 2S, 
1843, a son of Cyrus and Evaline (Eells) Fitch, natives of New Canaan, 
Conn., who removed to New York when quite young. Cvrus Fitch 
was a farmer, and died in Athens in January, 1886 ; Evaline Fitch died 
in Delaware county. N. Y., in 1852. E. G. Fitch is the voungest in a 
family of nine children. In 1870 he engaged in the hardware business 
of Fitch & Kinney, present firm. In 1885 he erected buildings and 
began the manufacture of furniture. He was married in Delaware 
county, N. Y., December 27, 186G, to Miss Emma J., daughterof John 
P. and Polly (Wakeman) St. John, natives of Delaware county, X. Y. 
Mrs. Fitch is the elder of two children. To this union have been 
born three daughters, viz.: Florence E., Cora S. and Eunice C. They 
are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Fitch enlisted in the 
army, August 12, 1862, in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-fourth, 
N. Y. y. L, and served until the close of the war. He is a member of 
the G. A. 11., Perkins Post, No. 202, and is a Ilepublican. He is one 
of the ])rominent leading and public-spirited citizens of Athens. An 
account of his factorv will be found on page 425. 

CORNELIUS FITZGERALD, farmer, of Terry township. P. O. 
Marsh View, was born in County Limerick, Ireland, ^larch 4, 1804, 
and is a son of John Fitzgerald, a faruuir, who by reason of higii rent 
and landloi'd oppression was forced to send some of his family to the 
•'land of the free anil the home of the brave;" he reared a family of 
thirteen cliildren, seven of whom grew to maturity. Cornelius Ixiing 
the eldest came with some of the younger members of the family to 
this country, landing at Castle Garden, New York, in 1835. Mr. 
Fitzgerald worked on public works several 3'ears, each year adding to 
what he had saved tlu; previous year. In 1837 lie mairied Miss 
Margaret llenchey. a native of Limerick, with whom he had been 
acquainted in their native; country; by this mariiagt; there wei'e born 
to them eight children, five of whom grew to maturity, but two only 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 805 

survive, Thomas and Mary. Thomas married Miss Mary lUirke, by 
whom he had six ciiiklren: John, Nellie, Magg'ie, Cornelius, ]\Iartin 
and Mary ; Mary was married to James Burke, a Ijrother of Thomas' 
wife, and they have five children: John, Cornelius, Maggie, Nellie and 
James. In 1840 Mr. Fitzgerald removed to Terry township, where he 
purchased 100 acrQS of land on which he built a house ; in those da3's 
there was game in abundance ; their nearest point to mill was French- 
town or Monroeton, five or eight miles distant, respectively. He 
labored hard to improve his farm, and succeeded, for in twenty years 
after his settlement on his first 100 acres he bought 200 acres more, all 
of which he now owns. He is a farmer on a large scale; his son 
Thomas is the head farmer and takes the chief management of affairs ; 
he lives with his father. The princijial business is stock raising and 
dairying, as well as mixed farming. Both he and his son are Demo- 
crats, and members of the Catholic Church. 

DANIEL FLEISHER, principal of the public schools, Troy, was 
born near Newport, Perry Co, Pa., September 22, 1852, a son of 
Jacob and Mary (Clouser) Fleisher. His paternal grandfather was 
George, son of John Fleisher, of German descent, and all were farmers of 
Perry county, Pa. Our subject was reared in his native county, edu- 
cated in the public schools, Bloomfield Academy antl Lafayette and 
Pennsylvania colleges, and was graduated from the latter, at Gettys- 
burg, in 1880, and also graduated in a special course in 1888, receiving 
Ph. D. degree by examination in same college. In 1880 he organized 
a select school in Newport, Pa., known as Newport Academy, which 
he taught four years, and in 1884 was elected principal of the Troy 
graded school, which position he has since held with credit to himself 
and the school. His career as a teacher began when he was eighteen 
years of age, when he taught two years in the public schools of 
Phmiouth, Pa., one year as principal of the public school of Liverpool, 
and u^as assistant in the Bloomfield Academy one and one-half years. 
Prof. Fleisher married. May 10, 1881, Mrs. Anna (Power) Fleisher, of 
Landisburg, Pa., a daughter of William Power. He is a member of 
the Lutheran Church ; is a Poyal Arch Mason, and politically he is a 
Bejmblican. 

DAVID T. FLEMING, farmer, P. O. Ilerrick, was born in 
County Donegal, Ireland, in 1837. His father, John Fleming, who 
was born in the same place, married Mary Taylor, and they had six 
children, viz.: Mary, first wife of P. Warnock ; Margaret, wife of S. 
Best; David T.; Isabel, second wife of P. Warnock; Fannie, wife of 
C. Kyle, and John, a machinist in Washington, D. C. The father 
came to this country in 1848, and worked on a farm one year, when he 
died from the effects of a sun stroke; his widow survived him eleven 
years, dying in 1865. David T. Fleming was educated in Ireland, 
and came to this country in his twentieth year. He worked one year 
with Daniel Durand, then went to Wilmot township, and worked 
three years, then, in 1802, he purchased from George C. At wood 
105 acres of land, of which, in 1865. he sold fifty acres to J. H. 
Hurst, and same year he juirchased from Stewail Hari-is sixty-six 
acres adjoining his other |)roperty. He erected his present house in 

46 



80t> HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1879-80, and 1886, and erected his barn in 1883. He lias always 
been a successfid man; was a member of Ilerrick Grange, is a 
member of the Presbx'terian Church, and in politics is Independent. 
He married in 1868, Margaret Jane Taylor, eldest in the family of 
nine children of William and Mary (McDougal) Taylor ; and they 
have had four children: Mary, who died in her fourteenth year; 
Fannie Elizabeth, a school teacher, Anabel and William (latter 
deceased). This is one of the highly respected families of Bradford 
county. 

B.'^FPwANK FLETCHER, farmer, of East SmithHeld township, 
P. O. Hoblet, was born January 20, 1847, a son of Stephen F. and 
Rhoda (Scouten) Fletcher, natives of this county. His grandfather 
was one of the pioneers of Smithfield. Our subject, who is one of a 
familv of eight children — six bovs and two cfirls — was reared on the 
farm and educated in the schools of the township. He was married 
September 21, 1876, to Juliaett Ramsey, of Tioga county, Pa., born 
August 8, 18-17, and there have been born to them three children, as 
follows: Velma M., born April 23, 1881; E. Pearl, born August 4, 
1882, and Maud, born June 11, 1884. Mr. Fletcher has accumulated 
a nice property by industry and economy, and is now the ovsmer of a 
line farm of eighty acres under a good state of cultivation ; his prin- 
cipal interests are dairying and stock raising. He is a Republican in 
politics, and takes an active interest in the affairs of the town and 
county. Mrs. Flether had three brothers in the Civil War: Sobrine 
K., Horace K. and Artemus, all of whom saw a good deal of hard 
service. 

JOHN P. FLETCHER. i)ostmaster, Troy, wns born in Smithfield 
township, this county. June 9, 1843,, a son of Stephen F. and Rhoda 
(Scouten) Fletcher. His paternal grandfather, Jabez Fletcher, whose 
parents came to this country from England, was born in East Haddam, 
Mass., in 1783, and in 1811 moved to East Smithfield, this county, 
where he cleared and improved a farm, and resided until his death, 
which occurred in April, 1847, when he was aged sixty-four years ; his 
wife was Naomi Pettiboiie, by whom he ha:l eight children : David, 
Jacob, Stephen, John, James, Sylvia (Mrs. Uriah Williams), Almira 
(Mrs. Abram Kniffin) and Charlotte (Mrs. A brain Estman). The 
father of the subject of these lines was born in Smithfield townshi}) 
in 1816, and still resides there, where he cleared and improved a farm ; 
his wife was a daughter of Abram Scouten. of Delaware, and by her 
he had ten children : John P., Scouten, B. Franklin, Jabez Ct., Alfred 
E., David C, Charles, Viola (Mrs. Madison Sargeant), Elizabeth (Mrs. 
S. Ross) and Ella. Oui- subject was reared in Smithfield township, 
receiving a common-school education, and in 1866 he eiiibark<Ml in the 
grocery business at Hornellswille, N. Y., in which he continued there 
until 1867, when he removed to Troy, Pa., where he ser\'ed in the 
capacity of clerk in a dry-goods store until April, 1890, when he was 
appointed ])ostmaster at Troy, which ])osition he now holds. Mr. 
Fletcher married, in October, 1871, Polly, daughter of Guernsey and 
Jane Plakeslee. of Troy townshij). and by her he has three children: 
Cora B., Grace B. and John G. He is a member of the Methodist 



HISTORY OF HRADKOUD COUNTY. 807 

Episcopal Church, and socially is a Sir KnioJit Templar. In politics 
Mr. Fletcher has always been an active liepublican,and has frequently 
been honored with public positions of trust. Since living in Troy, 
this county, he has held the honorable position of school director for 
the borough of Troy for four years, and was treasurer of the Troy 
School Board three years. In 1888 he was chosen by the county con- 
vention a delegate for western Bradford to the Ivei)ublican State Con- 
vention held at Harrisburg. In 1890 he was appointed postmaster at 
Troy borough, and has proved himself to be an honest and efficient 
officer. All these positions of honor and trust have come to Mr. 
Fletcher by merit, for he has ever been an honest, enthusiastic, hard 
worker for his party's interests. Any success he may have attained 
through life is due to his own personal efforts, and his success is 
deservedly earned. 

AVILLIAM II. FLOBY, foreman of the erecting department,!. V. 
B. B. machine shops, Sayre, is a native of JSTorthanipton county, Fa., 
born February 23, 1849,^i son of Jacob and Margaret (Eyer) Florv. 
natives of Northampton county. Fa. The father was a mechanic, and 
died in Scranton in 1882, in his sixty-fourth year; the mother is now 
a resident of Sayre and is in her seventy-third year. William H. 
Flory, who is the fourth, in order of birth, in a family of eight 
children, was reared in Williamsburg, Northampton county, until^'he 
was seven years of age when the family removed to Scranton, where 
he received his education in the public schools of Scranton, and then 
clerked in a store several years. In 180(3 he began an apprenticeshin 
at the machinist trade at the Delaware, Lackawanna A: Western 
Shops, Scranton, where he worked until 1872, and then went to Sus- 
quehanna and worked in the machine shops there until September, 
1880, when he came to Sayre and took charge of the link-motion gano-, 
and was promoted to his present position in July, 1889. Mr. Flor"y 
was married in Scranton. January 4, 1871, to Miss Mary M., daughter of 
John and Maria (Mans) Faul, natives of Lorraine, France; she was born 
May 30, 1848.) To Mr. and Mrs. Flory were born four childi'en, one 
of whom died in infancy, the others were: Burton F., Luia U. 
(deceased) and Jennie G. The family are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and he is a member of the Patriotic Sons of Ameri- 
ica. Iron Hall and Boyal Arcanum. Re is a Bepublican. and has 
served three years as school director in the Independent district, and 
is also a member of the borough council and of the school board 

THOMAS F. FOLEY, deputy sheritf, Towanda, was born in 
Athens (old Tioga Point), this county. Februaiy 4, 1868, and is a son 
of Patrick M. and Catherine (Doran)' Foley, the former of whom was 
a native of County Waterford, Ireland, ^md in early life came to 
America, settling in Athens, where he followed carpentering until his 
death, which occurred March 16, 1870; his wife was a native of Athens, 
and a daughter of John Doran, who was among the early pioneers of 
Athens, coming from Ireland. Patrick M. Foley reared a family of 
seven sons and one daughter, as follows: Maurice (a contractor), John, 
A^'illiam, Michael (a Catholic priest in the Pittsburgh diocese), Matthew, 
Patrick, Thomas F. and Mary. Of these Thomas F. was reared in 



808 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Athens and was educated in tlie public schools, where he graduated, 
taking the first prize in the speaking contest, February 24, 1885, and 
in the county contest again took the first prize, in 18SG. In 1888 lie 
entered the office of H. F. Maynard as a Uiw student, and continued 
as such until his a])pointment as de[)uty siieriflf of Bradford county, 
January 5, 1891, which official position he now fills, and his ])ersonal 
popularity, although one of the youngest men holding such an office, 
has caused him to be one of the popular county officials ; he is a stanch 
Democrat. 

JAMES A. FOLLETT, Windham township, P. O. Nichols, N. Y., 
a leading farmer of Windliam township, was born in Pittstown, 
Rensselaer Co., N. Y., October 9, 1828 ; his parents, AYilliam and Maria 
.(Hunt) FoUett, were natives of New York, of English descent, and were 
agriculturists; his father is still active and vigorous, at the green old 
age of ninety-four years, living in Cayuga county, N. Y.; his mother 
died in 1886, at the age of eighty-eight. James,who was the second in 
their family of nine children, grew to manhood in his native county, 
learned the photogra[)lier's art, and followed same about twelve years, 
at first traveling, and then opened a gallery in Owego, which he con- 
ducted for eight yeai's, but owing to a difficulty of tiie eyes, he 
abandoned that business and commenced farming in this county, in 
1883, and is now the owner of a fine farm of 105 acres, well improved. 
In 1850, he married, in Warren township, Eliza, daughter of Nehemiah 
and Sarah (Williams) Coburn, natives of New York. They have one 
child, Adelbert, an employe in tiie asylum at Binghamton. Politically 
Mr. FoUett is in sympathv with the llepublican partv. 

ANDREW D. FORBES, miller, Wysox. was born in Sheshequin, 
March 2, 1841, a son of William and Rozina (Forbes) Forbes, natives 
of Pennsylvania and of German origin. His grandfather was Arnest 
Forbes, and his great-grandfather was John C. Forbes, from whom 
descended the American branch. John C. Forbes, when a boy, was 
induced to go on board a vessel, under the supposition that it would 
land a short distance away on the German coast, but it carried him to 
America, where he landed about 1777, by which disposition he was 
deprived of his inheritance, but would not return, and being veiy 
eccentric he seldom said much concerning his family and exj)erience. 
Andrew D. Forbes, the subject of this sketch, spent his boyhood on 
the farm and attended the common schools; at nineteen he appren- 
ticed himself to R. S. Barnes, of Rome, to learn the miller's trade. 
On June 17, 180,3, he enlisted at IIarrisl)urg in the" I>uzerne Rangers." 
an independent division. Having the ty[)hoid iever while in the army 
he was in no engagements, and was discharged at the expiration of his 
time, August 27, 1863. From 1864 to 1867 he worked at his trade in 
Monroe, and soon after re-engaged with R. S. Barnes, with whom he 
remained ten years; then was in Dayton's mills, Towanda, two and 
one-half years. He ])urchased his present ])lace of business in 1883, 
and hasoneof the linest waf(M'-powers in Bradford county, the Hun- 
garian process of grinding !)eing used, to which he will add the roller 
|)rocess, ])resent season. Besides his manufacturing interests he has a 
large wholesale and retail trade in flour, feed, grain, etc. Mr. Forbes 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 809 

was married December 24, 1804, to Mervil, (laughter of John and 
Jerusha (Miles) Cannan, natives of Pennsylvania, and two ciiildren 
have been born to them: Fred W., born February 4. 1868, died March 
15, 1888, and Stella, born November 18, 1875. Mr. Forbes is a mem- 
ber of the F. & A. M. and of the G. A. II. Post at Pome; in politics 
he is a Pepublican. 

FREDERICK FOSTER, farmer, of Towanda township, P. O. 
North Towanda, was born in North Towanda township, this countv, 
April 2, 1846, and is a son of William II. and Miltilda (AUoway) Fos- 
ter. His great-grantlfalher, Isaac Foster, with two sons, Abial and 
Rufus, came to what is now North Towanda in 1784, taking up 100 
acres of kind. Isaac cleared a part of it, but being a mechanic gave 
more attention to manufacturino- spinnino- wheels than to tillino- the 
soil. Abial and Rufus also took up 100 acres of land each, but added 
afterward to the original grant. Abial, the paternal grandfather of 
Frederick Foster, settled on the farm now owned by Frederick and 
£. H. Ilorton. He was a stirring business man ; besides attending to 
his farming he erected a sawmill on the site of "Myers' Mills," and 
later the fii'st gristmill on Sugar creek, and was also interested in 
mills near the Pail Factory, lie did an extensive business in lumber- 
ing, milling and farming in his younger days, but in his later life 
gave his entire attention to farming. His wife was Mary Means, by 
whom he had children as follows: Betsey (Mrs. Major Gerould); 
Samuel B.; Sarah B.; Nancy (Mrs. Judson Gerould); Electa (Mrs. 
Wheelock Bingham) ; Polly (Mrs. Elijah H. Ilorton) ; Alenda (Mrs. 
Owen Campbell); William H. and Jane (Mrs. George Upright). Of 
these William II., the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 
North Towanda, where he spent his life in farming; he died suddenly 
in 1879, at the age of sixty -four years ; his children were as follows: 
Celinda (Mrs. James Foster), Frederick; Helen (Mrs. David Lindley); 
Jeanette (Mrs. Charles Cash); Irene (Mrs. Charles Havens). Frederick 
was reared in his native township, received a common-school educa- 
tion, and has always followed farming. He was married, January 18, 
1871, Vo Emma, daughter of David and Sally (Rundell) Newell, of 
Sheshequin township, by whom he had six children: Harry (deceased), 
Lula, Hattie, James (deceased), Eva and Nettie C. Mr. Foster is a 
member of the Presbvterian Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

GEORGE II. FOX, farmer, P. O. Towanda, was born in Towanda, 
this county, March 2, 1840, and is a lineal descendant of the notable 
first settler in Bradford countv, Rudolph Fox, who was of the Palatines, 
and came down from their settlement in New York, in company with one, 
Peter Shuefelt. Mr. Fox settled at the mouth of Towanda creek, and 
Shuefelt followed on down the river. The experiences of Rudolph 
Fox and his family in their struggles for life in the wilderness — braving 
disease, the wild woods, the wild beasts, the men and the invading 
armies in their pitiless marauds along this beautiful valley — is one of 
the unwritten stories, in its simple recital, that exceeds fiction. This 
pioneer, Rudolph Fox, was the great-grandfather of George H., whose 
parents were John M. and Elvira A. Fox; the latter, the daughter of 
Samuel and Lucretia (Wooster) Beard, of Connecticut. John M, Fox 



810 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

was born on the old family homestead farm, now owned and possessed 
by his son George, the only surviving son of the family; his brother 
Charles was born October 16, 1837, and died at the age of eigiiteen. 
This noted old homestead was once known as a part of "Fox Chase;" 
it comprises 200 acres and is one of the valuable farms in the county, 
and its present proprietor, George II. Fox, is not only the largest raiser 
of tobacco, but is r. ally the father of that important industry in the 
valley. Pie is a Republican, and has the entire respect of all Bradford 
county people as a leading, representative and public spirited citizen. 

JOHN A. FoX, of Towanda townsliip, P. O. Kienzi, is a descendant 
of the first permanent white settler in what is now Bradford county. 
There is much said in the general history of the first settlers in this 
volume, and to this the reader is referred^ as there is no family name in 
the county that is in itself more replete witli tlie story of the trials and 
sufferings, as well as the endurance and heroism, of the advance 
pioneers, than that of the Fox family. They were of the Palatines, 
who came to New York, from there to the upper Delaware river, fol- 
lowed the streams and, crossing the portages, finally looked upon this 
beautiful land of the Susquehanna. John A. Fox is a son of William 
and FUen (Barnwell) Fox, who resitle on their farm in Terry town- 
ship, and who reared a family of five children, as follows: John A., 
Richard, Mary, William, Jr., and Ellen, The subject of this sketch, 
who, it will be seen is the eldest, was reared in Wyalusing, attended 
the common schools, was a student in the Susquehanna Collegiate 
Institute, and then in Lafayette College. Since attaining his majority 
he has been engaged in the hay, grain and produce trade, and has met 
with well-merited success. He is at |)resent assessor of Terry township, 
secretaiw of the school board, and secretary and treasurerof the County 
School Directors Association. He isthepatenteeofsome valuableinven- 
tions in mechanism. At the general election in 1890 he was an Inde- 
pendent candidate for county commissioner, and was announced as 
such only toward the end of the campaign, and with his name on none 
of the regulai" i)arty organization tickets, yet was defeated l)y but a 
small majoi'ity, and this in the face of the fact that at some-of the 
])olls it was not known that lie was a candidate. Politically, he is an 
outspoken Democrat. 

WILLIAM FOYLE, a prominent member of the Bradford county 
bar, was born in Herrick township, this county, August 31, 184:7, a 
son of John and Mary (Fogarty) Foyle, natives of Kilkenny, IrelantI, 
who came to America in 1832, locating in JNIaine one and a half years, 
and later resided in New York six years, where the father was engaged 
in the consti'uctioii of the Croton Water- works. About 1840 they set- 
tled in Herrick township, this county, and engaged in farming; both 
parents were born in 1808, and both died in lb78, the father in iVovem- 
ber, and the mother in Decemi)er. AVilliam Foyle was reared in his 
native county, and educated at Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, 
Towanda, and St. Bonaventure's College, Allegany, ('attaraugus Co., 
N. Y. He read law with Fllianaii Smith and William and J>enjamin 
M. Peck; was admitted to the l)ar March 1(5, 1870, and has been in 
active ])ractice since. He mai'iied, September 10, 1872, Ella, daughte 



HISTORY OK BRAnFOKI) COUNTY. 811 

of Thomas and Tsal)ol (Lackey) Fitzgerald, of Wyaliising. Pa., and has 
two children, William T. and ( Jliarles E. Mr. Foyle was a law partner of 
T. McPherson, Esq., and also of the late H. W. ratrick. lie has been 
concerned in some of the heaviest litigation in the coui-ts during his 
practice at the J>radford county bai*. lie tauglit in the public schools 
before his admission to the bar. Mr. Foyle has been engaged in no 
other business but the practice of his |)rofessi<)n. , 

GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, pro|)iietorof theFranldin Blue Stone 
(Quarries, P. O. (Quarry Glen, was born in Philadelphia, Fel)ruary 3, 1866, 
and is a son of John J. and Julia (Ileppard) Franklin, also natives of 
Philadelphia, the former a lineal descendant of Benjamin Franklin ; his 
father was an attorney. George W. Franklin was educated in the 
ward schools of Phihidelphia, and, (juitting the school room at the 
age of fourteen y«ars, he entered upon his business career, first as a 
journeyman in a cloth house, then commenced to travel when only 
fifteen j'ears old, for his father, selling artificial stone. The firm was 
known as the Franklin Artificial Stone Company, but their plant being 
destro^^ed by tire, young Franklin then entered the employment of 
John A. Jackson & J. C. Blair, paper manufacturers, of Philadelphia, 
as traveling salesman, and remained with them about five years, when 
he accepted a position as traveling salesman for George F. I^)rown, 
paper manufacturer. New York City, remaining with him until 1889, 
when he commenced operating the Blue Stone Quarries in Sheshequin 
township, this county. His line of travel was from Boston to Omaha, 
throughout twenty-two States. His father owns the farm on which 
the quarr}^ is located, and leases the quarry to the Franklin Blue Stone 
Company, which consists of George W. Franklin and J. D. Morris, 
only, Mr. Franklin is a member of the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 15, 
Philadelphia, and politically is a Republican, 

JOHN FRAWLEY, farmer, P. O. Overton. This gentleman, who 
is one of the prominent farmer citizens of Overton township, was born 
in Ireland, a son of James and Bridget (Sullivan) Frawley, of Countv 
Limerick; the family came to America in 1840; the father died in 
Overton in 1880, and the mother in 1881. John Frawley was born in 
1844, and has worked his way in life successfully, with no other aids 
than what nature gave him, added to the wortliy precepts and 
examples of his poor but eminentlv respectable parents. He is the 
possessor of a valuable farm of 140 acres in Overton township. He 
was married in Elmira, N. Y., to Mary, daughter of John and Mar- 
garet (Wolf) Pickley, also natives of Limerick, Ireland, and to this 
union the following children wei'e born: Thomas E., Timothy H., 
Margaret E., John F., Mary A., Catherine J., Annie T. and Joseph D. 
The family worship at the Catholic Church, of which they are faithful 
adherents. As a family they bear the love and respect of a wide 
circle of friends and acquaintances. Mr. Frawley has filled the offices 
of school director and road commissioner, and has a warm place in 
his heart for the Democratic partv. 

J. W. FRAZER was born June 3, 1846, a son of Hugh S. and 
Caroline (Scovill) Frazer. He was born and raised on a farm, and 
educated in the common schools and academies of Wvalusino- and 



812 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

CamptoAvn. On reaching his majority lie began life for himself, and 
located in Scranton, where he entered the employ of a sewing machine 
compan}'', and was Avith them about one year; then engaged in the 
sewing machine business on his own account, and has followed that 
calling ever since, doing business both in Elmira and Williamsport. 
lie finally returned to AVyalusing and located on liis farm, within one- 
half mile of his boyhood's home. He was united in marriage June 3, 
1809, with Amelia S., daughter of Christian and Deborah A. (Yancise) 
Bartholomew, the youngest in a family of three cliildren. This union 
has been blessed with one child, Lena V. Mr. Frazer is still engaged 
in the sewing-machine business, and is proprietor of the Mountain 
Cottage Summer Resort, which he has built on his place since his 
return, and which is beautifully located about three miles from 
AV3'alusing, in the midst of grand scenery and the finest fisliing in the 
State. It is crowded with guests during the season, every one speak- 
ing in high [)raise of their host and hostess. Mr. Frazer is a Repub- 
lican, and an active politician. 

N. S. FRAZER, farmer and stock grower, Wyalusing, w^as born 
in Wyalusing, Bradford Co., Pa., January 6, 1843, a son of H. S. and 
Caroline (Scovill) Frazer, the former of whom died in 1889, aged 
eighty-two years, and the latter in 1883, aged seventj^-seven years. 
11. S. Frazer was born in Clearfield county, Pa., came to Bradford in 
1833, and entered mercantile business near Ilomet's Ferry ; after 
several years he removed to where N. S. Frazer now resides, and 
began farming, where he remained until his death. Mr. and Mrs. II. 
S. Frazer had a family of five cliildren, viz.: Jennie (married to 
William Chamberlain, a farmer of Wyalusing) ; Nettie (married to 
D. O. Holland, of North Towanda) ;" N. S.; J. W. (a farmer of 
Wvalusing) ; Sarah (married to A. B. Smith, a farmer, of Southport, 
N,^ Y.). N. S. Frazer, the subject of this sketch, was born and 
reared on the farm where he now resides, and was educated in tlie 
common schools and at the Collegiate Institute of Towanda; he gradu- 
ated when twenty -one and entered the law office of Mercur & 
Morrow where he read law. AYlien ready for admission to the bar 
he was called home by the failing health of his parents, and, sacrific- 
ing liis ambition for their comfort, gave up his career in law and took 
charge of tiie old homestead, and has been engaged in agricultural 
pursuits to the present. In 1884 he opened a summer resort which 
was very popular; after about four years the building was burned, 
but he rebuilt much larger and better, and in 1890 the beautiful 
place was filled with people from the large cities seeking rest and 
pleasant scenery ; in March, 1891, however, the building, together 
with the large barn and all the out-buildings were entirely consumed 
by fire, with all the contents; within two years he has twice lost 
everything by fire, yet, with unllngging energy, he pursues his wa}' 
toward success in preparing to rebuild for the third time. Mr. Frazer 
was united in wedlock, July 3, 1883, with Lizzie Benjamin, daugiiter 
of Dr. Benjamin, of Dushore, and this union has been blessed with one 
child, Carrie. Mr. Frazer is a ite])ul)lican in politics, and has held 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 813 

the office of justice of peace many years, besitles many other town- 
ship offices. 

WALTER H. FRENCH, United States Claim Agent, and notarv 
public, Athens, is a native of Sheshequin, this county, born Mav 19, 
1847, son of Walter and Sarali (Rogers) French, natives of this countv; 
the father was a farmer, and died in Sheshequin in August, 1890, a<'ed 
seventy-seven years; the mother died in 18G4 in her liftv-thirtl vear. 
Walter H. French who is the sixth inafamily of ten children, remained 
on the farm with his father until he was fifteen, when, respondino- to 
the call of his country, he enlisted, September 19, 1862, in Company D, 
Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Gen. Sheridan's command.' 
He was wounded in his forty-seventh regular engagement, at Front 
Royal, Ya., August 16, 1864, and about sundown that evening his leg- 
was taken off by a shell and his horse killed at the same time" He wa^s 
put in an ambulance and taken to Winchester, a distance of seventeen 
miles, where he was captured the next mornmg, August 17, and was 
re-captured at Winchester, September 19, 1864, and put in a lumber 
wagon and taken to Martinsburg and from there by rail to Baltimore, 
to the hospital, wdiere he remained three months, lie was then taken 
to the hospital in York, Pa., where he was kept three weeks, and then 
taken to the hospital and school, cornerof Sixteenth and Filbert streets, 
Philadelphia, which he attended as a soldier three years, when he 
obtained the position of cashier and book-keeper in a'^store in Phila- 
delphia. Remaining there six months, he returned home and taught 
school three years. He was first married in Sheshequin, in 1872,° to 
Miss Henrietta, daughter of Louis and Nancy (Holcomb) Russell, 
natives of this county (she wns the second in a family of three children). 
To this union were born two children: Eugene (deceased) and Howard E. 
Mrs. Henrietta French died in 1881, and in 1887 Mr. French married, 
in Athens, Miss Gertrude H., daughter of Andrew Y. and Millv (Drake) 
YanSice, natives of this county (she is the third in a familv" of four 
children, and was born in Rome township in 1862). To M\\ and JVlrs. 
French was born one son, Andrew. Mr. French has been recognized 
as a claim a^ent by the Government since 1875, although not practicing 
until the spring of 1890 ; was appointed notarv public in June, 1890 ; lie 
is commander of Perkins Post, No. 202, G. A. R., and also a member 
of the Union Yeteran Legion, No. 28, and the Union Yeteran Union of 
Sayre. He was in Sheridan's famous ride from Culpeper to Rich- 
mond, and from there to Yorktown, the distance of 160 miles 
being ridden in forty-eight hours. Mr. French is a Republican, 
and was constable and collector in Sheshequin township from 1872 to 
1875. The account of liis war experience, at the time he lost his leg, 
is so thrilling, that we here give it in his own language : "When 
I was recaptured at Winchester, September 19, 1864, the hospital I was 
in was located on Main street, through which the rebels ran, after being 
routed by the Union Army. Sheridan shelled them as they were 
running through the town^ three cannon balls passmg through the 
hospital, one within a foot of my head, wdiicli knocked me senseless for 
a time, passing through another room where another wounded soldier 
I'dY, cutting his bunk and even the sheet in two, and throwing him out 



814 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

on the floor, without seriously injuring him. My company stopped 
when passing through tlie town after the rebels, and Amos Oongdon, 
a member of in}'^ comj)any, went out and brought the shell in tluit 
passed so close to mv head." 

ABRAHAM FRIES, farmer, P. O. Columbia Cross Roads, was 
born in Wells township, this county, August 28, 1841, a son of James 
and Sophia (Besley) Fries; his paternal grandparents, James B.nd 
Margaret (Cool) Fries, formerl}^ of New Jersey and of Presbyterian 
stock, settled in "Wells township, this county, in 1837, partially cleared 
and improved a farm and died there ; their children were Anna (Mrs. 
Dennis Lewis), Margaret (Mrs. Itenselear Wolfe), Elizabeth, Jacob. 
James, IMary J. (Mrs. Bassett), Mtirtin, David (on the old homestead) 
and Lydia (Mrs. J>ascom Taylor). Of these James partially cleared a 
farm in Wells township, and died there; his wife was the daughter of 
Oliver and Rhoda (Westbrook) Besley, pioneers of Columbia township, 
and by her he had one son, Abraham. The subject of this memoir was 
I'eared on a farm in Columbia township, from seven years of age, by 
his uncle. Jacob Fries, who cleared several farms in Columbia town- 
ship, where he resided about forty-five years. He is a member of 
the Baptist Church and in politics is a Democrat. Abraham Fries 
has always been engaged in farming, and is one of the representative 
agriculturists of the township. He married, in 1862, Margaret, 
daughter of Peter and Barbara (Gernert) McClelland, of Columbia 
townshij), by whom he has two children : Katie (Mrs. Ransom Cor- 
nell) and Cora Blanche. Politicallv Mr. Fries is a Democrat. 

ADDISON C. FRISBIE, farmer and stock grower, Orwell, was born 
October 20, 1829, on the farm he now occupies, son of Zebulon Frisbie, 
who was born on the same farm July 4, 1801, a son of Levi Frisbie, 
who was born in Connecticut. Levi Frisbie married Phoebe Gaylord, 
of Connecticut, and immigrated to Bradford county, locating where A. 
C. Frisbie resitles. He was the first to oj)en a tanyard in this section ; 
he was a man of sjilendid phvsique, of pleasing and engaging manners, 
making many friends, and at the time of his death he owned about 
212 acres. Zebulon Frisbie was the youngest in the family, and 
learned his father's trade of tanner, and with his brother, Chauncy, 
succeeded to his father's business, which they finally sold, and engaged 
in farming. He vvas married December 4, 1828, to Polly Goodwin, a 
daughter of Warren Goodwin, of Connecticut, and had the following 
children : Addison C. (born October 20, 1829), Warren R. (born August 
31, 1831, died September 15, 1865), William L. (born March 26, 1834), 
Chauncy M. (born November 29, 1839), Ruby H. (born June 15, 1843, 
married to Edward Boardman), Orin G. (born June 8, 1845, died 
December 5, 1847), Emily P. (born October 1, 1847, died February 20, 
1849), Mary E. (born October 6, 1849), Olin G. (born February 20, 
1852). The father was a member of the Presb\'terian Church and an 
elder. Politically he was a Whig and Repul)lican, and was a justice 
of the peace many years, also associate Judge, and stood high as an 
official. He died August 29, 1881, and his loss was sorely felt in all 
sectiijns of the county. Addison C. Frisl)ie passed his boyhood on his 
father's farm, receiving an academical education, and wiien seventeen 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 815 

years old he enguoed as a clerk in a store until 1857, when he went 
to Carbondale, where he was a prostrated by sickness, from wliicii he 
recovered in 1859. He was in a similar employ at Orwell Hill, where 
he remained until 1804 ; then moved to Lellaysville, and engaged in 
mercantile business on his own account, remaining until 18()7 ; then 
went to Orwell Hill, and with G. C. Frisbie conducted a store, and 
with different partners was merchandising until 1879, wdien he sold 
and removed to Towanda, having been elected in 1878 register and 
recorder of Bradford county, ably serving the people three years. In 
March, 1882, he removed to the old Frisbie homestead, where he has 
since resided. He was united in marriage October 17, 1855, with 
]^. N. NewelL To Mr. and Mrs. Frisbie have been born five children : 
Cora St. Leon (born October 31, 1850, mari'ied to P. A. Pendleton), 
Kate L. (born July 11, 1858, married to N. N. Elsbree), George C. 
(born December 24, 1861), Mary E. (born April 29, 1804, married to 
V. B. Payson), Edwin N. (born September 24, 1870). Mr. Frisbie is 
a member of the F. & A. M., and of the K. of P. at Towanda, he is a 
Republican, and has held the various township offices. The family are 
members of the Presbyterian Church. 

A. G. FRISBIE, farmer and stock grower, Orwell, w^as born in 
Orwell, this county, March 4, 1820, a son of Levi Frisbie, who was 
born in Connecticut, November 19, 1798, a son of Levi Frisbie, born in 
Bristol, Conn., January 31, 1758, who died October 5, 1842, and had 
married, December 20, 1780, Phoebe Gaylord, who was born in Bristol, 
Conn., November 19, 1707, and died in Orwell, October 5, 1852, a 
daughter of Aaron Gaylord, who was a lieutenant in the militia, and 
took part in the battle of W\'oming; he escai)ed to the woods with a 
companion, where they were found by the Indians, and he was killed, 
but his companion escaped. To Levi and Phoebe (Gaylord) Frisbie 
were born the following named children : Chauncy, born November 
16, 1787, died May 4, 1804 ; Laura, born January 1, 1790, married to Ira 
Bronson ; Catherine, born April 1, 1792, and Levi. Levi Frisbie, Sr., 
was descended from tlje old Puritan stock of Connecticut, and was an 
acknowledged leader in all enterprises tending to the advancement or 
improvement of this county. Coming as he did, in the year 1800, 
when the woods of Bradford county contained primitive log cabins, 
he devoted his life to the advancement of the county, its churches and 
scliools; he was the brave and fearless friend of the poor and the 
oppressed; in his private life, sociable and eminently liospitable, his 
family loved and reverenced him as more than a father, and to the 
shelter of his broad bosom his grandchildren alwaj's fled as a haven of 
refuge ; although a member of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, 
he identified himself with the Presbyterian Church as soon as the 
society w^as formed on Orwell Hill, and allowed no niceties as to 
any proscribed creed to interfere with his labors to better the condition 
of his fellow-men; and the seed sown by such earnest labors, nearly a 
centuiy ago, is still yielding fruit in abundance; he was never known 
to swear, use intoxicating liquors of an}' kind, excepting cider, which 
he drank at meals in lieu of tea or coffee, which he never used, or 
tobacco; his word was implicitly received, and in the arbitrament 



816 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



of his neio-hbors he never failed to give satisfaction. His sons were 
worthv of°such a father, and among the many eminent and good men 
of this countv none stood higher than they, all hving earnest worker, 
in the Presovterian Church, three being elders in the same for years; 
11 were liberal to the church and schools; these noble sons of an 
illustrious sire have been gathered to their ^^^tli^'*^' ^^f^J^^S "j^ 
spotless page in the history of Bradford county. All the family 
except the voungest. were born in Connecticut. 

AG Frisbie was born and reared on the old Frisbie homestead farm, 
and received a common-school education. His farm was located in Allis 
Hollow! and contained 100 acres of land, which he cleared and fit eel 
for the plow, and here he lived from his twenty-fourth vear until 18b -^, 
vLn hi removed to his present farm known as the 'Minor Taj lor 
Inn which IS well stocked with cattle, horses etc. He was united in 
wedlock, December 5, 1850, with Ordelia, daughter of Abel and Laura 
Alis) Darling, and to them have been born the following named 
itwen: wflliam E., born February 18, 1853, married to Cyn ha 
Bull; Ann Elizabeth, born January 2, 1855, married to Hiram E. Bull 
Stewart G., born August 27, l^^J, married to Mary A. New^^^^^^^^ 
F.-ink Darlino- born Februarv 28, 1859, died September <, 1800, Leu 
A born August 15, 1861 ; Laura'c, born March 14, 1863, married to 
Charles We&heiser and Kate, born August 5, 1866. Mr. Frisbie wa 
for vears a membe; of the Orwell Artillery Company; was elected 
second lieutenant of that organization. May 14, 1846, and prcmioted to 
c!X n J I ne 23, 1847, and to'major June 4, 1849. During the Rebellion 
he se ved in the cons'truction corps attacWl to the Army of the West, 
and spent five months in Tennessee. His father, Levi tr.sbie, J ., 
was a strict church member, unflinching in iHirsuing the course he 
thouo-ht to be right; was honest and upright m all his business tian- 
sactions, and bitterlv opposed to the use of intoxicants. He wa^b 
a led March 3, 1825, to Chloe Chubbuck, and to them were born 
the following named childreii : A^G.; ^^^ther.ne born Jidv 29 182h, 
married to Stewart Line; Eaton N., born June 24, ^^^^ W. b^^^^ 
Laura P., married to Frank Bachman; Joseph f '^^«;f "^^^^^^f'^^ho 
Flmin N Y • Eaton N., president of the S. & L. V. ii. L., and \\ no 
waTmafoi. of'the city of Unira N. Y. one tern. The mother died 
Aucrust 20, 1869, and the father November 23, 1889. Mi . A. G. \ i ib 
biels a stanch liepublican, and has held the various town othces. 

FRANK FPwISBIK, blacksmith, Durell, was born July 21, I8b.^ 
in Asvlum township, IJradford Co., Pa., and is a son of Myron and 
Susana Ann (Grippin) Frisbie, natives of As v urn and «/ Yl!!r?al er 
Scotch-L-ish extraction. The son was reared to the trade of his tathci , 
blacksmithing. and now owns the place which had been managed maii>; 
vears previoifslv bv his father. He was m the Southern States some 
Vears and returning here has since continued to carry on general 
.facksm" ing busings, also a nice trade in agricultural implements, 
nie^r hardware and all kinds of lubricating oils. He was married, 
April 2 1884. to Georgia Ilevnolds who was born in W ysox, this count. 
X " st4 1863, third in a family of iWe children of George and Mathilda 
fponer) Reynolds, natives of New York State. There iiave been born 



HISTORY OF HRADFOKU COUNTY. 817 

to Mr. and Mrs. Frisbie four children, two of whom are living: Leon 
W., born Janiiarv 21, 1888, and Josie, born July 18, 1890. Mr. Frisbie 
is a member of the Patrons of In(histry, in politics he is a Republican, 
and takes an intelligent interest in the affairs of the community. 

W. L. FRISBIE, M. D., Potterville, was born March 25, 1834, in 
Orwell, this county, where his brother A. C. Frisbie resides, was reared 
on a farm, educated at the common schools of Orwell, and had 
also an academic training. When twenty-four years old he began busi- 
ness for himself, farming and teaching, his first school being in War- 
ren when he was twenty years old ; thus was he engaged six years in 
this county, and Carroll county, 111. When twenty-eight years of age 
he began the study of medicine, reading under Dr. Oliver Lewis, of 
Orwell, and in 1867 entered Holmrt College, Geneva, N. Y., where he 
was graduated in the spring of 1869. He then located in Potterville and 
continued in the practice, except from May 7, 1874, to May 14, 1875, 
Avhich time was spent on Orwell hill. He was married October 26, 1859, 
to Alswitlia Knapj), daughter of Hiram L. and Elizabeth (Eastabrook) 
Knapp, the former of whom was a physician, a graduate of the Albany 
School of Medicine; he had children as follows: Martha, married 
to N. C. Elsbree; Theresa, married to Manson Elsbree; Alswitha; Dr. 
Hiram L., practicing at Windham, a graduate of the Ohio Medical 
College, Cincinnati; Elizabeth H., widow of H. Taylor; Armenia, 
first married to Dr. Benjamin Babcock, after whose death she married 
Charles Crandall; Dr. C. B., of Wasiiington State, a graduate of 
Hobart JMedical College, N. Y.; M. L., a farmer; and Josephine, mar- 
I'ied to P. F. Elsworth, of Windham. Dr. and Mrs. Frisbie have had 
three children, viz.: Armenia H., born August 27, 1862, married W. L. 
Carrington, of Orwell; Dr. H. Zebulon, born June 30, 1867, educated 
at Orwell, and has attended one course of lectures at Jefferson College, 
Philadelphia; and Paul, born September 6, 1872. Dr. W. L. Frisbie 
is a member of A. Y. M., of Rome; he is a Republican, and has held the 
office of justice of the peace ten years, also that of school tiirector; he 
does a general practice, and has been highly successful. The familv 
are members of the Congregational Church. " 

WILLIAM FRIS BY, farmer, P. O. Evergreen, was born in Asylum 
township, this county, January 13, 1815, a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Ackley) Frisby, who were' descended from Eastern people. The 
grandfather settled in Bradford county, at the place known as " Frisby 's 
Springs," where it is su))posed John was born. John Frisbv removed 
to Asylum township when a young man, and married Miss"^ Elizabeth 
Ackley, by whom he had two sons. John Frisby and one of his sons 
went to Ohio, where he died. William, the younger son, remained in 
this county, was reared and educated in Asylum, and alwavs followed 
agricultural pursuits, being more of a jiroducer than a consumer. On 
July 9, 1840, he marrieil, in Asylum, Miss Charlotte, daughter of John 
and IVfargaret Wood, and there were born to this union eight children, 
all of whom grew to maturity, five now living, viz.: Myron, a black- 
smith ; John, a farmer; Henry, a farmer; Ulysses, a telegVaph operator 
at Dushore, and William, who is living at home with his father, whom 
he assists on the farm. William mairied, March 13, 1884, Emma, 



818 HISTORY OF BKADl'OKI) COUNTY. 

daughter of James and Catherine Simmons, and there have been born 
to them two children : Estella, now six years of age. and Cassie, now 
four years of age. He removed from Asylum to Terry township, in 
1807, where he has since lived. He purchased his farm of Bills & 
McCue, the place then consisting of 13-t acres, but has been sold until 
now only fifty-two acres remain. He is a large, muscular man, meas- 
uring six feet four inches; is a general farmer, raising whatever the 
soil will produce with a fair profit. He has made many improvements 
in the erection of buildings; when he moved on the place there was 
only a small log house which served its purpose for a time. He is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Benjamin Ackle}'^, father 
of Mrs. Elizabeth Frisby, removed to Asylum in 1782, in company 
with Amos Bennett and Joshua Bailey, and settled in the " Bend," 
now owned by Richard Benjamin. 

EDWARD FROST, of J. O. Frost's Sons, furniture manufacturers, 
Towanda, was born in Rush, Susquehanna Co., Pa., September 8, 
1846, and is a son of James O. and Chloe (Hill) Frost. He was reared 
in Bradford county, and educated in the common and public schools 
and Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and began life as a clerk in his 
father's furniture store in Towanda, and was admitted as a member of 
the firm of J. O. Frost & Sons in 1871, and on the reorganization of 
the firm in 1876, became the senior member of the firm of J. O. Frost's 
Sons, and since 1883 have been manufacturers of furniture exclusively. 
May 10, 1870, he married Sarah, daughter of Mrs. Jane Hovey, of 
Towanda, by whom he has had four children as follows: Herbert 
(died at the age of two and a half 3'ears), Jennie, Maude and Edward. 
He is an attendant of the Presbyterian Church, and was burgess of 
Towanda in 1886, and again in 1888, and served as councilman three 
terms; he was chief of Towanda Fire Department in 1890, and once 
before; he was a membei' of company G, Ninth Pennsylvania Militia 
five years, and was sergeant and quartermaster of the company; politi- 
callv he is a stanch Republican. 

E. M. FROST, of the firm of E. N. Frost & Son, dealers in furni- 
ture and undertakers, Athens, is a native of Bradford county. Pa., 
born August 2.5, 1848, a son of E. N. and Sarah (Parks') Frost, also 
natives of this county. E. N. Frost began the furniture and under- 
taking business at Rome, and c;une to Athens in 1877, where he was 
engaged in the same Inisiness until the time of his death, in November, 
1885, when he was in his sixtieth year ; his widow survives. Her gi-eat- 
grand mother was in the Wyoming massacre. E. ]\[. Frost is the second in 
a family of three children. When a young man he was in the drug- 
business in Rome five years, and in 1879 he came to Athens iind 
formed a partnershi[) with his father, in the furniture and undertak- 
ing business, under the firm name of E. N. Frost & Son ; they have 
two store rooms, also several warerooms, and are one of the leading 
firms in their line of business in the county. Mr. Frost was married 
in Rome. November 18, 1868, to Sallie W., daughter of Reuben and 
Mary (West) Thompson, natives of this county (she is the younger of 
two childi'en, an<l was born in Sheshequin townslii|) in 18.51). Mr.and 
Mrs. Frost have one daughter, Clara A. Mr. Fiost is a Sir Knight 



HISTORY OF 15RADFOU1) COUNTY. 819 

Tempkir and a member of the I. O. O. F., Rome Lodge, No. 820; 
Eoya Arcanum, Sexennial League and Equitable Aid Union, and in 
politics is a liepublican. 

JAMES O. FROST, manufacturer, Towanda, is the founder and 
head of the extensive furniture manufactory of J. O. Frost & Sons. 
This gentleman is entitled to prominence among those who have con- 
tributed so materially to the development of the interests of Bradford 
county, especially its mills and factories. From humble beginnings, 
with no aids but his bare hands and strong perceptions, he has worked 
his way to success over difficulties that would have appalled many a 
man. lie has stood helplessly by and seen the fruits of years of 
patient toil swept away in an hour, in Hames and smoke, and has 
recommenced building his fortune from the very foundation. That 
man who is not utterly cast down under some misfortunes is the self- 
contained man of infinite resources, and is of the type of manhood that 
builds States and founds great communities. He was born in Wilber- 
ham, Mass., November 26, 1820, of Aaron and Polly (Craw^) Frost, 
natives of Massachusetts of English descent ; his fathei-, a farmer and 
miller, who came with his family to Bradford county, locating in 
Orwell township in 1832, died on his farm, on January 17, 1855, full 
of years and honors. His family consisted of four sons and four 
daughters, of whom James O. Frost was next the youngest, and grew 
to manhood in his father's household, dividing his time between the 
countr\' school-house, the farm and his father's mill, and on reaching 
his majority, he found employment as a miller until 1845, when he 
built one of his own at Middletown, Susquehanna county. After oper- 
ating this two years he returned to Orwell and built the Potterville 
mill and operated it ten years, and then came to Towanda and soon 
thereafter organized and built what is now one of the most important 
industries of the borough — the F'rost Furniture Manufacturing Co., by 
Frost & Sons, opening the same for business in 1882, and increasing its 
capacity from that time to the present, now employing about 100 hands 
and having all the latest improved machinery in such institutions. He 
was married at Wysox, December 8, 1842, to Miss Chloe, daughter of 
Chester Hill ; she is a native of this county ; her people are of English 
descent. Tiieir family of children are as follows: Elsie (Mrs. Col. J. 
F. Means), Edward, one of the partners with his father; Lester R., also 
a partner in the factory; Helen M., wife of Henry Dodge, teller in the 
First National Bank, Towanda, and George E., also one of the firm of 
Frost & Sons. Mr. and Mrs. Frost are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, of which he has been trustee, and is one of the prominent pro- 
moters in the organization. While in Orwell he filled the office of 
school director, and all his life has been among the most public-spirited 
citizens. With him it may be said that it is always the general good 
first, and then he is an earnest Republican. 

REUBEN FRUTCHEY,farmer,New F]ra,was born in Northampton 
county, Pa., April IG, 1824, the son of William and Sally (Smith) 
Frutcliey, both of whom were born in the same county. His father 
was a carpenter and followed this occupation a number of years; his 
family consisted of six children, all of whom grew to maturity, and five 



320 HISTORY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. 

are noNV living, l^.euben is the third of the family, and was reared and 

educated between Northampton ^^"^^ ^«"';«^^°''"^^^f>i,Vr',^: \!^^1! 
learned the millwright trade, at which he worked forty-four yea s 
workino- all over this and the adjacent counties in erectmgsawand gn.t 
mills, ile removed to this county when twenty-one years of age locating 
Terrvtown on the Susquehanna river, in 184o. He married l;ebruaiy 
5 1847 Miss Mary Ann, daughter of Septimus and Margaret Bacon, 
thev had born to them seven children, six of whom grew to maturity: 
Frances, Heber, Philemon, Edward E., Joseph aiid Lesley. Ms. 
Frutche'v was born in Huntington. Liizerne Co Pa., ^^^„^^j;>^^» |^ J828 
and came to this county about 1 844; her ancestors are ^^ ^^^^^'Engk^ 
birth, but French extraction; her parents removed from ^o^^ ^e ^^ 
Luzerne county; her grandmother Bacon raised silk-worms a og e 
Huntington creek, Luzerne county, to a great advantage, ^^" | s^i t ^^« 
raw material to New York City, where it wasma^nufactured into fabucs 
of value and beautv. Mr. Frutchey has lived on his Present hu-m 
fifteen vears; he is a^general farmer but pays especial ^^ttention to f it 
raising; he has two hSndred peach trees of various kinds, also Gen an 
mmel apricots, etc.; his farm consists of seventy acres of fertile land, 
Mr. Frutchev is a Presbyterian ; in politics he is a Democrat 

W R FULFORD, train dispatcher, Sayre, is a native ot StancUng 
Stone,' this countv, and was born May 14, 1859, a son of John P. and 
Sallie A (Huff) Fulford, the former a native of New Jersey and tlie 
latter of this county. The father is a W^^^^^'^^^, and resid^^ 
Standino- Stone. Our subject, who is the second in order of biith in a 
fam" of four children, wis reared in Standing Stone and at the age 
S e c^hteen vears began an apprenticeship at telegraphy at his native 
p ace! In 1^79 he went to Lincoln, Neb., and had charge of a tele- 
Si office there about two vears; then returned home and went to 
Lacey vine where he remained until February 1, 1883, wheii he came 
to S-ivre He was promoted to assistant train dispatcher m December 
1886;and to his present position December 15, 889^ ^l^^i^^^l^f 
in Towanda, October 12, 1887, to Miss Anna, daughter of il]oHK > 
and Harriet (Mathewson) DeLano, the f^f.™^^ ^/^;^!V^^?o i 
countv N. Y., the latter of Athens township. Thomas C. DeLano 
was a^merchant for more than thirty years in this ->- y and is now 
in n.icacro 111 Mrs. Ful ford's great-grandfathers, Matheuson and 
Steverf^re officers in the RevolutioiTary War. She is the younger 
of^rchildren, and was born, at Spanish H HI, Savry^^^^^ 
pniintv March 17 1861; her s ster, Harriet, married U . H. 1 oole, ot 
Sic io II Mr and Mrs. FulfoVd are members of the Episcopal 
ChuiX He is a member of the Patriotic Sons of America, is a Dem- 
ocrat, and holds the office of borough auditor. 

EDO MIS FlILLEIlHist opened his eyes upon this busy wo Id 
on ^e third of January, 1S45, in the township of j^f^^'f^}^^;^^^ 
butcameto Camptown in 1856 or 1857 when his 1=' 'f' ,;^, " V}, ' '^^l; 
moved his familv to the latter place. K( gar was the ^1 /^ ' '" ' 
faiuilv of nine, seven of whom are now living, and received t '< usiia 
: -ation which, in tlx.se davs, was accorded to the average child ol a 
t f V f mner. t consisted of a few months of each year .n the com- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 831 

nion i)ublic schools, usually presided over by a splendid specimen of 
physical manhood and birch "gads." Our subject was, however, an 
apt scholar, and made the most of his opportunities, which resulted in 
such success as, at the age of twenty, enabled him to change his posi- 
tion from that of a pupil to a teacher. Vov three years he })resided in 
the school rooms, and then turned his attention to a mercantile career 
by entering the employ of Dunham & Dyer, manufacturers, of New 
Era, Pa., as traveling salesman, his territory lying principallv in the 
State of Illinois. This position he continued until January 26, 18(58, 
when he gave it up, and two days thereafter formed a partnership with 
Griffin Magee, a practical tanner, and built a large two-story tannerv 
in Camptown, the upper floor of which was devoted to the manufac- 
ture of harness, over which Mr. Fuller assumed direct supervision. 
The business tlourislied for a couple of years, when the firm was dis- 
solved by mutual consent, and Mr. Fuller prepared to carry on the 
manufacture of harness on a more extensive scale, and to infuse his 
ideas of progressive enterprise into a business which he had decided to 
make a life work. The large factory which he now occu])ies was 
speedily built, and '' E. S. Fuller's Excelsior Harness Shop " at once 
took front rank in that line of business, not only in the county, but 
throughout the northeastern part of the State. Ke was not a prac- 
tical harness-maker to begin with, but by employing the best of work- 
men, and watching closely their methods, he soon became an expert 
with the knife and thread, having mastered his trade without serving 
an apprenticeship. He manufactured none but the best of goods, 
which, together with honorable methods and a liberal use of printers' 
ink, secured him a jjatronage equaled by few concerns of the kind in 
this section. His harness regularly took the red ribbons at the annual 
county fairs, and to-day he has customers in many distant towns, to say 
nothing of the exclusive control of the local traVle. In addition to the 
manufacture of harness he is an extensive dealer in horse furnishing 
goods — robes, blankets, dusters, whips, Irish and Scotch collars, oils, 
etc. Mr. Fuller is a splendid specimen of the self-made man, who, 
from the groundwork of brain and muscle, has forced his way, unaided, 
through the vicissitudes of life to a prominent position in the business 
world, and is looked upon as one of the leading business men of the 
section in which he lives. On October 27, 1868, Mr. Fuller married 
Miss Amanda M. Camp, daughter of Homer Camp, of Camptown, a 
lady of refinement and most excellent parentage. Of this union five 
childi'en have been born, three of whom — Harriet A., Almon H. and 
Emily S.— are living. Loula Belle and Elizabeth died in infancy. Mr. 
Fuller is a steward and trustee of the M. E. Church of Camptown, 
a member of the State Encampment, and Past Chief Patriarch 
I. 0. O. F. He enlisted in the army during the Rebellion, but the 
war closed before his services were demanded on the field. Politically, 
he is an influential Republican, and has filled the various town offices 
with credit and honor. 

(tEORGE L. fuller, salesman, Athens, is a native of Sheshequin 
township, this county, and was born June lU, 1841, a son of Richard 
and Salinda (Blackman) Fuller, also natives of Sheshequin township. 

47 



g22 HISTORY OF HKADFOUI) COUNTY. 

The father who was a fanner and lumberman, died in his native ph\ce 
in June, 1880, in his sixty-nintli year; the mother is still living. The 
Grandfather, Nathaniel Fuller, was a soldier in the War of 1S12, and 
was killed while in the service. George L. Fuller is the fourth of a 
family of eleven children, and was reared on a farm ; after leaving the 
common school he attended high school two terms, and taught one 
term a district school. On August 9,18(51, he enlisted in the army, m 
Companv D, Thirtv-ninth 111. V. I., Avas wounded at the battle of 
Winchester, March ^22, 1862, and was in the hospital seven weeks; 
when he returned to his command he ))articipate(l in the following 
eno-ao-ements: Siege of Morris Island, Sumter, Charleston, Drury's 
Blufftin Seven Days' Fight, with IMcClelian on the Peninsular Cam- 
paion and the siege of Petersburg, wheve he was discharged, Septem- 
ber°10. 1864. Returning to Shesliequin he engaged in farming until 
1880, when he removed to Athens and engaged in the confectionery 
business. This he sold at the expiration of nine years, and since then 
he has been salesman in J. W. Carroll's clothing house. Mr. Fuller 
was married in Sheshequin Januarv 5, 1865, to Miss Kachel, chiughter 
of John B and Lucinda (Ilorton) Smith (her father, who was a 
farmer, died in Sei)tember, 1881; Mrs. Lucinda Smith died in 1875). 
Mrs. Fuller is the second in a family of eight children, and was born 
in Sheshequin township October 5, 1843. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; he is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., Valley Lodge, No. 446, and has passed the chairs in the 
subordinate and in thePtebekahLod£:es; is also a member of the Union 
Veteran Legion, No. 28, and the G. A. P., Perkins Post, No. 202. He 
is a Republican, and was census enumerator in 1880; also served as 
auditor in Sheshequin, nine years in succession, and several years as 
inspector and iudge of elections. 

I C. FULLER, manufacturer, was born in llerrick townshq), July 
27,1850, and is a son of Almond and Adelia (Camp) Fuller. His 
father was a natural mechanic and was a farmer, millwright, shoe- 
maker, blacksmith and carpenter; he had a family of ten children (of 
whom seven are living), viz.: N. A. (died June 29, 1891), late of Wya- 
lllsin(^ car})enter and joiner; Mary C, married Lewis Wells, and alter 
his death, Franklin Jones, and now resides on the old homestead at 
Camptown; Edgar S., harness-maker at Cainptown ; Emcline J., mar- 
ried to G. L. Lewis, farmer and mechanic of Camptown ; Lois L., mar- 
ried to Elwood Vaughn and after his death to Rev. Newton J. Barnes, 
and died in 1890; I. C; Guv II., editor and proprietor of the James- 
town Sim; Lettie J., married to P. Smith, merchant, Camptown ; 
Lillian Mav, married to John Nesbit, hardware merchant, Tekamah, 
Neb.; Judson di(Hl when a child. I. C. Fuller passed his eai-ly boy- 
hood in llerrick; his i)arents removed to Camptown, where he 
remained until he started out for himself. He was educated m the 
common schools, and, when seventeen, began teaching, continued dur- 
iu"- winters alwut six vears, and worked at the carpenter's trade and 
attended school during^summors. March 16, 1874, he came toAV valus- 
intr and entered the emplov of the planing mills, which Mr b uller 
no°wowns; after working there about ten days, he was made fore- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORO COUNTY. 823 

man of the mill, ami filled that position until September 27, 1877. 
The mill was purchased by William T. Ilorton, and November 15, 1877, 
he was made superintendent of the same; January 6, 1882, he 
purchased one-half interest in the mill, and the entire business, Janu- 
ary 6, 1887, since which time he has been sole proprietor; he has 
machinei'v for doing all kinds of scroll and finishing work, and sup- 
plies all kinds of building material; his sheds, buildings and yards 
cover about two acres of ground, and he has extensive outside interests 
and trade ; he uses an II. B. Schenck planer, which is the best manu- 
factured ; he employs a force of six men constantly, and more when 
pressure of work demands. When he first came to Wyalusing, he 
lived in the Henry Gaylord house, but, in 1877, he built him a small 
house on the hill and removetl to that, where he remained until the 
first day of 1SS9, when his present elegant residence being completed, 
he removed to his new home, which for style of architecture, beauty 
and elegance of finish and conveniences cannot be excelled in the 
county; it contains thirteen rooms, besides cellars, closets and halls. 
He owns sevei-al other valuable pieces of town property and large 
real estate interests in the coal regions, a small farm with oood build- 
ings in Merryall and various other intei'ests. He was married, Sep- 
tember 7, 1875, to Melissa Wells, a daughter of Abel and Margaret 
(Xey) Wells, of Monroe county, Pa., and they have two children ; Flor- 
ence, born April 13, 1881, and Ernistine, born May 10, 188-1. He is a 
Democrat, but takes but slight interest in politics. Mr. Fuller is a bril- 
liant example of one of Bradford's self-made men; started in life with 
no capital but sound judgment, unfiagging industry and determination 
to succeed, and by close attention to business and unflinching honesty, 
he has not only acquired a fortune in a very short time, but what is 
far better, has secured the respect, trust and esteem of all his custom- 
ers, and has the confidence and friendship of all. 

N. A. FULLER (deceased), late of Wyalusing, was born June 18, 
18-10, at Camptown, and silent his boyhood at Camptown, working 
on a farm and in the shoe shop of his father. He Avas educated in 
the Camptown Academy, and, when nineteen, began his apprentice- 
ship to learn the carpenter's and joiner's trade, under L. W. Camp, and 
then D. D. Chaffee, working with them about three years. In 
August, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Fifty-second P. V. I., hav- 
ing served three months prior, in the State militia, and served until 
July, 1865, when he was discharged with his regiment ; he was through 
the Peninsular campaign and then transferred to the South, where he 
lay before Charleston during all the weary months of the bombardment, 
and after the fall of Charleston joined Sherman's army, and w\as with 
it during the campaign through the Carolinas, in pursuit of Johnston ; he 
was sent to Salisbury where he was mustered out. He was in Hilton Head 
Hospital about two months, suffering from a low fever. He enlisted as 
corporal, and was promoted to second lieutenant. He returned home 
and resumed his occupation of carpenter, working in Wyalusing, Her- 
rick, Pike and Tuscarora townslii])s, and residing at Camptown until 
1888, when he removed to Wyalusing. He was united in wedlock, Octo- 
ber, 1865, with Delia M., daughter of Charles Biles, of Homet's Ferry, 



824 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and this union was blessed with four children, viz.: Jennie A. (deceased); 
Roy V. (deceased); Charles II. and I\[ary L. He died very suddenly 
of heart failure, June 22, 1891, aged fifty-one years. He was a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church, Camptown, and an elder of the same, a 
member of the I. O. O. F., Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503, Camptown, 
and had passed all the chairs, taken all degrees, and was a member of 
the State Encampment; also a member of Hurst Post, No. 74, (}. A. R., 
Camptown, and was Post commander of the same in 1887. He was 
formerh'^ a Republican, but later espoused the cause of the Prohibition 
party. 

R. J. FULLER, merchant, Camptown, was born in Herrick, where 
his father now lives, August 15, 1849, a son of Cyrus and Mary Ann 
(Taylor) Fuller. His father has always been a farmer and ilrover ; 
he had a family of nine children. R. J. Fuller passed his bo3diood on 
the farm ; at the age of twenty-two he began business, becoming a 
member of the firm of Fuller, Edwards, Lafferty & Co., grocers, where 
he remained two years; then was engaged as traveling salesman with 
James McBride cVs Co., tobacco cutters, of Monroe, Mich.; one and one- 
half years was with George Smith, a general merchant of Wysox. 
In 1877 he came to Camptown, built and stocked his present store- 
room and has been engaged in general merchandise since. He carries a 
full stock of general goods; is senior member of the firm of Fuller ife 
Blocher, owners of Camptown Creamery, built in the spring of 1890. 
He was married, October 19, 1875, to Annie A. Landon, daughter of 
Senator J^andon, of ileri'ick, and has two daughtei-s. Aline and Annie 
E. Mr. Fuller is a member of the Freemasons. 

FINLEY FURMAN, farmer, P.O. Sylvania, was born in Colum- 
bia township, this county, March 2, 1842, and is a son of John II. and 
Diana B. (Merritt) Furman. His paternal grandfather, Peter Furman, 
and maternal grandfathei', Curtis Merritt, son of Calvin Aferritt (the 
second latter being from Rutland, Vt.), were all pioneers of Columbia 
township. The father of our subject, who was a native of Columl)ia 
township, in early life taught school, but later engaged in the tannery 
business in Troy, and for several years was in the hotel business at 
Sylvania and Burlington. Prior to the Civil War he removed to 
Kansas, where he engaged in farming, and died in 1883, aged seventv 
years. Finley Furman was I'eared in Bradford county, educated in 
the common schools, and at Mansfield Seminary. Since attaining his 
majoiity, with the exception of live years that he was in the mercan- 
tile business at Austinville, he has been engaged in farming. He was 
twice married, first time to Rachel A., daughter of Lorenzo N. and 
Jane (Scouten) Tinkham. of Columbia township, this county, and by 
her there is one child living, Edna M., who graduated in the Mansfield 
State Normal School in tlie class of 1880; ^Ii*. Furinan's second wife 
was ('arrie B. I'uckbee, daughter of John and Hannah (Beers) J3uck- 
))ee, of L'lwrenceviJle, Tioga Co.. I'a.. and by her he has two children : 
Nora and Anna. Mr. Furman is a UKimbci- of the Presbytci'ian 
(yhurch and I. O. O. F.; p(jliticallv he is a Re|)ub!ican. 

HIRAM FURMAN, farmer," P. O. Snedekerville, was born in 
(Jolumbia township, this county, May 28, 1821, and is a son of Peter 



HrSTOHY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 825 

Jind I)i;i(l:iin;i (Holiday) Funiian. llis patoi'iial <^ran(l|);ii'ents were 
William and Abigail Ilalleck, j)ioneers oC Coltiiul)i;i lownsliii), where 
they settled in 1818 ; the grand fatiier was a justice of tiie peace several 
years, and resided in the townshij) until his death. Peter Furraan, 
father of subject, cleared and improved a farm near Columbia Cross 
Roads, and lived in the township until his death. His children were 
as follows: Maria, John H., Jane (Mrs. Hiram Mason), Pamphelia 
(Mrs. William B. Watkins), George, William, Hiram, Eurania (Mrs. 
Decatur Goodrick), Orrin, V'olney, HowartI, Alvin, Caroline (Mrs. 
Alanson Tayloi') and Philander. Hiram Furman was reared in his 
native county, and has spent most of his life in farming. During the 
Civil War he served eight months in the Western 13 ridge°Corps, and was 
honorably discharged. He was married twice: first time to Matilda, 
daughter of Malashi and Jane (Mason) Howland, of Columbia town- 
ship, and by her he had two children : Antoinette and Sidnev H.; his 
second w^ife was Betsey Potter, of Columbia township. Mr." Furman 
is a well-known farmer and citizen of Columbia township; politically 
he is a Democrat. 

JAMES B. FURMAN, farmer, P. O. Austinville, was born near 
Columbus, Ohio, September 20, 1846, and is a son of Peter S. and 
Elethear (Besley) Furman. His paternal grandfather, John Furman, 
was a son of William and Abigail (Halleck) Furman, who settled in 
Columbia township, this county, in 1813. John Furman was a prom- 
inent farmer of Columbia township, wdiere he died. His wife was 
Betsey Bogart, by whimi he had fifteen children : Peter S., Harriet 
(Mrs. Andrew Gernert), Eliza (Mi-s. Uel Porter). Cornelius, James, 
Wdham, Paul, Sally (Mrs. Barlow Gates), Elinus, Fanny, Juliette 
(Mrs. Chester Updyke), Charles, Mariette (Mrs. James Kinnear), Bet- 
sey Ann (Mrs. Raymond Gernert) and Kobert. Of these, Peter S. was 
reared in Columbia township, wiiere he cleared the farm now owned 
by R. Gernert. In 1832 he removed to Bellefonte, Centre Co., 
Pa.; from there to Petersburg, Ya., in 1836; thence to Ohio, in 
1840, and from there to Wisconsin, in 1848, where he engaged in farm- 
ing and trading; in 1852 he was killed bv a Spaniard while in dispute 
over a land title. His wife (Elethear) w^as a daughter of Oliver and 
Rhoda (Westbrook) Besley, pioneers of Columbia township, and bv 
her he had six children, as follows: Cornelia, Cordelia (Mrs. David 
Ware\ Samuel B., Catherine (Mrs. Hiram Wilcox), James B. and 
Charles W. Our subject moved to Wisconsin, with his father, in 
1848, and at the age of fourteen came with his brother, Samuel B., to 
Columbia township, where hp has since resided. He was in the Civil 
War, having enlisted March 1, 18G4, in Companv C, Seventh Pennsyl- 
vania Cavalry, and participated in the battle of Selma; also some 
minor engagements, and was 'honorably discharged at Harrisburg, 
Pa., in September, 1865, since when he has been engaged in farm- 
ing in Columbia township. In March, 1868, he married Electa M., 
daughter of Philo and Sarah A. (Lamphere) Beslev, of Columbia town- 
ship, and by her has tw^o children : Walter P. and Eva M. He is a 
a member of the G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican. 



826 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

JOHN M. FURMAIST, retired physician and surgeon, Sugar Run, 
was born May 1, 1816, in Greenwich, N. Y., and is the third child in a 
family of eight children of Ezra and Laura (Atkins) Furman, the 
foraer a native of New York and the latter of Vermont, both being of 
New England origin. John M. Furman removed to "VVvoming countv 
with his father in 1838, where thev engaged in farming. He was 
educated in the common and select schools, and read medicine with 
Dr. W. W. Crandall, of Tunkhannock; also received private instruction 
of Prof. Roberts, of Philadelpliia. He began the practice of medicine 
in Herrick, in 1847, remaining there twentv years, and then located in 
Rome, where he resided until September 6, 1862, when he enlisted in 
Company D, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was detailed as 
hospital steward, and was mustered out April IG, 1863. On account 
of ill iiealth contracted in the army, he was practically unemployed 
till 1871, when he resumed the pi'actice of medicine in Dimock, Pa., 
where he remamed about five years and then moved to Auburn Centre, 
same State. In 1881 he came to Terrytown, Bradford county, where 
he remained eight years, and after spending one year in Wyoming- 
county, he located in his present home. Dr. Furman was married Decem- 
ber 31, 1840, to Miss Lydia M., daughter of Richard and liannah(J)avis) 
Douglass, of Wyoming county. Pa. They have had eleven children : 
Alonzo H., born April 15, 1842; Amanda D., born May 8, 1844; 
Richard E., born July 16, 1845; Mary Jane, born October 4 , 1847; 
Emma L., born August 8, 1849; Laura A., born June 14, 1852; 
George W., born September 4, 1854; Harriet E., born March 7, 1857; 
Sarah H., born June 16, 1860; John W., born June 10, 1863, and 
Jesse K., born August 31, 1866, died April 30,1881. The Doctor 
is a member of the G. A. R. at Wvalusing, and is a Republican. 

WILLIAM GALLIGIIER, farmer, of Wyalusing township, P. O. 
Wvalusing, was born in Wyalusing township, this county, April 30. 
1847, the son of Francis and Lydia (Brown) Galligher, the latter 
of w^hom was a daughter of Oliver Brown and granddaughter 
of Humphrey Brown. The father was a native of Ireland, and came 
to this country about 1824, when eighteen years old, and stojiped at 
Philadelphia, where for twelve years he was on the police force ; then 
removed to Browntown and followed farming and the trade of mason ; 
he was married in Wyalusing townshij), near Hornet's Ferry, and had 
four children: Onis,\lied in infancy; AVilliam; Mary, married to Fred 
Ski ft, locomotive engineer, residing in Towanda ; Jane, married to 
Henry Benedict, freight conductor on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, 
in T(>wanda; Marv is deceased. William passed his boyhood at 
Fairbanks, attending school until February 20, 1864, when he enlisted 
in Company I, Fiftieth P. Y. I.; he was in the battles of the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Ha*rl)or, and was struck on the 
knee by a piece of shell, and was furloughed twenty days, but rejoined 
tlie regiment before Petersburg and went from there to Arlington 
Heights ; was taken sick and remained in the hospital until the war 
closed; he received his disciiarge July 10, 1865. After coming 
home he was sick for some time; then followed l)oating as steersman 
on the North Branch Canal four or five vears, then farmed. In 1876 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 837 

he bought the old "White Tavern" stand in Browntown, which had 
never been out of the Brown family; it was burned June 24, 1890, and 
he proposes to rebuild it at once. Mr. Galligher was married, Septem- 
ber 9, 1889, to Belie Brown, daughter of Jonathan Brown, of Fairbanks; 
her father, who was a soldier of the Civil War, and followed farmin<^ 
is now deceased. To Mr. and Mr. Galligher was born one child' 
Daniel B., who died in infancv. They are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of BrowntOwn ; he is also a member of Jackson 
Post, IS^o. 78, G. A. R., Wyalusing, and is a Republican. 

JUDSON J. GAMBLE, cooper, Sugar Run, was born Julv 20, 
1852, at Sugar Run, Bradford Co., Pa., and is the youngest sun of 
William and Irene (Beman) Gamble, the former a native of Bradford 
county, and the latter of Wyomino- county. Pa. When eighteen years 
of age our subject began life for himself at the carpenter's trade, later 
learned that of a cooper, and for ten years \vas a member of the firm 
of Gamble Bi-os., manufacturers and dressers of lumber at Sugar Run. 
He was married January 1, 1877, to Lucinda, daughter of Joseph and 
Adaline (Rosencrans) Ashcraft, of Wilmot township, this county, and 
they have had five children, as follows: Elnora, born Mav 13,*^ 1878, 
and died August 13, 1S90 ; Mabel, born January 3, 1880-^ Mandana, 
born October 16, 1883; Georgiana, born February 10, 1886, and died 
March 27, 1889, and Harrison, born August 25, 1888. Mr. Gamble is 
a member of the I. O. O. F., White Lilly Lodge, Xo. 808; has held 
the ofSce of constable one year, and in politics is a Republican. 

NATHANIEL N. GAMBLE was a son of James and Isabella 
(Nesbit) Gamble, who emigrated from Ireland and came to this counti-y 
in 1811, settling in Wilmot township, where they remained on thei'^r 
farm until death, the father dying October lo, 1865, and the 
mother July 23, 1868. Their children were twelve in number, all born 
in this country, except the eldest, Margaret, who was brought here 
with her parents at the age of one year, and who became the wife of 
Robert Morrow; then comes William ; then John, who-died aged nine- 
teen; Nathaniel N. was the fourth in order of birth; then came Eliza- 
beth; Jane (married to David Currier); Joseph; George S.; James S. 
(who emigrated to Michigan); Abaoail; Debbie H., and J.onathan (last 
of whom died in infancy). The subject of this sketch was^'eared on his 
father's farm, where he remained until reaching manhood, and engaged 
in farming. He was married, in Herrick township, February 21, 1856, to 
Mary Ann Mitten, daughter of Thomas and Jane (Wood) Mitten, both 
of Irish blood. Mr. and Mrs. Gamble w^ere the parents of four children; 
Thomas J., Charles R. (married to Minnie Smith; he died March 27, 

1890, leaving a widow and two children), Amelia (Mrs. Fred Dodge, 
who has two children) and Eliza (died January 29, 1888, aged twenty- 
three.) Mrs. Nathaniel N. Gamble died in Wilmot township, April 3, 
1869. Nathaniel N. Gamble removed to Warren Centre in 1875, and 
there made his family home until his death, which occurred August 19, 

1891, when he was aged seventy-tive years and ten months. Thus it 
will be seen that the Gamble family were of the early settlers of Brad- 
ford county, and they long since have been esteemed among the b« 
of our people ; honorable, industrious and frugal, the immigrants came 
here poor, but soon carved their way to a competence, and surrounded 



828 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUN"TY. 

their children with all the refining influences of the l)est agricultural 
life. Miss Debbie II. Gamble is postmistress at Herrick. Nathaniel 
IST. Gamble Avas postmaster in Wilmot for several years; the postoffice 
was then called Blainey, and is now called Sugar Run. 

THOMAS A. GAMBLE, M. D., East Troy, was born in Morris town- 
ship, Tioga Co., Pa., March 9, 1845, a son of Andrew and Rebecca (Dur- 
flinger) Gamble, and is of Irish and German descent. The father, who 
was a native of Clinton county. Pa., was for a number of years ))romi- 
nently identified with the Imnbei'ing interests of Tioga and Lycoming 
counties, and died in 1847; his children were fi.ve in number, as follows: 
Elizabeth (j\[rs. Benjamin Baldwin); Manuel D. (deceased, late a 
prominent physician of Waverly, N. Y.); George H.; Mercy (Mrs. 
Edward 11. Ritchei') and Thomas A. Mrs. Gamble married, for her 
second husband. Gates Wilcox, a prominent lumberman, and in 1855 
she removed to Franklin township, this county, and resided there until 
her death ; by her second marriage she liad two children: Prudence E. 
(Mrs. Edgar Cole) and Winfield S. The subject of these lines was 
reared in Franklin township from ten years of age. receiving a com- 
mon-school education, and at the age of sixteen, upon President Lin- 
coln's call for troops, he enlisted at Canton, but on account of his 
vouth his mother refused to allow him to go; he again enlisted, 
however. June 27, 1863, in Company 1, Forty-seventh P. Y. I., and was 
honorably discharged from the service August 13, 1863. Soon after- 
ward he' began the study of medicine, and in 1871 he entered the 
jMedical Department of the University of PennsA^lvania, at Philadel- 
phia, where he was graduated in the spring of 1873; in 1874 he located 
at East Troy, where he has since been in active practice, having 
established a' lucrative business, and stands among the most successful 
practitioners in the county. Dr. Gamble was married, in 18(59, to 
Almeda. daughter of Enoch and Lucy (Snyder) Lloyd, of Lycoming 
county, Pa. The Doctor is prominently identified with the Masonic 
Fraternity as a membei- of Troy Lodge, No. 306, F. & A. M., of the 
Chapter, "Xo. '261 of Troy, also^of the K. T., Commandery No. 64, of 
Canton; is also a member of Hector Lodge, No. 166, I. O. O. F., of 
East Troy, and of Gustin Post, G. A. R. For two years he was physician 
of the County House at Burlington ; politically he is a Republican. 

R. R. GAREY, proprietor of the " Garey House," Wyalusing, was 
born in Wyoming county, Pa., September 5, 1833, a son of James W. 
and Jerusia (Robinson) Garey, the former of whom was a prominent 
farmer, luml>erman and mill owner of Wyoming countv. They had a 
famiW of nine children, of whom our subject is the second. II. R. 
Garev was born and reared on a farm, and his boyhood was passed in 
assisting his father in agricultural pursuits, in the woods and at the 
mill, leaving him little time for forming idle habits, and this training 
well prepared him for a successful and industrious life. He attended 
the common schools of his neighborhood, and afterward was a student 
at Harvard University. At the age of twenty -two he began life for 
himself, ado)>ting farming for his occupation, which he followed exclu- 
sively until 1865 or 1866, when he began dealing in stock, which, com- 
l)ined with farming, constituted his business many years. He was an ex- 
tensive dealer, i)urchasing throughout the counties of Sullivan, Bradford, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 829 

"Wvomino' and Tiooa. and iiiiirketud hiscattlcin Wilkcs-IJarre and New 
York. In 1867 lie purchased his lirst farm, h)cated in the vicinity of 
Lovelton,Wyomino Co., Pa., where he resided until 1880; thence removed 
to AVilkes-Barre, and was tliere two years; then proceeded to Mehoop- 
any, and made that his home until the fall of 1888, when he purchased 
the old GayJord homestead in Wyahising, this county, whither he 
came and continued in stock deahiig, till 1891, in which year he opened 
the " Garey House," wdiich, under the civil and quiet management of its 
worthy host, assisted by the son, W. E., in the cajiacity of clerk, is fast 
becoming- a favorite hostehy for the traveling public. This hotel is not a 
mere stopping place, as so many are, but there will be found what a 
traveling man so greatly appreciates, a home, cheer and home comforts. 
Besides the hotel Mr. Garey owns a farm of sevent}?^ acres near Lovel- 
ton. Pa., beautifully located and well improved. He was united in 
wedlock. Julv 20, 1865, with Sibyl Vose, a daughter of Oliver Vose, a 
prominent farmer of Wyoming county. To Mr. and Mrs. Garey were 
born three children : Helen, Leona and Willard. Mr. Garey is a Dem- 
ocrat in politics, and filled the office of town burgess one terra, besides 
various other offices; he has had to make his own way in the world, 
has always borne the reputation of scrupulous honesty, and has been 
one of the very successful business men of which Bradford is justly so 
proud. 

PE0FES80R C. P. GAEEISON, principal of Say re borough 
schools, Sayre, is a native of Tioga county, N. Y., and was born 
October 20, 1849. His father, David R. Garrison, was for many years 
a successful lumberman and farmer of said county, and at ])resent 
resides with his son at Sayre. His mother, Abbie C. (Fairbanks) 
Garrison, died in 1887 in her sixty-second year, and was buried at 
Franklin, this county — the home of her childhood. Her grandfather 
took part in the Eevolutionary strug-gle. The Garrison family con- 
sisted of eight children, of whom Prof, C. P. is the second in order of 
birth. He was reared in his native county, and received his early 
education in the common school, and at the Owego Academy. He 
taught his first term of school in Susquehanna county in 1868, and the 
next year was called to Franklindale, Bradford county, to take charge 
of a large ungraded school. He has been princi{)al of the graded 
school of Monroeton, Barclay, New Albany, this county, and Hills- 
grove, Sullivan county. Entered the Mansfield State Normal School 
in 1887, and graduated in June, 1889. He taught mathematics while 
at this institution. Took charge of the Sayre graded schools in 
September, 1889, and by his untiring energy has brought the schools 
to a high standard of excellence. The schools opened the present year 
with Hfteen teachers and about 800 pupils. Prof. Garrison is a 
member of the I. O. O. E.; vice-president of the Bradford County 
Teacher's Institute; secretary of the Board of Examiners for State 
Certificates, and has recently served as president of the Bradford County 
Teacher's Association. Politically he is a Republican. Prof. Garrison 
w^as married in Ulster, this county, August 28, 1873, to Miss Mary 
Dell, daughter of Ancil and Helen (Holcomb) Olmstead, natives of 
Ulster township. She was born in Ulster in 1855. To Prof, and Mrs. 



830 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Garrison have been born two daughters : Georgia and Jessie. The 
family attend the Metiiodist Church. 

PI. B. GAYLORl), merchant, Wyalusing, among tiie ))rominent 
merchants of tliis place, was born in Wyalusing, June 5, 1847. a son 
of Henry and Martha (Taylor) Gaylord, and a grandson of Justus 
Gaylord, one of the pioneers of this section. His parents had a fam- 
ily of fourteen children, of whom he is the ninth ; his father was a 
farmer, and one of the most prominent men in religion and educational 
matters of this section ; he served as justice of the peace here thirty-five 
years, and for almost that long a time was chorister of the Presbyterian 
C'hurch ; he died in 1855, leaving a void that no one could fill. H. B. 
Gaylord was born ant! reared on a farm, and after the building of the 
Wyalusing Academy, in which he assisted, he finished his education 
there. Upon reaching his majority, he farmed a short time and then 
opened a fancy drj^-goods store, having his bi-other S. C (since 
deceased) associated with him as partner. In connection with the dry- 
goods business they conducted a branch office for an Eastern Insur- 
ance Companv; he also received the appointment of postmastei-. 
After a few j^ears' partnership his brother retired, and he continued 
in the insurance business, still retaining the postofRce; in January, 
1877, he gave up that business, and for about one \'ear taught vocal 
music; then, in 1878, formed a partnership and conducted a general 
store in Wyalusing under the firm name of Gaylord, Sumner & Co.; 
he was with this firm six or seven years, and dissolved, going into busi- 
ness for himself in the stand he now occupies ; he carries a line of dry- 
goods and notions and fine shoes, lie was first married to Martha 
Sumner in October, 1872, daughter of George Sumner, of Spring Hill, 
and after her death, August, 1879, was married, November 9, 1881, to 
Isabelle Kintner, daughter of M. S. Kintner, Esq., of Mehoopan3\ 
The family are members of the Presbyterian Church of Wyalusing; 
he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and connected witii AVliite Lilly 
Lodge, No. 872, Wyalusing; also member of the State Encampment; 
in politics he has always been identified with the Republican party. 

H. P. GAYLORD, mechanic, Wyalusing, was born m Wyalusing 
township, this county, August 22, 1853, a son of Joseph and Lorinda 
(Jayne) Gaylord, the former of whom was of the old (raylord family, 
who was among the first j)ioneers of the township; the father, who is 
deceased, was always a farmer, and his late farm is now occupied by 
the town of Wyalusing; the mother is yet living; tlioir family consisted 
of tlie following children: IL P., W. W.'( residing in Wyalusing), Minnie 
R. (married to A. Ruff), J. J. (residing at Sayre), Charles and Emily, 
(both deceased). II. P. Gaylord was born and reared on a farm, and 
educated in the common schools, and at Wyalusing Academ3^ When 
twenty-four years old he began farming for himself; then worked at 
the carj)enter's trade until 188(), since which time he has been following 
the trade of stone and brick mason, and stone cutter, and letterer. He 
has always resided in the township of Wyalusing. Mr. Gaylord 
has been twice married; first time March 18, 1877, to Hannah A., 
daughter of Phiio P. Finch, of New Albany; which union was blessed 
with five children: Lena A., Josie E., Daniel W., Millie S. (deceased) 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 831 

and Margaret P. This wife dying- December IS, 18S5, Mr. Gaylord 
niai-ried March 3, 1887, Harriet M. Jiennett, daughter of William 
Bennett, of Wyalusing. Mr. Gaylord is a member of the Presbvterian 
Church, of Wyalusing; also of White Lilly Lodge, No. 808, I. O*^. O. F.; 
and politically he is a Kepublican. He is a member of the Wyalusino- 
Cornet Band, in which he has played the baritone for ten years, and 
is a violin player in the Wyalusing Orchestra. With the rod and line 
he is one of the most successful fishermen along the Susquehanna. 

JOSEPH GAYLORD (deceased) was among the early settlers of 
Bradford county, and a grandson of Justus Gaylord, one of the hardv 
pioneer settlers of the county. His mother, Mrs. Welthy (York) 
Gaylord, was a daughter of the York connected with the Wyoming 
massacre of 1778. The Gaylord history iias become a part' of the 
history of the count}^, and this family are well knowMi for their many 
good qualities. Joseph Gaylord's early life was spent on the Gaylord 
farm, comjH-isinga tract of some 500 acres situated where the borough 
of Wyalusing now stands. He was reared and educated, and lived on 
a part of the tract, up to the time of his death, which occurred 
December 25, 1880. He married Miss Lorinda H. Jaynes, of Monroe 
county, this State, a daughter of Peter Jaynes, an officer in the War 
of 1812. They lived a happy life and prospered, and raised a family 
of six children: H. P. (who is now- a mechanic), W. W. and Minnie R. 
(now the wife of A. Ruff), all of Wyalusing; J. J., a resident of Say re. 
Pa.; Charles and Emily are deceased. The family are members of the 
Presbyterian Church. In politics thev are Republicans. 

Justus J. Gaylord, youngest son of Joseph and Lorinda H. Gav- 
lord, w-as born in Wyalusing, this county, January 23, 1803, and is now 
a resident of Sayre, Pa. He attended the Eastman Business College, 
at Poughkeepsie, X. Y., in the year 1883. At present he is emploml 
in the passenger service of the Lehigh Yalley Railroad. 

N. J. GAYLORD, retired farmer, Wyalusing, was born in AVva- 
lusing township, October 31, 1840, and is a son of Henry Gaylord. He 
was born and reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. 
August 28, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Forty- 
first Regiment, being one of the first men to enlist in that co)npany, 
and was made corporal at the organization of the company. Novem- 
ber, 1863, at the battle of Poolsville, he received a gunshot w^ound in 
the left hand, and was captured by Stewart's cavalry ; paroled the same 
day and went to the Patent Office Hospital, and soon after was fur- 
loughed and came home, where he was attacked by the fevei- and 
measles. After recovering he returned and was soon discharged, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1863, after which he served for one year in Gen. Ruckner's 
commissary department; then returned home and began farming and 
lumbering, and followed farming until 1886, when, receiving a para- 
lytic stroke, w-hich disabled his left side, he was compelled to retire 
from active life. He was married October 14, 1868, to Julia M. Lewis, 
daughter of Edwin and Polly (Lathrop) Lewis, and to them have been 
born six children, viz.: Edward W., printer, born May 16, 1871; 
George L., a teacher and clerk in store, born August 8, 1872 ; Bert A. 
and Bertha A. (twins), born June 29, 1875; E. Mott, born April 9, 



832 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

1879, and Martha, born July 27, 1SS3. The family worship at the 
Presbyterian Cliurch. He is a member of Jackson Post. No. 74, G. A. R., 
and is past commander; is a member of the I. (). O. F., and one of 
the first men of this section to become a member, joining tlie Order at 
Camptown ; he has passed all the chairs, and is a member of the State 
Grand Lodge; is a Republican, and has filled the various town offices, 
and has been school director since the establishment of the borough: 
is also president of the board of cemetery trustees, which office be has 
filled since 1882. 

JULIUS GEE, farmer, P. O. Granville Centre, was born in Penn- 
sylvania. July 27, f845, and is a son of James and Mehitable (Ralyea) 
Gee. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Gee, formerly of Cortland 
county, N. Y., was among the early settlers of Granville township, 
where he located on the farm now occupied by R. D. I>ailey, but in 
later life removed to Potter county and died there ; his wife was Han- 
nah Hopkins. The father of our subject was a native of Portland 
county, N. Y., but came to Granville in earh' manhood with his par- 
ents, and started life for himself on the farm now owned by our sub- 
ject, and most of wliich he cleared and improved. He died there in 
August, 1875, in his fifty-sixth year ; he reared a family of three chil- 
dren : Sarah (Mrs. Gilbert Baxter), Mary (Mrs. W.'J. Smith) and 
Julius. The latter was reared on the old homestead from three years 
of age, and succeeded to the same upon his father's deatn. In 1876 he 
mari'ied (^lara, daughter of Hiram and Elise (Smith) Every, of Leroy 
township, and has one ado]ited daughter, Lottie. He is a member of 
the Church of Christ, the P. of H.. and in politics is a Republican. 

J. VALENTINE GEIGER, gunsmith, Towanda, was born in 
Towanda, this count}', October 5, 1832, a son of John E. and Sarah A. 
(Shockey) Geiger, and is of German descent. His father was a native 
of Sun bury, Pa., and a son of John V. and .Catherine Geiger, the 
former a native of Germany and the latter of Carlisle, Pa. The 
father was reared in Readino;. Pa., learned the o:unsmith trade in 
Williamsport, and later worked as a journeyman in various sections of 
the country. In 1830 he settled in Towanda, and established the first 
place for the manufacture and sale of guns in the county (his shop 
being on the site where Rosenfield's store now stands), and continued 
in business until his retirement in 1857; he died in August, 1878, aged 
seventy-eight years. J. A^alentine, who was the only child who grew 
to maturity, was reai-ed in Towanda and learned the gunsmith trade 
with his father, with whom he worked until the hitter's retirement in 
1857, when he succeeded to the business, which he has since conducted. 
It was established sixty-one years ago, and is probably the oldest con- 
cern conducted by father and son in Bradfoi'd county. Mr. Geiger 
was twice married; his first wife was Luc}', daughter of John Wough- 
ter, of Union, N. Y., and by her he had one son. Fred W.; his second 
wife was Martha N., daughter of ]\Iai'k (/. Arnot, of Towanda, for 
many years a prominent tanner of the place. At the organization of 
the Franklin Fire ('ompany No. 1, of Towanda, in 1851, Mr. Geiger 
became a member, has held all the positions in the gift of the company, 
and is still on the active list, and the oldest member of the fire depart- 



HISTORY OF I? RAD FORD COUNTY. tS33 

ment of Towaiula. He is a well-known representative citizen of 
Bradford county; he was elected secretary of the Central liepublican 
Club in 1856, and has held it up to the present time ; for several years 
has been, and is now, the secretary of the Republican County Com- 
mittee, and is known to be well posted on all Bradford county political 
matters. Mr. Geiger has hosts of friends outside of his own party, 
and his genial disposition will continually add to the number. He has 
never asked for any party office, and after long years of service says 
he IS always ready to assist his friends, and have all the fun there is in 
politics. 

S. A. GENUNG, proprietor of lumber yard, Waverly, Tioga Co., 
K Y., is a native of Tioga county, N. Y., born November 15^1848; 
he is a son of Nathaniel and Lydia L. (Stuart) Genung, natives of 
Tompkins county, N. Y., who removed to Tioga county about the 
year 1835, when it was all a wild wood. The father, who was 
a farmer and bridge and barn builder, died in Tioga countv in 1878, 
in his sixty -sixth year; the mother is now m her seventy-eighth 
year, remarkable for her health and constitutional activity, and has 
never worn glasses. Grandfather Stuart was a soldier in the War 
of 1812. S. A. Genung is the sixth in a family of ten children, 
all of whom are living. He was reared on a farm, received a good 
common-school education, and when eighteen went to Cortland, N. Y., 
to work at his trade of carjienter and joiner, which he followed six 
years; then engaged in contracting, building and jobbing in lumber. In 
1868 he removed to Waverly, and in 1879 started his lumber yard, 
where he is at present. He was married in Waverlv, in September, 
1870, to Miss Emma, daughter of Samuel and Delilah (Brown) Howell, 
natives of Tompkins county, N. Y. (she is the fiftli in a familv of seven 
children, and was born in Barton, Tioga Co., N. Y., May 3, 1848). 
To this marriage was born one child, which died in infancy. Tliev 
have an adopted daughter, Mabel. Mr. Genung is a mendjer of the 
F. & A. M., Waverly Lodge, No. 407, Knights of Honor, and has passed 
the chairs in the Order (is district deputy at the present time; has 
represented the Order in the Grand Lodge) ; a member of the Knights 
and Ladies of Honor (which he has represented in the Grand Lodge); 
of the Empire Order of Mutual Aid (has represented the Order 
at the Grand Lodge seven times, and is now district dei)utv) ; a mem- 
ber of the Masonic Relief Association, Royal Ark and Sexennial 
League ; was a member of the school board six years in South Waverlv 
borough, Pa., and served as secretary three years, and treasurer of the 
board three years, during that time.' Politically he is a Democrat. 

JOHN P. GERNERT, farmer, P. O. Columbia Cross Roads, was 
born m Columbia township, this countv, October 5, 1823, and is a son 
of William and Deboi-ah (Clapp) Gernert. His paternal grandparents, 
Peter and Ann (Budd) Gernert, natives of Germany, immigrated to 
Philadelphia, where they Avorked out their passage money, married, 
and in 1786 settled at Tioga Point, this countv, and in 1802 removed 
to Columbia township. II is maternal grandfather, Clapp, was of 
French descent, and a pioneer of Bradford countv. William Gernei't 
was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1784, was "reared in Bradford 



834 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

county, and spent most of his life in Columbia township, where, with 
the assistance of his sons, he cleared several farms and died there at 
the age of eighty-four. John P. Gernert was reared in Columbia 
township, received a common-school education, and has always followed 
farming. In January, 1859, he married Martha, daughter of Jolm 
and Jerusha McMuUen, of Columbia township, and has four children : 
William A., Stephen C, Seth M. and Charles W.; he is a representa- 
tive farmer and leading citizen ; politically he is a Republican. 

STEPHEN C. GERNERT, farmer, Columbia Cross Roads, was 
born in Columbia township, this county, February C, 1863. and is a son 
of John P. and Martha (McMuUen) Gernert. He was reared in his 
native township, where he has always resided, and was educated at 
Troy High School, where he graduated in 1881 ; then taught school 
several terms, and in 1881: embarked in the hay and grain business at 
Columbia Cross Roads, in which he successfully continued six years, 
and has been since engaged in farming. He married, October 16, 
1890, Bertha B., daughter of Dr. A. M. Ingham, of Burlinoton, this 
countv. Mr. Gernert is one of the popular citizens of Columbia town- 
ship; he is now holding the office of constable and collector, which he 
has held several terms ; was school director one term, secretary of 
school board one year, and president of the board one year; in politics 
he is a Rej)ublican. 

STEPHEN G. GERNERT, a farmer, Columbia Cross Roads, was 
born in Columbia township, this county, June 14, 1826, a son of William 
and Deborah (Clapp) Gernert. His paternal grandfather was Peter 
Gernert, of P'rench parentage, who located at Tioga Point, prior to 
1800, and in 1802 in Columbia township; later he went West and was 
never afterward heard from ; his wife, Ann (Budd) was a native of 
Philadelphia, of German parentage, and by her he had nine children : 
Polly, Kate, William, Andrew, Barbara, Armenda, Casper, Sally and 
Solomon Clay. The father of our subject in early life cleared and 
improved a farm near Austinville, now occupied 1)\' his sons; he als(^ 
cleared land adjoining, and died on the farm Stephen resides on at 
Columbia Cross Roads, he was the father of five children : Esther A., 
William H., Nathaniel A., John P. and Stephen G. Our subject was 
reared in Columbia township, where he has always resided, and has 
followed agricultural pursuits. On September 29. 1858. he married 
Hannah T., daughter of John G. and Asenath S. (Cox) McCarrick, of 
Springfield townshij), and formerly of Deckertown, Sussex county, 
N. J. Mr. (lerneit is an enterprising citizen of ('olumbia township; 
he isa member of the I. O. O. I., and in politics is a Republican. 

WILLIAM E. GERNERT, of the firm of Strong cV: Gernert, 
general merchants, Columbia Cross Roads, was born in Columbia town- 
ship, this county, January 28, 1848, and is a son of Wilham II. and 
]\Iaria (Ilowland) Gernert. His paternal grandfather, William Gernert, 
was a son of Peter Gernert, a ])ioneer of Tioga Point and Columbia 
townshi]); the wife of P(;tei' (iernert was Ann Budd. and the wife of 
AVilliam Gernert was Deborah Clapj). William (Tcrnert cleareil sev- 
eral farms in (]olumi>ia township, and di(Ml there. William II. Gernert, 
lather of William E., was born in Athens township, September 19, 



HISTORY OF 1?I{AI)F0I{I) COUNTY. 835 

1819, and was reared in Columbia township, wdiere he now resides, 
engaged in farming; his wife was a daughter of Malachi and Jane 
(Mason) Howland, of Columbia township, and by her he has four 
children : William E., Charles IT., Esther (Mrs. Frank Bullock) and Mary 
D. (]\[rs. James H. Strong). William E. Gernei-t was reared in Colum- 
bia township, educated in the common schools, and was engaged in 
farming until 1889, when he became a member of the firm of Strong iSc 
Gernert, dealers in general merchandise, Columbia Cross Roads. In 
1872 he married Belinda, daughter of Hiram and Helen (Sherman) 
Chace, of Springfield township, and they have seven children : Gladys, 
Fannie, Grace, Warren, Harry, Lizzie and William H. Mr. Gernert is 
an enterprising business man and representative citizen ; politically he 
is a Republicci.n. 

SAMUEL W. GEROULD, farmer. East Smithfield, was born in 
Smithfield, May 3, 1829, a son of James and Lois (Wood) Gerould. 
The father, a farmer and blacksmith, was born in Kewtown, Conn., 
May 5, 1784, and was first lieutenant, captain and then quartermaster 
in the State militia, and postmaster and justice of the peace in Smith- 
held. Jabez Gerould, his grandfather, a blacksmith, was born in 
AVrentham, Mass.. November 1, 1748; was a soldier in the Revolution- 
ary War, and at the battle of Bunker Hill, for valiant service, was 
made captain. Our subject's maternal grandfather was also a soldier 
in the Revolution and one of the men who took Maj. Andre, the 
English sp\', into Washington's camp. Mr. Gerould was a cabinet- 
)naker in early life, and carried on that business at Smithfield Centre 
until 1855. when he moved to the farm he now owns of 150 acres. He 
was married, June 16, 1853, to Ann Ophelia, daughter of Truman and 
Ruth (L)uri'ey) Beach, and who was born May 2U, 1832. There have 
been born to them eight children, as follows: Afton B., born May 29, 
1854; Flora E., born September 14,1856; Laura Maria, born February 
13, 1860, married to Warren Craig; Ruth Ida, born May 24, 1863, 
died March 29, 1886; Annie Lucelia, born July 20, 1865; "Martin E., 
born September 24, 1869; Truman Wood, born September 2, 1871; 
Grace Ophelia, born November 21, 1874. Mr. Gerould is a careful 
and studious gentleman and successful in all his enterprises; he is a 
Republican in politics. The family are members of the Disciple 
Church. 

JOHN F. GILLETTE, farmer, P. O. Gillett, was born in Mason- 
ville, Delaware Co., N. Y., in March, 1817, a son of Asa and Laura 
(Osborn) Gillette, the former born in Litchfield county, Conn., the lat- 
ter in Massachusetts. Asa Gillette was the son of Asa, a Revolution- 
ary soldier, who joined the army when only fourteen years of age, and 
served until the close of the war, being present when Cornwallis sur- 
rendered to Washington. Asa, Jr., removed from Masonville, N. Y., 
in 1833. locating in what is now Gillett, in this county, then a vast 
wilderness. Jesse Moore was the first settler, and built a log grist- 
mill, one of the stones for which is now in use as a "horse block." 
Rulofi" Bovere was the next pioneer to come into South Creek. Asa, 
Gillette came to tljis county for the pui'pose of manufacturing tiinbei', 
and purchased a sawmill of Judge SmJth, of Painted Post, which was 



836 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

built three years previously, iuul in which he luul an interest. Mr. 
Gillette continued this business thirty -three years; he was a man of 
influence, a leading sj)irit in moral, spiritual and business matters, one 
to whom all looked up. He was an active member and deacon of the 
Ba})tist Church ; was postmaster a number of years, and also served as 
town clerk. In 1865 he met with an accident that proved fatal, the 
dislocation of his hip joint. His great desire was to see the war close 
before he died. His family consisted of four children, all of whom 
gvew to maturit\', and three are now living. John F., who is the 
second member of the family, was reared and educated at the common 
school in Masonville. At Southport. N. Y,, October 2, 1839, he mar- 
ried Phebe C, daughter of Asa and Mercy Moore, and, October 2, 
1889, thev celebrated their golden wedding. To them \»ere born four 
children: Emilv E., married to George H. Denham ; Mary M., mar- 
ried to Philander L. Pettingill ; Sarah J., married to Charles T. Fitch, 
and Asa iST., who died in 1865. Mr. Gillette is an extensive lumber- 
man, employing a number of men continualh\ His farm consists of 
550 aci-es, nearly all under imjirovement. He has the entire confidence 
of his fellow-citizens, and was elected to represent Bradford coujity for 
two sessions in the Legislature ; has held the office of justice ot" the 
peace twelve years ; postmaster, four years ; was deacon of the Bap- 
tist Church twenty-five years, and follows in the footsteps of his father 
as a leading spirit for good. Politicallv, he is a Republican. 

CHARLES E. GLADDING, farmer, P. O., Altus, was born 
August 2, 1833, in Columbia township, this count3% on the farm he 
now owns and occupies, and is a son of Joseph and Marcy (Bullock) 
Ghidding. The father, who was a native of Barrington, R. I., located 
in Smithfield, this county, in 1816, and in 18 IT settled in Columbia 
township, where he cleared and improved the farm occupied by subject, 
on which he lived until his death, which occurred when he was in his 
ninetieth year. His wife was a daughter of Asa and Jerusha (Allen) 
IJullock, and by her he had seven children, sixol whom grew tomatu- 
ity : Jerusha B. (]\[rs. James M. Edsall), Emeline I. (Mrs. E. P. 
Shaw), Joseph N., Viall A., William P. and Charles E., George Wil- 
liam having died in childhood. Charles E. Gladding was reared on 
the old homestead where he has always resided. lie was in the Civil 
AVar, enlisting August 14, 1862, and was commissioned first lieutenant 
of Company L), One Hundred and Thirty -second Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers. He ])articipated in the battle of Chancelloi-sville. and Avas 
iionorably discharged after nine month's service. In November, 1875, 
he married N. Louisa, daughter of William G. Alger, of Towanda, and 
they have one daughter, Cecele E. Mr. Gladding is a prominent 
farmer of Columbia township. He is a member of the F. & A. M., 
(t. a. R. and P. of II. Politically he is a Republican, and was register 
and recorder of Bradford county for one tei'm of three years. 

L. R. GLEASON, tanner. Canton, is a native of I'olton, AVarren 
Co., N. v., born November 16, 1S29, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Eaton) 
Gleason, natives of Vermont. The fathei", who was a ])i-ominent far- 
mer, was born in 1796, and in early life removed to New Voi'k, where 
he was nuirried; then came to Canton, where he died in 1869; the 



HISTORY OF r?UADFORD COUNTY. 837 

mother died in the same pkice in January, 1881, aged eighty-six 3'ears. 
The great-grandfather, Jacob Gleason, was a Revohitionary soldier, 
and in the service along with him were three of his sons; the maternal 
grandfather, Brigham Eaton, was also a Revolutionary soldier, and 
was at the battle of Bunker Hill. Jacob and Sarah Gleason had a 
family of five children, four of whom died in infancy, L. R. Gleason 
was tlie second in the order of birth, and when he was but a hid his 
parents removed to Oswego county, N. Y., where they remained uijtil 
he reached the age of ten 3'ears, when they moved to Canton, and 
here he commenced attending the public schools, alternating his studies 
with labor about the home. He so remained until he was nineteen 
years old, when he engaged in lumbering on his own account, which he 
followed until 18G8. He pushed his l)usiness successfully, and at times 
had as many as 150 employes, and made his headquarters at Williams- 
port. He then changed his business and opened a tannery in Canton, 
in which he is now engaged, also owning and operating an extensive 
tannery at North P)end, Clinton Co., and also one at Driftwood, Cameron 
Co., same State. Mr. Gleason was twice married : first time in 1852, 
in Tioga county, to IVIartha Irvin, daughter of Benjamin and Prudence 
(Dunbar) Irvin, of Lehigh county, Pa., in the family of whose ten 
children she was the third in the order of birth, born in Lehigh county, 
in 1.833, and died May 15, 1880, the mother of a large family, as fol- 
lows: The eldest three died in infanc\% and the others surviving are as 
follows: Irvin, married to Jose]ihine Haines, is now manager of the 
North Bend tannery ; John, luarried to Harriet Ilurv, is connected 
with the Driftwood tannery ; leRoy, married to Minnie Bessie ]\[ut- 
terbaugh, is at Driftwood ; Charles, married to Minnie Rur\', is also at 
Driftwood, and James is at the paternal home. Mr, Gleason's second 
marriage was with Mrs. B3'ron W. Chirk, of Canton. They are mem- 
bers of the Baptist Church; in his political faith he is a Prohibitionist, 
and has served four terms as school director, and one term in the 
council of Canton ; has been many 3'ears a Freemason, and is a mem- 
ber of Canton Lodge, No -115. 

RUFUS B. GLEASON, farmer in Springfield township, P. O. Big 
Pond, was born April 20, 1843, in Binghamton, N. Y., a son of 
Lemuel C. and Bertha (Hosier') Gleason, the former of whom was also 
a native of Binghamton, and the latter of Vermont. The father 
removed to this county in 1853, and settled at Big Pond; he was a 
mason bv trade, as well as a farmer, and lived to the age of sixt3'-five 
vears. The mother's family were among the eai'lN' settlers of Spring- 
field ; she is still living at the age of seven t3^-three. Rufus B. Gleason, 
who is one of four children, was reared on his father's farm and edu- 
cated in the schools of the township. At the age of twenty-three he 
embarked in mercantile trade at Big Pond, which he continued five 
3'ears, and has since followed farming. He was first married, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1805, to Mary L. French, who died February 15, 1807, and 
his second marriage was March 31,1808, with Matilda Decker, who was 
born July 10, 1848, a daughter of Addison and Emeline (Hill) Decker, 
natives of Elmira, N. Y. Mrs. Gleason was the fourth in a family of 
eleven children — seven daughters and four sons — ten of whom grew to 

48 



838 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

maturitv. The father died in 1 883, and the mother in 1878, at the 
acre of fiftv-five vears. Mr. and Mrs. Gleason have had born to them 
live children, as tuUows : Curtis L., born February 13, 1871 ; Richard A., 
born Januarv 26. 1873; Marv E., born July 28, 1876; Hattie I., born 
June 12, 1879; Mildred A., born Auo-ust 7, 1885. Mr. Gleason has 
made his own way in the woi'ld, and by perseverance and mdustry 
has become the owner of a fine farm of 140 acres, his principal 
interests being dairving and stock-raising. In politics he is an Inde- 
pendent, and he has been a justice of the peace, constable and col- 
lector, and has been entrusted with other offices of public trust. He is 
a member of the Patrons of Ilusbandiw ; is a kind father and husband, 
and a worthv neighbor. ^ . • 

HENRY A. GLOVER, physician and surgeon, Windham Centre, is 
a native of Tioga county, N. Y., born June 10, 1851, and is a son of 
Anson B , and Lois M. Burton, natives of New York, where the father 
died in 1889, and the mother is now living. They were eminently 
respectable people of the agricultural class. They reared nine children, 
of whom the subject of this brief sketch is the seventh in order of birth 
He spent his childhood on his father's farm; at a young age attended 
the public schools of the vicinitv, and was then sent to Owego Academy. 
Completino- his literary education, he entered the office of Dr. H. N. 
Eastman, as a student of medicine, where he remained diligently atten- 
dino- to his books two vears, or until Dr. Eastman's death, when he was 
transferred to the office of the hitter's son, Dr. Robert Eastman, and 
was in his office as student about one year, when he attended lectures 
at the Buffalo Medical Universitv, where he graduated. He then 
moved to Chenango county, N. Y., where he engaged in the practice 
of his profession, and in the latter part of 1882 he came to Windluim, 
where he has continued in active practice, and enjoys an extended 
patronac^e Here is a line example of what a poor farmer's boy can do 
when he so determines. Dr. Glover made his own way in the wor d, 
even paving his own expenses at school, and has prospered wonderfully. 
His farm of 108 acres, well-improved and in a high state of culti- 
vation, has on it a fine display of improved stock. Here is the famous 
brood mare " Lizzie Carmalt," among whose colts are ^'Meltonian a 
Messencrer that at five years of age made the time of 2:36^ after but 
two months' handlino-. Dr. Glover ami Mrs. Knapp, daughter of 
Alexander and Frances Pitcher, were united in wedlock January 3, 
1884 Mrs Glover died suddenlv. April 2, 1S91. Dr. Glover, as was 
his wife, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics 
he is in svmpatliv with the Republican ])arty. 

L S GOFF, farmer and stock grower, P. O. Kome, was born iii 
Rome borough, this count v, August 9, 1843, and is a son of Lewis and 
Charlotte M. (Tavlor) (Joff, the former a native of Connecticut, born 
March 19 1805, the latter born in this county, January 16, 1820; they 
were married March 27, 184(). and had four children: L. S.; George 
Malon, born Januarv 2, 1S47, died in infancy: Theodore M. born 
February 8, 1849. killed bv falling through a bridge with a load ol 
lumber, June 6, 18«;3: and Francis E., l)orn June 12. 1853, o i>utlal.. 
(;randfather Samuel D. GotI was born April 9, 17<;r.. and married 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 839 

November 23, 1T86, to Dorothy Hill, who was born June 3(», 1768, 
and they had the following cliildren : Sallie, boi'n November 7, 1787, 
married to Sylvester Barns, and left numerous descendants now resid- 
ing in Rome; Thankful, born August 23, 1790, married to Elby 
Stevens, died May 16, 1824: David, born June 20, 1794, died in infancy; 
Anson, born June 11, 1797; Lewis, father of subject; Laura, born May 
15, 1807, died in Iowa in 1886; Mary, born November 6, 1810, died 
Mav 16, 1831. The father makes his home with his son on the old 
homestead, and is eighty-six years of age, liale and hearty. Mr. Goff 
was one of the pioneer lumbermen of this section, and built several 
sawmills on BuUard creek ; he followed rafting down the river many 
years; he also operated a distillery in early times; he would give two 
"gallons of whisky in exchange for sixty barrels of rye. The gentle- 
man whose name heads this sketch spent his early life on his father's 
farm, attending school at Tlome until nineteen years of age ; then 
worked on his father's mills on his farm during the summer, antl when 
twenty-one years old he set out for himself as a farmer, which occupa- 
tion he has since followed. He has been twice married: first time, 
March 16. 1862, to Jane L. Bailey, who died August 2, 1870, and by 
this marriage there were two children : Delia H.. born February 25, 
1863; Berton L., born January 1, 1866. Mr. Goflf married (the secon(l 
time), November 27, 1871, Lydia A., daughter of l>reamus and Eliza- 
beth (Dresser) Ells, former a native of Illinois, latter -of Wysox, this 
county ; Mrs. Lydia A. Goff lived in Illinois until she was eighteen. 
Mr. and Mrs. Goff have had two children : Leon L., born March 6, 
1875, died February 12, 1876, and Lizzie May, born May 13, 1877, 
residing with her parents. Mr, Goff owns the old homestead which 
contains seventy acres of well-improved land. The family are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in his political views Mr. 
Goff is a stanch Republican. 

E. G. GOODING, a farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Hornbroolc, 
w^as born in Sheshequin toAvnship, this county, March 10, 1825, 
a son of George and Jane (Smith) Gooding. The father was born in 
Devonsiiire, England, and came to this country in 1820, being 3'et 
unmarried, and located in Sheshequin on a farm where he spent the 
remainder of his days, dying in May. 1875, aged eighty -one. The 
mother was born in Yarmouth. England, and came to this country a 
few years after the father, locating with her parents in Sheshequin ; she 
died in 1871, aged seventy-seven. Mr. and Mrs. George Gooding had 
a family of two children: E. G. and a daughter, Millina, who died 
aged twenty. E. G. Gooding was reared on the farm, received his 
education in the common schools of Ulster and Sheshequin, and 
acquired a fair education for the period. He remained on the farm 
with his father, and now occupies the old homestead, the greater part 
of the improvements thereon being built by himself. He was married 
in 1848, to Mahaley. daughter of James and Bessie (Sickle) Kipp, and 
of this union were born five children, as follows: George P., married 
to Susie Emery, and they have two sons. Harry and Otta; Lucian F., 
married to Ida Towner, daughter of J. Towner, and they have one 
daughter, Bertha; Ellsworth, married to Ella Morris, daughter of 



840 



HISTORY OF HRVDFORl) COUNTY. 



J D Morris, and thev have one son, R. Morris ; Jennie, married to 
Theodore McAfee, and William E., remaining single. In political 
matters, Mr. Gooding votes the Ilepublican ticket. 

ABRAHAM GORE, retired farmer, Sheshequin, was born m bhc- 
shequin valley, this county, July 31, 1822, and is a son of Abraham L. 
and^SUlie (Kennedv) Gore, the former of whom was a son of Samuel 
Gore the thither of ^ two sons and four daughters: Harriet, mamed to 
Wi Ham J Lint, and is now dead; Fanny W., married to William 
Bu llof Pond Hill; Abraham; C. C, of ^^^^ ^ ^^;J^^'\'^ 
Horace B. Chaffee, and Lucy A., married to Boyn Chaffee. Bu^t Je^^ 
names of the Revolutionarv fathers are more illustrious than that of 
the Go?e family. Abraham Gore spent his boyhood on he noted 
Esqu ?e Gore farm, and attended school in the neighborhood, but 
S'the eldest he had to work hard from the time he was old enough 
to mdoe the field. The father died while Abraham was yet small 
and he was left the main support of a widowe^l mother and his smallei 
brothers and sisters, but he struggled and did "^^ f ow wea^^. At 
the ao-e of twenty-six he was married and commenced life for liimsel 
Tl^ f^rm he now owns, containing seventy-one acres well-improNed 
laml was inherited bv him from his grandfather, but he has made the 
Movements; when' it came to him it was covered with a heavy 
•iwth of pitch pine, oak and chestnut, which he converted into lum- 
ber he has now retired from active farming, and his son Abraham 
L manacr s it. He married, February 22, 1849, Eliza Jane daughter 
of JoSb. and Charlotte (Goodwin) Marshall, ;;;^;;- ^^eS X 
county The fruits of this marriage were five child en . Reetl, \M o 
d^y aged welve; Charlotte E., who died aged two ; WallacMN --^^ed ^o 
Fmma Chaffee; Albert, of Elmira; Abraham L., married to Eh/a Ann 
KZidv Mr Gore iL a Universalist in religion, a member of he 
J O o / Valley Lod-e, and has passed all the chairs, being among the 
L es Odd Fe lows of- t he township, having joined the Lodge at Athens 
?ortffor years a^^^ he is a Republican. When he lirst occupied 
ht^^i;:^^;^: 'no roads in Ihe neighborhood and but lew og 
houses and the whole face of the country was wild. Abialam L. 
Gore ills son now occupies the old homestead ; he was born May 2d, 
1^ 1 ' ar ^" August 14, 1887 ; he attended school in the Sheshequin 
valley, and is a prominent farmer of the county; in faith a Lniver.al- 
ist and in politics a Jiepublican. , ■ ci c,i... 

'CHARLES F. GORE, farmer, Sheshequm. was 1h>';" )" ,^''^^1,:^- 
cuin township, this countv, June 18, 1858. and is a son ol C. C Go e, 
.Ira idsono Abraham Gore, and a g'-eat-grandson o ^aiiiue Go e 
who settled in Sheshecpiin shortly after his brother. Judge Oba .ah 
G?e. Abraham (4ore is one of six children of Samuel (^^'^^l^f ou; 
C. Gore is the fourth child of Al-raluun (^,re The mo^^^^^^^^^^^ 
subject was Eli/a Ann Lucky (^ore, born in New Jersey his athe. had 
;^Ssly married Celia OUls am. bv th s -ayru.ge had U.r^ ch - 
Iren, of whom two died in early l.le. Abraham !.. Go.e ^"'^^ "?; f^ 
Irss'con.l marriage there were three c-hildivn : (Charles K, iMam.s 
M wZdied November 1?,, 1889; and Joseph ()., who died NovemlM-i 
2:} 1890 F ancis was killed in a sawmill in Overton township, being 



HISTORY OF lUiADFOUl) COINTY. 841 

struck in the face by u slab that was burled witli oroat force by the 
machinery; he was taken to Say re Hospital wiiere he died, living' 
only six days, llis father resides in Say re ; his mother died April 4, 
1888. On November 20, 1890, Charles F. Gore opened a, grocery store 
in the central portion of Sheshequin valley, in the building owned by 
W. H. H. Gore^and carried a full line of groceries, cigars and tobacco, 
also a general assortment for country trade, and has done a prosperous 
business. In the spring of 1891 he moved on the homestead of his 
grandfather, Abmham Gore, a part of the Samuel Gore estate. He 
was married October KJ, 1881, to Augusta M., daughter of William 
and Permelia (Horton) Tuttle, of Litchfield township, both natives of 
Bradford county. Pa., and he has one child, William C, now aged 
seven. The family worship at the IJniversalist Church ; Mr. Gore is a 
member of the E. A. U., Lodge No. 13, Shesiiequin, and secretary of 
the Lodge; his political views are Republican. 

MAJOR W. 11. H. GORE, farmer, Sheshequin. The ancestor of the 
Gores in the United States was John (Tore, who immigrated to Roxbury, 
Mass., from England in 1635, and history shows that he was a man of 
some importance, and was the first town clerk of Roxbury. He had a 
family of ten children, all born in Massachusetts, except the two eldest 
who were born in England before the immigration of their parents. 
Samuel who Avas the youngest child, and the ancestor from which W. 
H. H. Gore is descended, a carpenter bv trade, married, August 28, 
1672, Elizabeth, dau^diter of John Weld;'he died July 4, 1692, and left 
a family of seven children. The third child, Samuel, born October 20, 
1681, in Roxbury, Mass., a yeoman, married and had six children, the 
youngest of whom Obadiah, the direct ancestor of Maj. Gore, was born 
in Roxbury, July 26, 1T14; came to Pennsylvania and located at Wilkes- 
Barre in 1768; Wixs married in Plainfield county. Conn., to Hannah 
Parks, and had the following named children: Obadiah (who was well 
known as ''Judge (Tore,"' of this county), Asa, Silas (who was father 
of Maj. Gore's grandmother), Samuel, George, Daniel, John, Sallie 
(who married a Mr. Murphy) and another sister who married a Mr. 
Bidlack. [See chapter on ''Revolutionary War,'' on a preceding page, 
in this volume.] Obadiah, the great-grandfather of our subject, was 
born in Norwich, Conn., April 7, 1744; married Ann Avery; had the 
following named children : Avery (grandfather to subject), Wealthy, 
Hannah, Anna and Sallie. Obadiah Gore was in the Continental Ai'my 
during the Revolution, and was absent with his compan}^ on the New 
York frontier at the time of the battle of Wyoming, thus escaping the 
fate of so many of his family, Asa, Silas and George being killed, also 
Mur[)hy and Bidlack, brotljers-in-lavv. He returned to Wyoming after 
the massacre ; was with Gen. Sullivan in his expedition up the Sus- 
quehanna, holding a lieutenant's commission and serving on Gen. 
Sullivan's staff. The army camped two days at the mouth of a small 
creek on the land now owned by Maj. Gore, aw^aiting their boats. 
Obadiah then became impressed with the beauty of the valley, and 
determined, on his return to ))rivate life, to make his home here. He 
served during the entire war in Washington's army, and at its close 
came to this county, locating and building his first house on the land 



g^2 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

now owned bv L. J. Culver. He was many years a justice of the 
neace and was iudo-e of Luzerne county upon its oroanization ; also 
levied two terns i ^the Pennsylvania Legislature ; he built the second 
m 11 in the countv, and the first frame barn. In his dav he was the 
/oremost man of'the county ; a very lion in courao-e and a -man m 
tenderness and charity, lie passed quietly away in 1821, lull of ^ eais 

'"'Aven^Gore, grandfather of the Major, .-as born in Plainfield, 
Conn , iinuary \o, 1765. He was when a lad in F^Hyort dicing 
the Wyoming massacre, and, armed with a pitcli-tork, stood iead> to 
oppose his feeble strength against the red butchers. When nineteen 
?Srsol he settled at^Shesheciuin with his father and was associated 
i ith him in nearlv all his business transactions. He was a member of 
e m litia, where he received his military title. He married his cousin 
Luc Gore daughter of Silas Gore, an extensive speculator in land 
^rtheXk postmaster at Sheshequin. held all the town ofhces, and 

'"l3^!;^!^lKiore>e Major's father, was theseyentlichildof Ave.w and 
I ucv Gore He was thoroughly educated in the Sheshequin schools, 
ancfaftrrw^^^^^^ at Wilkes-Barre ; he became a dealer ,n lumber, .na a 
me ant ; held all the township offices, but for the past or y years he 
has been devoted to his farm. He was married October 15 1834 to 
Matilda daughter of Ebenezar Shaw, and had a family as fol Joans . 
WH II Amelia (deceased), D.W., Marion A. (deceased). Mortimer 

""'"^l^^Jt^^^^r 16, 1835 on tlie farm now owne. 
by lis father, was educated in the schools of Sheshequin, and atte i- 
I'datthe 'academy of Towanda. and -^ Athens taking a course in 
classics and practical surveying. Leaving school at the age of nmc 
teen, he clerked one and one-half years; then was three }es ma^ 
drug store, after which he went West, and na^is in a whole ale drug 
houle at Peoria, 111., one year; then went to ^^^''gf/i'^^^^'.^^^'ro^^^^'^ f,^ 
and was engaged in the drug business there one year ; celling out he 
returned to Pennsvlvania, and again clerked for a time, ^n ^Pnl J. 
1861, he enlisted at the first call for volunteers, '"Company I Six 
Pennsvlvania Reserves, Army of the Potomac. ."« ^.^^^^^ '" ^^" ,; 
battles in which his regiment l>artKMpated,begnining u h O^^^^^^^^^ 
and ending with Bethesda Church at C^old ^^f ^«^' ' ; f.^ 1/%^ 
nviior Tidv 1 1863 ami brevet lieut.colonel, Septembei 10, Ibt.b, 
r'allan LrvMces in 'he battles of the Wilderness and Spottsy van.a. 
le was mustered out June 11, 1864, and is an invalid pens.one -^ On 
his return to private life he opened a store >" towanda, wh.^^^^^^^^^^ so^ 
out in 1870; Ihen returned to the old l-"nestead at ^^^^f^^ 
was there two years, engaged in settUng the estate of a ^»ece< se unct^ 
after which, in 1873, he'^-emoved to his present ••esidence Majo G e 
was appointed, in 1874, to the railroad mad service, «" ^h^ L^'^'f/^ 
Yallev and Erie Railroads, and was in that }M,s,tion until 1880 He 
was inarried Februarv 15, 1860, to Cynthia M, daughter of Joel < ml 
Maria ((;ooda]e) Farnham, former a native of [>^f g*^' ^, .};;:^"^l ^.^ 
ter of Sheshequin, the family of whom consisted of hve children, Mis. 



HISTORY OF RRADFOUI) COLNIY. 843 

Gore being the third ; she received iier' (Mhication in the hig-h school, 
also at the acadeiiiv at Owego, and spent sevei-al years teaching. 'J'o 
Major and JMrs. Gore have been born two children: Henry W., born 
November 29, 1860 (married to Ilattie liodgers, of Towanda), and 
Eliza May. Major Gore is a member of the Universalist Church, and 
secretary of the board of trustees of that body ; Mrs. Goie is a mem- 
ber of the Episcopal Church. The Gore family are nearly ail Univer- 
salists in belief. The Major is a Sir Knight Templar, and a member 
of Union Lodge. No. 1(>S, F. & A. M.. and has tilled the chair of wor- 
shi})ful master and high priest, etc.; is also a member of the L O. O, F., 
Valley Lodge, No. 446, Sheshecjuin ; has |\assed all the chairs and taken 
degree of State Encam])ment ; is a member of Perkins Post, No. 202, 
G. A. R., of Athens, ami is past commander of Watlvins Post, No. 
68, Towanda; is a member of the Union Veteran Legion of Sayre, and 
past col. commander of same ; is a member of the E. A. U., Sheshe- 
quin Division, No. 13: also of the Daughters of Rebecca, No 117, 
Sheshequin, and is secretary of same. Politically, he is a Republican, 
and has held the offices of school director, constable, assessor, tax col- 
lector, and others. 

A13EL L.GORSLINE, farmer, Wysox township, P.O. Wickizer,was 
born in Orwell, this county, March 7, 1837, and was the seventh of the 
nine children born to Pomeroy and Charlotte (Lawrence) Gorsline, the 
former a native of Vermont and of German origin, the latter a native of 
New York, of English lineage. Abel L. remained with his father on 
the farm until September 4, 1864, when he enlisted in Company G, Two 
Hundred and Seventh P. V. I., and was mustered out upon the dis- 
bandment of his regiment at Arlington Heights, May 22, 1865, Soon 
after returning from the army he located on his present home, which 
he inherited fi'om his father, and where he has since resided. July 
3, 1876, Mr. Gorsline married Miss Charlotte, daughter of Ezaciah 
and Ann (Simmins) Gorsline, natives of New York. They have one 
child, Abel L., Jr., born August 27, 1889. Mr. Gorsline is a member 
of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the G. A. R. Post at Rome, and 
politically is a Republican. 

IRA A. GOULD, farmer, of Warren township, P. O. Warren 
Centre, was born in Susquehanna county. Pa., May 21, 1842; a son of 
James and Rhoda (Hanghton) Gould, natives of New Hampshire and 
Vermont, respectively, and of English stock. The father, who was a 
carpenter and joiner, came to this county in 1828, and settled in War- 
ren township; he died June 16, 1872, and his widow now resides in 
Michigan. They had ten children, of Avhom Ira A. is the eldest. He 
spent his life in Warren township until ten years of age, and then 
attended school at Owego, He learned the printer's art, and was at 
the case until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he became the 
seventh man to resjwnd to the call for 75,000 troops, by enlisting, 
April 17, 1861, in the TAventy-third New York Infantry, Company C. 
The command left Elmira July 5th, to go to the front witli the Army 
of the Potomac, under Gen. McDowell. Our subject was under fire 
several times in skirmishes and battles, and was in the i:)runt of the 
fight at Rappahannock Station and at White Sulphur Springs, then at 



844 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

Gainesville and at the second Bull Run figlit; also at Chantilly, where 
he was left on the skirmish line while tlie army retreated to Fairfax 
Court House, and he witnessed the race for the place between the 
"Johnnies" and "Yanks." Pie was thus exposed and without food or 
sleep for three days. His command was with tiie First Corps in all the 
battles, marches and sieges after they left Washington. At the battle 
of South Mountain, through some mistake, a part of the regiment 
retreated and left their companions exposed to over two hours' severe 
fio-hting. At Antietam his company was sent to Division Headquar- 
ters under Gen. Doubledav, and he performed provost guard duty over 
prisoners until the close "^of his term of service. He was discharged 
Mav 22, 1868, and re-enlisted November 24 following. He re-enlisted, 
this time, in the' Fiftieth New York Engineers, and returned to the 
front to the Army of the Potomac, hoofed it with Sheridan's Cavalry, 
and most of the time they were kept busy building bridges, forts and 
breastworks, and had some sharp experiences with guei-rillas in guard- 
ing their boats. They were in front of Petersbuig- and Cold Harbor, 
ami after the latter thev were thirty days on the march to Trevilian 
Station. After the battle of Petersbui-g, in December, ISO-t, the com- 
mand went to Notaway Station, traveling at times through two feet of 
water, and at night they would nearly freeze. They went to Winches- 
ter with Sheridan, and were at the surrender of Lee. In crossing the 
Shenandoah at Mt. Jackson, the corps (fifty men) made a bridge of 
thirteen boats and two trestles in just nineteen minutes, and after 
cr-ossing over and taking them u)), they found the boats had several 
holes sliot in them. Mr. Gould was discharged -Tune 18, 1865, when 
"the cruel war was over;" and returned home. While in the service 
he was taken ill with typhoid fever at Upton's Hill, and was sent to 
regimental hospital, where he was confined live weeks, and to this time 
suffers from loss of hearing in one ear, and rheumatism in the right 
side. He is a member of the G. A. R., and a pensioner, antl a Repub- 
lican—" God bless the G. O. P," adds Mr. Gould. He was married in 
Allegany, N. Y., September 30, 18G5, to Mary, daughter of Frederick 
and llannah Stratton, who had five children, of whom Mary is the 
fourth, reared, educated and married in her native place. To Mr. and 
Mrs Gould was born, October 22, 1860, one child, Elmer. 

ADDISON GRACE, farmer, Asvlum township, P. O. Macedonia, 
was born in Springfield, this county, July 11, 1830, and is a son of 
William and Hannah (Salisbury) Grace, natives of Massachusetts, and 
of English extraction. William Grace came to this county when a 
voun° man; his grandmother Grace was one of the nurses who 
attended the wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, -and his grand- 
father Grace was one of the Revolutionary soldiers in the same battle. 
Addison Grace, who is the eighth in a family of nine children, was 
reared on his father's farm, became a farmer when grown, and has 
followed that occupation successfully since. Ho was united in matri- 
mony October 8, 181!>, with Dimmis Kiiap)). and there were born to 
them eii^dit children, all living as follows: Ruby, born July 15, 1850 
wife of Mahlon Allen; Addison W., born January 28, 1852, married 
to Helena Hosley ; Laura E., born ALarch 27, 1854, wife of Hiram 



(1 , HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 845 

Iloslev; May^born July 15, ISSP), wife of E. J. Lewis; Charles B., 
born July 17, 1859, married "to Minnie E. llug<4ins; Elswortli C, born 
August 8, 1863, married to Mamie l>rown ; Martha, born Febi-uary 
28, 1865, wife of Harry Morse ; Arotine S., born September 2, 1869. 
Mrs. Grace died January 27, 1871, and January 16, 1877, Mr. Grace 
married Flora D. Cheney, daughter of 11. W. and Sarah (Fraizer) 
Cheney, born March 9, 1852, lie located on his present farm in 1888, 
and is one of the most successful farmers, a social and genial gentle- 
man, respected bv all who know him. Foliticallv he is a Rej^ublican. 

THOMAS GRACE, proprietor of '-Hotel Grace," Towanda, was 
born in Standing Stone townshiji, this county, November 14, 1847, and 
IS a son of Philip and Ann (Griffin) Grace, natives of Counties Tipper- 
ary and Kerry, Ireland, respectively. His father came to America in 
early manhood, was for many years a resident of Standing Stone, this 
county, where he was engaged in farming, and cleared and improved 
the farm on which he died in 1870, at about the age of sixty years. 
He reared a family of seven children, viz.: Mary, Thomas,*^ Fhilij), 
Henry, John, William and ]\[argaret (Mrs. MaVtin P. Prcnnan). 
Thomas was reared in his native township, where he received a limited 
education in the common schools, and was for some years engaeed in 
farming, and in 1883 came to Towanda, where he was a buyer of hides 
one year. In 1884 he embarked in the hotel business, in which he has 
since continued, and has done business at his present place on South 
Main street since 1890. Mr. Grace is a member of the Iloman Catholic 
Church and is Independent in politics. 

FRANCIS P. GRADY, the leading and popular merchant tailor in 
Towanda, was born in Beaver Meadow, Carbon Co., Pa., March 16, 
1850, a son of James and Ann (Lannan) Grady, natives of County Ros- 
common, Ireland. James Grady came to America about 1834 and set- 
tled in Carbon county, engaged in farming and later was a boss in 
coal works; he died about 1852. Francis P. was reared in Carbon 
county, and began life as a slate picker and later was in the coal 
breaker, also worked in the mines as a door tender and mule driver. 
At the age of sixteen he was apjirenticed to the tailor's trade in Hazel- 
ton, Luzerne county, serving three years and ten months, and after- 
w^ard went to Philadelphia, where he worked as a journeyman in 
various cities of Pennsylvania and New York. In 1878 he located in 
Towanda and engaged in the merchant tailoi-ing business for himself, 
in which he has since successfull}' continued, and has built up a trade 
second to none in the county. 'Mr. Grady was married August 14, 
1875, to Mary J., daughter of Oscar Sage, of Bradford county, and by 
her he had one son. Francis W. (deceased). Mr. Grady is a member of 
the Catholic Church, also of the K. of L., and he is a Republican. 

J. H. GRANT, the leading jeweler of Troy, was born in Gen- 
eseo, Livingston Co., N. Y., January 5, 1834, a son of Ira and Maria 
(Hewitt) Grant, and is of Scotch-Irish descent, his ancestors being of 
the same lineage as that of the late Gen. U. S. Grant. He was reared 
in Cortland, N. Y., where he received an academical education, and 
served a three and one-half years' apprenticeship at the jeweler's 
trade, in which he has since succ^ssfullv continued. He has been 



846 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

twice marrievi. jlis first wife was Marian, daughter of William S. and 
Nancy (Botliwell) Dobbins, of Troy, and l)y her he iiad two children : 
Fred (deceased) and William II., now connected with a leading- 
jewelry establishment at Portland, Oregon ; his second wife wasOr])lia 
M., daughter of Elijah H. and Sarah (Halsted) Dewey, of Troy, and 
he has by her four children: Albert IT., Edwin IL, Nellie L. and 
Edith II. Mr. Grant is a Sir Knight Tem])lar; he was school director 
of Troy borough fifteen years, from 1872 to 1887, during fourteen 
years of which time he was treasurer of the school board; was burgess 
two terms, and a member of the common council eight or ten 3^ears ; 
he was treasurer of Bradford county from January 1, 1879, to Januai'v 
1, 1882, and was a presidential elector on the Harrison and Morton 
ticket in 1888; politically, he has alwavs been a stanch Republican. 

JAMES H. GKEEN, farmer, Orwell township, P. O. Orwell, was 
born in Susquehanna county. Pa., July 4, 1814, and is the eldest son of 
Job and Unice M. (Doolittle) Green, the former a native of Rhode 
Island and the latter of Orwell township. His father came to Susque- 
hanna county when three years old and resided there until his death. 
He had a family of seven children : James H.; John W., of Iowa ; Zenas 
M., deceased ; Samuel G., deceased ; Charles E., of Pike township; 
Lucy M., deceased, and an infant, deceased. James passed his boy- 
hood on a farm, and received his education in the common schools, with 
excej)tion of a few terms in a select school. When twenty-two years 
of age he purchased the old James Chubbuck farm, and has occu])ied 
that since; it is 155 acres of as fine farm land as there is in Orwell, all 
improved, and is well stocked and managed. He was united in mar- 
riage, July 24, 18(56, with Albertine, daughter of Joshua and IMargaret 
(Dings) Killmer, the youngest of a family of eight children. To them 
have been born three children, as follows: Maggie A., married to Fred L. 
Brown ; Fred A. and Stanley G. They are all members of the IVIethod- 
ist Episcopal Church, of which James is one of the board of trustees. 
He is a member of the Golden Cycle ; is a Re])ul)lican, and has held the 
office of sciiool director. Mr. and Mrs. Green ai-e among tlie large 
number of Bradford's citizens noted for their great hos))itality and 
social qualities ; they have a latge cii'cle of friends who unite in bestow- 
ing on them their affection and esteem. 

WALTER KERR GREEN, at present a farmer, in Bradford 
county, was born at Chappie Hill, Davidson Co., Tenn., September 15, 
1830, and is the son of John Simms and Elizabeth (Henley) Green. 
The family moved to Cherry townsliij), Lycoming (now Sullivan) C-o., 
Pa., in 1833. Were Walter grew to manhood, helping his father 
clear up a large farm. In January, 1857, he marritnl Marion E. Wol- 
cott. daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth (Park) Wolcott. of Litchfield, 
Bradford Co.; moved to that place in April, 1801, and ])urchased the 
Snover farm of John Layton (where George Brink now lives). In the 
fall of 1862 he was drafted and went to Ilarrisburg. After staying 
about four weelcs at Camp Curtin, he was discliarged and came home, 
ombarking in tiie lumber business. In this he was successfid until, in 
IMarch, 1S(')5, having a large amount of himber on the baidc of the Sus- 
quehanna, it was swept away in the thxjds, leaving him heavily in debt, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 847 

the effects of which he yet feels. Having turned all over to his credi- 
tors, he moved to Athens borough and began working by the day ; 
but after a time he embarked in contracting, which he found more 
remunerative, lie erected several buildings, among which was the 
"Oudderback House" on Chestnut street, which he built for himself. 
Always having good credit, he abused it by endorsing for a man who 
betrayed him, and again he lost all he had. In 1868 he moved to 
Wolcott Hollow, in Athens township, and began jobbing for Gen. II, 
Williston, which proved disastrous, and tiiis with the loss of five 
horses compelled him to sell all in order to pay his help, and once 
more he began at the bottom, working bv the dav forAVolcotttfc Had- 
lock, who had an extensive lumber trade at that time. Here he paid 
off his debts of the Williston disaster, and had a surplus, when, in 1873, 
AVolcott & Hadlock failed, and again Mr. Green lost heavily. But 
the lumber business of Wolcott A: Hadlock being bought by D. F. 
Park, he retained Mr. Green as superintendent witli a good sahiry, 
and this with the stum])-])ulling business, which he engaged in again, 
placed him on the road to prosperity. But in 1877 Bat Golden's barn 
at Milan was burned, and ai»ain Mr. Green was a loser, two good 
teams being burned in that conflagration. In 1880 Mr. Job Gritiin 
offered him a partnership in the manufacture of lumber, and the mill 
which now stands in Wolcott Hollow was built by Mr. Green to carry 
on the business which has proved successful. Mr. Green has met with 
many failures which Avould have dismayed a man of less pluck and 
courage, but with the aid of his estimable wife he has overcome these 
obstacles, and is now tlie owner of a good farm and a fine residence 
called ''The Willows." Here he resides with his wife and three 
daughters, M. Euphemia, Mar\^ A. and Virginia L. His two sons, 
Harry C. and Craig W., are now on the staff of two New York dailies. 
Three other children died in infancy. Mi*. Green has always had the 
confidence and respect of his neighbors. Although not an office-seeker, 
he is a stanch Democrat, and has successfully held sevei-al town offices, 
WILLIAM H. D. GREEN, a prominent dry-goods merchant, 
Towanda, was born in Dushore, Sullivan Co., Pa., January 30, 1837, a son 
of John S. and Elizabeth (Hanley) Green, the former of whom was a 
native of Philadelphia, and the latter of Georgia; they settled at 
Dushore in 1829, where the father acted as land agent for John S. 
Green, who had previously taken up a large tract of land in that 
vicinity. In 1856 he was elected treasurer of Sullivan county, and 
served two terms; he died March 16, 1876, at Laporte, Pa. Mr. Green 
was reared in Sullivan county, where he received a limited education 
in the common schools. August 17, 1862, he enlisted as a private in 
Company K, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I. September 15, 
1863, he was captured by the enemy while advancing on Culpeper, 
Va.; he was a prisoner nineteen months and twenty days in Libby, 
Belle Isle, Anderson ville. Savannah and Millen prisons. April 28, 
1865, he was sent to Jacksonville, Fla., and in June was transported to 
Annapolis, Md.. and thence to Ilarrisburg, Pa., where he was honor- 
ably discharged, June 20, 1865. In 1866 he settled in Towanda, Avhere 
he was pi'oprietor of the Towanda and Laporte stage line nearly three 



848 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

years. In 1868 he located at Burlington, this county, and engaged in 
general merchandising and hotel kce])ing there until 1883, when he 
returned to Towandaaudeniljarked in the dry -goods business, in which 
he has since successfully continued. He married, July 3, 18G0, Mary 
A., daughter of Dennis McKeehy, of Susquehanna county, Pa., and 
has two children hving, viz.: Frank D. and Ilattie M. (Mrs. 11. L. 
lUishnell). Mr. Green is a member of the Episcopal Church and G. A. R.; 
he was elected a second term as justice of the peace, during his 
residence at Burlington. Politically he is a Republican. 

GEORGE W. GREGORY, Ml D., Troy, was born in Fleming, 
Cayuga Co., N. Y., September 22, 1854, a son of Richard and Maria 
(Smith) Gregory, and of Scotch ancestry. He was reared in his native 
county, and received an academical education at Auburn, N. Y. ; in 
1875, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel Gilmore, of 
Fleming, N. Y., and in August, 1876, continued his studies under Dr. 
J. W. Cox, of Albany. N. Y. He was graduated from the medical 
department of Union University of that city, in January, 1879, and at 
once began the practice of his profession in Albany, remaining there 
until June, 1880; on July 26, 1880, he located in Troy Avhere he has 
since been in active practice. In June, 1883, the Doctor was married 
to Nellie, daughter of Perr\^ H. and Lydia (Robinson) Oliver, of Troy, 
and granddaughter of Edward Oliver, by which union there were two 
children : Richard and Margaret. Dr. Gregory is a member of the 
Homeopathic State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, and an honorary 
member of the Albany (N. Y.) Medical Society. Socially he is a Sir 
Knight Templar. 

JOB GRIFFIN, farmer, Athens township, P. O, Athens, was born 
in Athens township, this county, and is son of Capt. John (second) and 
Nancy (Morlev) Griffin, both of whom were born in Athens township. 
The father is a son of Capt. John (first) Griffin, who removed from 
Connecticut to this county about 1809, locating near Athens borough, 
then called "Tioga Point;" he ])urchaseda lot of 300 acres, and like all 
the old pioneers improved and built until, by hard labor and industry, 
he became a wealthy farmer for those days; he kept one of the first 
hotels in that place, and died about 1843, at the age of lifty-six. His 
son John (second) occupied part of the estate where Job now resides. 
He was an extensive lumberman, having built several sawmills, one of 
which is still standing; also dealt in stock and was a man of enterprise. 
In 1862 he joined as captain. Company II, Fifty-seventh ]*. Y. I., 
serving two years, and after his discharge he was chosen by his fellow- 
citizens to the office of town commissioner; he died May 15, 1874, at 
the age of fifty -six. He had only one son. Job, the subject of this 
sketch, who now resides on his father's homestead. At the age of 
twenty-three (in 1869) he married Miss Martha J., daughter of Dr. E. 
P. and H. H. Allen, of Athens, and three children were born to them, 
two of whom are living: Mary and John. Mr. Griffin is a general 
farmer and stock I'aisei', has about twenty-five head of full-blooded 
registered Guei'nseys, on which he took the (iist premium at Ti'oyand 
p]lmira fairs; he also buys stock of various kinds, shipj)ing to New 
York and Jersey City. 



HISTORY OF FSKADI'OKI) COUNTY. 849 

JOSEPH r. GRIFFITH, farmer and stock grower, P. O. AVindham, 
is a native of Snsquehanna county, Pa., born Julv 4, 1843. The yonth 
started life witii quite a patriotic celebration, lie is a son of David 
and Rutli (Wilber) Griffith, of New York, and of remote German and 
Welsh descent. Tlie father, who was a farmer and mechanic, came to 
Bradford county in 1848, first stopping in Windham township, and 
then went to Nichols, N. Y., where he died of heart-disease in 1879, 
being found dead in bed; his partner and wife had passed away five 
weeks previously. Their children were three in number: Joanna, 
married to iVmzi Benjamine, and died in 1876; Joseph P.; and Ruby 
A., wife of L. Neal. The sulqect of this sketch was reared and edu- 
cated in Windiiam township, and, a poor boy, commenced farming, and 
is now proprietor of 100 acres of highly improved and cultivated farm 
land. August 25,1862.the lad enlisted at O wego in the cause of the Union, 
joining the One Hundred and Ninth Regiment, N. Y. V. I., but the regi- 
ment being already full, he repaired to Binghamton and joined the One 
Hundred and Thirty-seventh Regiment, Company A, under Col. David 
Ireland, a regular, and they went almost direct to the front in fighting 
trim, and were "double-quicking" across lots toward the nearestTfight. 
The regiment joined Gen. Slocum's corps. Mr. Griffith bore the gauntlet 
of war safely until the battle of Chancellorsville, where " his hat 
received a mortal wound." The command reached Gettysburg the 
second day of the fight, and formed on the right, in the heat of the 
battle, receiving the assault of Stonewall Jackson's old command, and of 
the forty-four men in his companv, in this carnage, only five came out 
alive — four privates and one corporal being all who could muster after 
the battle. Slocum's and the Eleventh corps were consolidated under 
Gen. Hooker, and their next battle was at Wauhatchie in defense of a 
wagon train, when a ball grazed Mr. Griffith's neck, and came so near 
cutting his throat that it took away his breath and drew blood, but he 
rallied and was inline at the battle of Lookout Mountain, and charged 
tiie enemy's works; m this critical moment the Major called out, "who 
will go over first?" when he (the Major) quickly jumped over in order 
to be first, but jumped almost on Mr. Griffith, who was ahead of him, 
and for this he was promoted to sergeant. Then came tiie battle of 
Mission Ridge, and then to Ringold, Ga.. and Resaca, New Hope 
Church. Pine Knob, Kenesaw Mountain and Peaclitree Ci-eek, where 
he was hit over the heart with a ball that knocked him down, but some 
things in his pocket saved his life; then came Atlanta and Savannah, 
where he was one of a detail to furnish supplies, and became one of 
" Sherman's Banners," but was with his regiment in the Savannah bat- 
tle and on Sherman's entire march to the sea, and the campaigns of 
the Carolinas. Again becoming one of " Sherman's Banners," he was 
captured and sent to Libby ])rison, and the ten days' experience there 
nearly starved him to death. He was paroled and sent to Annapolis 
Junction, and finally was on his way to his old command when he was 
met at Eimira and mustered out June 23, 1805, the cruel war being 
over. He was married at Nichols, N. Y., to Catherine White, daughtcT- 
of William and Charlotte (Dunham) White, and they have two' chil- 
dren: William D., now aged twenty -one (he is employed in a store in 



850 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

New Mexico, receiving- $65 per month), and Kittie B., now aged seven- 
teen (she is at the normal scliool in Mansfield). This pleasant and most 
estimable family are members of the Methodist Church, and are widely 
respected. Mrs. Gritiith is an invalid, unable to walk, and goes about 
the house in a wheel chair. 

LUCIUS EDGAR GRIGGS, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. 
Liberty Corners, was born in Ashford, Conn., February 26, 1822, a son 
of Joseph and Mary (Mason) Griggs, natives of Connecticut and of 
early English origin ; they removed to Monroe in 1831. In his 
father's familv there were six children, of whom he is the fourth; he 
has always followed farming; located on his present home in 1849. 
He was married January 11, 1846, to Miss Lydia C, daughter of Philip 
and Betsey (Richards) 'Hart, of New England stock ; later came to 
Bradford county in 1825; they have five children, viz.: Willis E.. born 
January 8, 1847, is town treasurer, a member of the I. O. O. F. Lodge 
at Monroe, and resides on a farm across the road from the old home- 
stead, married to Mrs. Cyrus Lewis (Miss Mary E. Strevey), by whom he 
has three cliildren ; Dorsey L., born October 4, 1848, is engaged in the 
Eureka Works, Utica, N. Y., married to Lydia F. Strevey, by whom 
he has seven children ; Ira G., born August 19, 1850, electrical engi- 
neer, Brockport. Pa., married to Charlotte Brown, by whom he has 
two children ; Eli Z., born September 7, 1852, mine "superintendent, 
Brockport, married to Miss Annie S. Kinney, of Athens, who died 
July 23, 1891. leaving four children ; and Addison E., born December 
29, 1854, blacksmith, Landrus, Pa. Lucius Edgar Griggs and wife are 
members of the Methcxlist Episcopal Church ; he is a thorough Demo- 
crat, and has been collector of taxes, and school director nine years; 
was on the first school board ever organized in Monroe, and on March 
4, 1843, he was commissioned, by Governor Porter, captain of the 
" Monroe Rifle Company ; " he was rejected from active service in the 
Civil War on account of' deafness. 

T. GRnrES, farmer, of Overton township, P.O. Overton, is a native 
of County Sligo, Ireland, boi'n in 1817, and is a son of Terrence and 
Bridget (Galiaglier) Grimes, natives of the same place, where the 
father died in 1842, and the mother in 1844. He is the second in a 
family of five children. The son remained in the old family home in 
his native place, and at the age of twenty-three he bade farewell to 
home and native land, and sailed, as an emigrant, to the land of the 
free, making his ])ermanent sto]) in Overton, first seeking and finding- 
em ploy ment among the simple, honest, industrious farmers of that 
])lace. In time, by his untiring industi-y, he accomplished the ambi- 
tion of his young life, and become a land owner, a term that means 
far more to a foreign-born citizen than to a native American. His farm 
contains fifty acres, well improved and cultivated, on which are com 
fortable houses and general improvements. He was mari-ied in Ireland, 
in 1838, to Mary Coggins, daughterof I'ati-ick and Catlxsrine (Murphy) 
(Joogiiis, all natives of the same place, and old-time neighbors of the 
Crimes family. Of this union wei'c born children, of whom four died, 
and the living are: Mai-y, wife of James McDonald; Julia, wife of 
Charles Bowman ; Jennie, wife of James Nestor; Nellie, wife of Burt 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 851 

Hoose; Terrence, Maggie, Patrick and Michael. The family worship 
at the Catholic Church, and ever)^ member is noted for industry and 
integrity, a natur-al result it would seem when it is remembered that 
the father with his own hands cleared the entire farm, where they now 
live, when it was a dense wilderness. In political matters Mr. Grimes 
affiliates with the Democratic party. 

HENRY G. GRINNELL, farmer, P. O. Columbia Cross Roads, 
was born in Wells township, this county, December 26, 1844, and is a 
son of Lorenzo and Rhoda (Griffin) Grinnell. His father was a native 
of_ Chenango county, N. Y., and his mother of Dutchess county, K Y. 
His maternal grandfather was Henry Griffin, of Dutchess county, N. Y., 
who died there ; his widow afterw\ard married James A.Wilson, 
and with him settled in Wells township, this county, m 1837. Lorenzo 
Grinnell settled there at about the same time, clearing and improving 
a farm and was there married; he died in 1867; his widow still sur- 
vives him at the age of eighty-one years. Their children were as 
follows: Harrison, Susa (deceased), Henry G., and Mary (deceased). 
Henry G. Grinnell, the subject of this sketch, was reared in Wells 
township, educated in the common schools, and is a carpenter and 
]iainter by trade ; he has been more or less engaged in lumbering, but 
most of his life has been spent in farming. He resided in Wells town- 
ship until 1866, and has since lived in Columbia, where he has engaged 
in farming and dairying. He was in the Civil War, enlisting in 
September, 1861, in Battery A, First New York Artillery, and after 
serving six weeks was honorably discharged on account of disabilitv. 
He re-enlisted, in February, 1864, in Battery F, same regiment, and 
was honorably discharged June 27, 1865. He married, in December, 
1865, Alice, daughter of Cornelius and Mary J. (Seeley) Daggett, of 
Jackson, Tioga Co., Pa., and has five children, as follows : Stowell E., 
Henry G., Jr., Mary A., Lorenzo and Jennie. Mr. Grinnell is a 
Re])ublican in politics. 

CHARLES N. GROHS, of Grohs v\: Manlev, grocers, Trov, w^as 
born in Northampton county, Pa., March 13, 1832, a son of Isaac and 
Christianna Wilhelm, and is of German descent. He was reared in 
his native State, received a common-school education, and learned the 
miller's trade, beginning his apprenticeship when fourteen vears of age, 
in Luzerne county, and finishing in Troy in 1848. He settled in Troy 
township, and for fifteen years worked as a journeyman miller to 
Viele's mills, and two years as proprietor. In the spring of 1866, he 
locjited in Troy borough, and embarked in the grocerv business, in 
which he has since successfully continued, and has been' a member of 
the firm of Grohs & Manley since Januarv, 1889. In 1856 he mar- 
ried Deborah, daughter of Jacob Viele. of Schenectady, N. Y., and has 
two children: Minnie (Mrs. Fred H. Hoffman) and Charles Y. Mr. 
Grohs is a popular grocer of Trov; is a member of the Ej)iscopal 
Church and F. & A. M. ; has served as councilman of Trov borough 
one term; in politics, he is a Democrat. 

GEORGE H. H A FLETT, farmer, in Granville township, P.O. 
Windfall, was born in Granville township, this countv, Julv 21, 1841, 
and is a son of William and Lucy (Hewitt) Haflett, natives of England, 



852 HISTORY OF I{RAF)K()I{1) COUNTY. 

who settled in Granville township about 1838, and cleared and im- 
proved what is now known as the John L. Ferguson farm ; the 
father still resides in the township. They reared a family of children 
as follows: Amelia (Mrs. John Reed), John, Mary (Mrs. John C. 
May), Georg-e II. and William H. George II. was reared and educa- 
ted in Granville, where he has always resided, and is one of the repre- 
sentative farmers of the township. He married, December 14, 1862, 
Helen P., daughter of Philander and Betsey (Grantier) Case, of Canton 
township, and has one daughter, Ilattie ]>. Mr. Haflett was in the 
Civil War, having enlisted February 19, 1864, in Company C, Seventh 
Pennsylvania Cavalry. He partici])ated in the battles of Selma (Ala.), 
and ]VIacon (Ga.), besides other minor engagements; was wounded 
while on {)icket duty on the Tennessee river, and was honorably dis- 
charged at Macon, Ga., August 2;5, 1865. He is a member of the 
G. A. R. and P. of IP; politically he is a Republican, and has been 
assessor of Granville township five vears. 

JOHN W. HAFLETT, farmer,"of Granville township, P. O. Wind- 
fall, was born in Pi-ovidence, R. I., October 31, 1835, and is a son of 
William and Lucy (Hewitt) Haflett, who settled in Granville township, 
this county, about 1838. John W. Haflett was reared in Granville 
from three years of age. receiving a common-school education, has 
always followed farming, and has resided on the farm he now occupies 
since 1856, which he cleared and improved. He was in the War of 
the Rebellion, having enlisted August 1, 1864, in Company I, Fifteenth 
New York p]ngineers, and was honorably discharged from the service 
-Inly 2. 1865, at Washington, L). C. "^Ile married, July 4, 1855, 
Delilah, daughter of Piiilander and Betsey (Grantier) Case, of Canton, 
by whom he has five children, as follows: Lucy (ALrs. Washington 
McCroy), David, George, Gladdus and Merton. Mr. Haflett is a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R. and I. O. O.F. ; in politics he is a Republican. 

CALEB S. HAGER, farmer, Columbia township, P. O. Sylvania, 
was born in Hector, Tompkins Co , N. Y., November 13, 1818, and is 
a son of Isaac and Sally (Peck) Ilager, and of German descent. He 
was reared in Tioo-a countv. Pa., from five years of ao:e, educated in 
the common schools, and after attaining his majority engaged in 
farming. In 1869 he settled in Columbia townshij), this county, 
locating on the farm he now occupies, on which he has made many 
improvements. He is a man of extraordinary musical talent, has 
been a teacher of both vocal and instrumental music for fifty-seven 
years, and plays nearly ever\' instrument. He was twice married : 
first time to jMarvett, daughter of Luther Tinkham, of Tioga county, 
Pa., and i)y her he iiad four children : Franlc, Nettie (]\r)'s. Samuel 
Bi-adford), Ilattie (^SFi's. James Rothrock) aiul Martin. His sec-ond 
wife was Hannah, daughter <jf John Fisher, of Union county, Pa., and 
by her he has three children : Coley, Gertrude (Mrs. Bert Strait) and 
Percy. Air. Ilager is a meml'er of the Free-Wili Bap^'^t Church. In 
])olitics he is a K('pul)lican. 

FRANCIS II. HAGEMAN, farmer, P. O. Rumnu^rlield Creek, 
was born I'V'bruary 1, 1823, in Northampton county. Fa., the young- 
est of seven chiUlren of Joshua and Susanah (Dills) Ilageman, natives 



HISTORY OF BRADKOKI) COUNTY. Boli 

of New Jersey, lie was united in marriage January 1, 1852, to -hilia 
A., daughter of Piiilip Wideman, a native of this State, and tliey had 
six children, four of whom are living, as follows : Kate, born August 
26, 1855, wife of George Kerrick; Susan A,, born March 10, 1858, wife 
of R. B. Kerrick ; Francis H., born December 25, 1866, married to 
Rose Bullock; and Justin, born November 8, 1868. Mr. Hageman 
was raised on his father's farm, and has followed farming and milling 
all his life. He came to this county about 1870, purchased the old 
Laporte homestead, and has over 300 acres of the north part of the 
farm, one of the finest and best farms in the county. This settlement 
was made in 1791; the first settlement of the French refugees and the 
grave and monument of their leader, John Laporte, is near his house. 
Mr. Hageman has always been a very successful farmer, wheat and 
potatoes being his principal crops ; also owns the mill near tiie mouth 
of Towanda creek, where he does a large business which is managed 
by his two sons, Francis H. and Justin. He is a Republican in poli- 
tics, originally a Henry Clay Whig, for whom he cast his first vote 
for President. 

JOHN F. HAIGH, farmer and woolen manufacturer, of Pike 
township, P. O. LeRaysville, was born March 21, 1852, on the farm 
where he now lives, a son of Joseph and Harriet S. (Browning) Haigh, 
the former a native of Yorkshire, England, the latter of Bradford 
county, and of New England descent. The father located at Pike in 
1842, and was employed Iw William Black in the manufacture of 
woolen goods. In 1847, in company with Luther Stewart, he pur- 
chased the factory of Mr. Black, and in 1856 he purchased the interest 
of Mr. Stewart; then continued in this business until his death, which 
occurred June 22, 1890. at the age of seventy-five years; his wife died 
May 11, 1890. John F. Haigh was educated in the district, LeRays- 
ville and Rome graded schools, and beg-an teachino- at twentv, beino- 
thus occupied ten terms; aside from teaching winters he always 
remained at home and assisted his father on the farm and in the fac- 
tory. In his father's family there were six children, viz.: Mary, 
Lucy W., John F., Emma M., Sarah Jane and William S. (latter 
deceased). Mr. Haigh is a member of the Republican part}^ and has 
held office in his township for manv vears. 

HARRY L. HATGHT, farmer, P. O. Durell, was born June 20, 
1825, and is a son of George R. and Betsy O. (Curtis) Ilaight, natives 
of Chenango county, N. Y., and agriculturists. He came to Burling- 
ton, this county, when a small boy, was reared on his father's farm 
and educatetl in the schools of that town. Mr. Haight came to 
Asylum township about 1871 and settled on his present farm, which 
is one of the best in the town, his residence being on one of the most 
beautiful locations in the State. He was a soldier in the War of the 
Rebellion, and was honorably discharged after Lee's surrender ; he is 
a Republican, and has taken an active interest in the affairs of the 
county; was ten years a justice of the peace, and declined re-election 
for another five years. Mr. Haight was united in marriage, Decem- 
ber 25, 1848, with Caroline, daughter of Evan O. Shiner, and born 
December 6, 1825 ; they have had seven children, six of whom are liv- 

49 



854 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ing, as follows : George L., born Januiirv 29, 1849, a merchant, man-ied 
to Adda Ackley ; Vie C, born November 6, 1853, wife of Samuel 
Stetliers ; William B., born May 4, 1856, mai-ried to Bettie Bangston ; 
Carrie E., born April 19, 1862 (Mrs. Cliarles Frutchey); Perry S., born 
July 15, 1866, married to Ella Delong ; Alta D., born June 7, 1869, 
married to Katie Camj)bell, and living wit!) his father. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ilaight are consistent members of the ]\[ethodist Episcoj)a! Church. 
Mr. llaight's grandfather was a Revolutionar\' soldier and saw great 
hardships and long service. 

CHARLES A. HAINES, physician, LeRoy, was born in Lehigh- 
ton, Carbon Co., Pa., a son of Charles and Julia (Buchman) Haines, 
whose family consisted of four child i-en, of whom Charles A. is the 
second. He came to LeRoy township, this county, in the spring of 
1884, and purchased the old Bailey homestead, a pr()))erty which was 
in a very dilapidated condition ; but by labor, ingenuity and enter]^rise 
he has converted the house into a beautiful cottage of modern style, 
while the ground has been graded and terraced so as to make the resi- 
dence and ground an object of both admiration and beauty to the 
passer-by. He was reared in Schuylkill county. Pa ; educated at 
Union Seminary, Union county, Pa., Cedar II ill Seminary, Mount 
Joy, Pa., and the State Normal School of Bloomsburg. Pa., and then 
tinisiied in the scientific course. Afterward he went into the office of 
Dr. H. D. Rentschler, one of the most eminent physicians in Schuyl- 
kill county, Pa., afterward attending Jefferson Medical College of 
Philadel))hia. Finishing his education at the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., where he was graduated, he began the 
practice of his profession in Colombia county. Pa., from which place 
he moved to LeRoy. When twenty -four years old he was married, 
at Mahanoy City, Pa., to Bella, daughter of John and Catherine Leiten- 
bei'ger, natives of Germany, and to them was born. May 5, 1886, one 
child, Carlyle. Dr. Charles A. Haines thoroughlv understands his 
|)rofession, and has a large practice. He is a member of the JNIasonic 
Fraternity and of seven other societies; also a prominent member of the 
County Medical Society. Politically, he is a Rej)ublican. When locating 
ill Bradford county the Doctor had a hard and strong opposition to 
contend with, l)ut now he has one of the largest country practices in 
Bradford county. He has a brother. Dr. John F. Haines, who is a 
practicing physician at Monroeton, Pa. 

JuIIN F. HAINES. Monroeton, was born in AUenton, January 26th, 
1864, a son of Charles H. and Julia A. Haines, and is of French and 
(xerman descent. He was reared in his native State, where he received a 
normal-school e(Uication. In 1875 he acce[>ted a position with the Phil- 
adelphia cV Reading Railroad (,^omi)any as extra telegraph opei'ator, 
and in 1877 he accepted a position at Phillipsburg, N. J , as telegra|)h 
operator for the Western tlnion Telegraph Company; a few months 
later he was promoted, and sent to New ^'ork by the same Company 
to work in their main office. In 1878 he left New York to accept a 
))osition for the Philadelphia cV lieading Railroad Com])any, so he 
could take uj) the study of medicine at the same time, devoting all his 
spare time in the study of medicine. In 1880 he received a ))osition 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKI) COUNTY. 855 

as teleo-rapli operator for the Tide Water Pipe Line Company, at 
Taraanend, Pa., and while employed by that Company he received the 
first message sent over the Tide Water Pi{)e Line Company's tele- 
grapii line, the message being sent by Mr. Eddy, of Mainville, Pa. 
In October, 1881, he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
corner of Calvert and Saratoga streets, Baltimore, Md., graduating in 
medicine in the spring of 1885. After standing a competitive examin- 
ation, he was appointed resident physician and surgeon, for one year, 
in the Womans Hospital, and one year in the Surgical Department 
of the Bayview Hospital, and As3'lum of Baltimore. In 1887 he 
located in LeRoy, this county, where he remained two years. In 1889 
he removed to Monroeton, where lie has already succeeded in building 
up a large practice, and where he has gained note as a skilled surgeon. 
Dr. Haines is a member of the Bradford County Medical Society, 
I. (). O. F. and P. O. S. of A., and politically he is a Republican. 

MAJOR ELI AS W. HALE, a prominent citizen of Bradford county. 
Pa., was born December 13, 1816, in Towanda township, in the residence 
he now occupies, and is a son of Reuben and Wealtliy (Trac\') Hale. 
His father, a son of Gideon Hale, was a native of Glastonbury, Conn., 
and settled in Towanda township in 1799, when he purchased a tract of 
land on Towanda creek, of George Welles, and later bought lands 
adjoining, becoming an extensive property owner. On February 27, 
1803, he married Wealthy, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Rogers) 
Ti'acy, and lived in a log house on his property until 1810, when he 
erected the residence now occupied by his son, Maj. Hale, in which 
he resided until his death, which occurred January 30, 1825. He was 
born February 6, 1777; in 1810 he was appointed the first postmaster 
at Towanda, and served on the first grand jury called in Bradford 
county, and was for several years a justice of the peace. Among his 
business enterprises, outside of his farming interests, he operated a 
distillery, grist and saw mill, and he was a man possessed of rare 
business judgment ; in his day he was among the most prominent citizens 
of Bradford county. His wife, who was one of the first school teachers 
of Towanda, died April 12, 1854, aged seventy-five j'^ears; their children 
were: Eliza (Mrs. Gen. William Patton), Nanc}'^ (Mrs. Benjamin S. 
Specs), James T. (an eminent jurist and congressman of note), Reuben 
W. and Elias W. The subject of this sketch was reared on the old 
homestead to which he succeeded by inheritance and purchase of the other 
heirs' interests. He was educated in the common schools, and academy 
at Cazenovia, jST. Y., followed engineering in the North Branch Canal 
in early manhood, has always been engaged in farming and for many 
years was prominently identified with the lumbering and milling 
interests of Bradford county. He is now the owner of a large number 
of stores and dwellings in Towanda; proprietor of a large planing 
mill and lumberyard, and erected and is the present owner of" Hale's 
Opera House" and block in Towanda, the opei-a house being the leading 
jilace of amusement in the borough. He has been a director of the First 
National Bank of Towanda since its organization ; wasa])pointed major 
in the militia by Gov. Porter, in 1850, and is popularly known as 
Maj. Hale. He was married, September 7, 1854, to Mary J., daughter 



856 HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 

of Benjamin and Mary xV. (Hale) Taylor, of Glastonbury, Conn., by 
whom he has five children living, as follows: Hon. James T. (a promi- 
nent attorney of Duluth, Minn.), Benjamin T. (also a member of the 
bar). Elias W., Jr., Jennie M. and Anne (Mrs. John AV. Codding). In 
1850 Maj. Hale was appointed deputy United States marshal and took 
the census of Bradford county ; in 1804 he was one of the electors on 
the ticket that elected Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency for a second 
term; politically he has been a stanch Republican since the organiza- 
tion of the party, and in wealth and public spirit he is one of the pres- 
ent leading citizens of Bt'adford countv. 

DARIUS CUSTER HALL, KNOAVN IN BUSINESS LIFE AS 
D. C. HALL, was in trade in Towanda between 1844 and 1865. His 
mother was Temperance Custer, a woman of great force of character 
who reached extreme longevity, she was the daughter of a Revolu- 
tionaiy soldier, and related to the branch of which the lamented Gen. 
Custer came. His father John Hall, a cooper bv trade, came to 
Pennsylvania from Delaware. He drew a pension and Land warrant 
for his services in the War of 1812. It is not positively known whether 
this branch of Hall famil\' was of English stock or from North Ireland. 
The father of John Hall, when in advanced years settled in Indiana, 
married a voung wife and reared there a large familv. 

D. C. Hall born in 1819 died in 1865. He had^ well learned the 
tinman's trade, and his first partner in business was Mr. Ilentz. For 
a short time after purchasing Hardware stock of Daniel Lord, the firm 
was Hall cV AValker in the Barstow building, next to new Presbyter- 
ian Chapel on Court street. Afterward, Judge Russell came into the 
firm as Hall dc Russell. This firm built the hiro-e building which 
burned in 1867, on site now occupied by Dye & Co. As Lameraux 
Hall & Russell, they had a foundr\' and stove business on the site of 
Eureka works. In 18<;0 D. C. Half, with Col. J. F. Means and John 
McMahon run the line of mail coaches from Tunkiiannock to Waverly 
with a passenger" packet line from Athens. Having juirchased interest 
of Judge Russell in 1857, he sold out hardware business to John A. 
Codding and Judge Russell, who for years continued that business. 
As School Director, he was instrumental in building the School House, 
corner of Pine and Second, the first School building owned b}' the Direc- 
tors under Act of 1854. His name appears among those who caused 
the purchase of the first fire apparatus in town. He was a man of 
energy, quick intuitions, active, gcniiil and generous. Owing to sick- 
ness and a premature locating of a Hardware store at Dushore, Pa., he 
had reverses, but he was jiroud that he paid his del)ts. He was a 
believer in the ti'uth of the ('hiistian religion, a pi'ominent inenibei' of 
the Masonic and other fraternities, and in politics, a Jeffersonian 
Democrat. At an early age lie married Elizabeth daughter of Elder 
Isaac Post, who then kept hotel on site of present Reporier Journal 
building. At his death, he left three children, Charles M., Stella (Mrs. 
.1. L. Thurber) and Anna (Mrs (i. W. Hruce). 

Chai'les M. Hall the elder at his father's death had struck out in 
his young days for the better openings of the West, and was linely 
located on the South shore of the copper region of Lake Superior neai- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COIIXTY. 8-")T 

Dntonag-on. Reaching iiome after liis Father's death, ho submitted to 
the duty of caring- for liis widowed moilier and young sisters. After 
settlement of sisters he married in 1882 Miss Van JJuskirk of Tomp- 
kins county, N. Y., whose family were originally of Holland and 
Pennsylvania German ancestry, from Monroe county. Pa. His 
children are. Delos Custer, Chas. Sumner, and Cornelius. He was 
after disposing of wholesale Liquor business, which he did not find quite 
congenial, engaged with Codding & Russell in the hardware store 
wliich they had bought of D. C. Hall, and always received the highest 
wages even in his young days. After 1873 and the completion of the 
L. V. R. R. judging that the business had seen its best days in 
Towanda, he decided to pi'actice law. He was admitted in 1877. In 
1878 he was appointed a Magistrate with civil and criminal jurisdiction 
by Gov. Hartranft. He was twice afterwaril elected against the 
Caucus Regular Republican candidate by Independent voters. At this 
time he is Register of Wills, Recorder, and Clerk of Orphans Court. 
He was chosen on the Fusion ticket supported by both Democrats and 
Independent Republicans. Mr. Hall was a Republican until 1888, when 
he believed that the old war issues were settled, and that the Republican 
leaders were taking a new and unjustifiable extreme liigh-tariflf i)osi- 
tion, not in line, with previous Republican policy and highly opposed 
to the interests of the country. He saw that the Mills bill was a good 
tariff with as much protection as the farmers, and wage-earners of the 
countrv, could afford to concede the wealthy nabpbs who had been 
plucking the people. He saw that such Republicans as David Wilmot, 
Henry Wilson, Gen. Grant, President Arthur, Chas. Sumner, with 
E. O." Good rich and the Bradford Rejxrrter had for years favored a 
still lower tariff than the Mills bill. Believing that the infant indus- 
tries required less protection now^ than fifty years ago, he followed his 
convictions, in a county of -4,200 Republican majority, and united him- 
self to the Democratic party as the best promoter of reduced taxation 
and tariff reform, unterrified by the misapplied and unjust appellation 
of " Free Trade Hall.'' He is a tariff reformer, but not as yet, a Free 
trader. 

Mr. Hall received his quota of school education at the Susquehanna 
Col. Inst., which he left at the age of thirteen, then a good classical 
scholar. Such matters as German, French, Shorthand reporting, he 
learned himself as necessary or expedient. In the period between 
1870 and 1875 when the Good Templars were active he was much 
interested and was the presiding officer of the County Lodge. As a 
temperance candidate for County Treasurer he received the highest 
vote on the ticket. 

Mr. Hall is one of a very few who have ever been elected to a 
County office, actually native of the borough of Towanda. H. L. 
Scott, Esq., was from the township, most officers credited to Towanda 
borough are those who have located there after election to some office. 

H. J. PIALLOCK, jeweler, Wyalusing. Among the self-made men 
of this county, the gentleman whose name heads this brief sketch is 
deserving of special mention. He was born November 19, 1848, a 
son of Eli R. and Mary (Jaques) Hallock. His father's ancestors 



858 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Avere of English origin, and among the early emigrants to this country. 
Peter Ilallock, the fii'st of the family in the New World, came to 
Massachusetts in 1040, and was leader of the colony that came with 
him. His descendants have partici])ated in all the wars of the Colo- 
nies, and afterward of the United States. Gen. Halleck, so famous 
in the Civil War, was of the same family, and many of them have 
acquired fame in the different professions. Eli R. Ilallock was born 
in Orange county, N. Y., a son of Eli, Sr., and Mary Colenuin, the 
former of whom was a shoemaker, and died in Wyoming county, 
]S"ovember 30, 1879 ; his family consisted of seven ciiildren, six of 
whom are living. H. J. Ilallock passed his boyhood in Northumber- 
land and Meshoppen, receiving an academical education, and, being a 
close student, has accpdred a stoi'o of knowledge su])erior in some 
branches to that of the average college graduate; completed the Chau- 
tauqua course and graduated from the same. When thirteen years 
old he was apprenticed to learn the wagon -maker's trade, and served 
four years ; then entered a store as a clerk, and served four years, after 
which he went into the employ of R. B. Camp, of Wyalusing, and 
with him began to learn the jewelry business; afterward was with 
James Searls, of Pittston, and then with John W. Tyler, of Scranton. 
In Mav, 1873, he began business for himself in Wyalusing borough, 
where he has since continued, and, by close attention and good busi- 
ness tact, has made his trade a complete success. He carries lines of 
goods as extensive as is to be found in most city establishments of the 
same kind, and as a skillful workman he has no superior in the county. 
His beautiful store-room at the corner of Main and Church streets is 
well stocked with watches, clocks, jewelry, silverware, spectacles, 
opera glasses and musical instruments, guns, revolvers, ammunition, 
etc.; his first stock amounted to but $150, but he now carries thousands 
of dollars' worth, and his trade is constantly increasing. He owns the 
building in which his store-room is located, as well as his beautiful 
residence on Front street, which is excelled by none in the county for 
beauty of architecture, elegance of finish and conveniences ; it is heated 
on the three floors by hot air, and has hot and cold water on the first 
and second floors. Mr. Ilallock was united in wedlock, September 29, 
1875, with Susie Dodge, daughter of "Squire" John F.Dodge, of 
Terrytown, and Malissa (Elliott) Dodge; of a family of six chiklreii. 
she is the fifth. This union was blest with two children: One that died 
in infancy, and Lelia M. Mr. and Mrs. Ilallock are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of Wyalusing, of which he is trustee, 
steward and treasurer; he is a charter member of White Lilly Lodge, 
I. O. O. F., No. 808, and was the third N. G. of the Lodge ; he was a 
representative to the Grand Lodge in 1875-76, and again in 1800; was 
elected secretary of the Lodge in 1877, and has held that office since. 
He is an active "^Democrat, and has filled various town and boi'ough 
offices. Mr. and Mrs. Ilallock are among the most active workers 
in all church and benevolent enterprises of the section, and their doors 
are always open to any society for the advancement of their fellow 
moi'tals. 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKI) COUNTY. 859 

J. S. HAMAKER, editor of the Rocket, was horn in Cohimhia, 
Lancaster Co., Pa., and is tiie fourth child and second son of lloni'v 11. 
and Ann E. (Ziegler) TIamaker, natives of the same; i)h'ice. His father 
was a kmiber manufacturer, and had a family of nine children — five 
sons and four daughters. His oldest brother died in April, 1891 ; of 
the other three, A. C, of Philadelphia, is general agent of the Nickel 
Plate R. R. Co.; Charles ¥. is a book-keeper in Philadelphia, and 
Walter S., of Philadelphia, is a commercial salesman. Of his sisters, 
two are dead; Mary E. is the wife of Charles P. Arnold, a clerk, of 
Reading, and Julia C. is the wife of William P. Rowe, a pharmacist, 
of Reading. Mr. Hamaker had only limited advantages of a common- 
school education. In his twelfth year, 1868, he commenced to learn 
the printing trade, in the Reading Times office, and completed his 
typographical education in 1872. He almost immediatel}- left his 
home in Reading, and went first to the coal regions of Pennsylvania, 
where he worked for a short time; thence to New York Cit}^ where he 
was employed at book and job printing. From there he went South, 
and worked in Georgia for a while, returned to Pennsylvania, in 1873, 
and was employed at his trade in several States until 1877, when he 
went to South Carolina and became engaged in the mercantile and 
lumber business on the Big Pedee river, and was there until the fall of 
1878, Avhen he returned North to recuperate from a severe attack of 
fever. He remained in Reading until the spring of 1879, when he 
went to Towanda, Bradford Co., Pa., and took charge of the mechanical 
work of the Bradford Repuhllcan. He remained with this paper 
until 1882, when, in April of that year, he went to Spartanburg, S.C, 
and became superintendent ancl assistant editor of the Spartaoi; 
but returned North the same year, and took charge of the Journal, 
published at Palmyra, N. Y.; "^in 1883 he returned to Towanda and 
clerked in a furniture store for a time ; then went to Rome, Ga., where 
he secured a half-interest in the Courier job office. In January, 1884, 
he returned to Towanda, and became engaged on the Bradford Reporter, 
and remained after the combination of the Reporter and Journal 
until September, 1888, when he purchased the Wyalusing Rocket, of 
C. A. Stowell. Under his administration the business has increased 
greatly, and the paper has a very substantial circulation. After 
moving his office to the Larkin building, in October, 1890, Mr. Hama- 
ker opened a stationery store also. He was united in wedlock, 
December 31, 1883, with Anna Laurie, daughter of Seymour Smith, 
of ToAvanda, and they have one child, Frances, born March 3, 1887. 
In his political views Mr. Hamaker is Independent, having allied him- 
self to no party. Mr. and Mrs. Hamaker occupy a high position 
among the people of Wyalusing. Mrs. Hamaker is a soprano singer 
with a wide reputation. 

AARON HAMM, foreman L. V. R. R. blacksmith shops, at Say re, 
is a native of Passaic, N. J., born June 19, 1843, and is a son of John 
and Gertrude (Caldwell) Hamm, natives of France, who immigrated to 
Passaic county, N. J., in 1823. The father, who was a tailor, died in 
New Jersey in 1851, in his forty-fifth year; the mother died in June, 
1877, in her sixty-seventh year.' Aaron, who is the fourth in a family 



860 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

of seven children, was reared in his native place, receiving a common- 
school education, and began an apprenticeship at the blacksmith's 
trade. After working a short time, he enlisted for nine months, in 
September, 1862, in Company K. Twenty-fifth Regiment, X. J. V. I., 
and was in the battle of Fredericksburg, under Gen. Burnsides, and in 
the battle of Suffolk. He was mustered out at the expiration of his 
term, then went to Scranton and finished his trade at the end of four 
years; then moved to Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, when he worked 
two years; then worked at his trade in the following places: Rhode 
Island, Patterson, Susquehanna county, Corry and Passaic: remained 
in Passaic about four years, and came from ihere to Sayre, September 
19, 1875, and went to work in the railroad blacksmith shop at the 
junction: following year he was promoted to foreman, a position he 
has held since. He was married in Patterson, X. J., in IbOT, to Miss 
Mary, daughter of Martin and Mary (Courdad) Bowman, natives of 
France; she is the fourth in a familv of eight children, and was born 
in France, November 11, 1844. To Mr. and Mrs. Ilamm were born 
seven children, viz.: John, Emma, George, Charlie, Gertrude, Mary 
and Joseph. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church. 
He is a member of the following beneficial organizations : Iron Hall, 
Golden Circle, Provident Life, C. A. and B. A., Sexennial League, and 
of the G. A. R., Hartranft Post, No. 7, of Passaic, and in politics he 
is a Democrat. 

A. C. HAMMERLY, farmer, P. O. Camptown, Avas born in Wur- 
temberg, Germany, July 1), 1842, a son of Jacob and Mary (Blocher) 
Hammerl}'. His mother's family came to this country over fifty 
years ago, and after his father's death, which occurred when he was 
eight years of age, his mother came to join her people here, and he was 
sent to an orphans' school in Switzerland. After a short period spent 
in that school he was apprenticed to learn the trade of brush-making; 
he remained with his master eighteen months, and then came to 
America to join his mother and her family, being then seventeen years 
old. His parents had a family of eight children, viz : Frederick, a 
mechanic in the employ of Mason tS: Hamlin, the celebrated organ 
manufacturers, of Chicago; Martin, of Chicago; George, farmer of 
Iowa; Jacob, who died in the army; Michael, who died in LeRays- 
ville in 1887; John, farmer, of Iowa; Kate, married to Frank Nichols, 
of Kansas, and A. C. The subject of this sketch reached Ilerrick, 
where his parents then resided, and worked for a short time on a farm, 
then woi'ked in the tannery of Snell c^' Saylor, of Potterville. On 
August 7, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Forty- 
first Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until Mux 28, 1865, when 
he was discharged at the close of the war; he participated in the bat- 
tles of Fredericksbiu'g and Chancellorsville, where he was captured 
and was confined twenty-eight days in Libby prison; he was then 
jiaroled, sent to Purcell Camp at AnnajuJis. Md.,and fi-om there came 
home, walking the entire distance; in the fall he was exchanged and 
rejoined his regiment at I>ran(l\' Station, \"a., and was in the battles 
of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold IIarl)or, North Anna, Siege of 
Petersburg, and at Appomattox at Lee's surrender. After his return 



HISTORY OF BRADFOni) COUNTY. 861 

from the ariiiv lie worked (ov Mi*. Conover in ;i tannery one year, 
then purchased his ])resent |)ro|)erty and built a tannery wiiicli he 
operated until 1880, when it was (!*estroyed by lire; he then built a 
steam cider-mill with a capacit}' of from eighty to one hundred bar- 
rels a day, which he still operates. He made his home in the township, 
with the exception of the years 1888 and 1889, which he spent in New 
York. Besides his cider-mill, which he operates through the season, he 
has a small farm. He was married February 21, 1866, to So})hia 
Armstrong, daughter of David Armstrong of Herrick ; this union has 
been blessed with three children: William D., Mamie B., and Myrtie 
L. Mr. and JMrs. Hammerly are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Camptown ; he is a member of Hurst Post, No. 86, G. A. R.; 
also of Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503, I. O. O. F., and has taken all sub- 
ordinate degrees, is past grand, and a member of Grand Lodge ; he is 
Republican in politics. 

CHARLES N. HAMMOND, physician, Bentley Creek, was born 
August IT, 1848, in Leroy township, this county, a son of John G. and 
Salome (Lamb) Hammond, farmers of the same township, former born 
near Elmira, N. Y., of English origin, and the latter born in Vermont, 
of Scotch-Irish lineage. The great-grandfather and his brother, 
Lebius Hammond, were among the pioneers of the Chemung valley, 
and the latter was the celebrated Indian fighter in Revolutionary 
times, whose deeds and exploits are mentioned in the "Annals of 
Binghamton." The grandfather, John Hammond, was a pioneer of 
Tioga county, Pa., at Elkland, and was known as "Uncle John." He 
was blind for forty years, the result of an accident. The cele- 
brated Dr. William A. Hammond is also a relative of this familv. 
The maternal grandfather, James Lamb, was one of the first settlers 
of this county at Troy, coming from Vermont about 1815. Charles 
N. Hammond was reared on his father's farm in Leroy township and 
was educated in the village schools of that township, and at Elkland, 
Pa. At the ao-e of eig-hteen he beg^an teaching, in which he continued 
thirteen terms, when he engaged as a traveling salesman, and studied 
medicipe at the same time. He attended lectures, one year, at the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, of Baltimore, and finished his course at 
the University of New Yor-k, where he was graduated in the spring 
of 1887; was associated a short time at Canton with Dr. AV. S. Lewis, 
and in the spring of 1888 located at Bentley Creek where he has since 
enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice. The Doctor opened a 
drug store in the spring of 1891. He was married, September 25, 1872, 
to L. Celia Wilcox, of LeRoy, born September 25, 1852, a daughter of 
O. Lewis and Mary A. (Tillotson) Wilcox, whose family were among 
the early settlers of the township ; her maternal grandfather was a 
Revolutionary soldier. Dr. and Mrs. Hammond have had born to 
them tw^o daughters: Emma S., born June 18, 1875; and Josie W., 
born May 4, 1878. He is vice-president of the County Medical 
Society, and a member of the State and American Medical Associa- 
tions. Politically he is a Republican. 

RICHARD S. HANKINSON, farmer, of Herrick township, P. O. 
Rummerfield, was born in Sussex county, N. J., July 25, 1841. His 



862 



HISTOR"Y OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



f.,thor William Ilankinson, was born in Sussex county, N. J., ^^jem- 
1:17^1819 and his errand father, Aaron Ilankinson, also a native of 

n,=p^ P'^herine (wife of John Silverthorn and Kobeit w Jiiam 
H^L^on Ste^^^^^^^^^^^ until his fourteenth year, and at eighteeTi 

Kn fo" himself and worked on a farm in ^ew Je^'sey - ^l ISj., 
wfen he came to this count3^ and ^^^^^^^.^l^^^^il^Zt 
Cc Yo Lur;^h"in'l868t sold^l^ mttrS't^ ".acoi, and purchased 
seveStT'icresMn' Rome township, and in 1882 he sold this to his sen. 

Vm-edl and^^ Elizabeth, with whom he livecl until 1886 

^rnce which time he^has lived with his son, llichard. He married in 

83rCharity, daughter of P-^^oU^l-s^choo-ver -d ^h 3 h.^ 
eleven children, viz.: Marv Ann, deceased ; Martha J-, ^^lIe 01 ^ ^. 
Smith; Richard S.; Obediah P.; Jacob S.; Rodie M., -fe of C. Dum- 
mer; Elizabeth E.; Melissa A.; John; Alfred L. and SaiaH U. 

Ilankinson died July 10, 1889. 1 •„ cfonrlino- Stone Wvsox 

Richard S. Ilankinson attended school in ^^^.f ^"«^^^^^^^^ 
and Camptown until he was twenty-one years. In October ibb., ne 
was draf ed into Company D, One Hundred and ^^J^^^^yJ^f |^^ ;^^;i 
and went to llarrisburg, then to ^ashrngton then to Suffolk Va and 
was employed at the latter place as reserve, hxe ^^ee\.s r \2l^e he 
Harris Landing, and on a transport to Isew Berne NCw^^^^^^^^^^ 
remained until April 1, 1863; then was «^"^/,«,^,^ "^^^^^^^^ "er^^ 
N. C, and remained there until the latter part «/ J^"*:; .,;\''7^^'^ 
had In attack of typhoid malaria, was m ^, ^^^/^^l I'there le w^ 
recovered until discharged ; but when his ^T^ndl!?! t^^^^^^^^^^ 
throu^rh with them, though still very weak, and when tlie^| a' xe 
a Stress Monroe Jul3°2, his command was ordered o in e cept 
the rebels, retreating from Gettysburg, l^f/^jf:^ °^ 'S^^ ,^^^^"Xre 
the hospital three u^eeks, and was sent to f^^^^^i more, and tom^lee 
to Hnrrisburo- where he was mustered out, August 8, 1864. ^v niie 
n the erv °e he contracted chronic diarrhoea, from which he has 

acres making a total of 124 acres, and built hi. ''""^^.^^ .^°'y 
and in addiUon in 1883. He was school director rom ISn to 1888, 
'L a member of the Presbyterian Church ami of Hurst ost ^ o. 86 
G A. R., and White l.illv Lodge, .No. 808 I. O. O. I^., ^J^* ''^.J'^'^''^ 
is a Democrat. In 1865 he married Harriet, ^l;^"§^;t«J « .j^^, '^7 ^ 
Caroline (Ilallock) Hillis, the second of a family of « ^ |^; 'g"', ^f/' 
they iiave had seven children : Eldest died in 'jV^^'l^ , ' ^//^'^ %^.Z 
of i Patten), Annie (died in infancy), Rosie li., Eduaid K., J.eitna 

(deceased) and Gladdis. o,-«...fr.n i« n n-itive of 

^ JAMES J. IIANNON, hotel P^'opr-ietor, Ove.ton s a nat Ne o 

Ireland born March 3, 1841, a son of James and Honoia Ha ) 
annon, of Countv Limerick. The family came to America m the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 863 

year 1850, and first settled in Owcgo, K. Y., and afLerwafd, in 1852, 
removed to Towanda, in this count}^ and this was their home during 
the remainder of their lives. The father was a quiet day labore?, 
noted for his industry and frugality. He departed tiiis life March 19, 
1890 ; his good Avife and helpmeet had preceded him to the grave, 
May 13, 1880. They had reared a family of six children, of whom 
James J. was the eldest, and was nearly seven years of age when he 
came to this country with his parents. He had but slight school 
advantages in his young boyhood, and at a tender age assisted more or 
less in helping support the family. When he struck out in the world 
for himself, he commenced driving stage coach on the route from 
Towanda to Troy, and was at this employ four years, when he was 
offered and accepted a position with the^ Barclay Coal Company as 
handler of live stock, a position of responsibility in which he remained 
the next nine years. By faithful work and severe economy, at the end 
of that time he had saved enough to start in life on his own account, 
and he removed to Overton and engaged in farming, and now possesses 
fifty-three acres of well-improved farm land. In 1877 he built his 
hotel in the village, which he now manages in conjunction with his 
farm. J. J. Hannon and Mary E. Sullivan were united in marriage, 
November 20, 1867; she is the 'daughter of John and Catherine Sulli- 
van, who came to America from Ireland in 1835, and located in 
Towanda. Their children are: John, born June 20, 1869, died March 
27, 1875; Mary, born July 28, 1870; Eddie J., born September 9, 
1873; Kite, born July 6, 1875; Ella, born August 14, 1877, died in 
infancy; and Margaret, born June 2, 1879. The family are Roman 
Catholics in faith and practice, and are widely respected, antl have 
many and w^arm friends. Mr. Hannon is aDenmcrat, and is accounted 
one of the leading and influential citizens of his township. 

PATRICK J. HANNON, farmer, Warren township, P. O. Cadis, 
is a native of County Sligo, Ireland, born August 15, 1846, to Patrick 
and Margaret (Dyer) Hannon, natives of the same place. The family 
came to America in 1851, first locating in Rhode Island, and then in 1859 
removed to this county, settling in Warren township ; the father died 
December 20, 1875, and the mother March 3, 1878; in their familv 
there were six children: John died in infancy in 1846, in Ireland, and 
James died in Rhode Island in 1852, aged fourteen ; the yet living are 
Mary (Mrs. Patrick Kellighan, who has three children and has buried 
three), Ann (Mrs. Michael Ryan, of O weoo, a widow with three children, 
her husband having died in 1889), Michael, married to Mary Taylor 
and resided in Warren township, died in 1881, and left a widow and 
seven children (their daughter Mary died in 1890, aged twentv-tAvo) 
and Patrick J. Our subject grew to manhood in Warren township 
and became a successful farmer and stock-grower. He received a 
small property by inheritance, but has mostly made by his own 
efforts, and is the owner of, 165 acres of farm land, highly improved 
and well stocked, Avith elegant farm buildings of all kinds. He 
Avas married in Susquehanna county, April 14. 1868, to Bridcret, 
daughter of Owen and Susan (Gilhooly) McDonaugh, nativ^es of Sligo, 
Ireland, Avho came to this country when young and reared eight chil- 



864 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

(Iren of whom Bridget was the fourth. By this marriage there was 
one child, William P., whose mother died when lie was six days old, 
March 20, 1869. Mr. JIannon married, the second time, in 1872, Mar- 
garet M., daughter of Owen and Elizabeth (Gillorn) Ilannon, of Ros- 
common, Ireland, and by this marriage he had six children as follows : 
Mary E., Josephine C. (died in 1880, aged three years), Margaret B., 
Fi-ancis J., James P. and John M. The family are exemplary mem- 
bers of the Catholic Church, and in politics Mr. Hannon is a Democrat. 

HON. STEPHEN D. HARKNESS, farmer, P. O. Springfield, 
was born elanuary 31, 1823, in Springfield township, this county, a son 
of James and Martha (McLellan) Harkness, the former a native of 
Delaware county, N. Y., who removed to this township when fifteen 
years of age with his father. The grandfather of Stephen was a 
William Harkness, a Revolutionary soldier, and among the earliest 
settlers in the township; he ])urchased a possession of 300 acres, of 
which Stephen and his son now own 250 acres. Stephen D. was the 
youngest of the family of four children, and was reared on his father's 
farm and educated in the school of the township; he has been a 
farmer. October 29, 1816, he married Eliza, daughter of Woodward 
and Rhoda (Cass) Berry, and they have two children, as follows: 
Theressa O., born November 21, 1850, married to Willard A. Brown, 
of Springfield, and Edson D., born August 28, 1855, married to Blanche 
Brace, and lives on a part of the original homestead. Mr. Harkness 
has always been a stanch Republican, and takes an active interest in 
political affairs ; he was first constable, then justice of the peace five 
years, and in 1881 was elected treasurer of the county, served one 
terra, and was immediately elected associate judge, in which position 
he served the county five years; in the fall of 1878 was elected to the 
State Legislature, and served one term with honor. He is a member 
of the Free Masons and also of the I. O. O. F. Judge Harkness is a 
man much respected by a large circle of friends. Afrs. Harkness' 
family were settlers in Springfield township at a very earl}' da}'; she 
is a consistent member of the Baptist Church. 

STEPHEN B. HARLOW, farmer, P. O. Wysox, was born in 
Monroe, Orange Co., N. Y., February 20, 1826, and is the only 
child of John B. and Elizabeth (King) Harlow, natives of New York, 
and of Fi'ench origin. He came to ]>radford county in 1847, and 
located on his present home, taking up fifty acres on which there was 
a log house and a small clearing, made bv Josei)h Lent; Mr. Harlow 
has since added 100 acres to his first farm, and it has all been placed 
under an excellent state of cultivation. He was married, December 
2i, 1850, to Celestia, daughter of John and Zueba (Rowley) Allen, 
natives of Connecticut and of New Enuland lineage; they have one 
child, Celinda A., born February 27, 1852, married to Bradford C. 
Webb, who is engaged on the fai-m with Mv. Harlow. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Webb have been Ijorn thi-ee children : Harlow, born April 5, 
1875; Susan, born March 29, 1878, died October 19, 1880; and Ralph, 
born October 13, 1887. Mr. Harlow is a very zealous advocate of 
Democracv, and has held the offices of commissioner and assessor. 



HISTORY OF KRADFORD COL'NTY. 865 

TITUS HARPS, farmer, AVyalusing township, P. O. Wyalusing, 
was born in Monroe county. Pa., December 25, 1840, a son of Jacob and 
Margaret (Bommon) Harps, natives of Monroe county, of wliomthe lat- 
ter is still living. They had a family of thirteen children, Titus being 
the ninth. The father, who was a farmer, died in 1858, aged fifty-two 
years. Our subject was born and reared on a farm and educated in the 
common schools. The father dying when Titus was eighteen years 
old, the latter had his own way to make, and followed farming and 
lumbering until June 17, 1861, when he enlisted in Company F, Fourth 
Pennsylvania Reserves, in which he served until June 17,' 1864, and 
was mustered out at Philadelj)hia at the expiration of his term. He 
was in the battles of Bull Run, before Richmond, Fredericksburg, 
South Mountain, Antietam, Floyd's Mountain, and in numerous minor 
engagements. Returning from the army he engaged in farming which 
he has followed until the present time. 'Mr. Harps resided in Monroe 
county until 1868, and since then has lived in different sections of Brad- 
ford county. In 1869 he purchased a place in LePaysville, and in 
February, 1891, purchased his present place. Mr. Harps was married 
July 28, 1866, to Mary Ann, daughter of Jacob Walters, a j^rominent 
farmer of Wyoming county, and this union has been blessed with three 
children : Morris A., marrietl to Rose Jacoby, a farmer of Spring Hill, 
this county ; Nettie and Jacob L., still with their parents. Mr. and 
Mrs. Harps are members of the Spring Hill Methodist Episcopal 
Church, he is a member of Hurst Post, No. S6, (Jr. A. R., Camptown, 
and, politicallv, is identified with the Repulilican partv. 

ARTHUR H. HARRIS, foreman of Fuller's mili;Wyalusing. was 
born in Cheltenham, England, February 7, 1862, a son of Anthony 
and Sarah (Done) Harris, the former of whom was a farmer, and 
passed his life in England ; he had a family of twelve children, five of 
whom came to America, viz.: Edward, P'eter, George, Thomas and 
Arthur H.; Edward is a steamboat engineer residing in Canada; Peter 
is operating a large stone quarry at Pockey Forest, this State; George 
is secretary of the Union Glue Compa*ny, of Brooklyn; Thomas 
returned to England a few years ago where he now resides. Our sub- 
ject came to America, October 9, 1873 ; he attended school at Guilford, 
N. Y., also at Elmira ; then went to Black Walnut, Pa., and worked 
in the quarries there, learning the trade of stone cutter, where he 
remained until 1877, when he returned to England and enlisted in the 
English army, and was at once sent with his brigade to India to 
engage in the Afghanistan war; there he remained three years, endur- 
ing all the hardships of the Indian climate and native warfare; 
marching far into the interior, and meeting with numerous adventures; 
he was stricken with Indian fever. He was discharged May 11, 1881, 
having risen to the rank of cor))oral before leaving the service. From 
India he returned to England, where he remained a short time, and then 
came to America, locating at Wyalusing, and worked at the carpenter's 
trade about one year, then entered the employ of I. C. Fuller, as fore- 
man of his lumber mill, which jwsition he has since held. He was united 
in marriage January 20, 1885, with Mary, daughter of Jabob Vananken. 
a nurseryman and farmer of Wyalusing. To Mr. and Mrs. Harris 



866 HISTORY OF BRADFORD ( OUNTY. 

have been born two chikli-en : Ellen and Clair; politically Mr. Harris 
is identified with the Democratic party; he is a member of White Lilly 
Lodge, No. 808, L O. O. F., and has taken all subordinate degrees. 

CHARLES \^. HARRIS, locomotive engineer, L. V. R. R., Sayre, 
is a native of Elmira, N. Y., and was born April 22, 185L "His 
parents were Joseph H. and Mary (Cooley) Harris, the former a 
native of Luzerne county, and the latter of Elmira, N. Y. The 
father, who was a farmer, was born in November, 1822, and died in 
St. Paul, Minn., in October, 1890; the mother resides in St. Paul. 
The great-grandfather Harris was a soldier in the Revolutionary AYar 
under Gen. Sullivan. Charles Y. is the eldest in a family of six 
children, of whom three are living. He was reared in Elmira, until 
the age of twelve years, when they removed to this county. He 
received a common-school education, and began braking on the L. Y. 
R. R. in April, 1873, and commenced firing in July, 1874; was 
promoted to engineer May 4, 1880, and has held the position since. 
He was married in Chemung in January, 1873, to Emma, daughter of 
Samuel and Melvina (Mower) Coddington, natives of Sullivan county, 
N. Y., former of whom was a millwright, and died in 1860; the 
latter now resides Avith Mr. Harris in Sayre. Mrs. Harris is the 
second in a family of three living children, and was born in Sullivan 
county, N. Y., in October, 1852. To Mr. and Mrs. Harris have been 
born three children : John C, Gu}^ M. and Jessie M. Mr. Harris is a 
member of the F. & A. M., Waverly Lodge, No. 407, of Cayuta 
Chapter, No. 245, of St. Oner's Commandery, No. 19, Elmira, also a 
member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division No. 
380. Mrs. Harris is a member of the Sexennial League. Mr. Han-is 
is a Republican. 

NATHANIEL CLAPP IIARPJS, president First National P.ank, 
xVthens, is the oldest living native of Athens, and he has never had any 
other residence. He was born on the 15th of March, 1820. His 
father, Alpheus Harris, a native of Connecticut, was one of the early 
settlers of Athens township. He resided on a farm near " Spanish Hill," 
until his death, about forty years ago. The subject of this sketch, like 
most boys of that time, had limited school facilities, and at a very 
early age, before he had reached his"' teens," left the school-room to 
engage as clerk in his uncle's store. Being endowed with a bright 
intellect, and possessed of a laudable ambition to excel in his chosen 
vocation, his spare moments were employed in laying the foundation 
for that broad and practical education upon which his success in life 
has been builded. Soon after attaining his majority, Mr. Harris was 
tendered and accepted a partnership with the late Col. Charles F. 
Welles, who had established a large general store here. Col. Welles 
being engaged in other business demanding his attention, the manage- 
jnerit of the store devolved largely upon the junior partner, and the 
business not only prospered, but the young man, by close application, 
sterling integrity and courteous manners, won an enviable rej)utation 
as the most ent(M'|)rising and successful business man in all this section. 
Largely through Mr. Harris's clforts the Fii'st National Hank was 
organized in 1805, and the following yeai' he was elected its President — 



HISTORY OF BltADFOKl) COUNTY. 86? 

a position he has ever since held — and under his management the bank 
has always ranked with the soundest financial institutions in the country. 
Politically, Mr. Harris was originally a Whig, and, naturally united 
with the Itebublican party with the large majority of Whigs, when 
that organization came into existence as the exponent of anti-slavery 
sentiment. By nature earnest and enthusiastic, he has always taken a 
liveW interest in politics, pureh^ from principle, as he has steadfastly 
declined proffered political honors; his only deviation in this regard 
was when he accepted the appointment of postmaster awa}' back in 
the forties, because the citizens requested it on account of the eligible 
location of his store. 

Hr. Harris is peculiarly a domestic man, and finds his chief recrea- 
tion in his own pleasant home, in the companv of his loyal and loving 
familv. He is an enthusiastic Athenian, ready to aid enterprises 
designed to build u]) the town or benefit any citizen. It is to his gen- 
erous, unselfish financial backing that Athens is indebted for some of 
her most prosperous industries. In his benefactions he is modest and 
unostentatious, but gives liberally to churches, schools and worthy 
charities, while conservative and economical in his personal ex])enses. 
The industrious habits, and careful business methods of his younger 
days are still observed, and few men give as many hours and as much 
thought to business as Mr. Harris, now in his seventy-second year. 
Thanks to abstinence from intoxicating liquors and tobacco, and to a 
proper observance of the laws of health, he is still as vigorous and 
active mentally and ph^^sically as most men in the prime of life. He 
can truthfully be said to possess "a sound mind in a healthy body." 

Mr. Harris has been twice married: the first time in 1853; his wife 
dying in 18G1, he was married the second time in 1863. The ladies 
were sisters, daughters of the late George Kirby, of Nichols, N. Y. 
Four children have been born to him, of whom one is dead, one mar- 
ried and the other two are still at home. As an upright, honorable 
citizen, a loyal Athenian, an enterprising, incorruptible, sagacious busi- 
ness man, as a kind husband and indulgent father, Mr. Harris may 
justly be pointed to as a model. 

DAVID W. IIARSHB AKGEK, physician. New Albany, was born 
in Centre county. Pa., June 27, 1829, '^ a son of Jacob and Hannah 
(Palmer) Harshbarger, the former of whom was born in Germany, and 
came to America about 1795, when six months old, with his parents, 
who settled in Centre county, Pa., and were farmers; he died at 
forty-five years of age; the mother was a native of New Jersey, and 
died at tlie age of sixty-six ; her maternal grandfather, Joseph Davis, 
was a soldier in the War of the Ilevolution, and served in the commis- 
sary department. Our subject was educated at the village school and 
Bellefonte, Pa., and was engaged in the milling business many vears ; 
he studied medicine in 1863-04-65 with Dr. L. A. Mason, of Towanda, 
Pa., and in April, 1866, engaged in the practice of his profession at 
New Albany, where he has enjoyed an extensive and lucrative prac- 
tice. He was married, March 9,1851, to Permelia Frank, of New 
Berlin, Pa., born January 14. 1825, a daughter of Phillip and Sarah 
(Shreftler) Frank, of German origin. There have been born to them 



868 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

three children, as follows: Edward II., died at the age of twenty 
years; W. Frank, born November 11, 1853, a physician in New Albany ; 
Charles O., born October 6, 1857, in the furniture trade at Towanda. 
The Doctor is a member of the Count}' Medical Society, of the 
I. O. O. F., and is a Mason. He is a Kepublican in politics, but devotes 
liis attention exclusively to his profession, and has long been the lead- 
ing jihvsician in the township. 

JAMES A. HAWTHORN, farmer, P. O. Windfall, was born in 
Granville township, this county, April 16, 1844, a son of James and Mary 
(Ferguson) Hawthorn, natives of County Armagh, Ireland, who came to 
America in 1842, settling in Granville townshij), this county, where they 
improved a farm. They had five children who greu' to maturity, viz.: 
James A., John, Orrin, Frank and Mary, of whom James A. and John 
were in the Civil War, John serving one year in Company F, Eleventh 
Pa, Cavalry. James A. enlisted February 19, 1864 ; was wounded in 
the left thigh and left temple, in front of Petersburg, and was taken 
prisoner there, but was recaptured by his friends. He was honorably 
discharged from the service August 19, 1865. He carried a musket 
ball in his head twelve years, when it dropped out through his mouth. 
Since the war he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits on the farm 
where he now resides, in Granville township. On April 4, 1877, he 
married Gertrude, daughter of Silas and Sally (Ayres) Packard, of 
Canton township, this county, and has four children: Hugh, Carrie, 
Dent and Lou. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and in politics is a Republican. 

HERT IIAVDEN, division freight agent for the L. V.R. R., Sayre, is 
a native of Sayre. this county, and was born March 19, 1844, a son of 
Sidney and Florilla E. (Miller) Hayden, natives of Connecticut. The 
father was born in Connecticut in 1813, and removed to this county 
about the year 1839; he was a brick manufacturer in early life, and 
then a contractor and builder. He was a Thirt\'-third Degree Mason, 
and was an author of considerable note on ]\Iasonic subjects; a work of 
marked ability written by him was "Washington and his Masonic 
Conijieers." He was ai)i)ointed postmaster at Sayre in 1885. and 
served until the time of his death April 4, 1890. ^ Mrs. Florilla E. 
Hayden died in 1868. l>ert Hayden is the second in order of birth in 
a family of four sons and one daughtei'. He Avent to work for the L. V. 
R. R. Company in 1870, and was promoted to his present position in 
July, 1887. He was married, in 1877. to Miss Ruth E. Lester, and to 
them were born two chihlren : Paul L. and Roi)ert. Mrs. Hayden is 
a member of tiio Episcopal Church; Mr. llavden is a Democrat. 

WILLIAM S. HEATH, farmer, of Hiirlington township, P. O. 
Purlington. was born in Wyoming county. Pa., September 14, 1829, a 
son of William A. and Watie (Adams) lleath, natives of Greenwich, 
Washington Co., N. Y., and of English extraction. They removed to 
this State when young people, ancl were early settlers in Wyoming 
county, whore they engaged in lumbei'ing and farming; they reared a 
rainily of six cliildi'en, one of whom. Charles, was a soldiei' in th(^(!ivil 
Wai'. William S. ILiath was brought u]) on the fai'ui, and engaged in 
lai'ining foi- iiiniseir w hen he ai'rived at his majority. He has been 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 869 

twice iricarried, first time to Esther Prentice, whom he married in 1849, 
and the}' had one son, and one daughter (deceased). Mrs. TIeath died 
m 1855, and September 27, 1856, Mr. Heath married Marv A. Jacoby, 
of AYyoming county, Avho was born April 9, 1831, a \hiughter of 
Leonard and Judith (Williams) Jacoby, of Mehoopany township. They 
have had born to them four ciiiklren, three of whom are living: Georo-e 
W., born August 7, 1859, a dealer in hay and grain ; Berton M., a 
farmer in Burlington township, born June 7, 1862, married to Eva 
Place, of Mehoopany; and Clark D., born June 17, 1868, a teacher of 
public schools. Eichard, the son by the first marriage, born June 16, 
1854, is a coal miner, and resides in Tunkhannock. Mr. Heath 
removed in 1877 to his present farm in Burlington township, which 
consists of over 220 acres of fine land, where he and his sons 
carry on a general farming and dairying business. He is a Kepubli- 
can, but gives little attention to political matters. The family are 
consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are much 
respected people. 

EDWARD HEIDT, Monroe township, P. O. Kipp, is a prominent 
farmer and stock grower, and is also a sawmill operator in Monroe 
and Overton townships. He is of German birth, born February 17, 1839, 
at Saxony, a son of Peter and Catherine (Oxrider) Heidt. The family 
came to America in 1853, and first stopped in Sullivan county, N. Y., 
where the father died in 1883, and the mother in 1887. Thev had a 
family of six children of whom Edward was the second. He con- 
tinued with his father's family until 1886, when he came to Bradford 
county and. located in Monroeton. His people were of the plain and 
frugal agricultural class, that ordinarily were satisfied to impress upon 
their children the most wholesome moral lessons, combined with 
instruction in industry and economy, restraining, rather than culti- 
vating, luxurious tastes and desires that in more modern times are 
largely forgotten in rearing children. Mr. Heidt commenced life on 
his own account poor, but has worked his way to comfoi-t and 
competence, and his homestead, with its solid evidences of comfort on 
every hand, consists of 450 acres of highly improved land, partly in 
Monroe and parti v in Overton township, which is not onlv highlv 
improved, but is well stocked with ' superior domestic animals. 
Edward Heidt and Mary Ilirwood were united in wedlock, October 24, 
1865. Her father, John Ilirwood, and family came to America in 
1853, and located in Sullivan county, N. Y. '^ To this happy union 
were born the following children: Gertrude, wife of Nelson Aladill: 
Catherine, wife of Albert McCadden ; Barbara, wife of George Green; 
John, died at the age of sixteen; Peter. Caroline, Elizabeth and 
Joseph. The family are exemplary members of the Poman Catholic 
Church, and all are of the highest respectability. Mr. Heidt votes 
the Democratic ticket, but really takes no further interest in politics 
than that of a patriotic desire for the permnnent irood of all. 

ALFRED C. HE \ SON, proprietor of Troy meat market, Troy, 
was born in West Burlington, this county, Julv 22, 1849, and is a son 
of Simeon and Julia A. (Corby) Henson. His paternal grandfather, 
Elisha Henson, formerly of Windham, Conn., was a pioneer of West 

50 



870 HISTORY OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 

])Urlington township, where he built a grist and saw mill, which he 
operated for some years, and later he purchased a farm in the same 
township, which he cleared and improved, and there died ; his wife 
was Experience Pratt, by whom he had six children: Erastus. Simeon, 
Simon, Martha (Mi's. David Corby), William and George. His mater- 
nal grandfather was John Corby, formerly of Newark, N. J., and a 
pioneer of Granville township, this county. Simeon Ilenson, father of 
our subject, was a native of Windham, Conn., was reared in West 
Burlington township, and followed farming- there until 1871; is now a 
resident of Troy. He had seven children who grew to maturity : 
Louise (Mrs. George Porter), Susannah (Mrs. Alden Fleming), Maria 
(Mrs. John Ray), Charles A., Betsey, Adelia (Mrs. Francis Chilton), 
Cordelia (Mrs. James Benjamin) ; the last two daughters were twins. 
Our subject was reared in West Burlington, was educated in the 
common school, and, after reaching his majority, engaged in farming, 
later at butchering, and in October, 1886, located in Troy, where he has 
since been the successful proprietor of the Troy meat market. He 
has been twice married: his first wife was Lucelia, daughter of D. W. 
C. Ay res, of Troy township, by whom he had two children : Hurley 
and Lottie; his second wife was Lelia, daughter of Ho3't Chaple, of Leroy 
township, by whom he liad two children: Horace and Hillis. Mr. 
Henson is a member of the Disciple Church, and he is a llepublican. 

MOSES D. HERMAN, farmer, P. (). Wellsburg, N. Y., was born 
October 10, 1821, in Monroe county. Pa., a son of Stephen and Eliza- 
beth (DePue) Herman, natives of the above county and of German 
ancestry, tlieir parents on both sides having been i)orn in. Germany. 
The father, who was a mason by trade, settled in Wellsburg in 1826, 
and in 1837 located in Ridgebur\' on a farm near where Moses D. now 
resides ; he died at the age of seventy-five years. The subject of this 
sketch was reared on the farm, which occupation he has continued to 
follow, and is now the owner of a well- improved farm of 100 acres. 
He was married Octobei' 29, 1844, t<.) Polly l)Urt. who was born Feb- 
ruary 12, 1823, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hammond) I>urt, of 
Ridgebury. Her mother was a niece of Lebius Hammond, the cele- 
brated Lidian lighter in the time of the Revolution ; lier father was 
the first postmaster in Ridgebury. which position he held many years. 
Mr. and Mrs. Herman have had born to them children, as follows : 
Elizabeth, wife of James H. Wood, of Chemung county, N. Y., a 
farmer and supervisor of the town in which he lives (was lieutenant in 
the Civil War, in the service four years); Franklin, a farmer, married 
to ]\Lary Durlatid, of Wellsbui-g. N." Y.; Helen, wife of Leland J. Webb, 
an attoi-ney at law in Kansas, and the commandei'-in-chief of the Sons 
of \'eterans of the United States; Alice, wife of Edwin Westbrook, a 
conductor on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Mr. Herman is a Republi- 
can in jKjlitics, having voted tlie Republican ticket since the organiza- 
tion of the ])ai'ty, l)Ut his sympiitliies are \v\t\\ the temperance cause; 
he has given his attention to his business j-atliei" than to ))olitics, and is 
much respected m the community. He was town cotnmissionerdui'ing 
the R*il>ellion, and devoted the most of his time to fui'iiishing men and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 8?1 

money for the Union Army. He was dratted in 18(>4, but was exempt 
on account of disabilitv\ 

EDWARD CURRAN HERRICK (deceased) was a native of 
Athens, born June 22, 1814, and died JSTovember 18, 1884. He was a 
son of lion. Edward and Celestia (Hopkins) Herrick, beino- the second 
in a family of three children. He was educated for the bar, and 
studied law with his father, Judge Herrick; also devoted considerable 
time to art, but after a time had to give up the ])ractice of liis profes- 
sion on account of poor health; then turned his attention to farming 
and stock-raising. He was married in Athens, March 24, 1836, to 
Miss Eliza, daughter of Francis and Anna(McDuffee) Tyler, the former 
a native of Goshen, N. Y., and the latter of Ireland, having immigrated 
to Buck's county. Pa., with her parents, when two years of age ; from 
there they removed to Athens township (she was the second in a 
family of six children, and was born Jnly 28, 1813, died September 12, 
1887). To Mr. and Mrs. Herrick were born five children, of whom 
one died in infancy : James AV. served during the Civil War, and his 
health becoming impaired while in the service, his father tiionght a 
change of climate might be beneficial to him, and consequently he 
bought a plantation in Camden county, Ga., containing 5.233^ acres ; 
he died November 4, 1878. George, who during his life had been 
cashier of the Waverly State Bank, died May 3, 1884. Hugh T. is a 
resident of Waverly. Edward Francis resides on the old liomestead in 
Athens township, and carries on farming and dairying. He is a Dem- 
ocrat. There are few names connected with the more modern history 
of Bradford county that will be longer remembered than that of Judge 
Herrick. 

JAMES W. HIBBARD, postmaster, and dealer in general mer- 
chandise, Austinville, was born in Minnisink, Orange Co., N. Y., 
December 18, 1848, and is a son of Daniel W. and Lucy (Ilulse) 
•Ilibbard. He was reared in his native county until eighteen years of 
age, when he located at Roseville, Tioga Co., Pa., and engaged as clerk 
in a general store, serving in that capacity seven years. In tlie latter 
part of 1875 he located at Austinville, this county, where he succeeded 
to the general merchandising business of the late A. B. Austin, and has 
conducted a successful trade since. He has held the office of post- 
master since January 25, 1886. In October, 1871, Mr. Hibbard mar- 
ried Julia A., daughter of John and Julia (Lay) Furman, of Bradford 
county, and has three children : Gertrude, Florence and Mabel. Mr. 
Hibbard is the only dealer in general merchandise at Austinville, and 
is an enterprising and worthy citizen. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
No. 326. of Austinville, and in politics he is a Democrat. 

MAURICE MICKEY, farmer, in Warren township, P. O. Warren 
Centre, is a native of County Clare, Ireland, born in 1829, a son of 
James and Catharine ( McNamarra) Hickey, natives of the same "ould 
sod," a family of sturdy yeomen who migrated from the "beautiful 
isle" in A|)ril. 1841, bringing a family of ten children, in time to have 
their household ready for the Civil War. The family located on the 
farm now occupied by the subject of this sketch, where the father died 
in 1876, aged eighty-two years, and where his widow survived to the 



872 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

extreme ao:e of ninety-seven, dying in 1887. Their ten immigrant 
children, of whom Maurice is the sixth, and was aged twelve when he 
reached the land of the free, received his education in the schools of 
the neighborhood in Warren township, and commenced life on his own 
account, a farmer. He owns 110 acres of as valuable land as is to be 
found in the county. He was married in Sus(juehanna county. May 1, 
1851:, to Ann Ryan, daughter of Thomas and Jane (Hastings) Ryan, 
also natives of Countv Clare, Ireland ; her father's family came to 
this country in 1831, including two children, Edmund and Ann, the 
former of wliom was killed in the Warof the Rebellion. Mrs. Hickey's 
mother died in Ireland in 1833, and her father in Warren township in 
1877. Ann grew to womanhood chiefly in her native jilace, and 
there was educated. To this marriage thei'e is no issue, but Mr. and 
Mrs. Hickey have reared three children, as follows: Alice (Mrs. John 
J. Fitzmorton), of Elmira(has two children, Walter and Jane); James a 
resident, it is supposed, of California, a commercial traveler; and Annie, 
who is with her parents. The family are exemplary and prominent 
members of the Catholic Church, and in politics Mr. Hickey is a Demo- 
crat. The brothers and sisters of Mr. Hickey were as follows : Mary 
(Mrs. James Allyn), died in 1885, leavins: five children ; Cornelius, 
married to Mary O'Donnell, has three children, and is a resident of 
Rhode Island ; John, married to Mary Carey, resides at Owego (has 
five children); Ann (Mrs. Cornelius Conley, is in Susquehanna county, 
has seven children); Catherine (Mrs. -John Gamble, in Wisconsin, has 
nine children); Ellen (]\[rs. Richard O'Donnell, in Binghainton, had 
twelve children, seven living); Bridget (Afrs. Edward Rurk, of Susque- 
hanna countv, has three children); Margai-et (IVfrs. Michael Fitz- 
gerald, of Iowa, has five children); and James (married to Ellen 
Connors, is a resident of Pittsburgh, has six children). 

A. H. HICKOIv, farmer, South Creek township, P. O. Fassetts, 
was born in Troy, February -l, 1821, a son of Stephen and Ruth 
(Elsworth) Ilickok. natives of Yermont. Their grandfathers were 
Revolutionary soldiers, descended from English ])arentage. Stephen 
Ilickok removed to this county about 179o, locating near Troy; he was 
a carpenter, which trade he followed ; he lived near Troy about thirty 
years, then moved to Columbia Cross Roads where he resided fifteen 
years. He died in 1856 in his seventy-sixth year; his famil}' consisted 
of six children, five of whom grew to maturity and two are now living. 
The subject of these lines was the third of the family, and was reared 
and educated in Troy at the common school; when twenty-six years 
of age. May. 1847, he married Ilulda. daughter of Nicholas B. and Anna 
Smitli,of Columbia Cross Roads, and there were four children born to 
them who grew to maturity, three now living, as follows: William, 
married to Ella Stratton, Nicholas and Thadeus ; the two latter are 
unmarried. Mr. Ilickok is a general farmer and has lived twenty-five 
years on his i)rcsent farm which consists of 100 aci'es of fertile land ; 
he contemplates building a new residence in the near future ; he has 
two fine colts, of registei-ed horses " Amei'ica Emjiron " and " Ilamble- 
toniun." Mr. Ilickok is an enterprising citizen. 



HISTORY OF imADI'OKr) COUNTY. 873 

NEWTON FIICKOIv. i)r()i)rietor of hilliard parlors, Troy, was 
born in Troy township, liradford Co., Fa.. yepteinl)er 27, ISiG, and is 
a son of Aaron R. and Clarissa A. (Middaugh) llickok ; his paternal 
grandfather. Steplien Ilickok, formerly of Pittsford, Rntland Co.. Vt., 
settled in Troy township, this county, in 1807, and for many years 
was employed at Long's mills; his children were: Aaron R., Deborah 
(Mrs. F. Ashley). Aaron R. Ilickok was reared in Troy from three 
years of age, and in early life settled on the farm now owned by 
subject, whicli he cleared and improved, and there died ; his wife was 
a daughter of Cornelius Middaugh, of Tioga county, Fa., by whom he 
had the following named children : William L., Fhebe A. (Mrs. 
Reuben Stiles), Henry II., Stephen C, Helen M. (Mrs. Jareu S. Man- 
ley), Manley and Newton. Our subject was reared in Troy township; 
he enlisted' in the Civil War, October 16, 1861, in Company C, One 
Hundred and Sixth Fennsylvania Volunteers, and after three years' 
service was honorably discharged, October 18, 1864, he participating 
in forty engagements and skirmishes. From October, 1864, to 1876 he 
was engaged in farming on the old homestead, which he still owns, 
and from 1876 to 1889 conducted a meat market in Troy, since which 
time he has been the pro])rietor of a billiard parlor in Troy. In 1879 
he married Georgia, daughter of Hiram Sweet, of Wellsburg, Fa. 
He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R.; in politics he is a 
Republican. 

FRANCIS R. HICKOCK, farmer, F. O. LeRoy, was born in Troy 
township, this county, May 11, 1837, a son of Hiram H. and Fanny 
(Kipp) Ilickock, natives of Troy and Ulster county, N. Y., respect- 
ively. Grandfather James Hickock was a man of enterprise, and was 
engaged in various pursuits; had been a hotel-keeper, cloth-fuller and 
was also a farmer on a limited scale; he located in Troy in 1809, and 
erected the first foundry there. Hiram H. Hickock's family consisted of 
three sons and three daughters, the subject of these lines being the eldest. 
He was reared in Troy, and educated in the common school. During 
the War of the Rebellion he served his country in Company C, Third 
Fennsylvania Artillery, headquarters at Fortress Monroe. After serv- 
ing a term of two years, he was honorably discharged, and now draws 
a pension of $8.00 per month. He has never married, but lives with 
his mother on a small and comfortable farm on the Towanda creek ; 
he is a member of the G. A. R. Fost, also of the I. O. O. F., and in 
politics he is a Repul>lican. 

F. M. HICKS, contractor and builder, Rome, is a native of Wysox, 
this county, born July 21, 1S47, and is a son of Hugh and Catherine 
(Miller) Ilicks, agriculturists, the father a native of Warren county, 
N. J. The paternal grandfather, with two brothers, emigrated from 
London in Colonial times, and all three served under Gen. Washino-ton. 
The -maternal grandfather was F. Miller (v/idely known as " Freddie"), 
who was an inn-keeper near Washington, N. J., where he died, aged 
ninety, and his wife, of German descent, died at the advanced age of 
ninety-six. The father of F. M. Hicks had a family of seven children, 
as follows : Willie (died young), Sarah M., John, Jane M., George 
Oliver, F. M. and Norman. Hugh Hicks died in May, 1877; his 



874 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

widow survives, aged seventy-six years. F. M. was obliged to quit 
school at the age of nine, on account of ill-health, and when but four- 
teen years old, July 8, 1861, he enlisted as a drummer in the Twenty- 
eighth P. V. I., and was soon after discharged, but again enlisted, in 
1863, in the emergency call of the State, where he served three months, 
and in December. 1863, again enlisted, at Owego, N. Y., in Company 
L, Fifth New York Cavalry, Capt. George C. Morton, and was in the 
service until finally mustered out, June 19, 1865, having experienced 
as hard service as did any of the survivors of the war. He was in the 
battles of the Wilderness, Hanover Court House, and in Wilson's unfor- 
tunate raid, where the Union forces were disastrously defeated, ant! 
among the prisoners captured by the enem\' was Mr. Hicks. An 
account of his months of prison life, from June 28, 1864, until April 
following, is a story of unspeakable horrors, and his unvarnished stoiw, 
told without passion, is well-nigh incredible, when taken with the fact 
that he survives to tell it. In sickness, starvation, covered with vermin, 
and exposed to the ))itiless elements, and under the sleepless eye of 
ofuards that were instructed to shoot down victims for small infraction 
of the rules, and then at times sentenced to the yet greater agonies of 
the dungeon, a veritable " Black Hole" itself, without ventilation, and 
with puddles of water for beds, were the long-drawn-out da3'S and 
months of this captive's experience. Having experienced the worst of 
Libby and Anderson ville, under the lieartless Wiltz, and others no less 
cruel, he was finallv carried to Riciimond on the wa-y to an exchange, 
and from there to Goldsboro. The awful condition of the sufferers is 
slightly shown in the fact that, of twent3'-eiglit who had been loaded 
in a box car, nineteen were dead when the box was opened at Rich- 
mond. From Goldsboro he was sent to Egan's landing, and then sent 
by ambulance to the Union lines, and transpoi'ted to the AnnapoHs 
IIos|)ital, and after long suffering, when able to walk, was sent homecui 
furlough. When captured he weighed 168 })ounds, and when sentliome, 
ninety-six pounds. In 1866 he learned the carpenter's and joiner's 
trade at Williamsport, then removed toTowanda, and worked in Frost's 
factory until 18Y3, when he returned to Williamsport, and was pat- 
tern-maker one year; then made his home in Home, and engaged as 
contractor and house builder until 1877, when, with his brother, lie 
engaged in the furniture trade, Avhich thev continued until 1880. In 
that \'ear he went to Philadelphia, and became a commercial travehM- 
for the house of Wanamaker, and represented various houses, but, his 
health failing, he returned to his present home. F. M. Hicks and 
Charlotte ^lann were joined in wedlock in June, 1865 ; she is a daughter 
of Samuel and Sarah (Weaver) Mann, n:itives of New York. To this 
union have been born the following chihh'en : Nellie M.; Charles 
Whitney, farmer, in Wysox; Samuel, l)ookkeej)er, in Pliiladelj)hia; Mary 
and George, with their parents. The family worshij) at the Presby- 
terian Church, and are widely esteemed by all who enjoy their inti- 
macy in social life. Mr. Hicks is not only a prominent Democrat, but 
is a member of the State Democratic Central Committee ; is a charter 
member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., and has tilled all the 
offices except commander, and is a member of the Cavalry Society of 
the United States, 



HISTORY OF HKADFORI) COUNTY. 875 

MRS. DOLLY HILL, Windliam townshij), V. O. iXoitli Orwell. 
" This venerable Mothei- in Israel " has come to us from a foi-mer oen- 
eration, a typical heroine of the '" kingdom of the dead yesterdays," 
and the story of her strange, eventful life may well be reck(;ned in'this 
age as a part of sacred history. Her father was Thomas Fox, who 
died in 1827, and her mother survived until 1854. John Hill was the 
father of Chester Hill; he came from Massachusetts to Owego, and 
settled on the place called the "Deep Well District;" he was a 
mechanic and put up the first frame house in Owego ; he had preceded 
his family to the wild western wilderness, antl when he sent for them 
to join him, the brave mother iiired a man to transport herself and 
eight children to Otsego lake, where she purchased canoes, lashed 
them together, loaded them, mostly with children, and bravelv floated 
doAvn to Owego. The family remained at this phice until 18i'2, when 
they came to Orwell. Altogether there were eleven children in this 
famdy. The descendants of John Hill number 160, and at a recent 
family reunion were the twin sons. Chauncey and Chester, aged eighty- 
six, who were a part of the " luggage "' in that canoe voyage mentioned 
above, which was made in 1791. Of these twins, Chester Hill married 
Dolly Fox, who was born in Glastonbury, September 11, 1796, the 
daughter of Thomas and Chloe Fox, and came to Bradford county, in 
1798 with her fatiier's family, and went to the public schools in 
Orwell; in her father's family were six children, of whom she w^as the 
fifth. She was married in 1814 to Chester Hill, then just returned 
from the War of 1812. They settled in Orwell (where the husband 
died February 23, 1879, aged eighty-seven, and to them were born 
children as follows: Eliza, wife of James Higgins, with whom the 
mother resided at time of her decease; Cornelia, wife of David 
Nichols; George S., who married Mary Ann Pressure, and has four 
children (he was a soldier in the Civil' War, and died in the service); 
hloe, wife of J.O.Frost, of Towanda; Lavina, wnfe of Edwin Allis; 
Chauncey, of Orwell, who married Sarah Tvrell, and after her death 
married Sarah Buttles ; Almira, wife of Ebenezer Snell, of Tike town- 
ship; Susan A., wife of Harlow Buttles, of Orwell: Orrin, who mar- 
ried Adele McQuary; and Emeline, wife of Nehemiah Neal, of Nichols, 
N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. James Higgins had born to them nine children 
as follows: Albert C, born August 1, 1837; Franklin, born February 
21, 1839; Mervin, born July 11. 1841 (he enlisted in the liftieth Eegi- 
ment, Company G, w^as wounded and taken prisoner, and died in Salis- 
bury prison after being in ])rison five months; he had served three 
years, and had been in twenty-nine hard-fought battles); Adeline E., 
born April 18, 1844; Emeline\S., born November 4, 1846, wife of Eli 
Morris; Charles O., born Septeml)er 6, 1849, died April 2, 1855; 
Rhoda G., born June 11 1854, wife of Aaron VanEtten; 011a A., 
born June 4, 1856. wife o, George Towner; Hortense, born Jul v 10, 
1859, wife of James Simons. Mrs. Chester Hill died May 19, 1891, 
aged ninety-five years, eight months, and at the time of "her death 
there were eighty-eight great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grand- 
children. 



STO HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

CHAUNCEY HILL, retired farmer, of Orwell township, P. O. 
South Hill was born in Orwell township, on the farm now owned by 
Daniel Board man, December 28, 1829, and is a son of Chester and Dolly 
(Fox) Hill. He was reared on a farm and received his education in 
the common schools, and resided with his uncle George Fox, who was 
an extensive stock dealer, and assisted driving his cattle to market. 
After reaching his majority he engaged in farming, and purchased a 
farm of sixty acres, which he conducted fourteen years; then sold it to 
G. M. Prince, and purchased the "Old Gibl)s" farm of seventy-four acres. 
In 1886 he sold 135 acres to John Phillips, and owns the remainder, 
and also some valuable jiropertv on Orwell hill. He has been twice 
married, the first time, June 18, 184:9, to Sarah, daughter of Jleuben 
Tyrell.a pioneer of AVindham township, and by this marriage had four 
children: M. A., married to Eliza Biggsby; Dora, married to Walter Wat- 
erman, now a widow ; Nora, married to Ira Morris, and one Avho died in 
infancy. His first wife died May 16, 1886, and December 17, 1887, he 
married Sarah, widow of Samuel F. Buttles, a daughter of Jonas and 
Sarah (Shuman) Lear; she was born in Bucks county, Pa., March 28, 
1845. Of her father's family of six children she was the youngest; 
she was first married June 24, 1866, and had four children, viz. : Cora, 
born April 20, 1867; Lizzie, born May 2, 1870; Emily, born Novem- 
ber 23, 1877; and Ada, born October 16, 1879. The house they now 
occupy was built by her husband, Samuel Buttles, before the war. 
Her father was born in 1806, and still lives in Herricksville. Slie is 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hill is a llepubli- 
can, and has held the various township offices. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have 
a large circle of friends, and enjoy life; they are prepared to pass the 
autumn of existence unvexed by storms or ill-winds, and are noted for 
their social qualities and great liospitality. 

EDGAP J. HILL, a popular jeweler of Troy, was born in Sullivan, 
Tioga Co., Pa., on August 17, 1852, and is a son of Garnwood 11. 
and Alpha (Palmer) Hill; his paternal grandparents, William and 
Polly (Iloj)kins) Hill, and maternal grandparents, Stephen and Lydia 
(Case) Palmer, of New England, were pioneers of Tioga county. Pa. 
Our subject was reared in his native county, and educated in the com- 
mon schools, he learned the jewelers trade with his brother, and in 
J 876 located in Troy, where for four years he was employed in a 
cooper shop. In 1880 he embarked in the jewelry business, in which 
ho has since continued, and has built up a successful business. He 
married, October 5, 1875. Myra S., daughter of Ilezekiali C. and Julia 
(Sherman) Dickinson, of Troy, by whom he has two children: Vivian 
E, and Charles S. Mr. Hill is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; is a Sir Knight Tem])lar, and in politics is a Ke|)ublican. 

JOHN L. HILL, farmer. Standing Stone township, P. O. Wysox, 
was born in Sussex county. New Jersey, April 7, 1844, and his father, 
Michael Hill, was born in tlie same place, also his grandfather, Uriah 
Hill, who married Sally lUackford and had three children: Andrew; 
Judy, wife of Elias Culver; and Michael. The last named was educated 
in Standing Stone township, where he lived until his fourteenth year, 
when he went back to New Jersey and was apprenticed to a tanner. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 877 

After learning his trade, he followed it and farniin*,^ until his deatli in 
March, 1887. He married Susan Martin, daughter of -Jacob and Phebe 
(Hall) Martin, and had ten children : Mary A., wife of John K. Fox; 
Jacob N.; Caroline, wife of John McCracken ; Geoig-e B.; Kobert ; 
John L.; Hester, wife of Henrj^ Mitten; Obadiah; Eichard M.. and 
Matilda C, wife of John Layton. Mrs. Michael Hill died February 28, 
1889. John L. Plill was educated in New Jersey until his twentietii 
year, and began farming, when he came to Standing Stone in 1805, and 
purchased in 1880, from David Dixon, fifty acres, his present farm. He 
was school director three terms, and politically is a Democrat. He 
married, in August, lS66,Sarah, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Schoon- 
over) Lundy; she was the seventh of ten children. To this union were 
born seven children: Alice E. (deceased); Manning L. (deceased); 
Frankie; Ella, wife of Howard Brown ; Tillie; Flora and Jessie. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hill and family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Churcli, 
but attend all churches. 

JONATHAN A. HILL, of Monroe township, P. O. Powell, was 
born in Milo, Me., January 15, 1831, and is the eldest of the six chil- 
dren of Hezekiah and Emily M. Hill, natives of New Hampshire, and 
of English origin ; his great-grandfather was an English officer in the 
Eevolutionary War. The Hills, on the maternal side, continued in the 
regular army until the Civil War. Jonathan A. Hill was educated in 
the common school and in the Corinna Academy at Corinna, Me., and 
began life for himself at twenty, learning the tanner's trade, which he 
has since followed, except four years spent in the army. He enlisted 
at Augusta, Me., November 2, 1801, as captain of Company K, 
Eleventh Eegiment Maine Infantry, and in Gen. Keyes' corps in the 
Peninsular campaign in 1802, then went to Morris Island, Charleston 
Harbor, with Gen. Terry, and in 1801 came back and was assigned to the 
Army of the James under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler; was promoted to 
major, June 17, 1804, and June 25, 1804, to lieutenant-colonel; he lost 
his right arm at Deep Eun, August 10, 1804, and rejoined his regiment 
the following November, and was promoted to colonel. He was \vith 
Gen. Dandy's brigade. Gen. Foster's division and Gibbon's corps in tlie 
last campaign from Petersburg to Appomattox Court House; was 
taken prisoner on the morning of April 9, 1805, and was a prisoner 
until the surrender of Lee ; he was brevetted brigadier-general, April 
9, 1805, and detailed as president of military commission at Eichmond 
until October, and was then sent in command of the Northwestern 
DepartmentofYirginia, with headquarters at Lynchburg, and in Janu- 
ary, 1800, to the northeastern part of Virginia, with headquarters 
at Fredericksburg; in February, 1800, he went to City Point, Va., where 
he mustered out the last volunteers in Virginia, and then took his regi- 
ment to Augusta, Me., where they disbanded February 9, 1800. He was 
postmaster at Auburn, N. Y., in 1807, and then returned to the tanning 
business in northern New York in 1808, and went into partnership 
with Thomas E. Proctor, of Boston, Mass., in 1881, at Greenwood, 
Powell P. O., where he has erected a beautiful residence, and removed 
his family to that place in 1890. Gen. Hill married, January 10, 1850, 
Miss Lucy M., daugliter of Rev. Robert R. and Margaret (Ulmer) 



Oib HISTORY OF BRADl-ORD COUNTY. 

Eichards, of Kockland, Me., who were of Scotch and German origin. 
They have five chihh-en, viz.: llattie M., born in 1857. married to W. 
W. Clark, lawyer, of Way land, JS'. Y,; Katie E., horn in 1859, married to 
M. Claud Gregg', merchant tailoi-, Rochester, N. Y.; Lulu M., born in 
March, 1862, married to Dr. James Wallace Douglass, Jjoonville, N. Y'.; 
George R., born in 1867, married, September 2, 1891, to Miss Mabel L. 
Snow, of Boonville, N. Y., and is in the employ of his father at Forest- 
port, N. Y.; and Jonathan A., Jr., Avho is at present taking a course at 
Hamilton College. Our subject is a member of the Military Order 
of Loyal Legion of the United States, New York Commandery; a Royal 
Arch Mason at Bangor, Me., and is a Republican in his political views. 

LORENZO D. HILL, builder and contractor, Burlington, was 
born in Burlington, this county, November 5, 1840, a son of George 
C. and Fanny (Brown) Hill, former of whom was a native of Connecticut, 
a farmer, bridge-builder and a wagon-maker, and latter a native of 
Wyalusing. this county. Their family consisted of twelve children, 
nine of whom grew to maturity, the subject of this memoir being 
the fifth in the family. The father died in June, 1888, at the age of 
seventy-nine years, and the mother in October, 1870, at the age of 
fifty-eight years. Lorenzo D. Hill was reared on a farm, and to the 
trade of his father. In 1868 he embarked in business as an architect 
and builder, and he has carried on an extensive business in several 
towns of the county. He also owns a fine farm near Burlington 
village. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and 
Forty-first P. V. I., and at once joined the Army of the Potomac ; was 
wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, by the 
explosion of a shell, from which he was so much disabled as to cause 
his discharge, and he is now a pensioner. He was married November 
5. 1863, to Emma A. Kingsley, who was born July 29, 1841, daughter 
of Harmon S. and Susan A. (Bush) Kingslev, former of whom, born in 
East Smithfield, this county, April 12, 1816, died in March, 1889, aged 
seventy-three years, and latter, born in Rhode Island, ]\Iarc!i 19, 1818, 
died at the age of sixty-three years. To Mr. and Mrs. PI ill have been 
born two sons : Seaver D., married to Lizzie Watters, and Dean W. 
Mr. Hill is a Republican, has held several positions of public trust, and 
is a member of the G. A. R. Tiie family are consistent members of 
tiie Methodist Episcopal Church, and take an active interest in the 
Sunday-school. 

RANDOLPH P. HILL, merchant and postmaster, lUirlington, was 
born in the village of Burlington, this county, January 23, 1850, a son of 
Sherman II, and Julia A. (Poi'ter) Hill, the former a nativeof Vermont, 
born of French extraction on the maternal side of Irish origin ; he is 
still living at the age of seventy -seven years ; isafarmerandmill-wright, 
also the owner of a fine farm of 200 acres ; has been a Republican and has 
served in the council of the borough since its formation, and was 
burgess of the village; is a stanch suj)porter of the Union Church 
and is one of its oflficers. Grandfather Hill located in Susquehanna 
county in the early part of this century, settling in the wilderness and 
clearing a large farm. Randol|)h P. was reared on the farm, educated 
in the schools of the village and at the Troy graded school. He 



I 



HISTORY OF BIlAnFORD COTNTY. 879 

engaged in farmino-, at which lie continued nine years, when, in 
March, 1883, he embarked in niercanlilo trade at Burlington, where 
he has since enjoyed a large patronage, being the leading man in the 
trade of the township. lie was apiwinted postmaster at the com- 
mencement of the present administration. On October 29, 1873, Mr. 
Hill was married to Ceha Pratt, of West Burlington, this county, born 
November 14, 1850, a daughter of Perry B. and Bets}^ A. (Phelps) 
Pratt, of English origin and natives of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Hill have been born four children: Sherman H., Anna Laura, Harry 
Howard and Lulu Betsy. He is a Republican, and takes an active 
intei'est in the affairs of the town and county ; is a member of the 
L O. O. F., and is one of the progressive men of the townshi|). 

ALBERT SAMUEL HILLIS, farmer in Herrick township. P. (). 
Rummertield Creek, was born in Herrick township, this county, Janu- 
ary 2, 1852. His father, William Hillis, was born in Ireland in 1823, 
and came to this county in 1839 ; he worked for Francis Stethers, his 
brother-in-law, one year, then went to Laceyville and worked two 
years. On July 3, 1841, he married Caroline, daughter of Peter and 
Levina Hallock, nativ^es of New York (she was the seventh in a family 
of ten children) ; he came to Herrick township, locating on his 
present farm, and partly erected a log house; then in company with 
John Nesbit and Richard Hillis he went to Laceyville for his wife and 
household effects. When they returned, it was early in the evening in 
November, and there were two feet of snow on the ground ; thev 
could have no lire, as the fireplace had not been completed ; neither 
was there a floor, door or window in the house. The larger portion 
of their goods was left out in the snow all night, but they managed to 
put up a bed, and retired. The next day he finished the fireplace and 
built a rousing fire ; the window he made of glass which he had 
brought from Laceyville; the door was made of rough slabs, fastened 
together with wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges. His wife 
aided him in laying the floor, which was made of rough slabs similar to 
the door, and then he divided his house into a dining-room, bed-room 
and pantry ; after this everything went along pleasantly. His first prop- 
erty was the DuPont tract, seventy-six acres of which was paid for 
the following winter. He sold to" A. Newell 200,000 feet of lumber 
which he was to cut and skid, and receive $2.00 per thousand. He 
worked from the early part of Decemlier to about the first of March, 
and completed his task ; but to do so he was compelled to rise at 4 
A. M., and frequently would not finish his day's work until 9 p. m. Li 
1847 he and his brother Samuel purchased fifty-two acres on which his 
present home now stands, and they have lived together ever since. 
He afterward added more, and built his present house in 1853. He is 
a member of the Presbyterian Church, and politically is a Democrat. 
His wife died October"27, 1890; they had six children, as follows: 
Mahaley (wife of J. A. Rolls), Harriet (wife of R. S. Hankinson), 
Wilbert, Albert S., Mary (deceased), and one child that died in infancy. 
Albert S. Hillis was educated in his native place until his nineteenth 
year, then worked at home on the farm until the fall of 1880, when 
his father built him a house, and he and his brother Wilbert have 



880 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUKTY. 

since managed their father's farm, lie married, Januar}'- 28^ 1880, 
Ella Jane, daugiiter of David and Margaret Jane (Lee) Nesbit, the 
second in a family of seven children, five of wiiom are living. Mi", 
and Mrs. Ilillis have had two children, namely : Ernest Arthur, born 
February 11, 1887, and Hallock Lee, born December 10, 1888. Mr. 
Hi His is'a Democrat, and is much esteemed as one of the industrious 
and reliable men of the county. 

JOHN BARTLETT HINDS, farmer, Wysox township, was born 
Febi'uarv 10, 1816, a son of Abinoham and Rachel (Vail) Hinds, the 
former of whom was a sailor, and married, for his first wife, Susanna 
Snow, and they had ten children ; he settled in Susquehanna county 
about 1790, and married his second wife, Rachel Vail, who bore him 
eight children, of whom the first died in infancy, and John B. was the 
second. The subject of this memoir was placed upon his own resources 
at the age of thirteen, and when fourteen began an apprenticeship at 
the carpenter's and joiner's ti'ade, which he has since followed, to some 
extent as a contractor and general builder. He purchased his present 
home, in 1861, of M. Reed ; in 1860 he was appointed door-keeper of 
the Senate at Harrisburg, which position he held six N'ears. During 
the war he made frequent visits to the battle-field, and rendered much 
private assistance to his Bradford county friends, whom he found in 
distress; he volunteered for active service, but was rejected. In 1864 
he was appointed, by Gov. Curtin, commissioner of the army, to receive 
the votes of the soldiers; in 1871 was elected commissioner of Brad- 
ford county ; has also held the office of town commissioner, triennial 
assessor and school director ; has frequently acted as attorney before 
justices, having had as many as twenty-five cases in a single year. Mr. 
Hinds was married. March 2, 1834, to Sarah E., daughter of Jonathan 
and Betsey (Dart) Wood, early settlers in Susquehanna count3\ and 
thev have had children, as follows : Mariette, born December 28, 1834, 
mari'ied to J. S. Frink, of Rome; Agnes L., born May 22, 1838, died 
January 19, 1854 (her father was wont to speak of her as a bright, 
sweet girl); Adelaide, born March 6, 1840, died May 6, 1840; Eliza J., 
born June 9, 1842, died September 23, 1849 ; Adolphus IL, born Sep- 
tember 7, 1844; Eliza A., born March 6, 1847, married A. F. Eddy, a 
blacksmith, of Rome township; Charles H., born May 30, 1849, died 
September 23, 1851 ; Charlotte E., born July 7, 1851, died June 1, 
1854; Charles D., born May 2, 1853, died September 3, 1854; Ella 
May, born July 13, 1855, married to J. R. Furman, of Towanda; John 
Fremont, born July 15, 1859, married and living at home. Mrs. Hinds 
died April 14, 1883, and Mr. Hinds was then married to Mary E., 
daughter of E. Furman and Amanda (Forbes) Harnes. Mr. Hinds is 
an enthusiastic adherent of the Re|)ublican party. 

A. H. IITXDS, farmer, Wysox, P. (). AVysox, was born in Bridge- 
water, Sus(juehanna Co., Pa., September 7, 1844, and is a son of John 
B. and Sarah (Wood) Hinds. He purchased his present home of 130 
acres in 1868, where lie has since been engaged in farming; also 
operated a threshing machine twelve seasons. Mr. Hinds was mar- 
ried, ^[arch 28, 186f;, to Miss Ilattie. daughter of Eaden and Matikhi 
(Walker) Titus, of Herrick, and they have three children: Jennie L,, 



HISTORY OF HRADFOIU) COUNTY. 881 

born September 30, 1867; S. Mantie, born July 4. 1870, and J. Edward, 
born September 1, 1875. Mr. Hinds in his political relations affiliates 
with the Republican party. 

ORLIN W. IIOAGLTN, of Rome township, farmer and stock 
grower, P. O. Myersburg, was born on the farm he now occu])ies, 
March 11, 1867, "a son of William and Harriet (March) Hoaglin, 
natives of New York, who came to Bradford county in 1852, and 
located where Orlin W. now lives. His father, who was accidently 
shot, was a farmer, and had three children, viz.: John M., a carpenter; 
Mary T., married to Pearly Simmons, and Orlin W". The latter was 
reared on his father's farm, and attended the common schools of 
Wysox until nineteen, when he began the occupation of farming, 
taking entire charge of the old homestead farm, which consists of 100 
acres, finely improved, which he manages with great skill and good 
judgment ; he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a 
stanch Republican, and, while vet a young farmer, he is well and 
favorably known as a leading and influential man in the countv. 

BURDICK H. HO BART, of Hobart & Rockwell, harness-makers, 
Troy, was born in Amherst, >>iagara Co., N. Y., December 1, 1833, a 
son of Harry W. and Augusta (Phelps) Hobart, and is of English and 
Welsh descent. He was reared in his native State, and served an 
apprenticeship of three years at the harness trade in Truxton, Cort- 
land Co., IST. Y., after which lie purchased the business of his employer 
and continued it for eight years. In March, 1806, he located in Troy 
as a member of the harness firm of Hobart & Porter, which partner- 
ship existed twenty-three years, where he built up an extensive and 
successful trade. Since 1888 the business has continued as Hobart & 
Rockwell. Mr. Hobart was married, January 1, 1862, to Susan, 
daughter of Leonard Bradford, of Rhode Island, and has one daughter, 
Alice L. (Mrs. Charles Cosper). Mr. Hobart is a well-known and 
respected citizen of Troy; is a F. iSz A. M., and has served as a mem- 
ber of the council of the borough several terms ; in politics he is a 
Republican. 

CHARLES M. HOFFMAN, mechanic, Wyalusing, was born in New 
York, October 21. 1850, and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Sher- 
wood) Hoffman. His father was a lumberman and mill owner, but upon 
his wife's death, which occur-red a few years after the birth of Charles 
M., he went to Kentucky, where he married the second time. Charles 
made his home with his uncle, Edward Skeel, of Pike township, wliere 
he resided on a farm about fifteen years, attending the common 
schools. When nineteen years old he became an apprentice in the 
harness shop of E. S. Fuller, of Camptown, where he remained five 
years; he was then, for about eighteen months, a clei'k in the store of 
C. S. Lafferty, of Camptown, then for several years worked at his 
trade in Stevensville and Elmira, after which he returned to Pike 
township and farmed a short time; then he worked for Mr. Fuller for 
a while, then came to Wyalusing, clerking first for John Howard, and 
afterward in the Wyalusing Creamery, where he 3'et remains, having 
been there over four years. He was married, January 14, 1877, to 



882 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUKTY. 

Subiiiah J>eiidei\ daughter of Jacob Bender, of Stevensville ; they 
have one child : Allie E. Mr. Hoffman is a Repnbhcan in politics. 

GEOllGE :^[. HOFFMAN, farmer, of Terry townsliip, P. O. 
Evergi-een, was born in Terr}' township, this county, January 4, 1S54, 
a son of riiillip and Margaret (Ilinderer) Hoffman. His father was 
born in Monroe count}^ Pa., September 23, 1817; his mother was a 
native of Germany, born in 1829; they Avere married February 13, 
181:7. PhiHip Hoffman removed to this county about 1836, locating in 
Terry townsliip on the farm now owned by his son George M. At 
that time there was an old log house on it, with a clearing of three- 
quarters ol" an acre. He confined himself to agricultural pursuits, when 
by haid labor and economy he cleared a farm and made a pleasant 
home for himself and family, and lived on this same farm until his 
death in 1888, at the age of seventy-one years. He had seven children, 
five of whom grew to maturity, and four are now" living. George M., 
the subject of this sketch, is the third member of the family, and was 
reared and educated at the common schoobbeingayoungman of energy 
and enterprise. At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Kosey, 
daughter of Shubel and Luretta Bowman, and by this marriage there 
were born to them four children, all living at present : Leon, aged 
thirteen; Susan, aged eleven ; Nancy, aged nine; Clarence, aged six. 
Mr. Bowman, father of Mrs. Hoffman, was a native of Terry township, 
and now resides in the house where he was born; he was at one time a 
hotel-keepei'. and has been of great service to his township; has held 
the offices of constable and collector. Mr. Hoffman is a general and 
prosperous farmer, paying particular attention to grain-raising and 
hay-making; he is of more of a speculative turn of mind than his father 
or brothers; is a self-made man, having bought out the four living 
heirs by paying five hundred and forty dollars ($540) to each of them 
as their portion ; he has been honored by his townsmen in electing him 
to offices of trust and responsibility, and is a genial man of sterling 
((ualities. 

(rEOliGE O. HOLCOMB, capitalist, Troy, was born in the town of 
Lewis, Essex Co., N. Y., April 25, 1851, and is a son of Obed G. an 
Sophronia (Phelps) Ilolcomb, and is of English descent. His earliest 
known ancestors was one of three brothers who came to America in the 
ship ''Mai'v and John," in Puritan times, and was left an orphan when 
five veai's of age. At tiie aii'e of sixteen (4eoi-ge i)egan life for himself 
as a farm hand, and worked foi- .^K! ))er month. From his eight 
months' wages of ^128 he put $125 at interest at 7 per cent, and the 
year following Avorked at the same wages, and during the winter 
worked for his board and attended the district schools. In 1867 he 
attended the union school, at Elizabethtown, N. Y., and in the fall of 
18<»8 began teaching, and followed that occu))ation four years. In the 
fall of 1869 he passed an academical examination ; also studied law 
three yeai's with Hon. A. ('. Hand iS: Son, of Eli/.abethtown. and in 
1874 went to Philadelphia to liil a j)ositit)n as con-esponding (;lei-k for 
s«'veral Insurance companies, but soon after was engaged as a clerk in 
the importing de|)artment of a Fancy Notion store, and held that 
position one year. In April, 1876, he was employed by the United 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 883 

States Centennial Conimission, under Ileniy Pellitt, chief of tlie 
Bureau of Installation, as general clerk, and remained with that 
commission until April, 1877, when he was appointed chief clerk of the 
department, which had charge of all applications for tickets by exhibitors 
in the main building, and also had charge of all goods received, both 
American and foreign, throughout the exhibition. After the close of 
his labors there, he accepted a position in the law and collecting agency 
of McKillop & Co., of New York, with whom he remained two months, 
then located in Troy, Pa., where he was station agent for the Northern 
Central Railroad until 1888, and, for nearly five years. Express Agent 
for the Central (now Adams) Express Company, December 19, 1878, 
he married Annie E., daughter of Eleazer and Rhoda(Leonard)Pomeroy, 
of Troy, by whom he has two children : Harry P. and Dwight H. 
Since 1883 Mr. Holcomb has assisted his father-in-law in his business 
affairs, and, since 1878, has been engaged in the brokerage business. 
He is the owner of and has conducted a stock farm in Troy since 1887, 
and is a breeder of Hereford cattle, registered in the American Herd 
Book, and is also a breeder of French coach horses, and trotting stock 
from the C. J. Hammond farm, near Buffalo. Mr. Holcomb is a 
member of the Congregational Church; though solicited to run for 
several State and count}' offices, he has always refused the honor ; he 
has served as burgess of Troy one term, and is a member of the 
present council ; politically he is a Republican. 

HARVEY HOLCOMB, farmer, of Franklin township, P. O. 
Franklindale, was born in LeRoy, this county. May 29, 1816. is the 
son of Hugh and Prudence (Bailey) Holcomb, the former a native of 
Connecticut, the latter of Massachusetts. Hugh and his brother. 
Sterling, when they came from the East, located in Ulster, from which 
place they removed about 1796, locating in LeRoy, each purchasing 
400 acres on both sides of the Towanda creek. Hugh Holcomb had 
nine children — seven sons and two daughters — all of whom grew to 
maturity. Harvey, who is the sixth in the family, was reared and 
educated at LeRoy, and always worked on a farm. On January 23, 
1840, he married Miss Diana, daughter of Samuel and Betsey Rock- 
well, and to them were born nine children, eight of whom are now 
living; the other son was killed in the army at the battle of Spottsyl- 
vania after a service of nearly three years. Mr. Holcomb moved froui 
LeRoy to Franklin, his present home, in 1884; his wife died June 10, 
1880, and he married (for his second) at Smithfield, August 26, 1882, 
Mrs. Perlina Pierce, widow of William Henry Pierce, and daughter of 
Mrs. Selina (Holcomb) Dibble, w4io came from Broome county, N. Y. 
In 1844: she removed to this county, where she now resides at the 
advanced age of ninety-live years, and is able to work about the 
house; she began and completed a quilt of 3,000 pieces after she was 
ninety-three years of age. Mr. Holcomb as a farmer confines himself 
to raising grain and hay ; he has been honored with the offices of 
assessor, school director (twelve years) and road commissioner; is a 
member of the Church of Christ, and is a Republican, politicallv. 

JASPER N. HOLCOMB, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in 
LeRoy township, Bradford Co., Pa., March 27, 1846, a son of Harvey 



884 nisTouY of bhadfoud county. 

and Diana (Tlockwell) llolcomb, natives of LeRoy, former of whom 
was a son of Hugh Holcomb, one of the early settlers, and who built 
the first saw and grist mill in LeRoy, also the first still in the town. 
Harvey Holcomb's family consisted of eleven children, nine of whom 
grew to maturity, eight 3'et living. The eldest son was killed in the 
army, on May 12, 1864, in the battle of the Wilderness. Jasper K., 
who is the third in the family, was reared and educated at LeRoy, 
which has always been his home. At the age of eighteen he enlisted 
in Company L, Third Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, serving until the 
close of the war, when he was honorably discharged, and he now 
draws a pension. On October 21, 1879, he married, at Monroeton, 
this county, Rosilie, daughter of Robert and Hannah (Holcomb) 
McKee. The McKees are descended from Leonard McKee, who 
settled in Franklin in 1822. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb 
have been born five children, viz.: James E., Ray M., Carrie E. and 
Minnie F. and May F. (twins). Alpheus Holcomb, the maternal grand- 
father of Mrs. Jasper jSi. Holcomb, was born January 10, 1779, died 
Januarv 19, 1S4-9, and his wife, Hannah (Kingsburv) was born April 
17. 1783, died October 18, 1846; they were married,' October 22, 1801, 
in Connecticut, whence they removed to Ulster, and from there to 
LeRoy. Mr. Holcomb is a general farmer, producing stock, grain, 
wool and butter. He has been honored by being elected to the offices 
of town clerk, commissioner, school director and census enumerator; 
is a member of the Church of Christ, and in politics is a Republican. 

HALLECK L. HOLCOMB, of the Bradford RejmUican, Towanda, 
was born in Bradford county, at LeRoy, April 25, 1862, a son of Harvey 
and Diana (Rockwell) Holcomb, of English descent, and among the 
early settlers of this county. His father was born in LeRoy township, 
May 29, 1816, where he married and reared an interesting family of. 
nine children ; his wife and helpmeet died June 10, 1880. Two of the 
sons were in the Civil War: J. E. Holcomb was killed at the battle 
of Spottsylvania, the other, Jasper N., is a farmer in LeRoy. H. L. 
Holcomb is the youngest of the family, and gave attendance in his 
youth at the public schools, and graduated at the Elmira School of 
Commerce in 1S86. He learned the ]irinter"s art, entering tlie office of 
the Mepuhlicau at the age of nineteen, and is to-day, in the absence 
of his uncle, general manager and local editor of the Repuhlican. 
He was married June 12, 1889, to Charlotte, daughter of E. C. and 
Harriet (Dodge) Dewers, of English descent. The family worship at 
the i'n'sln'tci'ian Church; he is past grand in the I. O. O. F. 

JU DsbX HOLCOMB, one of the proprietors and the editor of the 
IJradford liepnhlican., Towanda. This gentleman is at present filling 
the office of index clerk in the Lower House of Congress, Washington, 
a position to which he was appointed in 1863, and served through five 
CJongresses, and in 1874 returned to Towanda and established his ))aper, 
])lacing it on a prosperous basis; he was again in the XLYlIth 
('ongi'ess, apj)ointed to his old ]K)sition, and is now in that place, 
having just sei'ved thnjugh the List Congress. He is a native of 
liradford county, bo)n in LeRoy. .Inly 25, 1819, a son of Hugh and 
Prudence (Bailey) Ilolcoinb. Thomas Holcomb, who came from 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 885 

Devonshire. England, in 1030, and settled at Dorchester, Mass., begat 
Nathaniel, who had a son, Nathaniel, Jr., who begat David, who begat 
Eli, the grandfather of our subject. Eli Holcomb was one of the 
pioneers, who came'to Bradford county in 178-1, and settled in Sheshe- 
quin (now Ulster); he was one of the soldiers in the War of 1812. 
His son, Hugh Holcomb, built the first grist and saw mill in 
LeRoy township, and grew to be a man of wealth, for his day, and 
died the possessor of 200 acres of valuable land, originally settled by 
him. Plis son, Judson Holcomb, grew up on a farm at a time when to 
plant and reap were the chief ideas of education, and in this line he is 
a fine tj^pe of the self-made men of our country. At the age of nine- 
teen he went to Standing Stone, in this county, and found employment 
as a clerk in a store, and was there six years, and then opened a store 
of his own in Rome; in 1854 he was elected as a Whig to the Legisht- 
ture, and at the end of his term of office, when the Republican party 
was just formed, he was elected by that party to the Legislature, and 
was the first Republican that ever represented Bradford county in that 
body. As a farmer, newspaper man, law-maker and office-holder, he 
has been one of the county's eminently successful men. He was mar- 
ried at Standing Stone, this county, in 1845, to Maria Nobles, daughter 
of Jonathan Nobles, of Cattaraugus county, N. Y., and they have two 
children, as follows : Clara (Mrs. Henry C. Porter), and Fannie (Mrs. 
Charles L. Tracy). Mrs. Holcomb is a niece of the late Hon. II. W. 
Tracy. 

LEROY HOLCOMB, farmer and miller, LeRoy township, P. O- 
LeRoy, was born October 14, 1830, a son of Eli and Harriet (Bailey. 
Holcomb, who were the first settlers on the south side of Towanda creek, 
The father was a native of Connecticut and son of Truman Holcomb 
of New England, who removed to Ulster in the early settlement of the 
county. Harriet (Bailey) Holcomb was a native of New York. Eli 
Holcomb located in LeRoy in 1801, taking possession of 200 acres on 
either side of the Towanda creek. In those days their facilities were 
limited,compellingthem to go eighteen miles to mill. Eli built the second 
gristmill in 1827, and the first on the south side of the creek (Hugh 
Holcomb built the first); it was a log structure, in which LeRoy, when 
a small lad, learned his trade. In 1844 Eli Holcomb builtamill which 
was damao-ed bv the fjivino- wav of the dam; it was rebuilt and is now 
owned and operated by his son LeRoy. Eli was the father of thirteen 
children, eleven of whom grew to maturity, LeRoy being the seventh 
meml^er of the family. He was reared anti educated at LeRoy, and 
learned the miller's trade of his father, beo-innino- at theaffe of fourteen. 
When twenty-one he married Roena R., daughter of Ansel and Anna 
Tillotson, June 13, 1852, at LeRo\^ To them were born ten children — 
five sons and five daughters — eight of whom grew to maturity and are 
now living in this county, prosperous business men. Mr. Holcomb was 
twice married, his first wife died on January 10, 1880, and he married, 
March 9, 1886, Nettie, daughter of William and Maria Scott, of Monroe 
township. He is a man of business and entei'prise ; in 1855 he built a 
sawmill north of the present mill; l)ut, on account of the water-power 
failing, he abandoned it, attaching one to his gristmill, both of which 

51 



886 HISTORY OF intADKORl) COUNTY. 

he runs bv steam. This mill has the capacity of 10,000 feet per day, 
atul the gristmill averages 15,000 bushels per year. In addition to this 
]\[r. llolcomb oversees a neat farm. He has been entrusted with various 
otHcesduring his life time ; was constable two years; school director 
six years; judge of elections; town clerk four years; he is a member 
of the Church of Christ, and has held the ])osition of superintendent 
of the Sunday-school sixteen vears ; politicallv he is a Re})ul)lican. 

II. A. AND H. B. IlOLDlilDGE, farmers,* P. O. Fassett, were born 
in Elmira, N. Y.; Henry A., September 2-t. 1801; Howard B., Decem- 
ber 17, 1857; are sons of Harrison and Caroline Iloldridge, natives of 
Onondaga county, N. Y. Harrison Iloldridge ])urchased 120 acres of 
land in South Creek township, this county, about the year 1874, which 
was without any improvement until he gave it to his sons, the subjects 
of this sketch, who have resided on it since ; tiiey have made numer- 
ous improvements in clearing the land, erecting buildings and putting 
up fences, etc. Mr. Iloldridge has four children, all of whom are living. 
Henry A, was reared and educated in Elmira, N. Y.; Howard in Onon- 
daga countv, N. Y., and they moved to this county in 1876; although 
the land was divided between them, yet, as brothers, they live and 
work together in harmonv. Ileni-v A. married. Julv 3, 1887, at 
Elmira, Louisa, a daughter of B. and Anna Hughes, and there was 
born to them one child, Kobert. Howard B. is unmarried, and lives 
with his brother. They are general farmers in South Creek townshij), 
and make a specialty of hay-making and wool-growing, and are young 
men who will make their mark in the world. About the year 1882 
there was quite an excitement on the farm adjoining theirs, over the 
sinking of a shaft |)rospecting for lead ore, which was found in small 
(|uantities, althougii no further developments have been made since. 

DANIEL O. IIOLLON, retired, residing in North Towanda, was 
born in Chemung county, X. Y., August 23, 1819, a son of Jeremiah 
and Betsy (Orcutt) Ilollon, who settled in Monroe township on what 
is now known as Ilollon Hill, in 1835, where the father cleared and 
improved a farm on which he lived and died. He had ten children, 
all of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Sally (Mrs. Joab 
Summers), Charles, Dei)orah (Mrs. (4uy C Irvine). Daniel ()., 
Lyman, Eliza (Mrs. William W. Irvine). Lydia, (Mrs. Daniel Cook), 
liarry S., iVlmira (Mrs. J. W. Irvine) and AVilliam. Mr. Ilollon, 
the subject of this sketch, was reared in Ciiemung county, N. Y., and 
Bradford county, Ba. ; educated in the common schools, and learned 
the carpenter's trade in ih'adforci county, which he followed upwartl 
of fifty years, and since iSOi) has been a I'esidont of Noi'th Towanda. 
He married twice: his lirst wile was Loraiiy. daughter of lleni-y and 
Maiy (Everett) Overton, of Milford, Pikecounty, by whom he had four 
children, viz.: Mary E. (Mrs. F. E. Bush), Cuy C, llari-ict A. and 
Dora D. His second wife was Nettie L . daughter of Hugh and 
Caroline (Scovell) Frazer, of AYyalusing. Mr. Ilollon is a well-known 
and pi-oininent citizen of Noi-th Towanda, and is a member of the 
F. tt A. M., and in ))()litics he is a Prohibitionist. 

(xEOIKiE F. HOLMES, |)lumber. Towanda, was born in Towanda. 
October G, 180G, and is a son of .lolm and Lucinda (Strickland ) Holmes. 



HISTORY OF BRAUKORl) COUNTY. 887 

His father was a native of Chittenango, Madison Co., N. Y., a son of 
Jonas Holmes, and was left an orphan at an earl}^ age; he was reared 
ill Bradford county, and on attaining his majority h>cated in Towanda, 
and embarked in the livery business, in which he continued for many 
years. lie has also been in the brokerage bnsiness for upward of thirty 
years, and twenty years has been a dealer in pianos and organs. He was 
twice married: his first wife was Lncinda Strickland, by whom he had 
two sons, viz.: John and George F.; and his second wife was Mrs. Mary 
Kittridge, by whom he has four children, as follows : Carrie, Edna, 
Gertrude and I]l3'sses M. George F. was reared in his native county 
and educated at Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and on attaining his 
majority associated with his father on the farm, in Wysox township. 
In April, 1890, he opened a plumbing establishment in Towanda, which 
he has since successfully conducted. November 20, 1889, he married 
Mary, daughter of Edward N. and Ann Decker, of Towanda. He is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in politics is a 
Republican. 

C. S. HOMET, farmer and stock-grower, Wyalusing townshi]), 
P. O. Wyalusing, was born in Asylum township, this county. May 20, 
1830, a son of Charles Homet, who removed to the farm now occupied 
b\^ Setli Homet, soon after his son's birth, and there C. S. passed his 
boyhood, attending school at the Fairbanks school; he also attended 
the Towanda Academy and select school at Merryall. lie remained 
on the old place until 1861, and was engaged in farming, lumbering 
and milling, besides teaching school several winters. He secured a 
])osition as rodsman in the engineer corps surveying the North 
Branch Canal in 1860, and was there several years. With his brother, 
Edwai'd, our subject secured a large contract on the Lehigh Yalhiv 
Railroad, and since then has devoted his attention chieflv to farniinii'. 
He removed to his present home in 1801, having built his house and 
barns prior to this, and now ow^ns 125 acres; 100 acres of this land he 
cleared himself. He has his farm well stocked with cattle and horses. 
He was united in marriage, June 11, 1861, with Julia Horton, 
daughter of Dr. George Horton, of Terry township. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Homet have been born three children : W. H. (married to 
Adelia Mitten, and residiufr on Lime Hill, where he is eno-acred in the 
manufacture of shingles), Eliza (a graduate of the Mansfield Uni- 
versity, and at present engaged as teacher in the public school of 
Sayre), and Frank (now a student in the Mansfield University, from 
which he will soon be graduated). Mr. Homet is a Republican, and 
has held the various township offices. 

EDWARD HOMET, farmer and stock-grower, Homet's Ferry, 
was born at Frenchtown, this county. May 3, 1826, a son of Charles 
Homet (see sketch of C. S. Homet, above). Of a family of nine chil- 
dren, he is the fourth in order of birth. His father was one of the prom- 
inent pioneers of this section, and his family of eight sturdy boys all 
remained at home and w^orked in common until mature manhood; the 
father owned about 1,000 acres of land, and was also engaged extensively 
in lumbering and milliner. It was in this cradle of increasino- industry 
that Mr. Homet reared his boys, and that early training has made itself 



88S HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

manifest throuo-hout the course of their long and busy lives; indeed, 
the county has produced no famih' that have jiroved so univei'saily 
successful as this one. Edward was the mechanical genius of the family; 
he could shoe a horse or adjust a transit; build a house or mill; sur- 
vey a railroad or build a bridge, and was etjually efiicient behind the 
compass, in the mill, or following the ])low. lie attended school at 
Frenchtown, Homet's Ferry and Towanda Academy, and his boyhood 
was passed at hard work ; he even made a few trips down the Susque- 
hanna river, as raftsman on board his father's lumber rafts. In June, 
1850, he took a position in the engineer corps, on the North Branch 
Canal, which was then being relocated and constructed. That position 
he held till June, 1853, when he accepted a position on the Phila- 
delphia & Erie Railroad, which was then being located, where he 
remained to the end of the year; then came home, and was engaged 
with his father and brothers in rebuilding the mills at Homet's Ferry, 
and in the erecting of a house on his present farm, to which he 
removed in the spring of 1857, and where he has since resided. His 
farm first consisted of only twenty-four acres, to which additions have 
been made, making it now 150 (with commodious and substantial 
buildings), and an interest in 320 acres more. He has followed active 
farming since 1857 to the yn^esent time, besides various other duties 
and occupations, such as settling estates, contracting and building. 
Mr. Homet was united in wedlock, November 13, 1850, with Maria 
Minnis, ]\[. U., of N. Y. This union was blessed with one child, Lucy 
J. Mr. Homet is identified with the Repul)lican i)arty, and has filled 
various town offices. 

GEORGE S. HOMET. farmer and stock-dealer, P. O. Homet's 
Ferry, was born in Wyalusing township, January 7, 1851, and is a son 
of Francis and Ada (CMiamberlain) Homet. His father, who was a 
son of Charles Homet, Jr., was born in Asylum township, August 28, 
1820, and passed his life in the vicinity of Htmiet's Ferry; he was an 
extensive farmer and lumberman, also a contract(jr on the North 
Branch Canal and the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and lost his life while 
removing a derrick, after the completion of the railroad bridge across 
Wyalusing creek, the derrick falling and crushing him, killing him 
instantly; hisdeath occurred September 11, 1807. He was twice married; 
first to Mary Gilbert, by whom he had one child, Mary, who died in 
infancy; his wife died ]\Iarch 11, 18-I-1, and he was married, the second 
time, to Ada Chamberlain, a (laughter of William Chamberlain, of 
W\'alusing, August 28, 1845. This union was blessed with three chil- 
dren : Marv, born August 13, 1847, married to (George W. Fell, loco- 
motive engineer, now in the employ of the B. & M. railroad, residing 
at Harvard, Xeb.; George S.; Rachel, born March 3. 1856, married to 
William N. Wells, a farmer of AVyalusing. The subject of this sketch 
resides with his mother on the old homestead, which originally con- 
sisted of 100 acres, of which loo acres remain, and is owned by this 
gentleman ; here Ik? passed his boyhood, and he was educated in the 
common schools and the Collegiate Institute, Towanda. His father's 
death occurred when he Avas but sixteen years old, and from that 
time forward he had the management of the farm ; he was engajred in 



HISTORY OF KRADFOHI) COUNTY. 889 

dealing in cattle, buying and collecting di'oves which he drove to 
Wilkes-Barre; he has been engaged in tliat business from 1870 until 
the present time. For many years he rented the farm, but in the 
spring of 1890 he moved back on the old place, and there, with his 
mother, has a cozy and comfortable home. The farm has four dwell- 
ing houses and one store-room on it, and is as beautifully located and 
as fertile as the county aflfords ; he has the farm well stocked with 
horses and cattle, and does a general farm business. lie is a Repub- 
lican in politics; but, while taking an active interest in politics, has 
never been an office-seeker, and would never accept an office. In 
busmess he has been quite successful, and occupies a prominent place 
among the vouno- farmers and stock-men of the county. 

SETH ilOM^ET, farmer and stock-dealer, P. O. Homet's Ferry. 
His father, Charles Homet, Jr., was the eldest of four children of 
Charles and Maria Theresa Hornet. Charles Romet, the grandfather, 
was among the French refugees who came to this country during the 
Revolution of 1793; in Paris he had been steward in the household of 
Louis XVI., and tied from the city with others about the time the 
king made that unfortunate attempt to escape from France ; they 
came in a French war ship, and were chased three days in their voy- 
age by an English vessel, but made their escape. Mrs. Homet, whose 
family name was Scheilinger, was born m Strasbourg, and was once 
one of the waiting maid's of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette; they 
took passage in the same vessel, becoming acquainted while on voy- 
age, and were married soon after their arrival in this country, and for 
a year or more lived at a place called Battle Hill, N. J., now known 
as Madison. Here Charles was born. May 7, 1794. Mr. Homet, Sr., 
then removed to Asylum township, and soon after to the settlement in 
the western part of Terrv township, wdiere it will be remembered 
arrangements had been made for the reception of the king and queen 
of France; after a year or two Mr. Homet, Sr., returne:! to Asylum, 
where he bought several lots of the Asylum company ; when the 
French people left Asylum he and Mr. La Porte purchased the greater 
part of the lands there. Mrs. Homet died here in- 1823, at the age of 
sixty-three. Mr. Homet, Sr., married again in 1827; he had one 
daughter by this marriage, the wife of E. T. Fox, of Towanda ; JNIr. 
Homet was a very successful farmer; accumulating a large fortune, he 
cleared quite a large farm. He was a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in his later years. After marrying his second wife he 
removed to Wysox, where he died in December, 1838, at the alloted 
age of three-score years and ten. By the first marriage there were 
born to iiim four children: Charles, Francis, Harriet and Joseph. 
Francis, who was born at Asylum, married Lucy Dodge, and settled 
on part of the old homestead, where he died in 1890; he had no children, 
was a farmer i)y occupation, and an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Harriet married Simon Stevens, of Standing 
Stone, and was the mother of five children, viz.: Charles, George, 
Ellen, Harriet. Mary. Joseph w^as married to Oris Brown, and resides 
at and owned tlie Homet's Mills; about 1840 he sold and removed to 
Monroeton, the former home of his wife, he also was a farmer and a 



890 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

member of the Baptist Church, and was the father of three children 
who hved to attain maturity, viz.: Jewett G., Marion and Lydia. 
Cluirles was married to Lucy Stevens, and had the folloAving children: 
Theresa, man-icd to U. P. Stone, an influential farmer near Camp- 
town. Jonathan, Edward, Milton and Charles S., all prominent farmers, 
and live neighbors to each other. Yolney is a physician, and resides 
in Wyalusing borough. Joseph A. resides in ToAvanda. Seth, the 
subject of this sketch, was born March 13, 1S86, on the farm he now 
occupies, in the old house which stood near the ferry, attending the 
common schools of his district, and a few months spent at the 
Towanda Academy constituted his educational privileges; upon reach- 
ing his majority he engaged in farming until October 16, 18()2, when 
he was drafted and enrolled in Compan}- I), One Hundred and 
Seventy-first Regiment Pennsylvania Drafted Infantiy, was ])romoted 
to quartermaster- sergeant, November 18, 1862. "He served faithfully 
untd the expiration of his term, August 8, 1863, and was discharged: 
he then returned home and resumed farming, which he has since fol- 
lowed. He was drafted a second time, but ])urchased his exem]ition. 
He now owns 140 acres of finely improved and highly cultivated farm 
land, and does a general farm business ; the residence he occupies was 
built b}" his father the year he (Seth) was born. His father was a 
lumberman, and followed rafting many years; his elder brothers have 
made several trips on rafts, but he made but one ; his farm is well 
stocked with grade Durham cattle and horses. He was united in 
marriage, March 4, 1864, with Elizabeth, daughter of Moses and 
Marietta (Paeon) Eilenberger; her ])arents were natives of Monroe 
county, but passed the greater ))ortion of their lives in Asylum and 
Terry townships, this county; her father was born in 1812, aiul died 
December 26, 1876; her mother was born in 1820, and died February 
15,1875. Mr. Eilenberger was a farmer and one of the largest lum- 
bei'man of this county ; the}' had a family of ten children, of whom 
Elizabeth is the eldest. To Mr. and Mrs. Homet has been born a 
family of five children, three of whom survive: Marietta, born March 
5, 1865, married to A. D, Nesbit, M. D., and residing at Tekamah, Ts'eb.; 
Charles, born October 6, 1867, is a graduate of the Collegiate Insti- 
tute, Towanda, of the class of '88, has followed teaching several years, 
and attended Miller's School of Commerce, Elmira; Cora, was born 
October 21, 1869, and when ready to gi-aduate from the Collegiate 
Institute was taken ill and died. May 10, 1888; Anna, born April 1(», 
1877, died in infancy; Govildine, born June 29, 1879. In his religious 
views Mr. Homet is a Pniversalist, and is a lie; ublican in ])olitics. 
Among the successful farmers and business men of Pradford county 
Mr. Homet ranks well towai'd the front; he makes a study of his busi- 
ness, and thoroughly understands what are the best means to achieve 
the best results, ami then pursue them to success; he has been success- 
ful, and as a frieml and n«!ighl)(ji' none stand higher than he ami his 
excellent wife. 

W. X. IK). MET. maiiufactui'er and dealer in lumber and shingles, 
V. O. JJme Hill. wa"s born in Wyalusing townshi|i. Mai-cli 22, 1862, a 
son of C. S. Homet. He was reared on a farm, and educated at the 



HI8TOKY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. SOl 

A¥yalusing' Academy and State Nonnal School of iMaiisliold. P;i.; 
after leaving school he eng-aged in teaching a short time, and in 1885 
took charge of his ])resent business, where, with tlie exception of one 
year, he has been constantly engaged. The mill was l)uilt by C. 8. 
and Edward llomet in 1885, and has a ca[)acity of 24,(>(K) feet of lum- 
ber per day and 100, 0(M) shingles, both cut and sawed ; thev employ 
ten men in the business. Mr. llomet was married October 17, 1889, 
to Adelia L. Mitten, daughter of James Mitten, a })rominent farmer 
of Herrick townshij); this union has been blessecl with one child, 
Harold. Mr. llomet is a member of White Lilly Lodge, No. 808, 
1. O. O. F., Wvalusing; politically he is a lie|niblican. 

NATHANIEL HONEYWELL, farmer, V. O. Sugar Run, was 
born near Wilkes- Barre. La., October 2o, 1841, and is a son of Isaac and 
Betsey (Wandell) Honeywell, natives of New Jersey, and of New Eng- 
land parentage. He began life for himself at the age of seventeen, as a 
general farm laborer, but September 6, 1861. he enlisted at Scranton in 
Company G, Eighty -eighth P. Y. I., and was in tlie following battles: 
Spottsylvania Court-house, the Weldon raid. Hatcher's Run, anti several 
minor engagements; was honorably discharged June 10, 1865, and 
returned to Wilmot township, where he engaged in farming, which he 
has since followed. Mr. Honeywell was married October 2, 1869, to 
Miss Ella, daughter of Sterling (^uick, of Wilmot, and they have six 
children, as follows: Sterling Penn, born Decembers, 1870; Etta May, 
born June 14, 1872; Gertrude W., born March 2, 1878; Albertie K., 
born October 30, 187!» ; Willia/n Archie, born April 25, 1886, and Corev 
P)., born June 1, 1888. Mr. Honeywell is a member of the G. A. R. 
Post at Wyalusing, and jwlitically is in close sympathy with the Dem- 
ocratic i^arty, though he votes purely on principle and independent of 
anv ])artv influences. 

* AUGUSTUS S. HOOKER, Troy, was born at Leona, Bradford 
Co., Pa.. January 9, 1840, the youngest child of Clark and Flavia 
(Smith) Hooker, natives of Massachusetts. The ancestry is of English 
descent. Rev. Thomas Hooker, the celebrated Divine coining to Massachu- 
setts Bay in 1633, and afterward making the noted emigration to found 
Hartford, Conn., in 1636. The immediate descendants settled along the 
Connecticut Yalley. To John Hooker, of Greenwich, Mass.. three sons 
were born : Benjamin, Joseph and John. Clark Hooker was the son of 
Benjamin, who married Esther Woodard. JosejJi became the father 
of Professors Charles and Washington Hooker, of Yale College, the 
latter of whom was a noted author." Clark Hooker was born at Green- 
wich, Mass., in 1795, and was married, January 1, 1821, to Flavia 
Smith, of Hadley, Mass., the "Ox-Bow Village'' of Beecher's story of 
"Norwood" (she was descended from Lieut. Samuel Smith, who came to 
New England in 1634, and was thedaughter of Justin Smith, of Hadley, 
her mother's name being Anna Fields). In 1824 they moved to 
Springlield. Brad ford county. Their children were: Mrs. "Esther Van- 
Horn, of Granville, this county ; Charles C. Hooker, of Leona; Mrs. 
Delia Miller, of Leeds, Mass!^ (deceased); Dr. Carlton C. Hooker, of 
Alba (deceased); John, of Dana, Ind.; Frederick, of Addison, N. Y., and 
A. S. Hooker, of Troy, Pa. The subject of this sketch was early 



8y2 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

noted for intellectual development and scholarship. In 1855-5() he 
attended a select school at East Tro\% and Avas the daily companion 
and friend of P. P. Bliss, the noted singer and composer, and early 
showed his tastes by great proticienc}' in study. He later engaged in 
teaching, and attentled the Troy Academy. In October, 1859, he 
went to Illinois, and spent a year and a half teaching near Paris, and 
then a similar period at Indianapolis, Ind., in the same work. During 
this time he contributed many articles to newspapers, which attracted 
attention, and made the acquaintance of many people of intellect. In 
18()2, he entered the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, ]S\ Y., 
and later Genesee College (now Syracuse Fniversity). pursuing his 
studies until the close oftne junior year. He afterward taught in 
several village schools, and in August, 1866, became editor of the Troy 
Gazette, which position he has since held. It was a difficult matter to 
conduct a paper where, so many had failed, but perseverance had its 
reward. In 1867 Mr. Hooker was married to Miss Anna McBeath. 
of Bath, N. Y., who died March 1, 1871; and, in 1872, he married 
Miss J. C. Doane, of Leona. Ever since he engaged in his work, he 
has been active in every intellectual and moral work, as su])erintendent 
of Sunday-school, president of Chautauqua classes, writer on miscella- 
neous and political themes, and lecturer on a great varietv of subjects. 
He is the author of a large number of poems and stories, and of several 
volumes, amono- them being "Practical talks to Amateurs on Art," 
"Select Headings," "The Leona Stories," and a comprehensive volume 
entitled ''Great Earthquakes and their Phenomena," the most complete 
volume ever published in the United States on the subject. Besides 
these, he has several other volumes nearly completed. To his imme- 
diate neighbors, among whom are the whole ])eoj)le of Bradford county, 
he is better known as a promoter of our graded schools, and as a publisher 
and editor of one of the county papei's, than otherwise. In that wider 
range that reaches out to the scholarly world of letters, Mr. Hooker is 
probablv realh' better known than by hisimmediate next-door neighbors. 
Culture of the mind and trained thinking have been the goal that ever 
has invited him on and on, and his life has been an unostentatious one, 
never even self-asserting, much less courting notoriety. He has nuide 
his indelible impress upon the newspaper business of the county, and 
while always a Pepublican, has never hesitated at honest and fearless 
criticism of Pepubl leans when the hour demanded it. 

EARL VV. HGRTON, farmer and salesman. Iiornl)rook, was born 
in Sheshequin township, September 21, 1851, a son of U. E. and Sallie 
(Elliott) Ilorton. He was reared on a farm, and attended the schools 
of the vicinity, about the usual time of a pioneer's boy; he remained 
with his father until twenty-three, then found employment as travel- 
ing salesman for an agricultural im])lement iiouse, making regular 
trips through New York and Pennsylvania, and is now in that employ. 
Mr. Ilorton was married October 28, 1874, to ]\lary, daughter of 
Franklin and Lucy (Ilorton) iJlackman, residents of Sheshequin, and 
they have three ciiildren: Landon, age<l thirteen; Blanche, aged eleven, 
and Ilullie, aged six. Mr. Ilorton has owned the farm he now occupies 
fifteen years, and has built all the improvements; the house is a 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 893 

modern, eight-room building ; the farm contains seventv-five acres all 
under cultivation. He is a Master Mason, and a member of Union 
Lodge, No. 108, Towanda, also a member of the I. O. O. F., Valley 
Lodge, No. 44^), and has passed all the chairs; a member of the Patri- 
otic Order Sons of America, Washington Camp, No. 190, and in politics 
he is a Ilepublican. 

ELIJAH H. IIORTON, farmer, P. O. North Towanda, was boi-n 
in Sheshequin township, this county, November 12, 1808, and is a son 
of Stephen and Susan (Mayhew) Ilorton. His paternal gi'andfather, 
Elijah Horton, a native of 'Connecticut, was one of the first settlers of 
Sheshequin, where he cleared a farm and died on the same; he was a 
soldier of the Revolutionary War; his children were as follows: Rich- 
ard, Joshua, Isaac, p]lijah', Gilbert, Ste^j^hen, William, Betsey (Mrs. 
Benjamin Brink), Fanny (Mrs. Seeley Hayes), Esther (Mrs. Timothy 
Stra'tton) and Phoebe (Mrs. John Sniith). ' The father of ovn>subject 
was born in Sheshequin township, where he spent the most of his life, 
engaged in farming, and he died at the residence of our subject in North 
Towanda. His wife, Susan, was a daughter of Richard Mayhew, a 
captain in the Revolutionary War, and a pioneer of Lycoming county, 
Pa. By her he had eight children, namely : Elijah, Hiram, Shepherd, 
Mayhew, Elizabeth (Mrs. George Williams), Mary (Mrs. Benjamin 
Lyons), Catherine (Mrs. Hiram Goff) and Anna (Mrs. R. Fox). Elijah 
H. was reared in Sheshequin and settled in what is now North Towanda 
township, in 1828 ; he resided in Monroe township thirty years, where he 
cleared and improved a farm, but in 1868 returned to North Towanda, 
where he has since resided. In 1830 he married Polly, daughterof Abial 
and Mary (Means) Foster, of this county, by whom he had five chil- 
dren who grew to maturity, viz.: Orville, Bishop, Ellen (Mrs. I>enja- 
min Carrick), Elma and Mary (Mrs. Salathiel Braund). Mr. Horton is 
one of the oldest citizens of Bradford county and is a member of the 
Methodist Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

GEORGE H. HORTON, merchant, Sugar Run, was born August 
8, 1844, and is a son of Elmore and Mary I. (Stone) Ilorton, the 
former a native of Pennsylvania, and of English descent, the latter of 
Pennsylvania, and of New England origin. Mr. Horton was educated 
in the common schools, and in the high school of Freeport, 111. He 
commenced mercantile business, in 1873, at Sugar Run, this county, 
where he has since remained, and has a well-established trade in 
produce and general merchandise. Mr. Horton was married, Decem- 
ber 25, 1877, to Miss Emma, daughter of Josiah and Mary (Long) 
Horton, of Rome, and they have had three children: Sadie R., born 
October 4, 1878; Georgie H., born October 13,18—; Mary, born 
December 5, 1883, and died December 5, 1888. Mr. Horton is a 
member of the Masonic Lodge at Towanda, and in politics is a stanch 
Democrat. 

GEORGE L. HORTON, farmer and stock-grower, Sheshequin 
township, P. O. Hornbrook, was born on the farm he now occupies, 
the old homestead, August 5, 1838, a son of David and Hannah 
(Newell) Horton, and grandson of Richard Horton, one of the early 
pioneer settlers of this county. His grandfather located on this 



894 HISTORY OF URADFOKD COUNTY. 

fiifin when he came to IJradfonl county, and it lias continued in the 
I'aniily. His father was a farmer and spent his entij-e life on the old 
homestead ; he built and operated two mills m the township, one on 
the river near the village of Sheshe(]uin, the other on the river nearly 
op})osite the present residence of Horace Ilorton ; the one at Sheshe- 
quin was a grist and saw mill, the other a sawmill, llis father was 
born in 1790 and died in June, 1875, leaving a family of fourteen 
children, of whom the following are living: Adaline, ^vid()w of 
Charles Chaffee; Hannah, wife of Dr. Cole ; David, Jr.; Benjamin; 
William P.; and George L. Our subject's boyhood was spent on 
the farm with his father, attending the schools of Hornbrook and 
Wysocking, and received a good common-school education; working 
on the farm for twentv-five years, he then rented the farm from his 
parents until their death, after which he bought out the heirs; it con- 
tains 100 acres, extending from the river to the main road, all sus- 
ceptible of cultivation, and is well stocked. He has a herd of 
Holstein and Jersey cattle, and he keeps a dairy of ten to twelve cows ; 
and cultivates, about 35 acres of grain. He was married, December 
28, 1803, to Lucinda M., daughter of U. E. Horton, and they have 
four children: Jessie L,, married to W. W. Horton, of Tow'anda; 
Emma A., died in infancy; Ulysses D.. a student at the Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute, at Towanda, and Wallace C, aged fifteen, assistant 
bookkeeper at G. A. Dayton's mill, Towanda, The family are 
members of the Methodist E))iscopal Church, Hornbrook congregation ; 
Mr. Horton's political views are RejHiblican. 

HORACE HORTON, farmer and stock-grower, of Sheshequin 
township, P. O. (Quarry Glen, was born on the farm now owned by his 
bi'other, M. E. Ilorton, in Sheshequin, September 25, 1834, a son of 
William P>. and Melinda (Plackman) Horton, and his grandfather was 
Elijah Horton, a native of Long Island. The earliest record of the 
Horton family begins with Barnabas Horton, who immigrated to the 
United States from England in 1059 or 1000, and located at South- 
hold, Long Island, and built a house there in lOOO, a ]ihotogra])h of the 
same being now in the ])ossession of his grandson. This immigi'ant 
had seven sons, as follows: Richartl, Daniel, Eliiah (jifrandfather of 
the subject). Gilbert, Joshua, Stephen and William. Elijah was among 
the first settlers of this county, and located at what is; now Union 
Corners, and purchased a farm; two of his brothers. \Gilberr, and 
Isaac, came to the county about the same time, and boVight farms 
adjoining, William B. Horton's family consisted of the follov.'ing: 
Harry, a banker, of New York; Elizabeth, married to P. II, Kinney, 
whom she survives: Arazilla, mai'ried to II. (-. Kinney, is a widow; 
i\Iary, wif(? of William M. Shoi-es ; M. E., wlio owns and resides in tlie 
old homestead farm; Ilortenso R.. married to T. G. Smith, and Horace 
who grew^ to manhood on his fathers farm, and in 1800 purchased a 
farm of 150 acres, which adjoined his father's, and which he still owns, 
on which he made all the improvements, and has it well improved and 
well stocked, and has a fine herd of Jerseys. He was married. October 
15, 180«;, to Mary, daughter of H. C. and Sarah (Webb) Smith. Mr. 
Ilorton is a mcmhci- of the National Grange, and of the Free- 



IIISTOllY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. . 895 

masons, having taken the degree of Master of Amity Lodge, No. lOS, 
To\van(hi. Is also a member of the I. O. O. F., and lias passed all the 
chairs, and State Encampment; in his political views he is a Republican; 
has held nearly all the township offices, and is now constable and tax 
collector. 

J, B. HORTON, merchant and farmer, Terrytown, was born in 
Terry township, this county, January 8, 1842, a son of Dr. G. F. and 
Abigail (Terry) Horton, the former of whom was also a native of 
Terry townslnp, a son of Maj. John Horton, who served as wagoner in 
the Revolutionary Army, because of being too young to act in any 
other capacity. Maj. Horton built the first wagon, ami fanning-mill in 
Terry township. The Hortons are a numerous family, and are men of 
business qualities, holding offices of trust in this and other States ; they 
were the first settlers of Terry townshij>; they removed to this country 
from England in 1635, locating in Rhode Island in 1638. Dr. Horton 
studied medicine at the VanRensselaer Medical College, New York, 
and in 1829 began his profession in Terrytown, his native home, where 
he built up an extensive practice ; he was a member of the Constitu- 
tional Convention of the State of Pennsylvania, also one of the most 
active members of the Bratlford Count}^ Medical Society, and wrote 
the report of the Society which, accompanied with a map, was published 
in the transactions of the3'ear ; also wrote the genealogy of the Horton 
family. He died December 20, 1886, at the age of eighty -one, a sti'ong 
advocate of temperance; he was married to Miss Abigail Terry, 
by whom he had eight children, seven of them growing to maturity — 
two sons and five daughters. The subject of this memoir resides on 
his father's farm which he now owns ; he is an extensive business man, 
having been in the lumber business as a successful dealer many years, 
in connection with which he has a large store which he has kept with 
])rofit to himself and his customers nearly twenty years. His farm is 
an extensive one of 200 acres, one-half of which is under improvement ; 
his farming is mixed, but he gives preference to grain and stock, some 
of the latter being registered. Mr. Ilorton's house which stands on 
the site of the Doctor's residence is palatial in dimensions, being fitted 
up in the most modern style. As a merchant he carries a full line for 
country trade ; also deals extensively in farming machinery of all kinds. 
He has held the office of postmaster eight years. Mr. Horton married, 
February 24, 1875, for his first wife, Miss Eva L.. daughter of James 
S. and Lemira Tupper, bv which union there was one son. Arthur Roe, 
now fourteen years of age. Mr. Horton's second wife was Angle, 
widow of W. S. Holmes, and daughter of Rev. D. Trumbull, the 
marriage taking place May 18, 1887. Mr. Horton enlisted as a member 
of the Thirty-Fifth Pennsylvania Emergency Troops, Company A, 
serving the prescribed term, and was honorably discharged. Politically 
he is a Republican. 

J. P. HORTON, farmer, P. O. New Era, was born July 13, 1807, 
and was reared and educated in Terry township, this county ; he is a son 
of Ebenezer and Mary (Terry) Horton, the former born in Goshen, 
N. Y., or in Connecticut, a son of Maj. Horton, an officer in the 
Revolutionarv Wai-. The Hortons. who are verv earlv settlers in this 



890 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

country, are of English, and some say Koman, origin, and came to 
America as early as 1635, their tii'st representative in this country 
being Barnabas Ilorton, who located permanenll}' on Long Island in 
1G40 ; they are a numerous people, having sprung from a race hardy and 
vigorous; have filled various offices of responsibility and trust in this 
aiul other counties. The grandparents of our subject were in the 
Wyoming massacre. Israel, the father of John, and Parcell Terry's 
willow, each of whom had eleven children, were married, and there 
was one room assigned to the children, and a teacher emplo^xd to teach 
this home-made school. J. P. Horton is now retired from business ; 
his life has been active and energetic; he w^as a farmer, lumberman, 
speculator, merchant, hotel-keeper and tanner. He is living on a farm 
of 300 acres, which he superintends himself; has been honored by the 
office of justice of the peace, and other minor offices. He was twice 
mai-ried, his first wife being Olivia Ladd. by whom he had two chil- 
dren : James and Jane; the second wife Avas Roxey Covey, by whom 
he had seven children : Jane, Mary L., Josephine A., Liberty A., Phebe 
T., Eunice M. and George F., the latter of w^hom keeps a store and the 
postoffice at New Era. Mr. Horton is a consistent member of the 
Baptist Church, and in politics is a Kepublican. 

CAPTAIN ULYSSES E. HORTON, farmer and stock-grower, 
Sheshequin township, P. O. Hornbrook, was born in Sheshequin town- 
ship, February 13, 1819, and is a son of Joshua (one of seven brothers 
w4io came to this county in early times) and Lucinda (Ellis) Horton. 
He was born and reared on a farm, attended the common schools, and 
at the age of twenty-one engaged in sawing and rafting lumber to 
Marietta, Middletown and Fort Deposit, and was thus employed about 
ten years. He purchased the farm known as the " McAfee Farm,'' in 
1840, and sold it in 1855, and bought the one he now occupies, which 
contains 150 acres. He is still activelv engaged on his farm, and has 
been eminently successful in business, and has accumulated his prop- 
erty by his own exertions. He enlisted, October 16, 1862, in Company 
B, One Hundred and Seventy-first Regiment, P. V., was elected cap- 
tain of the com])any, and was disciiarged at Ilarrisburg, August T, 
18<i3, and returned to his peaceful fai-m life. Captain Horton was 
married. September 22, 1840, to Sallie, daughter of Josejih and Jemimie 
(Iloi'ton) Elliott, and thiCy have five childi-en: Amelia, married to 
Klisha Forbes, of Athens; Lucinda, married to George L. Ilorton; E. W., 
mari-iedto Mary Blackman, of Hornbrook; Orpiia, married to George 
W. lleasley, of Passaic, N. J.; Luc\' Elliott, adopted, married to Dr. 
Hector Alley, of Lincoln, Neb. Mrs. Horton is a consistent member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Horton is a member of 
Watkins Post, No. 198, G. A. R., Towanda, also of the I. O. O. F., VaL 
ley Lodge, No. 446, Sheshequin, and is a Republican. 

MILES E. HORTON, farmer and stock-grower, Sheshequin town- 
ship, P. O. Quarry Glen, was born on the farm he now occupies, 
November 18, 1851, and is a son of William B. and Saloma J. (Kilmer) 
Ilorton. He was educated in the common schools of Sheshe(|uin, and 
is a farmer. Mr. Ilorton was married, July 3, 1872, to Mary A., 
daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth (Bull) Webb, and of this union are 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 897 

three children, us follows: William 13., born October 13, 1873; Gordon 
()., born November 7, 1881 ; Belle Ilelline, born June 21, 1886. Mr. 
Horton is a Democrat, and a worth}' representative of one of the 
prominent families who were the early settlers of Bradford countv. 

WILLIAM TPJJMAN HORTON, lumberman, Pike township, 
P. O. Stevensville, was born at Falls, Pa., November 15, 1849, a son of 
Daniel T. and Hannah (Angell) Horton, the father a fanner of New 
York, born of Scotch and German descent; the mother of New Jersey, 
of English and German extraction. Daniel T. Horton, who was a 
cooper by trade, and did valiant service for his country, both in the 
Mexican and Civil Wars, is still living, and spends most of his time 
traveling. In his family there were three children : William T.; Mary 
(married to Edward Fowler, overseer of the magazine for Thomas Ford 
at Pittston), and Willis A., a farmer in Wisconsin. William T. Horton 
was educated in the common school, and at LeRaysville Academy, 
then in charge of Ilobert Bassett, a well-known pedagogue of Bradford 
county. He began life for himself at sixteen, working in a sawmill, 
and has followed lumbering and contracting since. Mr. Horton was 
married. August 22, 1869, to Hannah M., daughter of Nathan and 
Permelia (Brewster) Coleman, and granddaughter of Reuben Coleman, 
an early settler of Pike township. Mr. and Mrs. Hor-ton have the 
folloAving- children : R. May, born October 29, 1875 ; William D., born 
October 10, 1878; Inez P., born January 9, 1881 ; Lisle T., born Julv 
1, 1885; and Ella Mabel, born August 17, 1888. Mr. Horton ha'^s 
alwavs been identified with the Republican partv. 

NORMAN S. HOSLEY, farmer, P. O. Big'Pond. was born May 
28, 1817. in Windham county, A'ermont, a son of Rufus and Polly 
(Gates) Hosle}', wlio removed to Bradford county in 1818, and settled 
in Smithfield, where he lived fifteen years; then removed to Spring- 
field, near where the subject of this sketch now resides; he has been a 
Republican ; has been commissioner, auditor and school director many 
years, and has held other offices of public trust; is a member of the 
F. & A. M., and is a man respected by his neighbors and a wide circle of 
friends. His father was a merchant, in early life, in Massachusetts, 
and, later, a farmer; he was a great politician in local alfairs, and an 
active Universalist. He died at the age of seventy-six years, in 1853, 
and the mother died at the age of sixty-one years. Her family were 
among the early settlers of the township. Our subject was the third 
in a family of five children. He was reared on his fathers farm, and 
has always been a tiller of the soil. June 24, 1847, he married Hannah, 
daughter of Daniel and Mahala (Burgess) Carpenter, of Springfield, who 
was born in October, 1825, and was the second in the family of seven 
children. Her parents removed here when she was four years of age, 
in 1829; they were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church; her father died at the age of seventy-eight years, and her 
mother at the age of forty-six. Hiram Carpenter, her brother, was in 
the Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War, and is a pensioner. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hosley have had seven children, as follows: RoUin F.. born 
June 10, 1848, died, aged nineteen 3'ears; Leland E., born October 10, 
1849, married to Francis Bailey ; Laura M,, born Marcli 16, 1851, wife of 



898 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Daniel O. Dickerson; Hiram W., born March 18, 1853, married to Laura 
E. Grace ; Lena E., born June 12, 1855, wife of Addison W. Grace ; 
Helen, born October 30, 1858, wife of Burtis B. Bailey, and Norman 
S.. Jr., born October 19, 1800, man-led to EmmaVarney. He lives on 
the old homestead "with his father, and manages the large farm of 1-15 
acres, on which dairying is the })rinci})al business. 

JOHN C. HOTTENSTEIN, P. O. Overton, is a farmer and prom- 
inent leading citizen of Overton township, equally distinguished for 
his intelligence and integrity of character. His ancestry, who were 
Germans, came to America, in 1711. He is a son of Jacob and Lydia 
liuth llottenstein, natives of Lehigh county, Pa. The family came 
to r)verton from Lehigh county in 1829, and here they made their 
home during the remaindei- of their lives. The motherdied January 5, 
1879. and the father followed her to the grave, November 6, 1880. They 
were of Bradford county's eminently respectable people, and their 
memories will be long respected. John C. Hottenstein, who is the 
seventh in the order of birth in a family of nine children, was born 
April 18, 1833, and grew to manhood in the bosom of his father's 
t'aniily, having only the sparse advantages of the farmer's lad of the 
day, the chief lesson being patient industry and severe economy. The 
son grew into the occupation of his people, and when he went out 
from the family roof-tree, it was to engage in farming on his own 
account, which he has followed uninterruptedly to the present time. 
He was married, December 7, 1858, to Ilosina, daughter of Charles 
Kilmer, a native of New York, and of this union there are the follow- 
ing: Orin, born F'ebruary 7, 1862; Lucinda, born May 29, 186-1; Lottie, 
l)orn ,luly 20, 18fi6; Carrie, l)orn December 28. 18(58; Ira, born Feb- 
ruaiy 1, 1872, and George E., born February 8, 1874. The mother 
and familv worship at the Methodist Church. Mr. Hottenstein 
enlisted in the service of his country, October 16, 1862, in the One 
Hundred and Seventy-first P. V, L, Company D, and was honorably 
discharged, August 8, 1863, participating in the battles, marches and 
siefjes of his command, most of the time fillino- the non-commis- 
sioned office of corpoi-al in his company. At different times in his 
life he has filled the offices of postmaster, school director, i-oad com- 
missioner, justice of the peace and tax collector, and with the lapse of 
years has continued and grown in the esteem and respect of the old 
neighixn's and friends among whom he was born and has s])ent the 
years of his honorable life. Mr. Hottenstein is a man of more than 
average intelligence and education, of sti'ong judgment, and well up 
in the (piestions of the dav. 

IJEiXJAMIN J. IIOIJSEKNECHT, farmer. P. O. Overton, is a 
native of Lycoming county, J*a., born Octobei' 4. 1843, and is a son of 
George and Catherine (Berger) Houseknecht, natives of Pennsylvania 
and Germany, res])ectively. The father was a mill-wright, and spent 
his life in r>ycoming county, where he died, IMai'ch 6, 1877; his beloved 
wif(Mlied at the family iionu! in 18(i3. B(!njamin was the ninth of a. 
family of thirti'cn (jjiildren, and grew lo majihood in the family home, 
pai'taUing of the advantages of ihc jjublic and disti'ict schools of his 
county, and Icarnetl the lessons of industry and economy as taught 



HISTORY OF BKADKORD COUNTY. 899 

the average farmer's boy of his day. When old enough to engage in 
the affairs of life, on his own account, he continued in the footsteps of 
his family, who were agriculturists, and followed this industry eigh- 
teen years ; then, the next seven years, he was engaged at the carpen- 
ter's trade, but returned to his original occupation, and now owns and 
occupies seventy acres of valuable and highly-improved land, as his 
family homestead, all the sweetened fruit of his own patience and 
toil, as he started in life with no other fortune than his bare hands, 
and a stout, honest heart. Mr. Houseknecht has been twice married : 
the first time, in 1865, to Mary, daughter of Gideon and Celia Lan- 
daw, who bore one child, which died in infancy. The second marriage 
occurred in July, 1871, when he espoused Martha, daughter of John 
and Elizabeth (Waltman) Mathews, who has borne him eight children, 
as follows: Joseph V., Ilerbert, Mabel L., Charles O., Jennie L., Flos- 
sie L., Sadie L. and Ina L. The family is one that is widely esteemed 
throughout the county, and the respected head of the household is one 
of Bradford county's leading farmers and influential citizens, a trustee 
and class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has filled the 
offices of school director and constable, and is a Ilej^ublican. His sol- 
dier record is that of a true patriot ; was twice enlisted and mustered 
into his country's service, first in July, 1803, in the Thirty-ninth P. Y. 
I., Company D, and was discharged in Septem.ber. 1863, and enlistetl, 
for the second time, in November, 1864, in the Two Hundred and 
Tenth P. V. I., Company E, and participated in the battles of Peters- 
burg, Gravel Pun, South Side Pailroad, and many other skirmishes 
and hard marches; was finally and honorably discharged in June, 
1865. Is a member of the I. (). (). F., and has passed all the degrees 
of the Lodge. 

ALLEN HOVER, farmer and tobacco-grower, Wyalusing township, 
P. O. Homet's Ferry, was born in Pike county, March 2, 1845, and is 
a son of John L. and Lydia (Pradley) Hover, natives of Wyalusing 
township. He passed his boyhood, until aljout thirteen years of age, 
in Pike count}^, and then came with the family to Bradford and located 
in Wyalusing township, near Homet's Ferry, where his father yet 
resides. He was educated in the common schools and Wyalusing 
Academy, remained on his father's farm, assisting on the same, until 
twenty-nine years of age, when he purchased a j)orti()n of his present 
farm, which was mostly clearetl, antl began to improve the same. He 
owns as good farm buildings as the county affords, in a section noted 
for fine farms, and has added to his oi'iginal purchase of lifty-two 
acres until he now owns 120 acres, and has a fine lot of cattle, horses 
and sheep; his farm is almost entirely fenced witli a stone wall. Mr. 
Hover was united in marriage, May 15, 18Y4, with Helen M. Biles, and 
their union has been blessed with one child, Edith. He is a member of 
Fairbanks Association, Patrons of Industry, No. 33(t4; is a Pepublican, 
an active politician, and has filled various township offices. Is a shrewd 
business man, and a careful and successful fai'mer. 

R. M. IIOVEY, clerk, Lehigh Valley Railroad. Say re, is a native 
of Ulster township, this county, born November 18, 1847. lie is a son 
of William and Jane (Moore) Hovey, natives of the same place, tiie 



900 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

former of whom died on the old homestead, in 1849, at the age of 
thirty-six years, and the latter, now Mrs. Jane Mundy (having remar- 
ried), resides in Ithaca, N. Y. AVilliam Hovey's grandfather, Capt. 
Benjamin Clark, was a member of Gen. AYashington's staff, during the 
Revolution, and his father, Nathaniel Hovey (grandfather of R. M. 
llovey), was an orderly sergeant in the War of 1812, dying in the ser- 
vice of his country. In tlie family of William and Jane (Moore) 
Hove}' Avere six children, of Avhom four survive, the subject of these 
lines being the fifth in order of birth. He attended the public schools 
in his boyhood, after which he was a student at the Towanda Colle- 
giate Institute, and afterward at Eastman's Business College, where he 
graduated in 1866. His first business ex])erience was in the store of 
J*owell & Co., dry-goods merchants, Towanda, with whom he was em- 
])loyed until 1872, when he wa's offered and accepted a position on the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad, at Ithaca, N. Y. He afterward removed to 
Say re, where he has since remained. In November, 1870, Mr. Hovey 
was united in marriage, at Ithaca, N. Y., with Miss Laura Still well, 
daugiiter of John and Eunice (Hart) Stillwell. She is the youngest in 
a family of nine — two sons and seven daughters — and was born in 
Hector, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Hovey have two ciiildren : Kate E. and 
William S. The family are ))rominent and exemplary members of the 
]\Iethodist Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Hovca^ is president of the 
board of trustees. He is a member of Fidelity Lodge, No. 51, F. & 
A. M., of St. Augustine Commandery, No. 38, and of Eagle Chapter, 
No. 58. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party. 

E. A. HOWE, farmer, P. O. Rome, was born in Orwell township, 
this county, August 23, 1860, and is a son of Henry and Jane (Russell) 
Howe, in whose family were four children : George H. (an eminent 
professor in Missouri), E. A., Lelia J. and Irvin L. Mr. Howe was 
born and reared on a farm, and attended the common schools of his 
neighborhood. He then entered the Collegiate Institute, where he 
remained two years, when he went to Chicago and filled a position as 
salesman two years; then farmed, one summer, in ('arroU county. 111., 
and was engaged then as traveling salesman for a nursery. He was 
married, December 28, 1886, to Adelia F. Atwood, daughter of George 
C. and Henrietta (Taylor) Atwood, of this county. Her father, who 
was one of the best known and most successful farmers and business 
men of the county, was a son of Reuben and Abiah (Piatt) Atwood, 
former of Aviiom was born in Connecticut, November 1, 1782. and 
came to Pike townsliip in early times, making the trip from Connecti- 
cut in an ox-cart, and guiding his way by marked trees, the sun and 
stars. He died. October 25, 1878, at the advanced age of ninety-six 
years. Aaron Taylor, his wife's father, was born at Surrey, N. II., 
December 10, 1787, and was one of the pioneers of Susquehanna 
county; he died, March 10, 1872, aged four score and five years. 
George C. Atwood was born in F\ke township, this county, May 17, 
1825 ; was married July H, 1852, and died ( )ct()ber 10, 1889 ;' his widow 
was horn April ?>, 183."), and now resides on the farm in llerrick. 
George was reared on a fai'in, and removed to Wyalusing where; hi' 
remained until 1866, when he came to the farm now occupied by iiis 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 901 

widow, where he resided until his death, at wiiich time he was an 
extensive land owner of this county, and he left a valuable estate to 
his widow and children. Ifis family of children were: Ella J., born 
August 16, 1853, married to E. W. Buttles (she died February 8, 1883); 
Elmer J., born August 23, 1855; Alice IL, born October 6, 1856, 
married to 11. II. Coleman ; Adelia F., wife of the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch (she was born at Cam})town, and when six years 
old her parents removed to Ilerrick, where slie attended the graded 
school of Ilerrickville, then, after a few terms at Wyoming Seminary, 
she entered the Collegiate Institute at Towanda; later she entered the 
Commercial College, Kingtson, where she was graduated, and took a 
course in telegraphy; also taught penmanship a short time in the 
female Seminary at Wilkes-Barre; then taught four terms in the com- 
mon schools of Bradford, and also taught Avriting schools in various 
sections of the county); Ida L., born June 4, 1862, married to Frank 
H.Abbott; Georgianna, born October 15, 1865; Elizabeth S., born 
March 3, 1867; Frederick G., born August 24, 1868; Rollin C, born 
April 28, 1870 ; William L., born February 9, 1872 ; Cora J., born May 
1, 1874, and Leon M., born May 15, 1877. Only one of the family of 
twelve is dead. After Mr. and Mrs. Howe's marriage they went to 
Kansas City, in 1887, where he was a salesman, and she was cashier 
and book-keeper for the New Home Sewing Machine Company. 
They were there about two years, and then went to St. Louis, where 
Mr. Howe secured a position, and Mrs. Howe a position as cashier in 
the wholesale department of the Singer Manufacturing Company. 
They remained there one summer, and then returned to Ih-adford, to 
their farm, where they now reside. They have had two children, the 
eldest of whom, Earl George, died in infancy; the second, Rollin 
Eugene, was born January 16, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Howe are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church, and are llepublicans. 

HENRY HOWE, farmer and stock-grower, Orwell township, P. O. 
Orwell, was born August 11, 1834, on the farm he now occupies, and 
is a son of Earl and Julia Ann (Dennison) Howe, the former of whom 
was born in Rhode Island in ISOS, and came here when two years old 
with his famil3\ The grandfather secured 104 acres of wild land, and 
began to make a farm in which he was assisted, after a few years, by 
his son. Earl ; the grandfather was twice married, and had four chil- 
dren : Sallie, married to John Beers; Pearly, married to Uriah Brown, 
whom she survives ; Lucy, married to Dan Robinson, both dead, and 
Earl (father of subject), who died in 1S50. The last named had a 
family of nine children, as follows: Charlotte, married to E. M. 
Fari-ar ; Phceba, died young; Henry; William, deceased; Helen; 
Philander, deceased ; Helen, deceased ; George, deceased, and Earl, 
deceased. (Phoeba, Philander and Helen died of scarlet fever and 
were buried in one grave, and about eight years later George and 
Earl died of the same disease.) Henry was born and reared on a 
farm, receiving his education in the common schools and Orwell Hill 
Academy. When he was fourteen his father died, and the management 
of the farm, from that time, devolved largely upon him; he learned 
enough of carpentering to do his own work. He purchased the old 

53 



902 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

homestead when he was twenty-one, and luis since abided to it, until 
now it contains 150 acres, well stocked ; he keeps a large dairy, dis- 
posing of his milk to the Orwell Creamei-y Company, of which he is a 
stockholder. He was united in w^edlock, October 15, 1856, with Jane 
Russell, a daughter of Nathaniel Tiussell, and granddaughter of Dan 
llussell, Sr., the iirst settler in Orwell township, and of this union were 
born four children, viz.: George 11. , born Februai-y 8, 1859, married to 
Alida Cham))lain ; Eugene A.; Leila J., born November 5, 1870; 
Irvin L., boi'n July 6, 1872. The family are members of the Presby- 
terian Church, of which Mr. Howe is a trustee ; he is a member of the 
Oolden Cycle, No. 1()7, Oi'well, and is a Prohibitionist, formerly a 
Republican, and has held various township offices. 

HON. H0WP:LL HOWELP, farmer and stockman, AVarren town- 
ship. P. O. Neath, is a native of Wales, born December 10, 1826, a son 
of Evan and Jane (Howell), natives of the same place, and of one of the 
old families of that country, where tliey were yeoman. The family 
migrated to America, in 1832, when he was but six years of age, com- 
ing direct to Bradford county, and settling on a farm in AVarren town- 
ship, where they then made their permanent home. The father died 
in February, 1875, the mother having preceded him to the "silent 
city" in pVbruary, 1878; they had tliree children, viz.: Howell, John 
(who was drowned in the river at Towanda in Mav. 1847, when eigh- 
teen years of age), and Mary (Mrs. Samuel M. AVilliam^), who has 
five children, and resides in Pike township. Howell spent his young- 
life on his father's farm, and attended the common schools of the 
neighborhood; then became a student at "VVilkes-Barre Academy. 
Completing his education he returned home and engaged in farming, 
and is now owner of 100 acres of tine farm land, well improved with 
crood buildino's. and in a hioh state of cultivation. He was nuirried 
in Warren townshij). May 28, 1859, to Ann, daughter of David and 
Elizal)eth (Howell) Davis, also natives of Wales, who came to this 
country in 1834, and located in Warren township; their family com- 
l)rised ten children, of whom Mrs. Howell was the fourth, one of 
tA'ins; she became the mother of three children: Arthur, born May 
8, 1860, and married to Carrie Case, daughter of Franklin Case; J. 
Rienzi, born November 14, 1864, and died July 18, 1872; and Ger- 
trude. Mr. Howell enlisted in the army, September 2, 1864, in the 
Fifteenth Regiment, New York F^ngineers, (Company H, and with his 
command went directly to the front, at Petersburg, where he was 
engaged in the Engineer Corps, and was present at the battles of 
Petersburg and Hatcher's Run, and served until the end of the war ; 
he was discharged, June 30. 1865, and returned home. Mr. Howell is 
a mendjer of Spalding Post, No. 33, G. A. R., at LeRaysville. In 
1884 he was elected a member of the Eegislature. and served his lull 
term with distinction. During fifteen years he lllled the office of jus- 
tice of the peace, nine years as school dii'ector. and three years as 
auditor. During nearly twenty years of his active life he was a school 
teacher, and did much to elevate and ennoble the profession. In the 
army he was first sergeant, and company clerk. He has been regarded 
for many years as an active ami pi-ominent leader and factor in th 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 903 

councils and movements of the llepublican party ; faithful to part},^ 
and friends, and vigilant in the care and welfare of the good of the 
people. He is personally popular, and, while brave and outspoken in 
sentiment, commands only the respect and confidence of even his 
political enemies; personally he has no enemies. 

JxVMES G. HOWIE, farmer and stock-grower, Ulster, born in 
Ayrshire, Scotland, January 12, 1834, is a son of William and Mary 
(Howie) Howie, natives of Ayrshire, farmers. The lad was fired with 
the ho])e of being a sailor, but that ambition was never gratified. 

The Howie family was first planted in Scotland, in 1162. At that 
time three l)rothers fled from France, to escape religious ])ersecution, 
and settled in Ayrshire, renting a farm from some old feudal lord. 
The direct descendants of those brothers still occup}' the same farm, it 
having been held on lease by the family for over 800 years; thefamilv 
now in possession of that estate are third cousins, and are of the thirty- 
third generation from the three brothers who immigrated there froin 
France. Another peculiar thing about the family is that the holder of 
the lease in Scotland has borne either the na,me of James or John until 
the ))resent, when by some misorder of things the gentleman who now 
holds the lease is named Thomas. Connected with this estate in Scot- 
land is the old Howie library, datmg back to the twelfth century, and 
containing several hundred volumes, many of them being written on 
jtarchment, and worth their weight in gold. James attended the public 
schools of Scotland until twelve years of age, but having had the mis- 
fortune to lose the sight of one eye. when about three years old, he had 
that disadvantage to labor under, in securing an education, but never- 
theless he secured a fair common-sciiool training. His paj'ents immi- 
grated to America in 1854, landing here July 29. and came direct to 
Ulster, and his father purchased 133 acres of land in the wilderness, 
which is still in the possession of members of the family. With the 
exception of about a year spent in the machine shops at Ontario, J;imes 
has spent his life on the farm first purchased by his father. His father 
died April 18, 1867, aged sixty-three years, and his mother died April 
24, 1890, a<.'ed eighty-four; their family consisted of eight children, six 
of whom survive. John died in Scotland before the family immigrated 
to this country ; Jennie, who died in Monroe township, was the wife 
of J. F. Woodrufi"; Mary was b(jrn on the ocean during the voyage 
over from Scotland, and is now the wife of S. A. Gordon ; the four 
boys live on adjoining farms. James was married January 22, 1856, 
to Margaret Calderwood, daughter of James Calderwood, of Ayrshire, 
Scotland ; she came to this country in 1855, and made her home with 
James' father until her marriage ; they have no children. James made 
a visit to his native land in 1884, where he found that progress had 
been at work on the eastern as well as the western side of the 
Atlantic, and that many changes had taken place. In his business 
Mr. Howie has always been very successful, and has accumulated his 
fortune almost entirely by his own endeavors. He now stands well at 
the head of the prosperous farmers of Ulster township. In his relig- 
ious views he is a Presbyterian, and in politics he is a Republican. 



904 HISTORY OF BKADFORl) COUNTY. 

JOHN HOWIE, dealer in coal, hay, grain, etc., Ulster, was born 
September 6, 1858, in Ayrshire, Scotland, a son of Mathew and Isabel 
(McQueen) Howie, also natives of Ayrshire, who immigrated to this 
countr\% and settled in Smithfield township, this county, in 1S5T, where 
tiie father purchased a farm. The family consisted of five children, 
viz.: John, Jennie C, Jessie M. (wife of M. G. Benedict), Mary M. 
(married to Homer Ilockwell) and Aggie. The father died in 186(5^; the 
mother lives on the farm with her son John. The subject of these 
lines attended the common schools up to the age of eighteen, receiving 
a fair English education. In January, 1886, he purchased his present 
business, and he now handles about one thousand tons of hay }' early ; 
also from nine to ten thousand bushels of Ijuckwheat; over five thou- 
sand bushels of oats; twelve to fifteen hundred tonsof coal ; and deals 
in potatoes, wheat, rye, etc., to a considerable extent, his business 
being valued at about ii^25,000 yearly. He also operates a farm of 100 
acres, growing tobacco and other crops. He is unmarried. Mr. Howie 
is a member of the Equitable Aid Union, No. 244, and is Democratic 
in his political views. 

L. T. HOYT, attorney, Athens, is a native of the place, and was 
born October 30, 1868, a son of Samuel P>. and JNIatilda T. (Teller) 
Ilo3't, the latter a native of Michigan, born May 15, 1826, the former 
a native of this county, born December 1, 1810, was a merchant, and 
carried on business a number of years; served as postmaster in Athens, 
and was justice of the peace about fifteen years. Mrs. Hoyt is pro- 
prietress of a millinery store, and has been engaged in that business 
twenty-nine years. To Mr. and Mrs. S. IJ. Iloyt were born three 
children, of whom L. T. is the youngest. He graduated in the Athens 
high school in tiie class of 1886, and i)egan tlie study of law with 
H. F. Maynard, in September, 1886. and in Sei)tember, 1888. entered 
the law school of Cornell University, from which he graduated in 
June, 1889, and was admitted to the bar, September 11, of the same 
year. He is a member of the Fire Deiiartment and of tlie Universalist 
Church, and politicallv is a Republican. 

F. N. HUIMJARl), farmer,of Springfield townshi]), P. O. Wetona, 
was born December 22, 1848, on the farm whei'e lie now resides, a son 
of Rev. Wakeman H. and Lurena (Merritt) Hubbard, the father a 
native of Massachusetts, and the mother of Columbia township. His 
father came to this townshi]) in 1840, and was a local preacher in the 
]\Iethodist Episcopal Church, and supplied many charges ; he built the 
first sawmill at Leona, and was an extensive lumberman; he. died, 
Deceml)cr 19, 1858, at the age of foi-ty-foui' years, while the mother 
is still living, at the ag(; of seventy six yeai's, with her son. Our sub- 
ject was the only son and the youngest of tliree children, all of whom 
are living; he was reared on the fai'ni and educated in the schools of 
the township, and attended a select school foi' a time. When he was 
t(m years old his fatiiei" died; he was early obliged to take the affairs 
of tiie farm under his charge, and, by the wist; counsels of his mother, 
was able to save the farm, which was heavily involved, but whi(;li is at 
the ))resent timi; one of the first farms of the township. January 25, 
1882, lie marritMJ Susie M.. daughter of Rev. Ralph and Auiandii 



HrsTORY OF I!liAI)F()l{l) CdHN'IY. 005 

(Cliaiiibet'hiiii) Brooks, of Wy;ilusin<^- ; slie was born November 10, 
1854; her father, who was a native of Leona, a- Methodist cleffiyman, 
died in 1858, at the age of thirty-four, in IJurlington. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hubbard have had born to tliem three children, two of whom are living: 
Ralph, born ()ctol)er 28, 1885, and Merle, born September 23, 1887. 
Mr. Hubbard's farm consists of 175 acres, and the principal business is 
dairying- ajid stock-i-aising. He is a Republican, and was a candidate 
in the fall of 1890 for county treasurer ; is a member of the Free- 
masons, has been a school director, and has held several offices of pub- 
lic trust. 

J. V. HUFF, farmer and stock-grower, Milan, born in Sussex 
county, N. J., August 14, 1819, is the son of fJohn and Anna (V'ough) 
HufT, and has but slight recollection of his grandparents, but remem- 
bers that his grandfather, Vough, died in Sussex county, K. J., at the 
extreme old age of ninety-four. His parents were farmers, and natives 
of New Jersey, the father of English, and the mother of Dutch descent ; 
they died in New Jersey, the mother when forty -nine, and the father 
at the age of seventy -seven. J. V. received liis education in the com- 
mon schools ; he came to this county in the spring of 1843, landing at 
Standing Stone; from there went to Towanda, and remained four 
months ; then to Milan, and purchased the farm he now owns, which 
consists of upward of 110 acres; it was heavily wooded, but he cleared 
away a spot to build a house, and erectetl a small frame dwelling. He 
is now one of the most prosperous farmers in the township, and is sur- 
rounded by the comforts of life. He ]mid the entire purchase price of 
the farm with the lumber taken from the woods with which it was 
covei-ed. He married Roxanna, daughter of John and Betsie (Green) 
Watkins, of Athenstownship, March 26, 1846; their children are: John 
W., married to Emma Hannah; Edward, married to Nora McKinney: 
Henrietta, wife of Stephen VanBuren, of Ulster township; Martha t)., 
wife of John Ka\^s, of Sussex county, N. J.; Frances A., and Mary A., 
wife of Perry Elsbree, of Smithfield township. Mr. Huflf is a member 
of the National Grange, in which he was for years a prominent 
member; the family are members of the Baptist CJhurch. In political 
views he is Democratic. Nearly the entire township was in the wil- 
derness at the time he came, and the forests were full of deer and bears. 
The banks of Big Buck creek were lined with sawmills, and the lumber 
business was the onlv pursuit followed to any extent. 

SAYILL S. HUGGINS, farmer, Springfield township, P. O. Big 
Pond, was born October 2, 1836, at Nunda, Livingston Co., N. Y., a 
son of Ira S. and Valeria M. (Pitts) Iluggins. His father was a native 
of Aurelius, Cayuga Co., N. Y., and was a farmer and carpenter; 
removed to this township in the spring of 1855, and settled on the 
farm where the subject of this sketch now resides; he died at the age 
of eighty -four years, August, 1885. His mother was born in Queens- 
bury, N. Y., and moved to this town in 1805, at the age of two months; 
was cradled in a sap trough and schooled on Grover Hill, and her 
father. Luke Pitts, was one of the first settlers in Springfield ; he built 
the first gristmill in the town, on the creek by Dr. Cory's house; this 
family traced their ancestry back to Sir William Pilt ; the mother 



906 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

died iMurcli, 1883, ut the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. lluggins, the 
fourth in a family of eight children, was reared on the farm, and has 
continued that occupation, and now is the owner of a well-improved 
farm of eighty-four acres, the principal business being dairying and 
stock-raising. He owned and 0[)erated a sawmill many years, and 
was largelv m the lumbering business; he is a member of the Free- 
masons, l.'O. O. F., and the Patrons of Ilusbantlry; is also one of the 
directors of the Grange Mutual Fire Insurance Company, whose office 
is at Troy. He was married, March 31, 18(52, to Mary H., daughter 
of Isaac F. and Lucinda (Williams) Bullock; she was born October 3, 
1841, and is the only sister of William A. and C. E. Bullock. To Mr. 
and j\Irs. lluggins have been born two children, as follows: Minnie E., 
born March 2, 18()3, wife of Charles B. Grace, died February IT, 1890, 
and Eva M., born January 2, 18C5, wife of Frank Yoorhis. Mr. llug- 
gins is a Republican is politics, has held several offices of public trust, 
and is a man res]5ected by a large circle of friends. 

HON. CHARLES T. HULL, county treasurer, Athens, is a native 
of Coventry, Chenango Co., N. Y., a son of Josiah and Mercy (Jones) 
Hull, the former a native of Sharon, Conn., and the latter of Lisle, 
Broome countv. N. Y. Josiah Hull, who was a blacksmith by trade, 
removed to Athens in 1847, and died in 1881, in his seventy-i'ourth year; 
his widow died in 1883, in her seventy-ninth year. Commodore Isaac 
Hull, the great-grandfather of Charles T. Hull, was an eminent officer 
in the Revolutionary War. The subject of this sketch is the third in 
a family of eight children, of which six are living. He received a 
common-school education, and worked about five years at the steel 
engraving business in Athens. Responding to the call for ti'oops. he 
enlisted August 1(5, 1862, in Company E, One Ilundi-ed and Forty-first 
P. V. I., and served till July 17, 1865, the close of the war. After 
being in the service some time he contracted typhoid fever, soon after 
the battle of Chancellorsville, but remained at the front until he re- 
covered. Returning home, he soon thereafter accepted a position as 
clerk in the First National Bank, Athens, and in 1871 he was promoted 
to cashier, a position he held until January 1, 1891. At the November 
election, 1890, Mr. Hull was elected county treasurer of liradford 
county, and entered u)K)n the duties of his oifice January 1, 1891. He 
is a charter member of the G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 202. In 1878 
he was elected State commander of the G. A. R., and during that 
year he organized the Gettysburg Encampment, and had organized 
al)out twentv-five Posts in the State. He is also a member of the 
Union Veteran Legion No. 28, and has held the office of aid commander- 
in-chief of that organization; he is a member of the Royal Arcanum, 
and in politics he is a Re])ublicari. Mr. Hull is one of the most sub- 
stantial citizens of Athens, noted for his integrity of friendship, and his 
unaffected retiring dis))osition has drawn toward him the fullest con- 
fidence and warmest friendship of perha])s as many of the people as 
any man in the county ever did. Among the old veterans of the Civil 
AVar, and the sons of the soldiers, he is esteenu^d the highest, and is 
consulted and relied upon in all their important ati'airs. 



HISTORY (IF BRADKOKI) COUNTY. 907 

JAMES HUNT, farmei-, P. (). Fassett, was lioi-n in Eiioland, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1833, a son of F^dniund and Kli/al)eth (Allen) llunr, also 
natives of England. James Hunt came to this county. May 29, 1858, 
locating in Athens township; then removed to Eltniia, where he lived 
ten yeai's. In 186!) he came to South Cieek townsiiip, near the State 
line, north of Roaring run, on a farm of fifty acres, purchased from 
AVilliam I^rook. lie was married in September, 1850, at Elmira, to 
Rebecca, daughter of William 11. and Ann Fuller, natives of England. 
This union resulted in the birth of ten children, as follows : Anna, 
Sarah, William (married to Hattie Rrewer, of Weils), MoUie (married 
to Fred Smith, a farmer), Fred,' Walter, llarr}^ Lottie, Glennie, and 
Anna (deceased). Mr. Hunt is an enterprising fai'mer of South Creek 
township; in 1890 he built a new barn, and in 1891 a new residence; 
the fruit upon his property is of the choicest kind. He has held the office 
of road-master in South Creek township with the utmost satisfaction. 

JOHN F. HUNT, farmer, P. O. Troy, was born on the farm where 
he now resides, December 5, 1840, and is a son of Joseph P. and 
Elizabeth (Dobbins) Hunt. His father, wJio was a native of New Jersey, 
a son of John Hunt, settled in Troy townshij), in 1825, and on the farm 
now owned by John F. Hunt, in 1831, which he partially cleared and 
improved, and which he pui'chased of the Mormons, who removed from 
there to Nauvoo. HI. His wife was a daughter of John and Rebecca 
(McKean) Dobbins, and granddaughter of William and Mary A. 
(McKean)Dobbins, who settled in Burlington township, this county, 
in 1791, He was the father of three children: Elizabeth (Mrs. Miles 
Kennedy), John F., and Mary A. (Mrs. Horton Ferguson). The subject 
of this sketch was reared on the old homestead, where he has always 
resided ; he was in the Civil War, enlisting September 5, 1864, in 
Company I, Fifteenth New York Engineers, and was honorably 
discharged at the close of the war. He married, December 31, 1867, 
Augusta, daughter of (Charles and Julia (Ferguson) Colony, of Columbia 
township, and has one daughter, Grace (Mrs. Ernest Teeter). Mr. 
Hunt is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the I. O. O. F., 
G. A. R. and Patrons of Husbandry, and is a Republican in politics. 

MRS. WEALTHY HUNT, P.^ O. West Warren, is a daughter of 
William F. and Nancy M. (Eastabrooks) Corbin. Mr. Corbin was born 
in Nichols, N. Y., January 17, 1813, and made liis home nearly all his 
life in Warren township, this county. He was a son of Oliver Corbin 
(a native of Connecticut, of English stock), a son of Clement Corbin 
who reared a family of twenty-two children, and it is supposed that 
Clement died in this county ; his son Oliver came here in 1800, and 
was among the very first "^settlers in this part of the county. A true 
pioneer who braved successfully every danger and all hardships of a 
wild frontier life, he survived to a great age, and died in F^ebruary, 
1870. He had nine children, of whom William was the third, who was 
reared on his father's farm and become a yeoman and successful farmer, 
clearing his way to fortune in the dense woods that so deeply shaded 
all this country, when his eyes Hrst looked upon It; at his death he was 
the owner of 120 acres of fine farm land, the deft work of his own 
strongand willing hands. He was married, March 8, 1838, to Nancy M. 



908 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Eastal)rooks, daughter of William S. and Wealthy Sliurtliff, the former 
of whom died in 1S25, liis widow surviving until 1855; they had 
children, of whom two died in infancy ; those who grew to maturity 
were William W., who married Julia A. Gorhara, and had nine cliil- 
dren; Judson, married to Eliza Robinson, and had five children ; Nancy; 
Sylvanus, married to Lucy Newberry, and died in 1885 ; Charlotte 
(Mrs. Sweet Gardner), living in Scranton, and Jackson. 

Francis J. and Wkalthy Hunt, farmers, P. O. West Warren. Francis 
is a native of Tioga county, N. Y., born September 25, 1857, a son 
of Jesse and Abigail (Eaton) Hunt, of New York. The family came 
to this county in 1864-, and located in OrAvell township. They had 
three chiklren : Francis J., Charles E. and Flora Belle (Mrs. Joseph 
Law)-ence). Francis J. removed to Warren township in 1881, where he 
owns a snuiU fai-m and cultivates his father in-law's farm or estate of 
120 acres. He was married in Waverly to Wealthy Corbin, and they 
have one son, Guy Lafrance, born January 28, 1881. Mrs. Hunt was 
the w^idow of Scott Northrup, who was killed, in 1877, b}?^ a threshing 
machine near Wayland, Steuben Co., N. Y., where they then resided. 

F. H. HUNTLEY, dealer in confectionery. Say re, is a native of 
Monroeton, this county, and was born October 19, 1858, a son of J). E. 
and Elma (Alexandei-) Huntley, natives of this county. His father 
who was a carriage-makei", died, in September, 1884, in his lifty-third 
year ; his widow is now a resident of Say re. Mrs. Huntley's great- 
grandfather, William Clai'ke, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, 
and was one of the first settlers in Ulster township; her grandfather 
Clarke was a soldier in the War of 1812. F. II. Huntley, who is the 
second in a family of live children, comi)let(Hl his education in Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda, attending there two terms; tiien 
learned the carriage j)ainter's trade, which lie followed until 1890 ; on 
September 1, of which year, he engaged in the confectionery trade, 
o])posite the " Wilbur House," on 'Packer avenue, in Sayre, whither he 
had removed in 1880. He was married in Standing Stone. September 
17, 1885, to Miss Minnie, daughter of Peter and Surah (IJarnes) Keen, 
farmei"s, and natives of New Jerse}^ now residents of Sayre. Mrs. 
Huntley is the eUler of two children, born in Standing Stone, November 
2-1-, 1850 ; she is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. INfr. 
Huntley is a member of the Iron Hall and Royal Arcanum; also of the 
Wilbur Hook and Ladder Company, of which he was foreman two 
years; served five years in the Pennsylvania State Militia, the first two 
years under Col. Stead, and the remaining tiiree years under Col. 
Reynolds; politicallv he is a Repul)lican. 

'DANIEL HURLEY, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Myersburg, 
was boi'n in Standing Stone, this county, September 20, 1849, and is a 
son of John and Mary Hurley, wdio were born in County Cork, Ire- 
land, and immigrated to this county about 1830, locating at Standing 
Stcjne, where they resided until deatii, the father dying in Octobei', 
1881, at the almost unprecedented age of one hundred and six years ; 
they had a family of twelve childi'en, seven of whom ai'c living, viz.: 
Timothy, a farmci- ; Ellen, marri(;d to Sylvester ('onklyn, a soldiei- in 
the Union Ai-inv. who deserted the ai'inv and went West; Pati'ick C 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 909 

liotel ])roprietor at Bi-uUoi-d ; Mary, niai'i'ied to William Allen, a 
carpenter, of Towanda ; Julia; Peter, a carpenter and builder, and 
Daniel. The deceased are Charles, who died wlien crossing the ocean 
from Ireland, and his tiny body rests among the coral groves of the 
ocean ; John fell on a circular saw, while at work in a sawmill ; Arthur 
enlisted in Company G, Thirty-seventh P. V. I., and was captured, 
was a short time in rebel prisons, secured a parole, but was again capt- 
uj-ed and sent to Anderson ville, and the hero now sleeps among the 
thousands of comrades whose bones are moldering in the Anderson- 
ville Soldiers' Cemetery. Daniel's boyhood was passed on a farm, and 
he attended the district school until fourteen, when he went to work 
at the lumber trade there four years, and then returned to Bradford 
county, and was on the farm one year, when he again engaged in lum- 
bering, in which he passed the next four years. He now owns 140 acres of 
well-improved land, and is one of the enterprising and ])rosperous 
farmers of Bradford county, having accumulated his property by his 
own exertions. Mr. Hurley was united in wedlock August 28, 1877, 
with Nora Purcell, daughter of John and Johanna (Curtain) Purcell, 
to bless which union have come seven children, viz.: Mary, Julia, John, 
Theressa, Martha, liosella and Emma. The family are members of 
the Catholic Church. Mr. Hurley is a Democrat, and holds the office 
of school director; he is the author of the excellent plan of having 
uniform text books throughout the county. He ranks among the rep- 
resentative farmers of the county, and is much esteemed by a wide 
circle of friends. 

BURT HUTCHINS, passenger conductor, Lehigh Yalley Ptailroad, 
Sayre, is a native of Junius, Seneca Co., N. Y., and was born July 8, 
1844, a son of John and Harriet (Birdsey) Plutchins, the former a native 
of Newark county, N. Y., and the latter of Connecticut. The father, 
who was a farmer, and a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
was born August 29, 1839, and died, December 0, 1872; the mother, 
who is in her seventy-third year, resides in Elmira. Burt Hutchins is 
the eldest child, and has two sisters. He finished his course in the 
Elmira Business College in August, 1802, and immediately enlisted in 
Company I, One Hundred and Forty-first N. Y. Y. I., from Elmira, 
N. Y., and he participated in a number of skirmishes ; was sent to the 
DeCamp General Hospital, New York City, as clerk, where he remained 
until February 27, 1865, when he was mustered out. Returning to 
Elmira he clerked in a grocery store about six years, and then farmed 
four yeai's, at the end of which time he was employed on the Lehigh 
A^alley Railroad as freight brakeman ; was promoted to freight conductor 
in 1875, and to passenger conductor in 1882, which position he has since 
held. He was married, January 3, 1866, to Miss Electa A., daughter of 
Henry and Mary (Pollard) Hallock, natives of Pennsylvania; the for- 
mer of whom, a miller and sawyer, by trade, died in 1881, in his sixtieth 
year ; the latter died in 1883, in her fifty-ninth year; their family con- 
sisted of four girls and one boy, of whom Mrs. Hutchins is the fourtii 
in order of birth. AVhen six weeks old she was adopted by Noble and 
Electa A, (Dewitt) Weller, natives of Connecticut, who came to Che- 
mung, N. Y., about the year 1840. Mrs. Hutchins was born in Che- 



910 HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY. 

inung, N. Y., January 1. 1845. To this marriage were born two sons, 
viz.: Fred N., wlio graduated at the Jiuffalo College of Pharmacy in 
February, 1889, and is now an apothecary in the Buffalo State Hospi- 
tal, and Frank J., a machinist. Mrs. Hutchins is a member of the 
Baptist Church. Mr. Hutchins is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
Menoka Lodge, No. 219 ; and of the Order of liaiiwav Conductors, 
Division No. 10. Waverlv, N. Y. 

LEWIS HARLOW HUTCHINSON, farmer. Pike township, P. O. 
Leilaysville, was born February 10, 1852, on the farm now owned by 
James H. Smith, and is a son of David B. and Lydia (Ide) Hutchinson, 
He is a grandson of William S. Hutchinson (who moved to Pike township, 
November 5, 1819), and a great-grandson of llev. Aaron H. Hutchin- 
son, of Vermont; his maternal grandparents were Nathaniel and 
Mercv (Allen) Ide, and his great-grandfather was Nehemiah Ide, a 
soldier in the Revolutionary AV'ar. Mr. Hutchinson spent his boyhood 
on the farm, attending the district school, and LeRaj^sviUe Academy. 
He began life for himself at the age of twenty, has been successively 
employed in farming, railroading, lumbering and mining, and is now 
engaged in farming and various other occupations, residing with his 
brother-in-law, James H. Smith. He was married. May 2, 1879, to 
Lydia Wesler, and they have one son, James Herbert. Mr. Hutchin- 
son is a member of the' I. O. O. F., No. 371, at Dallas, Pa., and in pol- 
itics he is a Republican. 

STEPHEN SEYMOUR HUTCHINSON, farmer, of Pike town- 
ship, P. O. LeRaysville, was born in Pike township, this county, 
April 18, 1831, a son of William and Electa (Seymour) Hutchinson, 
natives of New England and of English origin. In their family there 
were eight children, of whom Stephen is the second. His grandfather, 
William S. Hutchinson, came from Vermont with five children in 1818, 
and took up a farm of eighty acres near LeRaysville, which was then 
a dense forest, and many interesting stories of the privation and dan- 
gers are told by William who is still living, at the age of eighty-seven 
yeai-s. Stephen S. was married, October 7, 1862, to Martha A., 
daughter of Samuel and Emma (Kidder) Stevens, of English origin, the 
foniier a native of Litchfield, Conn., the latter of Waterford, A't., and 
they have two children : i>elle E., born July 18, 18G3, married to 
Llewellyn Davies, a student in Cornell University, and Daisy Pearl. 
Judge Luther Kidder, of Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties, was an 
uncle of Mrs. Hutchinson. The family are members of the Episcopal 
Church. Mr. Hutchinson stands hiirh amono- the farmers of Bradford 
county who have made a success of tilling the soil. He is a Republi- 
can in ])olitics. 

ABRAHAM M. INCH AM, phvsician, Burlington, was born in 
New York City, November 10, 1831, a son of David and Hannah 
(Nutter) Ingham, natives of Huddersfield, England, David was a 
woolen-goods manufacturer; his parents removed to America when 
young married people, and he and a ijrother were some years in busi- 
ness at Monro(;ton, and afterward farmed in LeRoy ; he spent the lat- 
ter |)art of his life in Tioga countv, and died at the age of ninety-one 
years. Abraham was the; secoml in a familv of seven children, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 911 

helped his rather on the farm and in the mills; was educated in the 
schools of ALonroelon and at Harford, Pa. lie studied medicine in 
Troy, and attended lectures in the Philadelphia Homeopathic Medical 
College, where he graduated in the regular course, in 18r)8, and entered 
the practice of his pi'ofession at Lawrenceville, Tioga county, the same 
year, and remained there seven yeai's; then removed to Plossburg, and 
"after fourteen years' practice there came to Burlington, in 1887. He 
has always enjoyed an extensive and remunerative practice ; has been 
examiner for several life insurance companies, and is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., Freemasons and Knights of Honor; he is a Democrat in 
politics, and has held several places of public trust. In October, 1857, 
he married Martha VanDyke, of LeRoy, who was born in Decem'ber, 
1831, a daughter of Davis and Elizabeth (Watts) Van Dyke, of German 
origin, natives of this county. They have had born to them three 
children, as follows : Lillie, wifeof Edward Van Dyke ; Melvin, married 
to Nettie Graham ; and Bertha, wife of Stephen Gurnett. He had one 
brother, Thomas, in the Engineer Corjis in the Civil War, who served 
about three years. 

GEORGE T. INGHAM, merchant, dealer in butter, eggs and 
produce. Sugar Run, is the only child of Joseph W. and Mary (Taylor) 
Ingham, natives of Pennsylvania, the former of whom was one of the 
early pioneers of Bradford county. Mr. Ingham was born in Wilmot 
townsliip, this county, August 13, 1851, and was educated in the 
common schools, Wyalusing Academy and Susquehaniui Collegiate 
Institute. He began life for himself at the age of twenty-one, first at 
milling, and two years later opened a store at Sugar Run, where he is 
still engaged in general mercantile business; he also operates the grist- 
mill at Suo^ar Run, which does a thriving business. Mr. Inoham was 
married, May 27, 1875, to Augusta L., daughter of '"Major" Terry, of 
Teri-ytown, and they have seven children, viz,: Charles U,, born January 
28, 1870; Ernest J., born April 12, 1878; Harry T,, born August 29, 
1881; Louisa M,, born January 17, 1884; Mary, born September 26, 1880; 
James T., born December 21, 1889, and George B,, born August 24, 
1891. Mr. Ingham is a member of the I. O. O. F., Clauson Lodge, at 
Sugar Run ; is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, is a Repub- 
lican in politics, and is at present postmaster at Sugar Run, 

MRS, SOLOME B, (RICHISON) INMAN, P, O. Gillett, widow 
of the late Benjamin In man, was born in Cherr}^ Valley, N, Y., Sep- 
tember 20, 1813, a daughter of Luther and Rebecca (Bell) Richison. 
The Richison and Inman families removed to this county about the 
same time, in 1831, and located in Ridgebury, and Solome was then 
seventeen years of age, Mr, Richison's family consisted of nine chil- 
dren, of whom Mrs. fnman is tlie fourth; she and a younger brother 
are all who are living of the nine, and she is now in her seventy- 
eighth year. They began housekeeping in a log house, sixteen feet 
square, with hemlock boards and basswood bark ceiling ; here they 
lived twenty-one years as pioneers in the wilderness, enduring the 
hardships of all early settlers; then built a frame house, in which they 
lived fifteen years, when this was burnt; they then built the house the 
family now occu})y. Mrs, Inman I'eared a family of nine children — six 



91:^ HISTORY OF BRADFOIID COUNTY. 

sons and three daughters — eight of wliom grew to maturity, and five 
of these are now living ; four of the S(nis served their country in the 
Civil War, and one, John, lost his life in Andersonville prison. Mr. 
Inman lived to be seventy-three years of age, and died in 1S83; 
his son Edward works the farm f they are general farmers, raising 
stock, wool, grain, and pay especial attention to dairying. Edward 
married Clara, daughter of Hiram and Elizabeth Joiner, and to them 
were born four children ; he has been honored with the offtces of asses- 
sor and town treasurer. 

THE ADAM INNES FAMILY, Granville Centre, is one of the 
most important in southwest Bradford county. Adam Innes, the orig- 
inal Scotchman of this American race, was born in Musselburgh, Scot- 
land, April 10, 1820, and died in Granville Centre, this county, March 
10, 1886, aged sixty-five years and eleven months. He was the only 
son and child who grew to maturity in the family of llobert and Mar- 
ian Kirkwood Innes. In the old country his parents were of the mid- 
dle class, and he had only limited educational advantages. In his 
vouth he was apprenticed to the tanner's trade, and his principal and 
important lessons in young life were industry, thoroughness and a rigid 
economy, and in these lay the foundation of his successes and fortune. 
He completed his a])prenticeship, a thorough and master workman, and 
for some time worked in the tannery in Linlithgow, Scotland, at which 
place he was married, October 4, 1844, to Helen McNeil, a native of that 
place, born April 17, 1821, a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Duncan) 
McNeil, of the counties of Edinburgh and Linlithgow, respectively, 
who had eight children — five daughters and three sons — of whom 
Helen was the second in ordei" of birth. Four years after marriage 
thev emigrated from their native land, coming direct to America to 
make their future permanent home, stopping lirst in Norwich, New 
London Co., Conn., where he worked a shoi't time at his trade, and then 
removed to Ulster county, N. Y., where he was in the employ of one, 
Abram Schultz, at whose' death he secured an interest with the heirs in 
the tannery. In time Mr. Innes was operating the two tanneries by con- 
tract, and 'thus continued until 1805, wiien he removed to Granville 
Centre, and purchased the old Martin tannery. By this time his repu- 
tation for his products was widely extended. When betook hold of 
this establishment it was a very small alfaii-, but he increased its capac- 
ity from 7,000 sides per year to 28,000, and yet the demand for his 
goods outran the supply. '^In 1870 he built the^ "Caledonia Tannery" 
at Grover, Canton township, with a capacity of 32,000 sides annually, 
and placed his son, Daniel, in charge. In 1880 he established the 
" Wallace Tannery,'' at lloaring Branch, with a capacity of 40,000 sides 
annuallv, under his son, John A. Adam Innes was also for some time 
associated with- Ikainard Bowen, of Troy, in the tannery there. In 
February, 1881, he helped to establish the First National Bank of 
Canton, and was elected its president; was reelected three times, but 
in Januarv, 1885, on account of his health, he declined further service 
in that capacity. He was one of the promoters, and vice-president, of 
the Kevstone Land and (\-ittle C()mi)any, owning a ranch and large 
tract of land in Dakota. In February. 1884, he became a member of 



HISTORY OK BKADFORI) COTNTY. 913 

the extensive leather firm of Schultz, Innes iSc Co., of Nos. 1 11, 113 and 
115 Cliff St., N. Y., which continued until his death ; was also a large 
stockholder in the Citizens National Bank, Towanda. 

This is a mere skeleton outline of the vast business career of Adam 
Innes. His force of character, his clear, strong- judgment, his never- 
(luestioned integrity, his broad and generous equity, justice and helpful 
charity were known, but slightly compared to their reality, by those 
who even knew him best. Exemplary m private life, and most worthy 
in his social mingling with the world, his strong Scotch blood was at 
its very best among his closest intimates, and under his family roof-tree. 
"A man among men'" — rearing a model family, purifying the social 
atmosphere in which he moved, and devoting his great life to the 
development of liis adopted country. State and neighborhood. A pro- 
ducer where he found barrenness and want ; developing that higher 
and better civilization that makes this earth wholesome, and the human 
heart vocal with joys. No urgency from his many friends could ever 
induce him to stand for political office; his impulses were in a different 
and, it is not too much to say, a higher plane of existence. His whole 
nature was retiring, modest and self -abnegating in the extreme. He 
was a member of the Congregational Church, but his religion went out 
to liis fellow-man and knew no sectarianism. He was buried under the 
auspices of the F. & A. M. Lodge of Troy, and about his fresh-opened 
tomb the whole community stood as deep and sincere mourners, and 
no man has ever been laid away that has been more grievously missed. 
His rare life was not a fitful fever nor a fretful dream, l)ut a sublime 
reality, tinged with the golden aureole, and he slee})s well. 

Mrs. Adam Innes spent her early life in her native Scotland 
home, and learned at tlie paternal knee those noble lessons of life that 
made her in time '• a blessed mother in Israel." Her faithful and 
eminent husband's proudest boast to his most intimate circle of friends, 
when old age was coming on, was that he owed far more of his success to 
her than to any one, or all else; that in every important transaction, after 
their marriage, he consulted her, not only as an equal, but as his 
superior, and her approval was of supreme and last importance. She 
was of the most rugged of Scotch blood — patient, brave, womanly and 
yet of strong judgment and remarkable executive ability. In their 
home- she was inotJter, the highest tliat can be said of mortal ; in social 
and friendship's wide domain she stood a constant and jo\'ous benedic- 
tion, generous, Christain, kind, tender and loving in all her impulses; first 
her husband, then her children, then all mankind. She was one year 
younger than her husband, survived him nearly two years, dying- 
February 23, 1888, and then was laid at rest by his side — in life united, in 
death not separated — and they sleep sweetly in Granville Cemetery. 
Though painfully afflicted during the last nine years of her life with a 
rheumatic affection, her ))atient fortitude and Christain gentleness never 
deserted her; serene in the memory of her late departed companion, 
happy and content in the pi'esencci of her loving children. She awaited 
the end as the beautiful child nestles in itsmothei-'s bosom, and closes its 
eyes in a sweet and dreamless sleep. Their children were live sons and 
tliree daughters; Robert, of IJodines; Daniel, and Mary C, Mrs, James 



914 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

H. P^astgate, of (4rover; Olivia, Mrs. ('iuii-les G. Sayles, of Granville 
Centre; John A., Colin A., and Helen J. Innes, of Canton, and Judson 
K., of Granville Centre. 

DANIEL INXES, president First National Bank, Canton, was 
born in Linlithgow. Scotland, February 28, 1848, the second in the fam- 
ily of eight children born to Adam and Helen (McNeil) Innes, also na- 
tives of Scotland. When he was ten weeks old his parents removed to 
this country, and he was reared princi])ally in Ulster county. N. Y., 
receiving his education in the public and high schools. He learned the 
tanner's trade with his father, and in the fall of 1870 was placed in charge 
of the Caledonia Tannery, which he still retains. He was married at 
Granville, this county, in 1872, to Miss Pamelia A., daughter of John and 
Polly (Miles) Vroman, of Canton, natives of this county and ]\[ehoop- 
any, Wyoming Co., Pa., respectivel\\ Mrs. Innes, who is the second 
in a family of four living children, was born in Burlington township, 
this county, April 4, 1849. To Mr, and Mrs. Innes were born four 
children, viz.: Charles Arthur, Floyd Adam, Edna Ann and Edward 
Richardson. Onr subject has been president of the First National 
Bank of Canton since the spring of 1885; is one of the trustees of the 
hospital at Blossbui'g; is a stockholder in the Keystone Land and 
Cattle Company, of South Dakota; also a stockholder in the State 
Bank, of Lisbon, Dak.: is interested in the firm of Schultz, Innes ^V 
Co., of New York. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity; 
Canton Lodge, No. 415; Troy Chapter, No. 261; Canton Commandery, 
No. »)4; is also a member of the Lodge of Perfection, of Towanda, 
and politically he is a Ilepublican. 

JOHN A. INNES, tanner. Canton, is a native of Ulster county, 
N. Y., born July 20, 1855, a son of Adam and Helen (McNeil) Innes, a 
sketch of whom precedes this. lie is the fifth in order of birth in a 
family of eight cliildren, and was reared in Ulster county, N. Y., until 
ten years of age. when they came with the family to Granville Centre. 
He received a public school education, and learned the tanning trade 
with his father, with whom he remained until February. 1883, when 
he and three of his brothers ])ought their fathers tanneries at Gran- 
ville Centre, Grover and lioai'iug liranch, the firm name being A. Innes 
Sons. Their ))roduct is union ci'o]) sole leather. Mr. Innes is a mem- 
ber of the firm of Schultz, Innes & Co., hide and leather merchants, 
of New York, and they have also a branch house in Boston. He is 
also connected with the Keystone Cattle Company, whose ranch is in 
South Dakota. They have 14,000 acres of hemlock timber, required 
for the bark; a farm near Canton containing 200 acres; fine-bred 
trotting horses, cattle, etc. Mr. Innes was married in Troy, Sei)teml)er 
10, 1878, to Jennie E. Williams, born in Troy township, this county, 
January 15, 1858. second in the family of four childi-en of Samuel and 
Eliza (Clifton) Williams. To them were born six children, as follows: 
Edith M., Paul E. (deceased), Ralph (deceased). John A., Daniel T. 
and Gertrude P. Mr. Innes is a dii-ector of the First National Bank 
of ('anton, is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, (Janton liodge. No. 
415, Troy (Chapter, No. 201, and Canton Commandery, No. 04; was emi- 
nent con'imander of the latter in 1888. Politically he is a Ilepublican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOHl) COUNTY. 915 

J. K. INNE8, tanner, Granville Centre, is a native of Ulster Co., 
N. Y., born December 25, 1S62, the youno-est in the family of eight 
children born to Adam and Helen (McNeil) Innes. He was educated 
in the public school, at Granville Centre, and the graded schools at 
Troy; also attended the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, at Towanda. 
When three years old he was brought by his parents from Ulster 
county, N. Y., to Bradford county, Pa., and has since resided in 
Granville townshi)). He learned the tanner's trade with his father, 
and in the spring of 1883 took charge of the Scotia Tannery, where 
he has remained until the present time. The product of the tannery 
is 30,000 sides annually. On September 15, 1886, Mr. Innes was 
married in Granville township to Jennie, daughter of P. J. and Almina 
(Case) Catlin, natives of Schuyler county, N. Y., who had a family of 
three daughters of whom Mrs. Innes is the second, born in Granvdle 
township, August 30, 1867. Her father is a farmer of that township, 
and served his country in the Civil War; her grandfather, George 
Catlin, was a native of New York, has been a resident of Granville 
township, this county, forty years, and is now eighty-three years of 
age. Mr. and Mrs. Innes have had born to them one daughter, Laura 
A., born November 6, 1888. Our subject is a member of the Masonic 
Fraternity, Trov Lodge, No. 306, Troy Chapter, No. 261, Canton 
Commandery, No. 64; also, a member"^ of the I. O. O. F., Granville 
Centre, No. 687; has passed all the chairs, and is holding the office of 
treasurer at the present time; politically he is a Republican. 

CHARLES N. IRVINE, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born in Monroe township, on the old Welch Irvine 
homestead, August 9. 1846, and is a son of Guy C. and Deborah A. 
(Ilollon) Irvine, the former of whom was born August 25, 1816, a son 
of Welch Irvine who removed to Monroe in 1814, and was of Scotch- 
Irish origin ; the latter was a branch of the Ilollon family, well known 
in Monroe. In his father's family there were two children : Lyman 
AVelch, born January S. 1842, who lives on the old homestead (he was in 
the quartermaster's department at Murf reesboro. Tenn.. during the war ; 
he married Lorania II. Van Gorder, by wliom he has two children : 
Zilpha, born April 27, 1873, married to"^ Clai'k A. Dodson, a farmerand 
lumberman, Shickshinny, Pa., and Deborah E., born January 12. 
1877), and Charles N. The subject of this sketch spent his boyhood 
on the farm, was educated in the common school, also in Monroe 
graded school, and at twenty-one engaged in business for himself; he 
worked his father's farm seven years, and then located on his present 
home, which he had ])reviously purchased. Mr. Irvine was married, 
January 26, 1874, to Miss Alice A., daughter of Wells and Mary A. 
(Shiner) Goff, of Monroe ; she died September 19, 1888, leaving "^two 
children : Carrie D.,born November 14, 1875, and Guv C, born March 
28, 1879. Mr. Irvine was afterward married, Maf-ch 18, 1891, to 
Miss Sarah, daughter of F.Wilson and Mary(Hanna) Frutchey, of 
Frenchtown. Lyman and (Miarles N. Irvine are Republicans in'^poli- 
tics. and have been frequent holders of town offices in Monroe township. 

JAMES W. IRVINE, merchant. Liberty Coi-ners. was born in 
Monroe, this county, March 6, 1825, and is a son of Welch and Mary 



916 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

M. (Kestor) Irvine, natives of Cumberland and Union counties, respec- 
tively. Welch Ij-vine was of Scotch descent, his wife of German. 
Ills parents fled from the Indians, from Northumberland county to 
Chimberland county, and while there in camp Welch was born, but his 
mother died soon after; the exact date of his birtii is unknown, but it 
is thought to be not far from June 15, 1780. George, the brother of 
AVelch, removed to Bradford county ; coming up Lycoming creek, 
which lie crossed thirty -six times, he arrived in Fowlertown after dark, 
December 17, 1813. AndrcAv — a half-brother — located in Towanda, in 
1812, where he erected and operated a tannery till 1836, when he 
removed to Warren county, Pa., where he bought property and engaged 
extensively in lumbering and farming. On the property which he 
purchased, and which is now in possession of his children, are several 
productive oil and gas wells. In 1814, Welch removed and located on 
the farm now owned by E. T. Parks, where he remained till sometime 
in 1815. when he moved onto the land which he bought at Liberty 
Corners, and followed farming and boat-building until his death, which 
occurred February 12, 1850. In his family there were six children, of 
whom J. W. is the fifth. He began life for himself, farming:, at nine- 
teen, which he followed until the spring of 1866, when he engaged in 
clei'king, whicli he followed two years in Taylorsville and Scranton, 
and then located in his present place of business, where he has since 
kept a general store, and dealt quite extensively in Syracuse chilled 
plows, and has also given some attention to farming. He Avas married, 
January 8. 1851, to Miss Alinira, daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth 
Orcutt) Hollon, and they have had the following named children : 
Leonard S., born September 9, 1853, a farmer in Monroe townshiji ; 
Marv E., born Mnv 20, 1860, died August 19, 1865; Alice and Addie 
.M. (twins), born July 1, 1864 (Addie M. died April 10, 1872, and 
Alice was married June 6, 1888, to O. Delos Davis, who was born in 
Steuben county, N. Y., June 25, 1864, and is a son of Rev. Orson D. 
and Malissa (Knowles) Davis (he is in the employ of Mr. Irvine); they 
have one child, Irvine D.. born April 2, 1889). Mr. Irvine is a member 
of the iVIethodist Ei)iscopal Church; has always been a sup])orter of 
all public and educational enterprises, taught school at Smitlilield as 
early as 1843, and then taught, off and on, tAvelve years, having at times 
as manv aseightv pupils; he is a Kepublican in politics, and was post- 
master"from 1872 till 1886. 

J. ]\[. IKVIXE, farmer and stock-raiser. AVyalusing township, 
P. O. Ilomet's Ferry, Avas born in Wyaiusing townshiji, this county, 
Februai-y 20, 1858, and is a son of John Irvine. He was reared on 
the farm he now occupies, was educated in the common school, and 
upon I'eacliing his majority was already a well-ei)uip])ed fai-mer. He. 
has always resided on the old homestead, which he has owned since 
1872; it contains 100 acres of productive land, well improved and well 
stocked with horses and cattle. He coml)ines hay-pressing and thresh- 
ing with farming, and owns a fine steam I'ig for that ))urj)ose. Mr. 
Irvine was mai-ried, OctolxM' 23, 1883, to I )e]la I»iles, a daughter of 
Charles Biles, of the same vicinil V. and their union has been blessed 
with two children: liavmond and ('hristine. He is a member of l''air- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 917 

banks Association P. of L, No. 3304, and politically he is a Democrat. 
Mr. Irvine, who is one of Wyahising's successful young farmers, has 
all the qualities that go to make up a leading man of his class — indus- 
try, honestv, frugality and intelligence. 

^ ROBERT M. IRVINE, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born in Monroe, June 24, 1846, and is a son of William 
W. and Eliza (Hollon) Irvine. Robert spent his boyhood on the farm, 
and attended the common schools. He then took up farming, and has 
followed it since, on a portion of the old Irvine homestead. He was 
married, March 15, 1871, to Miss Myra Dell, daughter of Charles and 
Elizabeth (DuBois) Marcy, the former a native of Monroe and of New 
England origin, and the latter a native of New York State, of German 
lineage. One son and two daughters blessed this happy union, viz.: 
Alice A. (born November 2, 1872), Jennie M. (born July 20, 1875), 
and Frederick E. (born May 11, 1870). Mr. Irvine is an earnest and 
enthusiastic Democrat. 

WASHINGTON IRVINE, farmer and stock-grower, Wyalusing 
township, P. O. Homet's Ferry, was born in Asylum township, this 
county, January 9, 1832, and is a son of John and Martha (Arnot) 
Irvine. When he was eight years of age he came with his parents to 
the old homestead, now occupied by his brother, John M., and there 
he passed his boyhood, assisting in clearing and cultivating the land, 
and during winters attending school at Fairbanks school-house. He 
remained with his father, on the old homestead, until he was thirty- 
tiiree years old, and then removed to his present place, which at that 
time was an old frame house, with about fifteen acres of cleared land, 
which be at once began clearing and iiuprovino-, and now he has seventy 
acres of fine farm land, fifty acres being cleared, and all well improved, 
with good buildings and fences. Mr. Irvine was united in marriage, 
December 25, 1864, with Lucy A., daughter of Thomas and Juliett 
(French) Doud, residents of Franklin township. Her father died in 
1871, aged sixty-four years; her mother is yet living; they had a 
family of six children, three yet living, Mrs. Irvine being the eldest in 
the family. This union has been blessed with three children : Alice, 
married to S. D. Eilenberger, an emplo3'e of Frost & Sons; Margaret 
and Bertha, students at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. 
Mr. Irvine, has always been a farmer, and has his farm well stocked 
with horses and cattle; he is a member of the Fairbanks Association, 
Patrons of Industrv, and is a Democrat. 

WILLIAM W. IRVINE, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born in Northumberland county. Pa., April 5, 1812, and 
is a son of George and Margaret (Reed) Irvine, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania, the former of Protestant-Irish origin ; the ancestors of the latter 
lived in Pennsylvania many generations. In their family there were 
nine children of whom subject is the sixth ; the other eight lived to 
be over sixty years of age, two sisters and the subject of this sketch 
being the only survivors. George Irvine came to Monroe township in 
1813, and lived near where Monroeton now is, until he built his house 
of hewn logs, Avhere William W. now resides. The last-named gentle- 
man worked for the general interest of the family until he was nearly 

53 



918 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

thirty, and then enoaged in farming and luml)ering on the old home- 
stead, which he has since followed. Jle was married, October 16, 1842, 
to Miss Eliza, daughter of Jeremiah and Betsey (Orciitt) Hollon, and 
thev have live children (three of whom are living) : Robert, born June 
28,1846 ; George P., born July 24, 1850, died July 24, 1851 ; Edward 
C, born May 31, 1853, clerk iii C. P. Welles' store, Towanda; Walter 
W., born July 3, 1855, residing at home, and Alice Y., born April 16, 
1858, died November 19, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Irvine are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has not failed to poll a Dem- 
ocratic ballot at general election in fii'tv-eight vears. 

PHILEMON ISBELL, farmer, of Burlington township, P. O. 
Luther's Mills, was born in Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y., Sejitember 20, 
1809, a son of Noah and Nancy (Slocum) Isbell,of English and Welch 
origin, natives of Massachusetts. Noah was a tanner and currier, 
also a farmer, and died when our subject was three years of age; the 
mother then married John Hall, a farmer of Onondaga c6unty, 
N. Y. When Philemon was fourteen years of age the family removed 
to Owego N. Y,, where he was reared on the farm, and, soon 
after attaining his majority, he engaged in farming for himself, in 
Michigan, where he remained until 1843, when he came to Bradfortl 
county, and settled in Burlington, where he has been engaged in lum- 
bering and farming. lie mar-ried. in February, 1833, Margaret Ann 
McNeil, of Scotch ancestry, born May 10, 1810, a daughter of Francis 
and Polly (Norton) McNeil, To this union were born eleven children, 
seven of whom are living, as follows : Hulda, John, Nanc}^ Polly, 
Maria, Sherman and William. John is a farmer in Burlington, and 
was a soldier in an Engineer Corps in the Civil War; he married 
Mary, a daughter of Welcome and Julia Ann (Jones) Rice ; her father 
is living at the age of eighty-one years. William was married to Franc 
Adamson, who died, and for his second wife he married Alice, daugh- 
ter of J. and Lydia (Bennett) Campbell, of North ToAvanda; he is -a 
farmer on the old homestead (a fine farm of about 100 acres) with his 
father. Philemon Isbell, the subject of this sketch, was many years a 
Democrat, but since Buchanan's administration he has been a Republi- 
can, as are the sons. The family are members of the jMethodist Ei)is- 
copal Church, having j<;ined the same about 185u. They are hard- 
working people, and respected by all. 

W, C. JACKSON, farmer, P. O. Terrytown, was born near 
Dushore, Sullivan Co., Pa., October 28, 1861, a son of Andrew R. and 
Matilda (Lawrence) Jackson, the former born in Berwick, Columijia 
(Jo., Pa, January 2, 1819; the latter in Upper Augusta township 
(near Sunbury), Northumberland CJo., Pa., and removed to this county 
in 1867, locating at Terrytown, on the Suscpichanna i"iver, on a portion 
of the Dod^e pi'opei'ty. Anch'ew Jacks(jn resided on this place until 
he died, November 22, 1885, at the age of sixty six years. He 
was a good citizen and a worthy resident of the town; his chil- 
dren nund)er seven, two by first nuiri-iage, who are l)oth living, and 
five by second marriage, three of whom grew to maliii'ity, and ar(^ now 
living. The subject of these lines was reared and educated in Terry 
township, having come with his father when very young, and always 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 919 

confined liiniself to farming, at which he is an a(lo))t. At the age of 
twenty-four, March 25, 1SS6, he married, at West Terr}^, ]\[iss Agnes 
I., daughter of Peter and Margaret Layman, and there was born to 
them one child, Edith L., now aged three years. Mr. Jackson is a 
prosperous, industrious general farmer ; some of his stock are regis- 
tered, and very line; he is a member in good standing of the Presb}^- 
terian Ch'.'.rch, also of the P. of I.; politically he is an Independent. 

E. II. JiVCOBY was born May 12, 1834, at Mehoopany, Wyoming 
Co.. Pa., and is the third in the family of seven children of Leonard 
and Judith (Williams) Jacoby, natives of this State, of German and 
Welsh extraction. He was orphaned at the age of eighteen, and, being 
thus thrown early upon his own resources, he commenced business at 
the mason trade, having received instructions from his father. At about 
the age of twenty he had several severe attacks of hemorrhage of the 
lungs, and for more than a year fears were entertained that he would 
be a victim to consumption, but he linally recovei'ed, and resumed busi- 
ness, doing a great deal of mason work by contract, and employing a 
number of men. On May 17, 1860, he was married to Julietta Aumick, 
of Eatontown, Wyoming Co., Pa. In 1861, he moved to Auburn 
township, Susquehanna Co., and was there tli'afted, in November, 1863, 
and reported at Scranton, January 14, 1864, but was exempted by 
paying $300. On P^ebruarv 6, 1865, his wife died, leaving one child. 
Mr. Jacoby dealt speculatively in tobacco and other commodities; also 
in real estate to some extent. In 1866 he became a resident of Brad- 
ford county, and December 31, 1867, he married Mai-ia L., fourth 
daughter of Rev. D. Trumble, of Liberty Corners, and there have been 
born of this union, six children, as folloAvs: Carrie E., born Marcii 3, 
1860; Alice C, born April 20, 1871; Arthur B., born October 16, 1875; 
Olin D., born December 2, 1880; Ralph B., born January 10, 1887; 
Stanley L., born September 16, 1889. In the spring of 1881 Mr. 
Jacob}^ purchased and moved on the farm where he now resides in 
Asylum township; in 1885 he erected a commodious farm house, a fine 
country residence. He is a jirominent and successful farmer, a mem- 
ber of the Masonic Fraternity and the Farmers' Alliance. Politically, 
he was a, Republican previous to 1872, since when he has voted with the 
Democratic party. He has never been an office-seeker, but has been sev- 
eral times elected to the offices of his town. 

S. ATWOOD JAKWAY, retired farmer, P. O. Windham Centre, 
was born in Washington county, N. Y., December 22, 1818, and is a 
son ')f Fredrick and Betsey At wood, also natives of New York. The 
father died in 1840, and the mother in 1861; thoy had six children, of 
whom Samuel A. was the tifth. The family were agriculturists, and our 
subject became a farmer, and prospered well, and when he retired 
from active labors he owned a fine farm of seventy acres. He came 
to Bradford county in 1861, and located in Windham township. He 
was married, in Saratoga county, N". Y., to Miss Delia, daughter of 
Thomas and Eliza Ellis, natives of Vermont, and to this marriage three 
children were born, as follows: Francis, Fredrick and Albert. The 
mother of these children died in 1850. Mr. Jakway married again, 
taking as his second wife Mrs. Eliza E. Spencer, daughter of William 



020 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and Ann Gnmley, a family of Fnglish descent, and in their family of six 
childcen Eliza was the third. She grew to womanhood in Windham 
township, and first married Joseph G. Spencer, by whom she had one 
child, James A. Mr. Spencer died in 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Jakway 
have no children ; they are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
He served his country one year, and was in the Army Construction 
Corps. In political affairs he affiliates with the Kepublican party. 

F. H. JARVIS, pi'incipal of the Wyalusing schools, Wyalusing, 
was born in Orwell township, this county, December 22, 1862, and is 
the only child of John K. and Xancy Maria (xltwood) Jarvis, the 
former of whom, who was a teacher of instrumental and vocal music, 
died October 3, 1870. The ancestry of our subject, on his father's 
side, originally came from England and settled in Norwalk, Conn. 
Ilis grandparents removed from Xorwalk to Fairfax county. Conn., 
whence they came to Pennsylvania about 1848, settling in Bradford 
countv. He is a descendant of William Jarvis, who, in 1738, was one 
of the forty -tw^o signers from Norwalk of the "Ernest Memorial" 
addressed to the General Assembly for the propagation of the Gospel 
in foreign parts. The 600, all over sixteen, embraced the members of 
England, living in His Majesty's Colony of Connecticut." William 
was one of the three of the Jarvis line, Samuel Jarvis (father of the 
eminent and distinguished Bishop of Connecticut) and Samuel Jarvis, 
Jr., the others who broke away from the standing order and helped 
extend the church, finally giving the Bishop of Connecticut, the liev. 
Dr. Samuel Farmar Jarvis. The ancestry of F. II. Jarvis, on his 
mother's side, is as follows : He is grandson of Silas H. Atwood, he 
being son of E-euben Atwood, who was born in Ridgebury, Conn., and 
was the tenth of the thii-teen issues of Mary (daughter of Dr. Henry 
Skelton) and Elisha Atwood, the latter born April 27. 1745, and died 
May 24, 1825. He was also the third son of Oliver and Louis 
(Wheeler) Atwood, their marriage taking place November 12, 1740. 

Oliver born March 11, 1717, died January 30, 1810, was the last 
child of Dr. Jonathan, who emigrated from England to Nortiibury, 
and was among the early settlers. His father, Capt. Thomas Atwood, 
was, tradition says, for a time captain of a company under Oliver 
Cromwell. He Avas a physician of much note, and died 1628. The 
name of Atwood has been one of some consequence on both sides of 
the Atlantic, sixteen different families iiave entered their coats of 
arms in the Herald office, and ten of the same had graduated at differ- 
ent colleges prior to 1853. 

F. H. Jarvis received his early education in the common schools of 
Orwell township, and at HeRaysville Academ3^ He entered the Col- 
legiate Institute at Towan(hi in the fall of 1882, and was graduated 
therefrom June; 10, 1886. He taugiit his lii'st term in 1882-83, and 
was attending school then until after his gi-aduation. In the fall of 
18S6 he came to Wyalusing and took chai'^e of the schools in that 
place, being at the head of the profcission in this part of the county. 
On July 19, 1888, Mr. Jarvis received a life certificate from the 
Department of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania. In the oratorial 
contest of his class he received favorable mention. lie is a member 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNT V. 921 

of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Wyalusing, in wliicii he fills the 
office of steward, and is assistant superintendent of the Sabbath- 
school; is also chorister of the church. He has excellent musical 
talent, and has taug-ht vocal music successfully. He is secretary of 
the Bradford County Mutual Musical Alliance, and was an officer of 
the committee on permanent certificates, elected by the teachers of 
Bradford county. In politics he is a Republican, and was census 
enumerator for Pike townsliip in 1890. 

MOSES JEFFEKS, JR., proprietor of the " Ulster House," Ulster, 
was born November 2, 1834, at Albany, N. Y., a son of Moses and 
Mary (Davis) Jeflfers, natives of New York. II is father was of Irish 
and his mother of Dutch extraction; in their family were seven children, 
four of whom are living. The family migrated to this State in 1859, 
locating in Susquehanna count}^ afterward in Carlisle, where the father 
died at the ripe age of four score and four. The son attended the com- 
mon schools of Ulster county, N. Y., receiving an average education; 
on leaving school he was apprenticed to learn the trade of carriage- 
making, serving three years. He enlisted in Company A, One Hun- 
dred and Forty -first Regiment, P. V. I., August 7, 1862, and was 
discharged at Bailey's Cross Roads, Va., May 28, 1865, having served 
over three years, and partici])ated in twenty-six battles, the most 
important of which were Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettys- 
burg. The total loss of hearing in his left ear was caused during the 
service by the explosion of a shell, and exposure. He is a member of 
Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R., of Wyalusing. Mr. Jelfers was united 
in marriage with Sarah, daughter of John and Sallie (Whitney) Rosen- 
crans, and two children were born to them : John C. and Sallie, latter 
of whom died in infa,nc3". Mr. Jeffers, Jr., came to Ulster, November 
26, 1886, and purchased the ''Ulster House," which he now controls. 
His health was sacrificed in the army, and he has been unable to work 
at his trade since; he is one of Bradford county's successful citizens, 
and, in politics, is a Republican. The family worship at the Presbyter- 
ian Church. 

CHARLES E. JENNINGS, dealer in groceries, provisions, etc., is 
a native of Herrick township, this county, born December 21, 1850, a 
son of Richard and Sally (Coe) Jennings, natives of New Jersey and 
New York, respectivel_y. They catne to this county when young, 
and were married here. Richard Jennings is a farmer, and resides in 
Standing Stone townsliip. The paternal grandfather, Ira Jennings, 
who was a native of New Jersey, resided in this county twenty-five or 
thirty years, and died in Michigan. Charles E. Jennings is the fifth 
in order of birth in a famil}^ of twelve children, of whom ten are now 
living. He was reared in Herrick township, and received an academic 
education at Camptown; taught district scliool seven terms, and 
farmed in Standing Stone township until the spring of 1889, when he 
removed to Canton, and engaged in his present business. He was 
married in Canton, in 1881, to Isadore, daughter of Gilbert and Ada- 
line (Cronk) Lathrop. natives of Wyalusing township. Gilbert Lathrop 
is a farmer, and resides in Armenia township. Mrs. Lathroj) died in 
1888, in her sixty-second year. Mrs. Jenning's grandfather, Lawrence, 



922 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

was a soldier in the War of 1812. She is the eldest in order of birth 
in a famil}' of six children, and was born in Herrick township, in Jan- 
uary, 1857. To them have been born three cliildren : Daisy, Franklin 
and Laura. Mrs. Jennings is a member of the Methodist P]piscopal 
Cliui'cli. PoHtically he is a Republican. Our subject's brother, George, 
was in the War of the liebellion, and was shot tiirough ri^'ht lung m 
the second day's light, battle of the Wilderness ; lay on battle-held 
nine da\"s, at expiration of which time he was carried twelve miles in 
an ambulance wagon, a portion of the road being corduroy ; but he sur- 
vived all this, and is living at the present day, but has been in very poor 
health ever since. Mrs. Jennings' grandfather, Lathrop, was a min- 
ister of the Gospel for over forty years ; had three sons in the Civil 
War, all of whom lost their lives there. Grandfather Cronk enlisted in 
the Civil War, also five sons, all of whom returned. 

HENRY W. JENNINGS, farmer, of Granville township, P. O. 
Windfall, was born in Troy township, this county, January 17, 1829, 
and is a son of Ebenezer and Hester (Miller) Jennings, natives of Ver- 
mont and New York, respectively, who settled in Troy townshi[) in 
1825, and cleared and improved a farm on which they lived and died . 
their children were eight in number: Rachel (Mrs. Al[)honzo i\[ott)' 
Mary (second wife of Alphonzo Mott), Laui'a (Mrs. Volney B. Taylor)' 
Sarah (Mrs. Morgan P)ro\vn), Armelia (Mrs. Valentine Saxton), Emm ' 
(Mrs. Seeley Lasher), Heniy W. and Edwin. Henry W., the subjec*^ 
of this sketch, was reared in Troy township, and lived on the hornet 
stead of his father until 1860, when he removed to Granville town 
ship, where he has since resided. In September, 1854, he married 
Terressa, daughter of Thomas and Isai)el (Wilson) Case, of Canton 
township, and has two sons: Frank ajul Fred. Mr. Jennings is apo])- 
ular citizen and enterprising farmer; he is a member of the Free-Will 
Baptist Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

S. II. JEWELL, of the firm of Ingham & Jewell, dealers in clothing, 
gents' furnishings, boots and shoes. Canton, is a native of Tro\', where 
he was boi-n October 28, 1803; his ]iarents are E. S. and Armitta J\L 
(Davidson) Jewell, natives of Vermont and Ithaca, N. Y., respectively. 
E. S. Jewell is a retired merchant of Troy, for a number of years a 
member of the firm of Jewell & Pomeroy. Our subject, who is the 
younger of two children, received his early education in the borough 
schools of Troy, and entered the Pennsylvania Military Academy 
of Chester, in the fall of 1879, graduating from there in the spring of 
1883. On A])ril 1, 1884, he returned home, and engaged in his present 
business in Canton. He was married in (.'anton, in March, 1889, to 
Anna B., daughter of James and Charlotte (Lindley) Ingham, natives 
of this county; she is the younger of two living children, and is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church ; politically Mr. Jewell is a 
Jiepublican. 

AMOS JILLSON, retired carriage-maker, Warren, was born there 
September 14, 1832, a son of Richard and Lydia P. (liobinson) Jillson, 
natives of Connecticut and of English descent. Richard Jillson followed 
the sea for many years of his life, prior to the War of 1812, wJien he 
enlisted as a volunteer, and served the three years of that war. In 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 923 

1825, in Norwich, Conn., he married Lydia P., a dau<;hter of Patrick 
Ilobinson, and the young husl)and and wife came to Bradford county, 
where he resided until liis death, in July, 1874 ; his widow died January 
3, 1888. They reared nine children, of whom Amos, who was the 
fourth, spent his young days on his father's farm in this township. In 
September, 18(54, he enlisted in Company I, Forty-fiftli P. Y. I., and 
went directly to the front with the ^^inth Corps of the Army of the 
Potomac, of which his command was a picket regiment, and under fire 
daily, and exposed to the constant hazards of war. At a place called 
" Fort Hell" he was detailed to level the terraces between the picket-line 
and the fort, preparatory to a charge on the enemy, and while thus 
employed was under severe fire all the time, and at Fort Rice was with 
the alarm guard, and exposed to heavy firing of shot and shell, continu- 
ously. These are but samples of the service he was in, and some of his 
severe exposures. He was stricken with sickness in front of Petersburg, 
the effects of a severe cold, and was sent to the Ninth Corps Hospital, at 
City Point, where he was confined six weeks, and his slow recovery 
showed that his constitution was shatterd, and every indication was that 
he would nev^er wholly recover; but he joined his regiment, returned to 
Washington, was in the grand review, ami was discharged at Harris- 
burg, in June, 1865, when the long and cruel \var was over. He 
returned home, and, as soon as physically able, engaged in his trade 
of carpentering, but was not strong enough for heavy work, so changed 
to mtiking carriages, and purchased a factory and operated it with entire 
success. He was married in Orwell to Helen M., daughter of Burton and 
Sally (Elsworth) Russell, natives of Connecticut, and of English and 
Scotch descent. Mr. Jillson is a Freemason, and has passed all the 
degrees of the Blue Lodge. While he is prematurely old, from much 
exposure in the cause of his country, he is at peace with all mankind, and 
grateful to the country for which he fought and suffered. He draws a 
pension of $17.00 per month. 

ALFRED JOHNSON, drayman, Troy, was born in Columbia town- 
ship. this county, February 1, 1858, a son of Simon and Eliza (Bab- 
cock) Johnson."^ His father was a native of Vermont, and in early 
manhood settled in Troy borough, where he worked at his trade of 
carpentering. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and died in 
1858; his wife was a daughter of Vincent Babcock, a pioneer of Brad- 
ford count v; by her he had the following children: Betsev, Martha 
(Mrs. Charles Howland), Lucy (Mrs. N. J. Stewart), Reuben, Willard 
and Alfred, the subject of this sketch, who was reared in Troy town- 
ship, educated in common schools, and, after attaining his majority, 
worked as a farm hand until 1879, when he embarked in the dray 
business in Troy, in which he has since successfully continued. He 
was married, September 27, 1877, to Amy, daughter of Fred and 
Malvina (Berry) Kerrick, of Grover, Pa., and by her he has t\yo 
children: Bessie and Harry. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Baptist 
Church, served as constable of Troy one year, and in politics he is a 
Republican. 

FRANK E. JOHNSON, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Potter- 
ville, was born March 7, 1841, in the house he now occupies, a son of 



924 HISTORl OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Joel and Sophronia (I>enham) Johnson, tlie former of whom, a son of 
Asahel and Beuhx (Hitchcock) Johnson, natives of Connecticut, was 
born May 18, 1799, and was the first white male child born in Orwell 
township; his wife was born in Connecticut, and is now in her eighty- 
seventh year. Asahel Johnson was married March 3, 1788, and had 
the following named children: Lydia, born September 11, 1788, died 
February 19, 1802; Artemus, born June 2-1, 1790 (was twice married 
and had two families of children ; lived many years in Orwell, but 
removed to Clearfield count}'. Pa., where he died, April 21, 1857); 
Simeon, born February 27, 1792 (married Lydia Benhara, and removed 
to Illinois, where he died December 15, 1878); Amanda, born May 24, 
1794 (married Amisa Bowen and removed to Illinois, where she died 
Se])tember 15, 18(35); Charlotte, born June 27, 3 796 (married Chaunc}^ 
son of Ca})t. Josiah Grant, removed to Illinois and died May 2, 1840); 
Joel, born May 18, 1799, died November 6, 1880 ; AVealthy, born Janu- 
ary 15, 1801 (married Lorin Brown, and removed to Canada; she died 
September 15, 1825); Julia, born May 22, 1804 (married Henry John- 
son, and removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, died August 22, 1832); Clarissa, 
born May 30, 1806 (married Koswell Wilson, removed to Illinois and 
fi'om thereto Iowa, where she died in 1800); Lydia, born May 8, 1808 
(married Harry Wilson, and died in South Warren); Nelson, born May 
25, 1810 (married Olive Fletcher, and died in LeRaysville); Mary, born 
May 6, 1812, died in Clearfield county. Pa. Joel Johnson married 
June 1, 1820, and had the following named children: Asahel, born 
March 16, 1821 (was twice married, first to Ann Bowen, and then to 
Fannie Graham; he died October 23, 1862); Amanda, born November 
13, 1822 (married William J>rowning); Jehial, boi-n October 5, 1825 
(married Caroline Bosworth, and died April 7, 1863); George W., born 
Septembei-, 1827, died at the age of nine years ; Harriet, born Septem- 
ber 12, 1829; Emeline, born in October, 1832 (married John Ilussell); 
Avery, born August 7, 1834, died aged three years; George N., born 
September 14, 1838 (married Alice Chaffee, and resides in LeRaysville); 
Frank E ; Charlotte S., born November 20, 1843 (married Lycurgus L. 
Maynard, whom she survives). Joel Johnson, who was among the 
foremost of the pioneers of this section, was born in the wilderness, and 
from his infancy he was inured to toil and hardships. As soon as he 
was able to wield the ax, he comm 'need his conflict with the wilder- 
ness, and has cleared and cultivated many a broad acre. His father 
settled on 3,000 acres of land, and built his first cabin close to where 
theConklin homestead now stands. Joel took a portion of his father's 
land upon reaching his majorit^^ and. with the exception of a short 
time ])assed in the " Phalanx," at Leilaysville, spent his life on the 
farm now owned by his son, Frank E.; he was a man of sterling integ- 
rity, noted all over the new county for his hospitality. A large por- 
tion of his life was spent in lumbering, and he probably operated the 
first sawmill ever built in that section of the township; he was one of 
the earlv stage drivers on the route from Towanda to Montrose, and 
made the trip, a distance of forty miles, every day from 1847 to 1851. 
Frank E. Jcjlinson was born and reared on the old homestead, received 
a common-school education, and ujmn reaching his majority adopted 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 925 

farminf^ as an occupation, which he has continued to follow. He owns 
115 acres of the old hornesteail, having the same well improved, and 
under a high state cultivation, being also well stocked with cattle. sheep 
and horses. He was married, December 21, 1865, to Julia Hutch- 
inson, and had the following named children : Avery, born October 7, 
lSr>0 (married Marv Barton; he is a farmer of Susquehanna countv. 
Pa.); Alice J., born February 11, 1869 (married C. L. Wilmot). Tin? 
mother of these children dying JSTovember 7, 1871, Mr. Johnson mar- 
ried February 6, 1872, Bertha, daughter of Albert and Julia (Ward) 
Chaffee, of Potterville, this county, who had a family of ten children, 
of whom Mrs. Johnson is the sixth. By this union there is one child, 
Louie M.,born March 20,1874. She*^ was educated in the common 
schools, and at Rome Academy, and is a teacher by {profession, having 
taught two terms in this county. Mr. Johnson is a Republican in pol- 
itics, and has held several offices in Orwell townshijx He has upheld 
the name of the family for hospitality and interest in public improve- 
ment, and ranks among the prominent farmers of the county. 

GEORGE N. JOHNSON, furniture manufacturer, LeRaysville, 
was born in Orwell township, this county, September 11, 1838, a son 
of Joel Johnson, who was the first male white child born in Orwell town- 
ship, in May, 1799 ; he was a son of Asahel Johnson, a native of Con- 
necticut, and was the first settler in Orwell township ; he took up and 
cleared a claim, and followed farming the balance of his life. Joel 
Johnson attended school until his nineteenth year, then engaged in 
farming and manufacturing furniture, principally bedsteads, which 
were in great demand at that. time, many of which are still in use. He 
discontinued that business in 181:6, gave all his time to farming, and 
has held the various town offices; was a New Churchman. He mar- 
ried Sophronia Benham, and had ten children, viz.: Asahel, deceased ; 
Amanda, wife of William Brow^ning ; Avery, deceased ; Wellington, 
deceased ; Jehiel ; Harriet, deceased ; Emaline, wife of John Russell ; 
George N.; Frank, and Lottie, wife of L. Maynard. George N., the 
subject of this sketch, attended the district school until his seventeenth 
year, and high school two winters, then learned the furniture trade. 
In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Forty- 
first P. V. L, and mustered out January"^ 28, 1863; then purchased the 
old shop in which he learned his trade, and started in business SI, 500 
in debt. In 1870 he moved to LeRaysville, and erected a building, 
the tow^er part of which he has since used in conjunction with his fur- 
niture business ; in 1887 he moved his old building to where it now 
stands, put on an addition, and has since used the whole as a finishing 
department, and has followed undertaking. He has been generally 
successful. Mr. Johnson is Republican, and has been borough coun- 
cilman twelve years, and school director six years ; he is a member of 
LeRaysville Lodge, No. 471, F. & A. M., and of G. A. R. Post, No. 
33. He was married in December, 1861, to Alice, the second of three 
children of Luther and Julia (Waterman) Chaffee, and they have had 
eight children, viz.: Scott W., born in Orwell township, November 15, 
1862 ; Annie, born in 1864, married to J. B. Keeler ; Cora, born in 1866, 
married to F. H. Pierce; Willie, born 1868, died in infancy; Nellie, 



920 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

born in 1872 ; Juli;i, born in 1870 ; Arthur, born in 1878 ; Mattie, born in 

1881. Of these, Scott W. attendeil district school until his eighteenth 
year, then went to work in his father's furniture factory. In his twenty- 
first year he was taken into partnership under the firm name of Johnson 
tfe Son, and has continued since; he is W. M.of LeKay Lotlge, No. 771, 

F. cV: A. M.; is member of Tost, No. 232, Sons of Veterans, and of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church ; politicalh" he is a Re})ublican. He 
married, in 1885, Sadie Averill, and they have had one child, Day, 
born July 1, 1887. 

H. F." JOHNSON, attorney, Athens, was born in Greene township, 
Chenango Co., N. Y., January 19, 1837, a son of II. F. and Esther A. 
(Frisbie) Johnson, natives of Connecticut, the latter of Litchfield 
county. The father was a farmer, born in Februar}', 1795, and died 
in INLaine, Broome Co., N. Y., in 1871 ; the mother was born in August, 
1800, and died in 1866. Grandfathers Johnson and Frisbie served in 
the ilevolutionary War, one as captain, and the other as a non-commis- 
sioned officer; the ancestors on both sides of the house came across 
in the "May Flower." The subject of these lines is a distant relative 
of Col. Dick Johnson, who killed Tecumseh. He is the fourth in a 
family of five children, and was reared on a farm, completing his 
education in Athens Academy, attending about six terms. He 
removed to this county in February, 1849. He bought a farm in 
Litchfield township, but had to quit farming on account of his health. 
He began reading law in November, 1879, under Evans & Maynard, 
was admitted to the bar in December, 1881, and began the practice of 
his ])rofession in January, 1882. He .enlisted in August, 1864, in 
Company H, Fifteenth New York Engineers, was in charge of the 
pontoon train, and served in the infantry; was mustered out July 1, 
1865. He was married in Owego, N. Y., March 11, 1860, to Miss 
Euphemia D., daughter of Samuel P. and Lydia (Bidlack) Wolcott, 
natives of this county. Her grandmother was Col. John Franklin's 
last wife. Samuel P. Wolcott died in Litchfield townsiiip in January, 

1882, in his seventieth year, and Mrs. Wolcott died in September, 1881, 
in her seventieth year. Euphemia D. Johnson is the second in a 
family of eiglit children, of whom six are livintr. and was born in Litch- 
iield township, this county, October 18, 1837. To Mr. and Mrs. John- 
son were l)orn two sons, as follows: Oscar, married to Ada Munn, 
daughter of Rowen Munn (Oscar is a store-keeper in Litchfield Centre); 
and Warren W., law partner with his father (he was atlmitted to the 
bar in 1889, at the age of twenty one, and subsequently married Miss 
Aaronette P. Spear, daughter of Henry F. Spear, who died in 
Guatemala, Central America). Mr. II. F. Johnson is a member of the 

G. A. K., Perkins Post. No. 202 ; is a Democrat, and was nominated 
by his party as their candidate for the Legislature in 1878, and although 
the county had at that time a regular Republican majority of about 
four thousand, he was defeated by less than one thousand votes. 

T. P. JOHNSON, M. D., Towanda, a prominent member of the 
medical fraternity of the place, is a son of Alexander T. and Jane 
(Cu<ldeback) Johnson, and was born ]\[ay 14, 1844, in Orange county, 
N. Y., of which place his parents were also natives, of French and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 927 

Dutch descent. The father was a school teaclier, county superinteiKlent 
of schools, and latterly a farniei-; lie was a nuiu of prominence and 
influence in his native ])lace. llis family com})»'ised fourchil(lren,viz.: Dr. 
AV. E.,of Waverly; liJlandena E., married to B. F. Dunning'; Dr. T. B., and 
Lyman 11., who\lied in 1885. The subject of this brief sketch grew to 
nianhood in his native place, Port Jervis, received a good education and 
clerked in a drug store in Port Jervis, practicing the study of medicine 
at the same time. In 1864 he entered the army, and served two years 
in the capacity of hospital steward, in the U. S. A.; in the latter part 
of the term he was under Maj.-Gen. Thomas, and had charge of the 
medical stores of the Army of the Cumberland. He was mustered out 
after the close of the war.^in 18(3G, and returned to his home. He then 
attended lectures at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, 
was gi'aduated March 1, 1868, and April 5, following, arrived at 
Towanda, where he has made his permanent home, and has enjoyed an 
extended practice. He is a member of the County Medical Society, 
and has served as its president, and is also a member of the State 
Medical Society; he has taken a deep interest in the public schools, and 
served as president of the board ; is a Sir Knight Templar, and of the 
Scottish Rite Degree, and is an fndependent in politics. In 1871 he 
was married, in Towanda, to Miss Henrietta Barstow, a native of 
Towanda, and daughter of the late D. F. Barstow. This happy union 
has been blessed with three children, as follows: Carrie B., Alexander 
T. and T. B., Jr. The family worship at the Episcopal Church, and 
the Doctor is a member of the vestry. In the social life of the town 
this is one of the prominent and much respected families. 

CHARLES F. JONES, merchant, Stevensville, was born in Pike, 
this county, November 10, 1848, a son of Edward W. and Arabella 
B. (Bosworth) Jones, the former a native of Connecticut, of Welch 
and English origin. Edward W. was a lawyer and farmer, was also 
engaged in the mercantile business; when he first came to Pennsylva- 
nia he taught school at Bailey Hollow^ where Scranton now is, and 
received a school order, but there was no money in the treasury, so he 
traded his order for a pair of oxen, and refused an offer of a 
large tract of land for the oxen, and afterward saw the land 
become worth many millions. In his family were thirteen children, of 
whom Charles F. was the tenth. He was reared on a farm, educated in 
the common school, and at Holland Patent Academy. He began life 
at twenty-one, and clerked in a store in Stevensville for six years; 
then engaged in farming two years, after which he was in the business 
of shipping hay and grain for six years. In 1871 he was clerk in the 
store of Ross & Stevens, and in 1887 was admitted as third partner. 
Mr. Jones married, October 8, 1888, Miss Nellie, daughter of Henry 
A. and Sarah U. (Stevens) Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are consistent 
members of the Presbyterian Church; he is a member of the I. O. O. F. 
Lodge, at Camptown, and in politics is a Republican ; has been col- 
lector of the taxes in Pike two years, and town clerk five years. 

HENRY JONES, farmer, carpenter and joiner. Pike township, P.O. 
LeRaysville, was born at St. John, Quebec, Canada, June 16, 1832, 
a son of John and Elizabeth (Jones) Jones, natives of Neath, South 



928 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Wales, who came to this country in 1832. Their ship, bound for ISTew 
York, was driven bv storm, and they hmded in Quebec. Henry was 
born the day after hmding-, and when six years old went to live with 
efohn Williams, at Neath, l*a., where he resided until twenty-one; then 
learned the carpenter and joiner's traiie, which he followed fitteen years. 
In 18G5 he purchased his present home, and has since worked chief! v at 
farming. April 28, 1800, he married Jane S., daughter of Philip and 
Gw^eny (Davis) Philips, natives of South Wales, and their children were 
as follows: Mary E., Alfred M. (deceased), Achsah M., Alice P., Sarah 
G., Ilattie Belle (deceased), Samuel P., William U. and Goi-ner R. 
Mr. Jones is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and is a Republican. 

HENRY USTICK JONES, farmer, and a dealer in agricultural 
implements, Stevensville, was born May 15, 1841, a son of Edward 
Wadsworth and Arabella (Boswoith) Jones, former of whom was a 
relative of James W. Wadsworth, who was governor of New York 
and a brigadier-general in the Civil War, a member of Congress, and 
also of the Capt. Wadsworth "Charter Oak" fame. In Edward 
Wadsworth's family there Avere thirteen children : Norval Wadsworth, 
a member of the bar of Baltimore, who died in Washington in 1803 ; 
Sarah Louisa, educated in the common school, and female seminaries of 
Frederick county and Geneva, N. Y. (she has taught in many different 
places, and in 1877 returned to Stevensville, where she has since made 
he)' home with her brother Henry U.); Frances Arabella, married to 
William Chassell; Theodore A^ernon, who died in infancy; Dr. Edward 
Salmon, in the Treasur\^ Department at Washington; Helen Susan, 
married to Levi Wells, a farmer in Tuscarora township, died in 1887; 
Ilenry U.; Harvey Whittlesey, enlisted in 1802, at the age of eigiiteen, 
was mustered out in 1860 (he was engaged in various pursuits in man\' 
parts of the United States, returned to Washington, where he died in 
1873); Julia Bosworth, married to A. B. Cummings, of Washington ; 
Frederick William, died in 1888, in Iowa; Charles F.; Lynds Flavins, 
a graduate of Georgetown Law School, employed in the Census and 
Interior Departments, admitted to practice law in AVashington (he 
died January 18, 1878); the youngest of this large and influential 
family is Mary Electra, wdio married Joseph Kalbfus. 

Henry Ustick Jones, the subject proper of this biographical 
memoir, was reared on the farm, educated in the common school, 
LeRaysville Academy, and Fort Edward Collegiate Institute, Washing- 
ton county, N. Y.; began teaching at seventeen, in Luzerne county. 
He enlisted at Towanda, August 13, 1802, in Company 1^, One Hun- 
dred and Forty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers; was made First Lieu- 
tenant, May 23, 1803; was wounded at Petersburg, June 18, 186-1, 
while on the staff of Gen. Madill ; was detailed quartermaster of the 
regiment till 1804, and was then made quartermaster of the brigade, 
until the close of the war. Returning to Stevensville he went 
from there to low^a, where he purchased a farm, and remained two 
years; then returned to Pennsylvania one year, and was then in the 
United States Signal Service; he ])ui'cliased his present home in 1887. 
The fainil}' worship at th<i Episcopal Cliui'ch, and they are Repuljlicans. 
Israel Jones, the grandfather of Ilenry U., w^as colonel in a Connecti- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 939 

cut regiment in the Revolutionarv War ; he married Lois Wadsworth ; 
thev had a family of twelve children, of whom Edward Wadsworth 
was the youngest. 

EEV. JOHN D. JONES, pastor of the Welch Congregational 
Church at Neath, was born October 7, 1857, and reared on a farm near 
Carmarthen, South Wales, a son of Evan and Jane (Davis) Jones, in 
whose family there were eight children, of whom John D. is the sec- 
ond. After some time spent in the common and preparatory schools, 
Mr. Jones entered Carmarthen College, Avhere he was graduated in 
18S2 ; he came to America and entered the Theological Seminary at 
Yale, and was graduated from there in 1885, since which time he has 
filled his present position, where he is greatly esteemed by his congre- 
gation, which numbers about 200. Mr, Jones was married, October 
26, 18S5, to Mrs. John L. Jones, daughter of William and Sai-ah 
(Tliomas) Davis, natives of Aberavon, South Wales, and three bright 
children bless this happ}^ union, viz.: Clifford, born February 4, 1887; 
Jane Olive, born September 21, 1888, and Grace, born January 6, 1891. 

JOHN F. JONES, merchant, Stevensville, was born in Middle- 
town, Susquehanna Co., Pa., July 21, 1855, a son of William E. and 
Betsy M. (Pierce) Jones, natives of Pennsylvania. In his father's 
family there were eight children, of whom J. F. is the fourth. At 
eighteen \'ears of age he was given the management of the Henry 
Lacey mill, where he remained one year, then was successively engaged 
in milling at Monroeton one year, Pushville two years, Monroeton six 
years. Great Bend one year, Apalachin one year, Stevensville four 
years; at the end of this time he engaged in his present mercantile 
business. He was married, January 11, 1880, to Carrie M., daughter 
of Joseph and Mary Ann (Neiley) Swartwood, natives of Pennsylvania, 
and of Holland origin. Thev have four children : Georgiana, born 
December 2, 1880; Joseph W., born September 18, 1882; Martin L., 
born January 24, 1885, and Frances May, born January 27, 1887. 
Mr. Jones is a member of the Knights of Honor, at Monroeton, and is 
a Re])ublican. 

LEONARD W. JONES, livery)nan, Troy, was born in Canton 
township, this county, March 15, 1851, son of John B. and Betsey 
(Crandall) Jones. His father came to Bradford countv about 1818, 
and located in Canton township, where he cleared and improved a farm 
and died there. He reared a family of eleven children, as follows: 
Lewis, Vincent K., Ellen (Mrs. George Streeter), John, Leonard W., 
Andrew, Rosette (Mrs. Sniffin Vermilyea), Josephine (Mrs. Frank 
Whiteman), Merrick, Alice, and Mary (Mrs. Charles Rodebaugh). Leon- 
ard W. was reared in Canton townsliip, and after attaining his major- 
ity engaged in farming, until 1800, when he located in Troy, and 
embarked in the livery business as a member of the firm of Steele & 
Jones, which he continued seven months, since which time he has con- 
ducted a successful business alone. In 1879 he married EIlaL., daugh- 
ter of Edward and Josephine (Wi'ight) Rodebaugh, of Canton, and 
they have two children: AValter and Helen. lie is a member of the 
Church of Christ; in politics he is a Republican. 



930 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COLXTY. 

S. O. JOXES, farmer and stock-grower, Wyalusing- township, P. O. 
' Wyalusing, was born in Tunkhannock, Wyoming county, August 19, 
isio, and is a son of Joseph Benson and Elizabeth (Sharps) Jones, 
the former of whom was a native of New York, and tlie latter of 
Pennsylvania. The father was a teacher, carpenter and finally a mer- 
chant of Centre Moreland, Pa., where he died in lS56,aged thirty -three, 
leaving a family of two children: S. O., and Carrie E., who married 
Harry E. Chamberlain, a merchant of Mansfield, Ohio; and died in 
1ST'.>. Our subject's boyhood Avas passed in Tunkhannock, Centre More- 
land and Dallas, Pa., attending public school at these places and at 
Wilkes-Barre. In 1859 he became clerk in the recorder's office at 
Wilkes-Barre, and remained there until October, 1862, when he enlisted 
in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-seven P. V. I., and served 
with honor until August, 1863, expiration of term. During service 
ho spent most of his time at Deep Creek, Va., building a fort and sup- 
porting a battery, after his return he was in the recorder's office a short 
time; then about three years was engaged as book-keeper for a lumber 
company of Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Jones traveled through the A^estern 
States for five years, and upon his return served about eighteen months 
in an insurance office, and afterward served as assistant city clerk and 
as tlie city clerk of Wilkes-Barre, for a period of twelve years. In the 
spring of 1S86 he came to Wyalusing and purchased a farm on J.ime 
Hill, and now resides on Vaughn Hill; he has 170 acres of well- 
improved farm land, and has his farm well stocked with horses 
and cattle. He was united in marriage, September 13, 1875, with 
Florence E. Barnes, (laughter of Albert Barnes, of Wilkes-Barre, and 
this union has been blessed Avith the following children: Carrie E., 
Grace M., Benson S. Olin A., Robert S. and Agnes V. Mr. Jones is 
identified witl; the Democratic party; he has made his own way in life, 
and has always been successful, 

WILLIAM H. JONES, foreman of the Franklin Blue Stone 
Quarry, Sheshequin township, P. O. Quarry Glen, was born in Ulster 
county, N. Y., May 19, 1842, and is a son of Ezekiel D. and Rachel 
(Place) Jones, natives of Ulster county. His parents had seven 
children: the father now resides in Sheshequin township, in the eni])lov 
of the Franklin Plue Stone Company; the mother is dead. AVilliam 
s])ent his boyhood in his naiive place, and received his education, and 
b(>gan life as a teamster; then went to work in the quarries, and learned 
the stone-cutter's trade, and worked there until he enlisted in the army, 
September 15, 1863, in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-sixth 
N. Y. v., and served until May 26, 1866. He participated in the battles 
of Wincliester, Cedar Creek, and numerous minor engagements, and 
was wounded in the battle of Cedar Creek, in the right shoulder, 
by a musket ball, which sti'uck him on the side, close to the shoulder 
blade, and ranged backward and lodged under the shoulder blade; 
he still carries the ball in his body. He was sent to Chestnut II di 
Hospital. Philadelphia, and was there four months; after leaving 
the hospital he returned to his regiment. On leaving the army, he 
returned t<; his fornu'r place, and \v(?nt with .1. D. Morris, where he is 
at present. He was married, July 2, 1867, to Ellen, daughter of Jacob 



HISTORY OF I5RADF0RD COUNTY. 931 

H. and Sarah (Sheltus) Moore, natives of Ulster county, N. Y., and to 
them were born three children: Carrie, Walter Tv. and Ira. The family 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Horn brook. 
Mr. Jones is also a member of G. A. R., Watkins Post, No. 68, 
Towanda, and is officer of the guard ; is a member of the I. O. O. F,, 
Yallev Lodge, No. 446, and is a Kepublican. 

WILLIAM HENRY JONES, miller, Pike township, P. O. Stovens- 
ville, was born in Middletown, Susquehanna Co., Pa., a son of William 
E. and Betsey (Pierce) Jones, natives of Pennsylvania, early settlers in 
this county. In their family there were nine children, of whom our 
subject is the fourth. He spent his boyhood attending the district 
school, and assisting his father in his mill, in this way learning the 
miller's trade. In 1883 he located in his present ]ilace of business, 
wdiere he does a large milling trade; also ships and imports grain and 
flour. He was married, January 23, 1884, to Ida E., daugliter of 
Shuble W. and Sallie D. (Farr) Garey, and they have one child, Theo, 
W., born September 23, 1887. Mr. Jones is in sympathy with the 
Republican partv. 

CHARLES W. JORALEMON, farmer, P. O. Columbia Cross 
Roads, was bor-n in Sparta, Sussex Co., N. J., April 12, 1828, and is a 
son of John and Zuba (DeWitt) Joralemon, who settled in Columbia 
township, in 1843, locating on the farm now owned and occupied by 
our subject, and a part of which they cleared and improved, and died 
there. Their children were seven, as follows: Margaret (Mrs. Joseph 
YanKirk), John H., James L., Abram, Charles W., Edward and Joseph. 
Charles AV. was reared in New Jersey, until fifteen years of age, when 
he removed with his parents to Columbia township, in 1843 ; has 
always lived on the old homestead since, to which he succeeded upon 
the death of his father, and which he partially cleared and improved. 
May 4. 1851, he married Lydia, daughter of George and Leefe (Ken- 
nedy) Wolfe, and granddaughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Furman) 
Wolfe, who settled in CJolumbia township. This union has been 
blessed with three children : Edward, Hosea, and Leitha (Mrs. Stephen 
Budd). Mr. Joralemon is one of the prominent farmers and citizens 
of Columbia township; in politics he is a Democrat. 

JOSEPH JORALEMON, Troy, was born in Sparta, Sussex Co., 
N. J., in the year 1834, and is a son of John and Zuba (DeWitt) JoraL 
emon. In 1843 he moved with his parents to Columbia township, 
this county. In 1850 he married Melissa Hall, and settled in Troy, 
where he kept a meat-market for a number of years, and during the 
war was pro])rietor of the "Bradford House," and at the same time had 
a contract with the Government to feed the invalid corps and drafted 
men. In 1864 he kept a clothing store at Troy, and from 1865 until 
18T1 was extensively engaged in lumbering in Orange county, N. Y., 
but at the latter date he returned to Troy with his family, which con- 
sisted of a wife and three children, nameh': Mertin E., Lillian (Mrs. 
Dr. P. N. Barker) and Etlie. Since I87l1ie has been in the meat and 
oyster business in Troy, with the exce))tion of 1876. when he kept a 
boarding- house in Philadelphia. 



932 HISTORY OF BRADFOKl) COUNTY. 

II. D. JUMP, druggist. Sayre. is a native of Franklin, N. Y., and 
is a son of Willard and Mary (Howe) Jump, natives of New York, 
the former of whom, a farmer, died in Jefferson, Schoharie Co., N. Y., 
in 1865, in his thirty -second year. The mother survives, and resides in 
Sayre. The subject of this biographical memoir completed his educa- 
tion in the Delaware Literary Institute; then served an apprenticeship 
at the drug trade, in Franklin, N. Y., where he clerked six years. In 
the spring of 1886, he came to Sayre, and engaged in the drug business 
in the Wilber House block, where he carries a large and fancy stock of 
drugs, school-books, and stationery. He is a member of the Iron Hall, 
Sexennial League, and Fraternal Guardian, and is a Heimblican in his 
political preferments. 

PATRICK KANE, farmer, Standing Stone township, P. O. Rum- 
merfiekl, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, November 16, 1827. His 
fatlier, Hugh Kane, was born in the same place, a son of Owen Kane. 
Hugh Kane married Margaret McCloskey, and had six children, all 
of whom came to this country: John; Annie, wife of Augustus Con- 
nelly; Patrick; Katie, wife of Frederick Mall; Michael, Henry, and 
J\[ary, wife of Patrick Hart. Hugh Kane died in 1858, and his wife in 
1ST3. Patrick, tiie subject of tliis sketch, first stopped at Pliihidel- 
])iiia, and went from there to Schuylkill county, where he remained 
until 1857, and then to Luzerne county, where he remained until 1867, 
during which time he was coal mining. He then came to Standing- 
Stone, and began farmin":, and has followed it successfully ever since. 
In 1869 he |)urchased, from Henry Noble, 116 acres, and now has over 
300 acres, all linely improved. He married, December 25, 18 — , Bridget, 
daughter of James and Ella (McLougldin) Kane, and had nine chil- 
dren, as follows: Unity M., born September 27, 1856 ; Maggie A., born 
April 6, 1858, married to James Moan ; Ella, born August 13, 1861, 
wife of John Myers; Bridget, born in February, 1864, died in 1867; 
Agnes, born in August, 1866, died in 1867 ; Patrick J., born April 30, 
1866; Michael Llenry, born June 4, 1868; James Christopher, born 
December 14, 1870, and Charles Francis, born March 20, 1874, and 
died August 24, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Kane and family attend the 
Catholic Church; Mr. Kane and his brother Micliael served thirty 
davs in Com))anv D, Eijjfhth Rouiment Pennsvlvania Militia. 

ALANSON LAFAYETTE KEELEB, telegrapher. Standing Stone, 
was born in Wyalusing townshij), August 11, 1860. His father, Edwin 
Keeler, was a native of Connecticut, boi'u November 5, 1824; he came 
to this State in his sixth year, with his mother and two eldei- brothers, 
Lafayette and William ; he attended the district sciiool, and learned 
cabinet-tiuiking, and followed this until his death, which occurred 
December 5, 1888. He married Ella Sill, a daugiiter of William and 
Mary (Butler) Keeler, natives of Connecticut, and they had six chil- 
dren : Amelia, wife of William Brown; Lydia; Helen, wife of John 
McDonald; George William; Louisa and Alanson Lafayette; the 
mother died in 1862, and grandmother Kcehjr in 1867. Alanson 
Lafayette Keeler attended the; i)u!jlic school until his twentieth y(!ar, 
and in his twenty-second year- began an appi'enticeship to his present 
business, and became thoroughly pi'olicient therein; he then was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 933 

employed by the Lehi<>h Valley Railroad as night telegi'a})li operator, 
which position he iield until March 1, 1890, when he was transferred 
to his present position, as day operator. lie was assistant postmaster 
at Standing Stone four years : is a member of the Patriotic Order 
Sons of America; his politics are Democratic. Remarried, February 
27, 1887. Mrs. Libbie Ilolman, widow of O. P. llolman, and daughter 
of J. J. and Lodema (Birdsall) Slyder. She died July 9, 1889, leaving 
one child, Cora Holman, who was born April 28, 1876. 

EZRA P. KEELER, farmer. Pike township, P. O. Le Raysville, 
was born in Brookfield, Conn., April 5, 1838, and is the fourth child of 
Barrett B, and Cynthia (Whitlock) Keeler, who came to Bradford 
county in 1845, and located on a farm in Litchfield township. Ezra 
assisted his father in clearing up a farm of 100 acres, and attended 
the district school until his fifteenth year. At the age of eighteen he 
began life for himself, working on a farm in Pike townsliip; from 
1859 to 1864 he worked at the harness-maker's trade with G. N". 
DeWolf, at Brushville. On September 19, 1864, he enlisted, at 
Owego, N. Y., in the Fiftieth New York Engineers, and went to City 
Point, where he was transferred to Company M, Fifteenth New York 
Engineers ; he w^as discharged ai Fort Berry, Va., June 13, 1865, and 
mustered out at Elmira, N. Y. He then returned to Brushville, where 
he lived three years, and during the next four years he resided on a 
farm in Orwell townsliip; then purchased his present home. Besides 
attending to his farm Mr, Keeler has worked at his trade of harness- 
making. He was married, March 25, 1856, to Martha I., daughter of 
Piatt and Lydia (Chapel) Wood, and they have had three children, of 
whom Newell C, the only survivor, is a farmer near Bingliamton, 
N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Keeler are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at LeRaysville; he is a charter member of Spalding Post, No. 
33, G. A. R.. and in politics he is a Republican. 

JOHN G. KEELER, mechanic, was born in Wyalusing, April 12, 
1834, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (^Gregory) Keeler, of Litchfield 
county. Conn. His father was a mechanic, and came to this county 
in 1812, and manufactured the first sash and doors in this part of the 
count}^ He built a second factory at Keelerville, in 1836, where he 
remained until his death in 1876. Of their famil}^ of eight children 
six reached maturity: Henry, a lieutenant in Company B, One Hun- 
dred and Forty-First Regiment, P. V. I. (is now an attorney at 
Topeka, Kans.); Charles, a sergeant in Company K, P'iftieth Regiment, 
P. V. I., served nearly two years, and died one year after his discharge 
of injuries received while in service; Elisha S., served nearly two years 
at the close of the war, having enlisted at the age of sixteen in Com- 
pany A, One Hundred and Forty-First Regiment, P. Y. I, now living 
in Topeka, Kans., a manufacturer of farming tools; Eliza, married to 
L. B, Silvara, farmer, of Tuscarora, Va.; Adelia, married to C, B, Hollen- 
back, and now resides in Wyalusing borough, and John G,, the eldest 
of the family, who passed his boyhood in this township, and received 
his education in the common schools and Wyoming Seminary. After 
completing his education he adopted his father's business and followed 
it several years; then came to the village of Wyalusing and engaged 

54 



<)31 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in the drug business, which he sold to I. M. Allis in 1872, and in 1878 
opened a Yankee notion store, which he continued until the spring of 
1885. when he was appointed postmaster, and served four years. In 
1856, he married Mary S., a daughter of Elias Yaughan, Sr., of Wya- 
iusing township, and "'has a family of three children: John V., the 
eldest, graduated from Lafayette "College in the class of 1884, taking 
the degrees of A. M. and A.'B., and is now principal of the LeRays- 
ville Academy, w hich position he has filled for the past live years ; 
S. Elizabeth (deceased ), married to C. P.Wagner, of Wysox, Pa., and 
left one daughter, lona, who now lives with her grandparents; and John 
G., who enlisted twice in the State militia, during the war, when the 
State was invaded by the Confederates. He is a prominent Fi-ee- 
mason and a Sir Knight. In his political views he is a Democrat, and 
has held the various township and borough offices: is now a member 
of the borough council. 

JOHN A. KEEN", farmer, P. O. Rummerfield Creek, is one of the 
leading and influential citizens of Bradford county, and in his social and 
home life is regarded bv all as a most valuable citizen. By the congrega- 
tion of the Keen Sumniit Church he is regarded as the foster father of 
that organization, and its fine church building and present prosperous 
congregation, as is well indicated by the corporate name of the insti- 
tution, toward the building up of which he is the leading spirit. He 
Avas born in Sussex countv, N. J., January 30, 1820, and is a son of 
William Keen, a native of New Jersey, born in 1792, and a grandson 
of John Keen, of German descent, who had five children by his first 
wife : Peter, Abraham, George, Mary (wife of Richard StuU), and 
Lizzie (wife of George Emory); by his second wife, Pose, he had four 
children : William, Isaac, Aaron and Nancy. William Keen came to 
this State in 1847, bringing with him his w^ife, nee Elizabeth Huff, 
daughter of Peter Huff ; they had a family of eight children : John A., 
Sarah Anne (wife of James Crawn), Josei)h, Aaron, Polly, Theoph- 
ilus, Peter, and Mary (wife of Sterling Dixon). William Keen died in 
September, 1880, and his wife in 1882. 

John A. Keen attended the district school until his twentieth 
year, then worked on a farm. Coming to this county, in 1847, on a 
prospecting trip, he found emplovment in a lumber camp two years. 
In the latter part of 1847 he purchased the settler's claim of E. R. 
Myer,and perfected the title by purchasing the land of Michael Meylert 
(a'bout 147 acres), and has add'ed to this more or less acres nearly every 
year since; has built his residence and farm buildings, and made all 
t»-eneral improvements, having now one of the best farms in the county. 
He is to-dav a fine sample of what an American boy, full of energy, 
honesty anil hope can do for himself in this favored land. He mar- 
ried, in 1851, Sarah, daughter of Theodore and Maria (Crawn) Daugh- 
ertv, natives of New Jersey. To John A. and Sarah Keen have been 
born fourteen children, of Vhom those now living are Aaron. Henii- 
etta, John, Ada, Edie, Julia, Ella and Emma a large family, but of 
that kind for which this world will alwavs have |)lenty of room. 

KOBERT KEEN, farmer, Towanda townshij), P. (>. Towaiida, 
was l)orn October 19, 1844, and is a son of Andrew and Mary (Auble) 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 935 

Keen, natives of New Jersey, whose ancestors were of German extrac- 
tion. Robert Keen is tlie fourth of a family of seven — one daugh'ter 
and six sons — all of whom, excepting the daughter, are living. Mr. 
Keen was united in matrimony, November 17,1866, to Abbie C, 
daughter of Henry and Laura L. (Overton) Donley, natives of this 
State; she was born March 25, 1846, the eighth in a family of 
ten children — six girls and four boys — and is a native of this county. 
There have been born to them four children, as follows: Ella, wife of 
Edward Barnes, son of William Barnes; Miles, Nora and Oakley. Mr. 
Keen has had his own way to make in the world, and by his persever- 
ance and industr}' is now the owner of a well-improved farm in North 
Towanda, where he resides, in a very picturesque locality. He is one 
of the leading farmers in the vicinity, having combined the raising of 
tobacco with general farming and stock-raising. He is an active 
member of the I. O. O. F., and has taken a great interest in the public 
schools, having served nine years as school director. He is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and a man of good moral princijmls and much 
respected by the community; he came from Sussex county, N. ,\., about 
thirty-three years ago, to Standing Stone, and soon after located where 
he now lives. Mrs. Keen is a consistent member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of Towanda, and has taken an active interest in 
the Sunday-school. 

AUGUSTUS G. KELLEY, farmer, P. O. LeEoy, was born in Mid- 
dletown, Delaware Co., N. Y., a son of Edmund and Salina (Stephens) 
Kelley, the former born in Albanv county, N. Y., the latter in Dela- 
ware count}', N. Y. Edmund Kelley is the son of Edm.und Kelley who 
was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., and served in the Revolutionary 
War a term of three and one- half years; after his discharge from 
Washington's army he was in the War of 1812, when again, though 
advanced in 3'ears, the old soldier met the enemy of his country. 
Edmund Kelley, Jr., removed from Delaware county to LeRoy town- 
ship in 1847, and took up a tract of land of 300 acres; he is now 
living, at the age of eighty-eight, able to chop his own wood, and make 
his own garden ; his family consists of ten children, all of whom are 
now living. Augustus G. was reared and educated in Delaware county, 
N. Y., until his thirteenth year, when he removed with his fathei' to 
this county. At the age of twenty. May 21. 1854, he married Dillie, 
daughter of H. K. and Sallie Ilolcomb. of Lelioy. Mrs. Kelley is a 
grantldaughter of Alpheus Ilolcomb, one of the lirst settlers of LeRoy 
ttjwnshi)). To them were born two children : the elder, Eugene, was 
born in October, 18 — , married to Laura, daughter of Hoyt and Mary 
Ann Chaapel, and has two children; the younger, George, was born 
May 16, 18 — . Mr. Kelley is an enterprising farmer, having cleared 
and im])roved 200 aci'es of land ; he owns about four hundred acres 
in this county, and almost the same in Cameron county, Pa., all 
of which he accumulated by his own industry; he is also an extensive 
stock-raiser and speculator; is Independent in politics. 

CURTIS KELLEY, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in LeRoy town 
ship, this county, August 4, 1849, a son of Edmund and Salina (Stephens) 
Kelley, the former a native of Albany county, N. Y., the latter of 



93(5 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Delaware county, N. Y. The father is the son of Edmund Kelley, of 
Revohitionary fame, and who afterward fought in the AVar of 1812. 
Edmund Kelley, Jr., removed from Delaware county, N. Y., to 
LeRoy, settling on a tract of land of 300 acres, where he engaged in 
farming and lumbermg; he is now living, at the age of eighty -eight, 
and able to do liis own gardening; his family consists of ten children — 
eight sons and two chiughters — all of whom grew to maturity, and are 
now living, seven in this county. The subject of this memoir is the 
seventh in the family, and was reared and educatetl in the town of 
LeRoy, confining himself to farming and lumbering. At the age of 
twent\'-three he married Arsula, chiughter of Frederick and Lucy Smith, 
natives of this county ; Mr. Smith was a blacksmith, and died while in 
the army. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelley were born three daughters : Amy, 
born in July, 1874; Edith, born in November, 1876, and Matie, born in 
1883. Mr. 'Kelley is an extensive farmer, confining his business to 
stock-raising and butter-making. Politicallv he is Democratic. 

C. A. KELLEY, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in LeRoy, Septem- 
ber 24, 1841, a son of John and Abigail (Burroughs) Kelley, both of 
whom were born in the town of Roxburg, Delaware Co., N. Y., the 
former being a son of Edmund Kelley, a Revolutionary soldier. John 
Kelley removed to LeRoy about 1838, and engaged in farming: his 
familv consisted of six children — four sons and two daughters — all of 
whom grew to maturitv. The subject of this memoir, who is the sixth 
in the family, was reared in LeRo\', and educated at the common 
schools. He married Lydia S., daughter of J. G. and Salome Ham- 
mond, of LeRoy, and to them were born three children, as follows : 
Judson, born January 15,1871; Florence, born June 20, 1873;* and 
Fanny, born November 7, 1876, all of whom are living and unmarried 
at this date. In early life Mr. Kelley was somewhat engaged in lum- 
bering; also ke))t a store at LeRoy Corners. His farm consists of 250 
acres of land, well adapted to general farming. He served his country 
by paying $700 for a substitute. He is a member of the Baptist 
Church ; in politics he is an Lidependent. 

CHARLES KELLOGG, mechanical engineer, Athens, is a native 
of Montgomery county, N. Y., born July 12, 1836, a son of William 
and A. i\r. (Lovell) Kellogg, the former a native of Connecticut, and 
the latter of Dutcliess county, N. Y. William Kellogg was a general 
meciianic and bridge builder, and for some years resided in Easton, 
Pa., where he died in his seventieth year in 1883; his wife, and mother 
of his children, had died in the same place six years previously, 1877, 
in her sixty -first year. The Kelloggs are of the good old Revolutionary 
stock. The paternal great grandfather of the gentleman whose name 
heads this article, was a soldier in tiie line under Washington. AVilliam 
Kellogg had a family of foui- children, ol whom Chailes is the third in 
the order of birth. The subject grew to manhood in hisfatlie)'\s home 
and learned the lesson of an honest mechanic's son at his father's trade, 
and gave the usual attendance upon the neighborhood schools in the 
vicinity; and l)y the time he had attained his majority he was a faii'ly 
skilled inechanic, millwright and bridge builder. His fatliei-'s family 
removed from Albanv to Easton in 1857. and in 1862 tlie voung man 



HISTORY OF BRA DE-OKI) COUNTY. 937 

embarked in business for himself, contracting and bridge building, and 
was thus engaged in Easton until 186U, when he changed iiis i-esidence to 
Athens, his present home. Here he started, without capital, his little 
shop, in March, 1869, that is now the great and world-wide Union Bridge 
Company, but at first was known as the Athens Ih-idge Works. In 
1884 he sold his interests here in the Bridge Works, and in 1889 
organized the Elmira Bridge Company, and he is the present head of 
the concern, which employs in tiie shops over two hundred men. 
Charles Kellogg and Anna A. Pike were united in marriage, in 
1867, in the borough of Athens; she is the daughter of John M. and 
M. S. (Lock wood) Pike, of the city of New York and Bradford county, 
respectively; there were three children in this family who grew to 
maturity, of whom she is the third, and was born in Ulster township, 
this county, in June, 1842. Of this union there are tAvo children: 
Clara A. and Charles F. Kellogg. This is one of the pleasant and 
prominent families in the social circles of Athens. Mr. Kellogg is a 
member of the Masonic Fraternity, Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, also a 
member of the Amrican Society of Civil Engineers and the American 
Geographical Society. In political matters he affiliates with the 
Republican party, but is not a politician, rather giving his time and 
attention to his business, and tlie claims of his little family circle. 

MYRON KELLOGG, farmer, of Asylum township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born in Monroe township, this county, March 19, 1825, 
and is a son of Moses and Mehetabel (Mason) Kellogg. The Kellogg 
family in America date back to three Scotch brothers, who removed 
to Massachusetts at a very early day. Amasa, a descendant of one of 
the brothers, and the grandfather of Myron, came to Monroe town- 
ship in 1813, to act as deputy for Abner C. Rockwell, then sheriff of 
the county ; he was in the War of 1812. In the family of Moses Kel- 
logg there were eleven children, eight yet living, of whom Myron is the 
eldest. Our subject u^as reared on the farm, educated in the common 
school, and began life for himself at twenty-one, lumbering and farm- 
ing on apart of the old homestead; he purchased his present home in 
1864, where he has since given his undivided attention to the cultiva- 
tion of the soil. He was married, October 28, 1850, to Miss Lydia 
McMichen, of Towanda, by whom he had four children : Amanda E. 
(born November 10, 185 1, married to Ed w^ard Shepherd, of Terry town); 
John Myron (born October 21, 1860, a civil engineer of Baltimore, 
Md.), and two wdio died in infancy. Mrs. Ke.Hogg died June 5, 1863, 
and Mr. Kellogg w^as married, February 28, 1864, to Mrs. Charles 
Atnot, formerly Miss Rebecca M. VanGorder, daughter of T. M, and 
Julia A. (Overton) VanGorder, of Asylum. Mr. Kellogg was for- 
merly a Whig, and is now" a Republican ; has been road commissioner, 
school director and collector of taxes. 

EPIIRAIM B. KENDALL, farmer, Granville township, P. O. Lc- 
Roy, was born in Tompkms county, N. Y., December 13, 1844, a son of 
Sylvester and Emily (Gray) Kendall, wdio settled in Granville, in 1853, 
where the father purchased the farm now owned by Horace Welch, 
and lived there until 1868, when he removed to East Troy, this county, 
where he now resides; he had a family of five children : Ephraira B., 



938 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Horatio, Joseph, Lawrence and Orange. The three eldest of these 
were soldiers in the Civil AVar, Horatio dying while in the service. 
Our subject enlisted, September 15, ISOi, in Company K, Second New 
York Cavalry, and was in the following battles : Cedar Run, Five 
Forks, and some minor engagements. After nine months' service he 
was honorably discharged, and since the war he has resided in Gran- 
ville township, and engaged in farming. In 1876, he married Sarah, 
daughter of Silas Mallory, of Chemung county, N. Y. Mr. Kendall 
is an enterprising citizen of Granville; in politics he is a Republican. 

J. W. KENDALL, dealer in musical' instruments, Athens, is a 
native of East Burlington, this county, and was born February 7, 1864, 
a son of Lawrence W. (a farmer) and Jane (Burns) Ken(hdl, iiatives 
of this county. He is the youngest in a family of five children, and 
was reared on a farm, receiving a common-school education. Lie 
served an apprenticeship of four years, at the cabinet-maker's trade, 
and came to Athens in September, 1888, commencing business where 
he is located at the present time. He was married in Rome, N. Y., 
October 20, 1885, to Miss Lizzie, daughter of George and Anna (Mar- 
tin) Neiss, natives of Germany (she is the ^-^oungest in a family of seven 
children, and was boi'n in Rome, Oneida Co., N. Y., Novend^er 28, 
1864). They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. 
Kendall is a member of the Iron Hall, Golden Cycle and I. O. O. F.; 
politicallv he is a Democrat. 

ROP.ERT C. KENDALL, Troy, was born in what is now North 
Towanda township, this county, December 12, 1836, and is a son of 
William T. and Sarah M. (Casli) Kendall. His father was a native of 
Norwich, England, a son of William Kendall, and in early manhood 
came to America and settled in Bradford county, Pa ; about 1833 he 
married a daughter of Isaac Cash, a pioneer of Sheshe(piin township, 
the issue of this union was four children: W. Cash, Robert C, Charles 
F. and George V.; for some years Mr. Kendall was associated with 
his brother John in the hotel business at Athens, this county; in 1848 
he located in Troy, where he resided until his death in 1868; he was 
for a numl)er of years a justice of the peace of Troy, and held the 
office at the time of his death. Robert C. Kendall, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared in Troy from twelve years of age, received a com- 
mon-school education, studied dentistr}'^ with Dr. A. M. Dartt, of 
Troy, later with N. W. Kingsley, and at Auburn, N. Y., with George- 
W. Tripp ; he began the practice of his profession in Troy in 1859, 
where, with the exception of two years, he has been in active prac- 
tice since. In 1863 he married Sarah, daughter of Thomas and 
Polly (Wilbur) Baldwin, of Troy, and lias one daughter, Anna W. 
Mr. Kendall is a prominent member of tiie Masonic Fraternity; a 
charter memi)er of Troy Cha])ter, No. 261, and past master of Blue 
Lodge; in politics he is a Democrat. 

JAMES KERWIN, of the firm of Kerwin Brolhers, liverymen, 
Towanda, was born in Towanda in 1848, a son of John and Julia (lilake) 
Keruin, natives of County Tipjierary, Ireland, who came to America 
ai)(Hit 1847. The father has been engaged in farming many yeai's, and 
has resided continuously in Towanda since 1859 ; lie was twice married : 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, ^39 

his first wife was Julia Blake, b}^ whom he had five chiklren, viz.: 
Ellen (Mrs. Charles lIuH'ner), James, William, Kate (Mrs. Simon 
Cullnan), and Marv (Mrs. John Cullnan); his second wife was Bridget 
Butler, by whom he had six children, viz.: John, Daniel, Joseph, Thomas, 
Bridget and Agatha. James Kerwin was reared in Towanchi, where he 
received a public-school education. For the past ten years he has been 
engaged in the livery business in Towanda, with his brother William, 
under the firm name of Kirwin Brothers. In 1874 he married Mar- 
garet, daughter of James and Lizzie (McGuone) Carron, of Seneca 
county, N. Y., and has eight children: John F., Lizzie M., Julia V., 
Annie, Mary M., James Edward, Genevieve and Bernard, Mr. Kerwin 
is a member of the Catholic Church, and in politics is a Democrat. 
"« C. F. KIERSTED, physician, Gillett, was born in Fallsburg, 
Sullivan Co., N. Y., September 23, 1844, a son of J. L. and Abigail 
(Kniffin) Kiersted, the former of whom was born in 1806, in Phila- 
delphia, of German descent, and was a pioneer of Sullivan county; 
the latter was born in New York. J. L. Kiersted was a mechanic as 
well as a farmer ; during the War of 1812 he used to go with his uncle, 
IL T. Kiersted (who adopted him and who was a general in the army 
of. that day) to see the soldiers drill. lie had a family of nine children, 
six of whom grew to maturity, and five are now living. Our subject, 
who is the fourth in the family, was reared, and educated at the com- 
mon school, in Sullivan county; he studied medicine under Dr. Allen, 
of Broome county, N. Y., and was graduated from the Geneva Medical 
College. He began his medical profession in South Creek (Gillett), this 
county, in 1872, and has built up a large practice by his superior skill, and 
attention to his business, and has thereby accumulated quite a large 
property for his age and years of practice. In October, 1874, he mar- 
ried S. Elizabeth, daughter of Martin M. and Clarissa W. Carr, of Wells 
township. The Doctor and his wife are very fond of fiowers and house 
plants, well understanding their wants, and have the largest oleander 
in the county, measuring ten feet in heighth and five feet in width of 
branches, stem two and one half in diameter. Dr. Kiersted is a member 
of the Golden Cycle and K. of IL; politically he is a Republican. 

CAPTAIJN^ GEORGE W. KILMER, farmer, P. O. Towanda, was 
born in the town of Asylum, this county, February 2, 1842, and is a 
son of Joshua and Margaret (Dings) Kilmer, natives of Schoharie 
county, N. Y., born of Dutch extraction, and who came to this county 
in 1840, locating in Asylum. Capt. Kilmer was reared on his father's 
farm, the one now owned by Joel Stevens, and educated in the schools 
of the town, and at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda, 
He taught school a short time, and when nineteen years of age he 
enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V, I., went to 
the front, and was soon elected sergeant ; also, for distinguished brav- 
erv in many battles, he was commissioned first lieutenant, and soon 
thereafter was promoted to a captaincy, being the youngest officer in 
his regiment ; lie was wounded at the battle of Morris' Farm, in Vir- 
ginia, was taken prisoner and sent to Libby prison, but returned home 
at the close of the war. Capt. Kilmer was united in marriage, Octo- 
ber 11, 1865, with Helen A. Noble, who was born March 12, 1840, a 



940 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

daughter of Levi and Diana (Clough) Noble, natives of Broome county, 
N. Y., and there have been born to them two children, as follows: 
J. Noble, born April 22. 1868, married to Tillie DeLong; and 
J. Marion, born March 18, 1880. Capt. Kilmer is a member of the 
G. A. R. Post, is president of the Farmers' Alliance Lodge, and in 
politics is a Republican. In 1875 he was elected count}^ commis- 
sioner, and has since been frequently honored with positions of public 
trust, havinof always proved an efficient and popular officer, one of 
pleasing and commanding address, and one of the county's most 
worthy citizens. The family are consistent members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Kihner has been a steward twenty -five 
years. He has a fine farm of nearly two hundred acres, higiily im- 
proved and successfallv operated. 

WILLIAM H. KING, farmer, Wysox township, l\ O. Wysox, 
was born in Orange county, N. Y,, December 27, 1836, a son of 
Gabriel and Sarah (Bull) King, natives of New York, the former of 
French and the latter of German and Irish descent. In his father's 
family there were nine children, of whom our subject is the eldest; he 
located on his present home in 1806, and has given his attention 
chiefly to farming. He married, December 5, 1860, Emma E., daugliter 
of Jackson and Elizabeth (Olendoofe) Poole, natives of New York, 
and of Holland and German lineage, respectively. They have liad 
five children born unto them, as follows: Elizabeth, born September 
5, 1867, and died May 31, 1869; Edith A., born October 4, 1870, mar- 
ried to L. D. Green, farmer and carpenter, Wysox. and has one child, 
Carrie ()., born August 10, 1889; George H., born September 3, 1872, 
died February 15, 1874; Abel S., born May 28, 1875, and Robert L., 
born June 11, 1887. Mr. King is a stanch Democrat, and has iield the 
offices of school director, commissioner and assessor. 

L. S. KINGSBURY, farmer, Sheshequin, is the son of Col. Joseph 
Kingsbury, a surveyor, who was born in Enfield, Conn., in 1774, who 
came to this county when nineteen years old, his baggage in a hand- 
kerchief, and made his home with Gen. Simon Spalding, and surveyed 
and plotted nearly all the land of this and adjoining counties. Joseph 
Kingsbury married Miss Spalding, a daughter of Gen. Spalding, 
and died "January 22, 1849, leaving ten children — five boys and five 
^irls — who grew to maturity, as follows: Polly, married to Allen 
Smith; Almira, married to Charles Com stock ; Byron, married to 
Wealthv Ann Gore; Burton, married to Rowena Scott; Eliza, married 
to Ira II. Stevens; Henry, married to Matilda Clisba ; Joseph, married 
to Matilda Mix; Marion^ married to George Sanderson; Helen, mar- 
ried to M. C. Mercur; and L. S. Kingbui-y. The first house built in the 
township was on the farm now owned by Mr. Kingsbury, a log house 
built by Gen. Spalding in 1783. on the banks of a little run a short dis- 
tance from the river. L. S. Kingsbury grew to manhood on his father's 
farm in Slieshetpiin, and attended S(;hool at theacad(;my of Athens and 
Towanda, gaining a good education. When seventeen years old he 
commenced life for himself, working his father's farm, and has con- 
trolled the homestead since. In 1866 he purchased a stable in Towanda, 
and was proprietor of that for nearly twenty years. In 1884 and 1885, 



HISTORY OF HUADFORD COUNTY. 941 

he was at Athens engaged in training trotting horses foi' the track, 
and among others was W. M. Mallory, that sold for $10,500; he is the 
owner of G. D. S. that has a record of 2.29:^. Tlie old homestead 
contains 180 acres, one half of which is bottom land. Ife was married 
Februar}' 28, 1841-, to Sarah, daughter of William and Jennie Myers 
Osborn, natives of Orange county, N. Y. ; their family consisted of 
three daughters: Alice, married to O. D. Kinney, and died without 
issue; Gracie G., married to John Childs, also died childless; and 
Mvra, who is an Universahst minister of note of Morrisville, Vt. The 
family are Universalists. Mr, Kingsbury is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
Valley Lodge, No. Gli, and has passed all the chairs ; and in ])oHtics 
he is a Re])ubiican. 

J. C. KINGSLAND, blacksmith, Gillett, was born in Windham 
township, this county, July 1,1854. He was reared and educated in 
Windham and Sheshequin townships, and when nineteen j^ears old 
commenced to serve an apprenticeship of neai'ly three years to W. M, 
Segar, as blacksmith and horse-shoer, serving adilitional time in another 
sho]) where he completed the rudiments of his trade. He is the son of 
John and Elmira (Elsbree) Kingsland, former of whom is a native of 
New York City, a stone-cutter by trade, who removed to this count}' 
about the year 1840, the latter, a native of Windham, Bradford Co., 
Pa., a daughter of Joseph Elsbree, who came from the East in the 
earlv settlement of the county ; she was a near relative of William 
Mackey, of Ilevolutionary fame. To them were born three children, 
all of whom are living, prosperous and enterprising, our subject being 
the second in order of birth. J. C. Kingsland first opened a shop for 
himself in Fassett, near the State line, where he spent thirteen 3^ears 
of his best days, in building up a trade both extensive and lucrative. 
He is a practical horse-shoer, and has made the anatomy of that animal, 
especially the foot, a study; he can name all the parts in relation of 
the one to the other ; demonstrate the shoe as adn])ted to the various 
forms of particular hoofs, also the peculiar gait or habit of the horse 
while on the road, and the advantages of one kind of shoe over the 
other; he manufactures 213 different kinds of practical shoes, and 
treats to some extent the diseases of the foot ; he has samples of 
shoes showing the various kinds in use and their purpose, also dis- 
playing his great skill in their construction. Owing to failing health 
Mr. Kingsland contemplates converting his shop into a lecture room, 
and, as lecturer, his subject will be the horse — his habits, tempera- 
ment, how to handle, and especially how to properl}^ shoe him. 
Mr. Kingsland removed from Fassett to Gillett in 1886, where he 
had married, in 1877, Miss Mary E., daughter of John and Esther 
Darmstead, of Steuben county, N. Y. Six children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Kingsland, named as follows: George A., Lela (deceased), 
Clara, Roxanna, Edna and Helen." 

G. A. KINNEY, of the firm of Fitch & Kinney, dealers in hard- 
ware, Athens, is a native of Steuben county, N. Y., born March 23, 
1843, a son of C. D. and Eliza (Northrup) Kinney, natives of New 
York. The father, who was a minister of the Christain Church, died 
in Lawrenceville, Tioga Co., Pa., in 1878 ; the mother died in Osceola, 



942 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COL'NTY. 

Pa., in 1884. G. A. Kinney is the eldest in a family of three children. 
Upon completing- Jiis studies at the public schools, he attended the 
State Normal School at Mansfield, Pa., about one year ; then taught 
school three years, and clerked in a hardware store about one year; 
then embarked in the hardware business at Osceola, Pa., whence, after 
eighteen months, he removed to Covington, Pa., remaining there about 
two years, when he I'emoved to Athens, in the spring of 1870, and 
engaged in the hardware trade with Mr. Eitch. In connection with their 
extensive hai'dware establishment the firm have a tinning and plumb- 
ing department, and they also do a large business in steam and hot- 
air heaters, for public and private buildings. During his early life 
Mr. Kinney had to de))end on his own resources. He was married, in 
Athens, June 7, 1876, to Miss Laura, daughter of J. M. and Juliett 
(Camp) Elv, the former a native of Springiield, the latter of Owego, 
N. Y. She was the youngest in a family of five children that grew 
to maturity, born in New York City, in 1848, and died in Athens, in 
1879 ; she was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. By 
this union was one son, Ely M. Mr. Kinney was married, the second 
time, September 24, 1885, to Miss Juliett Ely, a native of New York 
City, born in 1846. Mr. and Mrs. Kinney are members of the Presby- 
terian Church, in which he holds the office of deacon. He is a mem- 
ber of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity, Lodge, No. 70, also the Knights of 
Honor. He is a Republican, and served one term in the council; in 
1888 he was elected burgess, and has been re-elected twice. 

JAMES KINNEY, wholesale liquor dealer, Towanda, was born in 
County Mayo, Ireland, June 29, 1848, and was reared in his native 
country until fifteen years of age, when he came to America (in 1863) 
and in 1865 settled in Barclay, this county, where he engaged in min- 
ing, which lie followed for tVenty-four years. In the spring of 1889 
he settled in Towanda, where he has since been successfully engaged 
in the wholesale liquor trade. In 1865 Mr. Kinney married Margaret, 
daughter of John and Catherine (Haley) Fraine, of Mayo, Ireland. 
Mrs. Kinney died March 31, 1889, leaving seven children, viz.: Michael, 
Kate, John, Margaret. James, Thomas, and Mary A. ]\[r. Kinney is a 
member of the Catholic Church, and his loyalty to tlie Democratic 
party is unquestionable. 

JOHN D. KINNEY, merchant, Warren, was born in Warren town- 
ship, this^ count}^, September 20, 1840; a son of William and Harriet 
(Gray) Kinney. His father, a native of Massachusetts, was born in 
1791 of Scotch-Irish extraction. Lie was twice mari-ied, the first time 
to Polly Severin, a native of Vermont; thev came to Pennsylvania in 
1832, and settled in Warren township, this county ; she died in 1838 
leavinf^ three children, viz.: John, who was killed by a falling tree, same 
year liis mother died; Williatn, who married Jane James, and died in 
1870; Polly (Mrs. Albert Tyrell), who died in 1849. His second wife 
was Harriet Gray, to whom"^ he was married in 1839, and by her had 
two children : John D., who is the subject of this sketch, and Sarah 
(Mrs. Caleb Allew) who died in 1873. William Kinney, the father, 
who was a farmer and shoemaker, died in 1869, his widow surviving 
him. John D. Kinnev was reared an industrious and frugal farmer's 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 943 

boy, having- had but moderate school advantaoes, and soon after his 
majority he engaged in merchandising, which lie has always followed 
successfully, and from the smallest beginnings now has an extensive 
and jH'ofitable establishment. He enjoys an extensive trade, and 
has a branch store at Birchardsville, and is pi'oprietor of an excellent 
farm of 300 acres, highly improved and thoroughly cultivated. He 
was married in Warren township, in 18G7, to Amy A., daughter of 
Orville and Amy A. (Lyon) Chaffee, natives of Rhode Island, of Eng- 
lish origin; her"^father was born in 1802, her mother in 1809, and they 
were married in 1828, and at once came to Warren township, this 
county; Mr. Chaffee died in 1887; his wife died in 1879; they had 
nine children of whom Mrs. Kinney is the eighth, and had lost two. 
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Kinney have had three children as follows: 
Viola, born November 27, 1870 ; Bradley R., born March 21, 1873, and 
Dudley D., born September 11, 1875. 

DR. HIRAM T. KINSMAN, physician, Smithfield township, 
P. O. East Smithfield, born in Chemung county, N. Y., April 6, 1841, 
is a son of George and Mary (Eaton) Kinsman, natives of Vermont. 
They came to this county in early life, and settled in the wilderness; 
then after several years moved to New York State, where our subject 
was born. His grandfather. Kinsman, was a Revolutionary soldier, all 
of whose sons were in the War of 1812. The Doctor was reared on the 
farm, educated in the schools of his native town, and was graduated, 
March 28, 1887, at the Bennett Medical College, Chicago. He first 
practiced at VanEttenville, N. Y., came to this county, in 1874, and 
commenced the practice of his profession in Athens township. He 
has been at East Smithfield eight years, where he has an extensive 
practice. Dr.. Kinsman is the youngest of a family of twelve children; 
one brother, Loomis, went through the Mexican War under Gen. 
Scott. Dr. Kinsman was married, September 18, 1883, to Sibyl N., 
daughter of Hiram and Mahale (Tompkins) Russell, natives of this 
county (she was born in Rome, February 24, 1854). They have one 
son, Charles M., born July 3, 1884. Mrs. Kinsman's father was a 
soldier in the Mexican War; was in the Civil War from August, 1861, 
until the close, and was in thirty-two hard-fought battles. Dr. and 
Mrs, Kinsman are members of the Disciple Church ; he is a Republi- 
can in ))olitics, and a member of the I. O. O. F. 

W. PI. KINTNER,agentfor the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Wyalusing, 
was born in Meshoppen, Wyoming Co., Pa., August 18, 1843, and is a 
son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Winans) Kintner, also natives of 
Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer and spent the larger portion 
of his'^life in Mehoopany, where he died in February, 1890, in his sev- 
enty-eighth year; the mother died in 1859, aged forty-nine; they^ had 
seven children, viz.: M. S,, a merchant miller, of Mehoopany ; Col. J. 
C. Kintner, one of the best-known and most prominent of Mehoopany's 
business men (he enlisted August 30, 1861, in the Fifty-Second Regi- 
ment P. V. I ; was transferred to the Signal Corps in August, 1863, 
promoted to captain in June, 1864. and was discharged from the 
United States service, March 4, 1866, having risen from private to 
colonel ; returning home he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and 



044 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

became an acknowledged leader in his political party; he was a member 
of Gov. lioyt's staff, and deputy revenue collector under E. IJ. 
Chase ; was a pi-ominent member of the I. (). O. F. and G. A. R.; he 
died March 26, 1886, leaving- a void which no other could fill); James 
M., who was a member of the One Hundred and Forty -Third P. V. I. 
(was promoted from private to captain ; he resides in Sanborn county, 
So. Dak., and has been twice elected to the office of recorder of deeds); 
W. H.: Mary Jane, married to Oliver Easton, a prominent farmer and 
ex-sheriff of Wyoming county; Sarah E., married to Frank Jennings, 
of Mehoopany, and E. D., a miller of Mehoopany. W. II. Kintner, 
the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood in Mehoopany, and was 
educated in the schools of that place ; when twenty years old he 
enlisted in the First Division, Battalion Sharp-Shooters, with the 
First Army Corps, and afterward consolidated with the Fifth Corps, 
participating in the following engagements : Wilderness, Spottsyl- 
vania, Xorth Anna, Chickahominy, Poplar Grove Chui'ch, Petersburg, 
Weldon Railroad, Paraunky River, Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg 
and the three fights at llatcher's Run ; he was with his commancl 
from the date of his enlistment until June 12, 1865, when he was dis- 
discharged with his regiment. On his return home he resumed the 
carpenter's trade, which he had learned prior to his enlistment, and 
followed same until July 1, 1870, when he was appointed agent for the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad, at Mehoopany, remaining there eight years, 
and then came to Wyalusing, to take charge of the railroad interests 
at that place, where he has since remained ; he has been in the employ 
of the company twenty-one years. In 1883 he built his present ele- 
gant residence, lie was united in wedlock, December 31, 1863. with 
Olive G. Ross, a daughter of Benjamin Ross, of Mehoopany, and to 
them have been born two children : Lottie J. and Fannie C. Mr. 
Kintner is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is steward of 
same, and for the past thirteen years has been superintendent of Sab- 
bath-schools ; he is a member of the I. 0.0. F., White Lilly Lodge, 
No. 808, Wyalusing; has j)assed all degrees, and has twice filled the 
position of JN. G.; for the past five years lie has been treasurer of the 
Lodge. He is a member of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R., and past 
commander of the same ; in politics he has always been identified with 
the Republican party, and was the first justice of the peace elected in 
the borough of Wyalusing, which office he still holds, and has also 
held various offices in the town. He is recognized as one of the lead- 
ers in all mattei-s of i-eform for the public good ; in society he and his 
family stand among the foi-emost. 

W. M. KINTNER, larmei' and stock-grower, of Wyalusing town- 
ship, P. O. Camptown, was born in Monroe countv, Pa., November 
10, 1842, and is a son of Michael and Catherine (Mosier) Kintner, both 
of whom were i)orn in Monroe county, and were of German origin. His 
grandfather, Rudolpli Kintner, was twice married, having children bv 
both marriciges : l)y the first tiiei-e were three boys, viz.: George, Jonas 
and Daniel, all deceased; by his second wife tliere were the follow- 
ing: Rudolph, Coiirod, Joseph, Henry, ]\richael, Delilah, Mary and 
Elizabeth. Michael was a shoemaker bv trade, and also owned and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 945 

cultivated a small farm; he lived his entire life in Monroe and Sid- 
livan counties, and had the following children : W. M., the eldest ; 
Charles, of Sullivan county; Philip, of Stroudsbnrg; Morris, of Strouds- 
burg ; Mahaley, married to Jacob Mosier, of Monroe county ; Frank 
deceased), John (deceased), Milo (deceased), and Amanda. W. M. 
was educated in the common schools of his neiglil)orhood, and Janu- 
ary 24:, 1862, enlisted in Company I, Seventy-first P. V. I., and partici- 
pated in the following engagements: Cedar Mountain, Eappahan- 
nock Station, South Mountain, Bull Run and Antietam, at which latter 
battle he received a shell-wound in the lower portion of his right leg, 
and was ordered to the hospital, but, instead of going, joined the 
wag-on-train, and drove a team for about two months ; rejoined his 
company at Petersburg, and was through the siege there. He was 
discharged March 4, 1865, by expiration of his term of enlistment, and 
after hfs return home, located at Pittston, where he engaged in the 
manufacture of brick for about two years, then returned to Monroe 
county, and for three years farmed, then in Wyoming four years and 
Monroe county seven ; he next removed to Bradford county, where he 
has since resided ; has occupied his present farm of 100 acres of fine 
land for four years, and has it well stocked. He was united in wed- 
lock March 16, 1865, with Ellen, a daughter of Samuel Walter, of Mon- 
roe county, and their union has been blessed with eight children : Harry 
(residing at Lime Hill, and married to Alice Rumsey), Clara, Sarah, 
Joseph, Hattie, George, Samuel and Nellie, who, with the exception of 
the eldest, reside with their parents. Mr. Ivintner is a Democrat, and an 
active worker for his party's interests. He has been a successful farmer, 
and has always commanded the esteem of all who knew him. 

JOHN W. KLINE, a prominent butcher of Towanda, and whole- 
sale and retail dealer in meats, etc., was born in Baden, Germany, 
February 4, 1840, and is a son of Jacob and Caroline (Geyer) Kline, 
who came to America in 1850, settling in Reading, Pa., where the 
mother of our subject stdl resides. John W. Kline received a 
common-school education in Syracuse, N. Y., where he also served an 
apprenticeship of three years at the butcher's trade. For sixteen 
years he worked as a journeyman. He settled in Towanda in 1867, 
and in 1876 embarked in business for himself: has built upa successful 
trade, and conducts the largest market in Towanda. He married 
March 16, 1862, Hannah, daughter of John and Eliza (Dreisbach) 
Hankey, of Luzerne countv, Pa., and has five children, as follows: 
John W., Jr., Minnie E. (Mrs. A. T. Stark), Jessie M., Frank J. and 
Walter F. During the Civil War Mr. Kline was in the Government 
employ, as butcher, at Elmira, N. Y. He is a member of the Presby- 
terian Church, and in politics is a Democrat. 

BENJAMIN F. KNAPP, undertaker, Troy, was born in LeRoy 
township, this county, March 23, 1833, a son of Amos and Electa 
(Barnes) Knapp. His paternal grandfather, John Knapp, formerl}'^ of 
Orange county, N. Y., settled near West Franklin, this county, in 1796, 
and was a manufacturer of wooden mould board plows, with one han- 
dle; he spent most of his life in LeRoy township, and was p(jstmaster 
of LeRoy for some years; he died in Springfield township in 1836. He 



946 HISTORY OK HKADFORO COUNTY. 

married Eunice Wilcox, by whom lie had the following children : Samuel, 
Aaron, Mary (Mrs. Jesse Robart), Eunice (Mrs. Rinearson), Amos, 
John, Prudy (Mrs. A. Teeter), Betsey (Mrs. Stone), William, Jane (Mrs. 
B. Elliott) and ]\[ahala (Mrs. T. Beardsley). The father of our subject 
was reared in Susquehanna county, but, after attaining his major- 
ity, spent most of his life in LeRoy and Springfield townships, this 
county, engaged in fai-ming, and was also a veterinary surgeon ; his 
wife was a tiaughter of David Burns, of Susquehanna county, by whom 
he had thiileen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity : Clarissa 
(Mrs. Jeremiah Baker), Eunice (Mrs. Alvin Bailey), Almira (Mrs. Rufus 
Miiis])augh), Dennis B., Elisha, David, John (chief of police of Elinira 
fo)' twenty-five years), Amos, Laura (Mrs. George Nichols), Dimmis 
(Mrs. Addison Grace), Benjamin F. and IVfartha (Mrs. P. C. Slade). 
Our subject was reared in Springfield township, and educated in the 
common schools. AVhen twenty-two years of age he settled in Colum bia 
township, and engaged in farming, and for seven years was also engaged 
in the undertaking l)usiness there. In 1877 he located in Troy, where 
he has since been conducting an undertaking establishment. June 1, 
1850, he mai'ried Lydia A., daughter of Philij) and Laura (AValkins) 
Slade, of Columbia township, the latter of whom was the first white 
child born in that township, a daughter of David Walkins, one of the 
first settlers. The issue of this union was one daughter, Cora (Mrs. 
Dr. P. M. Barber, who died leaving one son, Frank Stewart). Mr. and 
Mrs. Knapp have also one adopted son, Guy Lewis. Mr. Knapp is a 
member of the I. O. O. F., which he joined in 1805 ; he served as jury 
commissioner of Bradford count\^ one term of three 3'ears; politically 
he is a Republican. 

EDSON Li. KNAPP, of Columbia township, farmer, P. O. Aspin- 
vvall, was born in Wells township, this county, April 24, 1850, and is 
a son of John and Maria (Ayres) Knapp, natives of Beaversville, Sussex 
Co., K J., who settled in Wells township in 1848. In 1852 they 
removed to Steuben county, N. Y., and died there ; their children 
were seven, as follows : William, Hannah, Catherine, Edson R., Frank- 
lin P., Charles and Samuel A. Edson R. was reared in New Jersey 
from seven years of age, educated at Newton Seminary, Newton, 
N. J., and after attaining his majority engaged in farming in Wautaga 
township, Sussex Co., N. J., until 1870, when he returned to his native 
town. Wells, this county, and remained there until 1881, when he 
removed to Columbia township, where he still resides. He married, 
November 24, 1875. Ilari-iet, (JaughLer of Owen and Amanda (Parcel) 
Wright, of Columbia townshi]) and has five children, viz.: Owen. 
Geoi-ge P., Lillian. Bertha and Lewis. Mr. Knajip j-esides on the old 
homestead, cleared by his wife's father, and oi-iginally settled by his 
grandfather, Thomas Wright.- He is a charter member of Pulaski 
Lodge, 1. O. O. F., No. 103, of Deckertown, N. J. In 1889 he Avas 
elected assessor of Columl)ia townshi]) for a term of three years ; he is 
a memi)er of the Presbvterian Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

KOi'.Eirr M. KXAPP, farmer, of Hui-lington township, P. O. 
Luther's iM ills. w;is born. August 4. lSi>4, in P.urlington townshij). tliis 
county, on the adjoining farm to wlici'e lie now I'esides, a son of 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUNTY. 947 

William and JSTancy (Smith) Knapp, the former of whom was born in 
Goshen, Oi'ange Co., N. Y., of English origin ; when a boy he removed 
to Bradford county, settling in Ulster township, and worked at farm- 
ing, experiencing all the privations of pioneer life, as most of the 
county was then a wilderness. In about the year 1827, he settled on 
the farm where our subject now lives, and died at the age of eighty- 
four years; his father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and 
lost his life then. Robert M. Knapp, who is the youngest in a family 
of twelve children, was reared on a farm, and has been a man of great 
perseverance and integrity. He has accumulated a fine property, and 
now owns a farm of 150 acres, under a fine state of cultivation. He 
was married, in September, 1848, to Adelaide Nichols, a sister of James 
W. Nichols, of Burlington, and there have been born to them five 
children, three of whom are living, as follows: Maholon, married to 
Leuretta Bennett; Earl A., married to Carrie Pelton; and Lettie, wife 
of Eugene Decker, of Towanda, a commercial traveler for agricultural 
implements. Mr. Knapp is a Republican in politics, and is considered 
one of the substantial and representative men of the town. 

ORRIN A. KNIFFIN, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, is a son of 
Andrew and Mary (Wilkinson) Kniffin. Andrew was a native of 
Rockland county, N. Y., of English descent, who came to Bradford in 
1819; of his family of seven children, the subject of this sketch was 
the fifth ; the father had one brother, Benjamin, in the War of 1812. 
Mr. Kniffin was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., and was of English 
and German descent. The family liv^ed in this county sixteen years, 
then moved to Tioga county. Pa., and cleared a large farm. Mr. 
Kniffin was reared on the farm, and lived in Tioga county, until 1870, 
then returned to Smithfield, and in 1871 bought the property where 
he now resides, and which contained 168 acres. Plis parents came 
here with them, and the mother died here in 1873; the father 
died in Maryland, August 28, 1887, while on a visit to his eldest 
daughter. Orrin A. has a small dairy, and does a general farming 
business. He married. May 16, 1859, Anna T., daughter of Stephen 
T. and Johanna V. (Harding) Gladding, of Smithfield, natives of 
Bristol, R. I. She was born, June 28, 1842, the f(jurth in a family of 
five children. Two of her brothers, John G. and Samuel, were in the 
Civil War, the former of whom died in-the service, and the latter was 
in the One Hundred and Eighty-Seventh Regiment, P. V. T. The 
Gladding family trace their ancestry directly back eight generations, to 
a John Gladding, who was born in 1640, and came to this country in 
1660, and lived in the Plymouth colony about twent}^ years, but after 
the King Phillip War removed with his family, and assisted in 
founding the town of Bristol. Mr. and Mrs. Kniifin have had born 
to them seven children as follows: Josephine A., a teacher, born 
March 10, 1860, died February 5, 1891 ; Martlia E., born August 80, 
1861 ; Daniel O., born December 26, 1863, married to Bessie F. Lane; 
Norman A., born May 31, 1869; Lydia E., born Deceml)er 7. 1875; 
Samuel O., born November 17, 1877^ and Arthiu' L., boi-n October 21, 
1881. The family are metn])ers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Mr. Kniffin is a Republican in political matters. 



1)48 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

WILLIAM KKAlVr, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Towanda, 
was born in Nortiiampton county, Pa., July 21, 1822, and is a son of 
Jacob and Susan (Frankinfield) Kram, natives of Penns3'ivania and of 
German origin. As soon as he embarked in Hfe for himself he learned 
the carpenter's trade, which he followed until 1887, when he had the 
sad misfortune of being struck with total blindness, from which he 
has been unable to obtain any relief. He came to Bradford county in 
1862, and located where Wilson Frutchey now resides. In 1873 he 
settled on the farm where he now lives. Mr. Kram was married, 
P^ebruary 10, 1846, to Miss Margaret Fegles, of Muncy, Pa., who died 
May 9, 1855, and by her he had four children, one of w^hom is yet 
living, viz.: Isaiah M., born August 29, 1851, formerly a hardware 
merchant in Big Rapids, Mich., but now engaged in farming there. 
Mr. Kram was afterward married, November 17, 1856, to Miss Marv, 
daughter of David and Susanna (Arndt) Eilenberger, of Monroe 
county, born of German and Irish lineage. They had born to them 
six children: Francis H., born in Bloomsburg, Pa., June 20, 1858, a 
telegraj)h operator at Tunkiiannock (married to Jennie Bardwell, 
daughter of II. W. Bardwell, of Tunkiiannock, by whom he has one 
chikl, Gertrude, born January 31, 1887); Lina F., born April 7, 1860 
(lias taught fifteen years in the public schools of Bradford county, 
and is, unmistakably, one of the most successful teachers in tlie 
county, she is at present teaching in the Towanda high school); Susie 
E., born March 23, 1863, married to Frank H. Sechler, who is engaged 
in the creamerv business in East Bridgewater, Pa.; L)avid A., born 
AjH-il 24, 1866,"and died June 16, 1871; Mary II., born August 25, 
1868 (taught ten terms in Bradford county), married to Walter II. 
Scott, who is engaged in farming in Monroe township, and Jessie A'^., 
born x\pril 29, 1871 (is also a teacher in Bradford county). Mrs. Kram 
died April 18, 1891. The family are Methodists and Republicans. 

JOHN M. KRAMER, locomotive engineer, Sayre, is a native of 
Lu/erne county, and was born April 19, 1843. His parents were Albert 
M. and Caroline M. (Long) Kramer, natives of the same place, the 
former a machinest and molder. born February 21, 1823, and died in 
LTlster, ]November2, 1882 ; the latter was born October 27, 1817, and 
died, October 27, 1852. John M. is the eldest of a family of two sons 
and one daughter; his sister, Mary Jane, was born January 4. 1845, and 
died Julv 14, 1885. John came with the family to Towanda, when he 
was about six years of age, and received his education in the public 
schools of that place, where he remained until the war broke out, wiien 
he enlisted, April 14, 1861 in Company I, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, 
under Capt. W. II. II. 11. Gore, and took part in twenty-three regular 
engagements, and was under fire over three hundred times. Some of 
the most important engagements he participated in were the battles of 
second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, xintietam, South Mountain, Gettys- 
burg, Wilderness, and was shot through the arm at Spottsylvania, May 
10, 1864, and was sent to Satterlee Hospital, West Phila(leli)hia. He 
rejoined his command in front of Petersburg, and from exposure con- 
tracted gangrene of the wound, and was sent to Lincoln General Hos- 
pital; was mustered out June 28, 1865, and returned home, and in a 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 949 

short time removed to Athens, with his parents, and worked in the 
machine shops with his father until June, 1866. when he went to work 
as axeman for the engineer corps of the P. & N. Y. R. R.. and was 
with them until the latter part of 1867, when he was employed on the 
road as fireman, and was promoted to engineer in 1871, and has filled 
that place since. In Athens, December 25, 1806, he married Kate, 
daughter of Thomas and Ellen (Foley) O'Connell, natives of County 
Waterford, Ireland, who came to Athens in 1852. Thomas O'Connell 
died in Ulster township, November 7, 1881, in his seventy-third year; 
his widow survives and resides in Athens. Mrs. Kramer is the second 
in a family of five children, and was born in County Waterford, Ireland, 
August 15, 181:9. To Mr. and Mrs. Kramer were born the followino- 
children: Caroline E., Anna May, John Thomas, Theodore (deceased) 
and Albert Morris. Mrs. Kramer is an exemplary member of the 
Catholic Church. Mr. Kramer is a member of the Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Engineers, Sayre Division, No. 380; the A. O. U. W.; 
Golden Cycle ; G. A. R., Mallory Post, No. 285; the Union Veteran 
Legion, No. 28, and of the Veteran LTnion. 

G. F. KRISE, insurance agent. Canton, is a native of Liberty, 
Tioga Co., Pa., anil was born September 5. 1852, a son of Charles A. 
and Christena (Gleckner) Krise, the former a native of Germany and 
the latter of Tioga county, Pa. Our subject is the eldest in a family 
of four children. Of his brothers, Albert E. is cashier of the First 
National Bank, of Frostburg, Md., and William C. is engaged in the 
grain business at Red Wing, near Minneapolis. Mr. Krise came to 
Canton with his parents when he was five years of age; received his 
education in the borongh schools, and learned the saddler's trade of 
his father, which occupation he followed until 1880, then engaged in 
the retail coal business, having one yard in Canton, and another in 
Troy. At the end of three years he sold his business, and accepted 
the position of general agent for J. Langdon ife Co., of Elmira. for 
their coal on the Northern Central line, a position he still liolds. He 
engaged in the insurance business with his brother Albert E. in the 
summer of 1888, and in 1890 C. E. Bullock became a partner, under 
the firm name of Krise & Bullock. In Canton, in 1877, Mr. Krise mar- 
ried H. M., daughter of James L. and Sally (Warren) Bothwell, na- 
tives of this county. James Bothwell is engaged in the insurance antl 
coal business at Troy, Pa. Mrs. Krise is the elder of two children 
who grew to maturity; she was born in Canton township in 1856. To 
them was born one son, Charles R. Mrs. Krise is a member of the 
Disciple Church. Mr. Krise is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, 
Canton Lodge, No. 1:15 ; of Troy Chapter, No. 261, and of Canton 
Comniandery, No. 64. He served as a member of the borough coun- 
cil four years, and three years was treasurer of the council; politi- 
callv he is a Democrat. 

iBENJAMIN KUYKENDALL, farmer. Towanda, who has long 
been one of the leading and influential agriculturists of the count}^ 
resides in the borouoh and carries on his extensive farming interests 
at the same time. His nativity was the Em])ire State, born in Sulli- 
van county, July 28, 1826, a son of Peter and Deborah (A-^anduzen) 

55 



950 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

KuA'kendall. also natives of New York and of German and English 
descent, respectively; they were farmers, who came to Bradford county 
in lS4rl:, settling in Windham township, where the father died in 1876, 
and had reared a family of eleven children — five daughters and six 
sons — of whom Benjamin is the sixth. The youthful days of our sub- 
ject were divided between his native place and Windham township; in 
1873 he first made his residence in the borough. His elegant farm of 
175 acres is situated in AVindham township, is one of the best in the 
countv and he has two other farms in other townships, as well as con- 
siderable town property in Towanda. Benjamin Ivuykendall was 
married March 9, 1853, to Pamela Anna, daughter of Rev. Daniel and 
Tamar (Williamson) Gardner, natives of Orange county, N. Y., and of 
English stock. Mrs. Ivuykendall was l)orn in Windham township, on 
January 0, 1833; her grandfather, Williamson, was a lay -reader in the 
E|)iscopal Church, and a very prominent Mason ; he was a distinguished 
minister of the Baptist Church. To this marriage union came eight 
children, and in the order of birth, as follows: Thomas, who died at 
eleven years of age ; and two died in infancy; Anna (Mrs. John H. 
Dean); Deborah C. (Mrs. George A. Dayton); Benjamin (an attorney 
in Towanda); Paul (a bookkeeper in Duluth, Minn.); and Francis E. 
(Mrs. Benson Landon, in Chicago). This is one of the prominent 
families in the social life of Towanda. Mr. Ivuykendall was ten years 
a justice in Windham township; was elected county commissioner in 
1872, and served a full term ; he is a prominent temperance advocate 
and a good Republican. 

C. S. LAFFERTY, retired merchant, Camptown, ranks among Brad- 
ford county's most successful business men. He was born in New 
Jersey, July 30, 1832, and is a son of John and Jane (Little) Lalferty ; 
the former was born in County Antrim, Ireland, but while yet a boy came 
to America, and located in Sussex county, N, J., of which place his 
wife was a native; he was a shoemaker bv trade, and followed that 
occupation until 1834, when he removed to Herrick township, this 
county, and purchased a farm, and followed the occupation of a farmer 
until his death, in 1890, being then in his ninetieth year; he had a 
family of six children, of whom our subject is the eldest. The others 
were: Harriet, married to P. S. S(]uires, of Herrick, now county com- 
missioner; Catherine, married to Thomas Lee, and residing in Herrick; 
William ((leceased); James (deceased); and John (deceased). Our subject 
was reai-ed on a farjn, and was educated in the common schools, and 
Wyoming Seminary. After reaching his majority he was a traveling 
salesman for nine years. In 1800 he came to ("amptown, and built a 
store room (which has since been incorporated into the house he now 
occupies as a residence), and opened a general stoi'e, having S. R. 
Stevens associated with him, under the iirm name of Lalferty iSi Stevens. 
This linn continued in business four years, when ]\Ir. Stevens retired, 
Mr. Lalferty purchasing his interest. Tiie latter continued the business 
alone untiri870, and then took, as a ])artner, Geoi-ge H. Lan(h)n. aixl 
the business was conducted under the firm name of Lalferty Sz Landon 
four years. In 1878 he built the store-room now occupi(Ml by Smith 
Brothers, which is one of the best-a])pointed and most commodious 



HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY. 951 

store-rooms in the county ; he continued in business there until 1880, 
and then sold to Smith Brothers; since that period he has been dealing 
extensivel}' in Western lands and cit}^ property. Besides his large real 
estate interests in this county, he has real estate in Chicago, Denver 
(Colo.), Nebraska and West Virginia. Mr. Lafferty was united in 
marriage, April 20, 18C8, with Emma E., daughter of Thomas and 
Miranda (Knott) Jones; her father was a native of AV ales, and died in 
Herrick township in 1848. Her only sister, Martha, married Martin 
Fee, of Camptown. Mr. and Mrs. Laffertj^ have one child, W. S., born 
April 26, 1868; he was educated in Camptown Academy, Wyoming- 
Seminary, and Elmira Business College; he is now a merchant in Chicago. 
The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Camp- 
town. Mr. Lafferty is a member of the F. & A. M.. a Master Mason, 
and belongs to Franklin Lodge, Towanda ; also a member of Wyalus- 
ing Lodge, No. 503, 1. O. O. F., Camptow^n, has taken all the degrees, and 
is past grand. His political views are Democratic. Mr. Lafferty has 
from the start depended entirely upon his own resources, and has been 
eminently successful. 

HARPJSON LAMB, farmer, P. O. Macedonia, was born Novem- 
ber 24, 1820, at Browntown, Wyalusing township, this county, a son 
of Ebenezer and Nancy (Gordon) Lamb, the former a native'of Ver- 
mont and the latter of New Jersey, of English and Scotch-Irish 
ancestry. Samuel Gordon, his grandfather, settled in Wyalusing in 
1780, about three miles from the mouth of the creek, where he built 
the first gristmill, probably, in the county, and was one of the promi- 
nent ])ioneers of the country. Grandfather Lamb was a soldier in the 
Revolutionar}^ War, and was a prisoner with the Indians in Canada 
for a long time. Harrison Lamb was reared on a farm, and when 
grown began farming on his own account, also lumbering in connec- 
tion. He came to Macedonia in 1887, and located on his present farm. 
Mr. Lamb was married in October, 18 — , to Esther Whitney, who was 
born in September, 1830, and of this marriage there are nine childi-en, 
as follows: Laura, born October 9, 1858; Louise, born, Februai-v 28, 
1860; Andrew, born May 3, 1861; Lizzie, born December 21, 1862; 
Beecher M., born Novernber 13, 1864; May, born September 8, 1866; 
Mertie, born April 24, 1868; Eugene, born July 14, 1870; Herbert, 
born November 16, 1872. The girls are mostly teachers, and some 
are in Philadelphia as nurses. Mrs. Lamb, who was a faithful member 
of the Presbyterian Church, departed this life May 7, 1889, deeply 
mourned by the family, and much lamented by those who were inti- 
mately ac(]uainted with her. She was a daughter of the late Dr. 
Elisha Whitney, of Wyalusing. 

GEORGE A. LAMKIN, senior member of the firm of Lamkin Bros. 
& Bloom, prominent dealers in general merchandise, Troy, was born 
in Ithaca, N. Y., February 1, 1854, is a son of James and Barbara 
(Tucker) Lamkin, and is of English parentage [see sketch of James W. 
Lamkin]; ho was reared in Tomjikins county, N. Y., received a pub- 
lic-school education, and' after attaining his majority, began life for 
himself as a clerk in an agricultural store in Dan by, N. Y., where he 
remained six years. In 1879 he located in Troy, Pa., and was clerk in 



952 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

af^eneral store until 1882, when he embarked in the general merchan- 
dising business as a member of the firm of Gernert, Lamkin & Moore, 
until 1885, then as Gernert & Lamkin until 1887, then as Lamkin, 
liloom & Manley until 1888, when the present firm of Lamkin Bros. 
ik Bloom was organized, and they are among the most popular busi- 
ness houses of Troy. Mr. Lamkin married, September 18, 1890, Ada 
C, daughter of Brewster A. and Louisa 0. (Colborn) Long, of Troy 
borough. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, is a Sir Knight 
Templar and a member of the I. O. O. F. Though he never sought 
office he is known as a worker in the interest of the political party he 
represents, which is the Republican. 

JAMES W. LAMKIN, of Lamkin Bros. & Bloom, dealers in gen- 
eral merchandise, Troy, was born in Lansing, Tompkins Co., N. Y., 
June 1-1, 1852, and is a son of James and Barbara (Tucker) Lamkin, 
natives of England, who came to America about 1845, and settled in 
Lansing, N. Y., where the father engaged in farming until his death ; 
their children were eight: Ehzabeth (Mrs. Hoffman Swartout), James 
W., Geoi'ge A., Charles (deceased), Jane (Mrs. Willis Euest), Hattie 
(Mrs. Charles Hanford), John, and Julia (Mrs. Fred. Johnson). Our 
subject was reared in Tompkins county, N. Y., educated at Danby 
High School, began life as a farmer, and later served in the capacity 
of clerk in the general store of Danby & Spencer for four years. In 
March, 1887, he located in Troy, Pa., and purchased an interest in a 
clothing store with E. S. Jewell, in which he continued until 1889, 
under the firm name of Jewell & Lamkin ; lie then became a member 
of the firm of Lamkin Bros. 6z Bloom, one of tiie leading business 
houses of Troy, with wiiom he is still connected. Mr. Lamkin was 
twice married, his first wife being Olive, daughter of John and Eliza 
(Malks) Thomas, of Danby, N. Y., b}?^ whom he had one daughter, 
Amelia; his second wife was Gertrude Jewell, daughter of E. S. and 
Araminta (Davidson) Jewell, of Troy, Pa. Mr. Lamkin is a live and 
enterprising business man ; he is a member of the Presl)yterian 
Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

II. LAMPIIERE, farmer and dairyman, P. O., Wyalnsing, was 
born in LeRaysvilie, this county, October 10, 1843, a son of Zelwin 
and Delila (Piatt) Lamphere. His father was a carpenter and contractor, 
and resided a greater portion of his time in LeRaysvilie; lie had a 
family of six children, viz.: Edward, now in California; Charles, a 
farmer, of Standing Stone; George (deceased); Emily, married to 
Theodore Rosencrans, a fanuer residing in Nebraska; Saraii, married 
to George Coi-ner, a farmer in Nebraska, and our subject. 11. Lam- 
phere speni his boyhood, until sixteen, in Leliaysville, where he 
attended scho»)l most of that time. In iVIarch, 1862, lie enlisted in 
Company H, Seventy-Fifth P. V. I., and was in the battles of Fort 
Fisher, Wilmington, and the campaign against Richmond ; was twice 
struck by bullets, so as to leave permanent scars, but never seritnisly 
wounded; was mustered out with his regiment, July 10, 1805. After 
returning from the army he puj-chased a blacksmith shop at Wysox, 
and worked at that trade for two years, then went West and took up a 
homestead in Nebraska, but after staying there about six months 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 953 

moved on to Idaho, and for some time was enga<^ed in wor-k on the 
Norther-n Faciflc Kaih'oad ; he then came back to Ckirence, Iowa, and 
farmed for a year, and then returned and located at Standing Stone, 
and for the following eight years made that his home, witii the excep- 
tion of one year spent in lumbering, close to Lanark, Pa. He then 
came to Wyalusing township, and for four years was on the Bixby 
farm; and tl]en,in the spring- of 1887, removed to his jiresent residence, 
the Washington Taylor farm, now owned by Dr. J. M. Chamberlain. 
Mr. Lamphere married, August l-i, 1871, Anna l>enjamin, a daughter 
of Morgan Benjamin, of Standing Stone, and tliis union has been 
blessed with four children : Elmer, Jennie, Earnest and Albert. Mr. 
Lamphere is a member of Glosson Lodge, No. 920, I. O. O. F., Sugar 
Run, and of Hurst Post, No. 86, G. A. K., Camptown, and is a Repub- 
lican. He has lived in the vicinity of his present home mo.ny years, 
and commands the esteem and respect of all ; he lias always depended 
entirelv on his own resources and has been vevy successful. 

FREDERICK C. LANDMESSER. merchant, was born in Hanover 
township, Luzerne Co., Pa., July 26, 1857. His father, Peter Land- 
messer, was born in Germany, on the Rhine, November 4, 1819, and 
his grandfather, John Nicholas Landmesser, was born in the same 
place, November 17, 1776. His great-grandfather, John Nicholas 
Landmesser, who was an officer under the Duke of Nassau, married a 
Miss Krumpf, and they had four children : John Nicholas, Elizabeth 
(wife of D. Parkier), Catherine (wife of W. Warner) and Mary. John 
Nicholas married Louisa Barks, and had nine children, all born in 
Germany, of whom are given the names of Louisa (wife of N. Bish), 
Catherine (wife of Andrew Weiskarger), Mary (wife of K. Keller), 
Nicholas, P"'rederick (retired mine superintendent), Peter, and Ludwig, 
a coal operator. John Nicholas came to this country in 1836, having 
lost his wife in 1823 ; he died in 1855, and is buried in Hanover, Pa. 
Peter Landmesser began life prospecting for coal in his seventeenth 
year, and lived at home until he was twenty-four, during which time 
he worked on the Lehigh Canal, and in cutting and packing broom 
corn, also in public works and mining ; he was superintendent of the 
mines at Silver Brook, the Baltimore mines and the Oliphant, near 
Carbondale. In 1856 he erected a slope which was afterward aban- 
doned ; was then mine boss for his brother Ludwig, who was agent 
for the Hartford Coal Company, and was superintendent in 1860 for 
the Continental Coal Company, dui'ing which year he took a contract 
with the Baltimore Coal Company and sank a sloj)e for them. In 
1861 he was superintendent for Gray and Mortagie ; in 1862 for 
Mortagie ; in 1863 was mine boss for the Wilkes-Barre Coal and Iron 
Company, and in ISCA superintendent for Gray & Longstreet, in 
Schuylkill county. In 1864 he was superintendent for the Baltimore 
Com))any Slope, No. 3, at Wilkes-Barre, and in 1865 they were burned 
out, and he lost all his personal property. He remained with this com- 
pany until 1865, when he began j)urchasing farm produce along the 
canal ; then came to Standing Stone, and purchased the " Rummerfield 
Hotel'' in 1867, which he conducted until 1873, also trading, and then 
turned his hotel into a general store, which he conducted until 1876. 



954 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lie then purchased, fiom the heirs of James Esbey, his present home 
and two liundred or more acres of land, and has devoted the bahmce of 
his life to farming aud trading. Mr. Landmesser was school director 
three years; is a member of the Wilkes-Barre l.odge. No. (51, A. F. & 
A.M., and is a Rejiublican. lie married, in 1817, Josephine, the eldest 
of six ciiildrcn of Nicholas and Cliristiana (Diedersfelt) liittersbacher. 
Of tliis union were children as follows: John Nicholas, who died in 
infancy; Peter (deceased); Louisa, wife of George P. Ililpert, both 
deceased, leaving a daughter, Georgie J. Ililpert, who is ^Yith her gi-and- 
father; Peter 11; Louise and Alexander (deceased). Frederick C, 
the subject of this sketch, attended school at Wilkes-Barre and Stand- 
ing Stone, until [lis fourteenth 3'ear; then worked on a farm eight 
years; he had charge of the " liummerfield Hotel" eighteen months; 
traded in ap[)les and produce two years, and then took a commei-cial 
course in Kingston College, Luzerne county. Returning to Rummer- 
field he engaged in the hay, grain, and coal business, with Billings, 
Feel and Stewart, under the name of F. C. Landmesser iSz Co., with 
main office at Homet's Ferry. In 1887 he withdrew from this firm, 
and built the store which he now occu])ies, dealing in general mer- 
chandise ; he is one of the prosperous business men of the county, and 
carries a stock of about $5,500, doing an annual business of about $12,- 
000. In politics he is a Republican. He married, February 28, 1887. 
Sarah O., eldest daughter of William and Almira (Barton) Claggett. 
Mrs Landmesser worships at the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

PETER BARNEY LANDMESSEll, station agent, Rummerfield, 
was born near Wilkes-Barre, Pa.. April 22, 1854, a son of Peter 1>. 
Landmesser. In the days of his youth he attended school in Luzerne 
and Bradford counties, until his sixteenth year, when he began to 
make his own way in the world, and worked mostly on the farm until 
the fall of 1873, when he was appointed station agent at Rummei-field 
on the Lehigh A'alley Railroad. He received this appointment from 
Gen']. Supt. R. A. Packer, and has continued in that employ to the 
present time. He married Sarah J., daughter of Nelson and Lois 
(Chaffee) YanNest; she was the sixth of nine children, eight of whom 
are living. Mi', and Mrs. Landmesser have had four children, as fol- 
lows : Louis P., born February 20, 1879 ; Mabel E., born A])ril 11, 1882 ; 
Louise J., born September 8, 1885, and Perry C, born December 24, 
1888. Mr. and Mrs. Landmesser attend the M. E. Church, and in 
politics he votes the Republican ticket. This family is of the pleasant 
and much respected ones of P>radford county. 

NEUTON LANDON, dealer in groceries and feed, Canton, is a 
native of the place, born August 1, 1842, a son of Eldaah and Lucy 
(Loveridge) Landon, the former a native of ('anton township, this 
county, having been born, April 15, 1808, one and one-half miles south of 
Canton borough. The mother died in 1848 in her thirty -eighth year. 
The grandparents w-ere Laban and Elizabeth (Gillis) Landon, natives 
of New Jerse\' and Newbury, N. Y., respectively; they came from 
Williamsport to Canton townshij), between the years 1797 and 1800. 
Their son, Joshua Landon, was born in Canton, February 27, 1800— the 
first white child born in this vicinitv. Laban Landon served in the 



HISTORY OF HUADFORT) COUNTY. 955 

Revolutionary War, and was one of Wasliing'ton's bodyguard; he 
died in June, 1828, in iiis seventieth year. Mrs. Landon died in June, 
1848, m her eighty-fourth year. Eldaah Landon is the youngest in a 
family of fourteen children. The family removed to Troy in 1822, 
where they resided until 1830, when they returned to Canton where 
Mr. Landon still resides. Tlie subject of this memoir is the fourth in 
a family of four children, of whom two are now living. He was 
reared in Canton, and received a public-school education, lie enlisted 
in April, 1861, in the three months' service, and re-enlisted September 
7, 1861, for three years, in Company K, Fiftieth P. V. L; he went 
with Porter's fleet South, and was in the second battle of Bull Run, 
also the one at Chantilly, and in some minor engagements. He was 
mustered out on account of disability, January 22, 1863, and Septem- 
ber 3, 186-1, he re-enlistetl in Company K, Fifteenth New York Engi- 
neers, and was mustered out at Fort Perry, Yirginia, June 13, 1865. 
He returned home and tauo-ht school during- the winters of 1865 and 
1866; then clerked in a store one and one-half years, after which he 
took up farming, which he followed until Jul\% 1881, when he embarked 
in the gi'ocery business. Mr. Landon was married in Granville, this 
county, in 1868, to Maggie, daughter of William and Maria Puny an, 
natives of Scotland and Havana, N. Y., respectively; her father was 
a farmer, served several years as county treasurer, and died in April, 
1882, in his seventy-seventh year; her mother, who is still living, is 
the sixth in a family of eleven children, and was born in Granville 
township in 1847. To Mr. and Mrs. Landon wei'e born two children: 
Jennie and Charles F. The family are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. He is a member of the board of trustees, served three years 
as councilman, assessor three years, and tax collector two j^ears; is a 
charter member of Canton Masonic Lodge, No. 415, Troy Chapter, 
No. 261, and Canton Coramandery, No. 64, also a member of the fol- 
lowing: G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91, of which he was the first 
commander; I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, and has pas>^ed all the 
chairs in th.e Order; is also a member of the Encampment, and has 
passed the chairs. He is a Republican, and was census enumerator for 
Canton borough in 1890. 

REY. ALEXANDER LANE (deceased) was born October 3, 1809, 
in Burlington township, this county, on the farm where he died, and 
where his daughter, Margaret A., and son, Stephen A., now reside. 
He was the eighth generation of Alexander Lanes in America, and 
was of Pilgrim origin, a son of Alexander and Abigail (Mills) Lane, 
natives of Connecticut, and who removed to Pradford county from 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1795, settling in Burlington, being one of the 
pioneer families. He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, was 
of Scotch-Irish descent, and the name was originally McLane. The sub- 
ject of this sketch married Catharine Shoemaker, who was born October 
18, 1813, at Kingston, Luzerne Co., Pa., of Quaker ancestry, and by her 
he had nine children, as follows: Margaret A., born January 5, 1834; 
Asa S.. born December 5, 1835 ; John W., born June 19, 1838 ; William 
Alexander, born June 25,1841 ; Noel W., born July 9, 1844; Stephen 
A., born December 7, 1846 ; Catharine F., born August 8, 1849 ; 



950 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Charles H., born September 8, 1852; and Gustavus G., born June 18, 
1855. William Alexander was the ninth generation of Alexanders in 
America; was a physician, and a soldier in the Civil War, Company 
]>, Two Hundred and Seventh Regiment, P. V. Charles H. is a phy- 
sician in Pittsburgh, Pa. Gustavus G, is a farmer occupying a part of 
the old homestead ; was married to Susan Wrisley, of Burlington, and of 
New England ancestry, whose parents removed to tlie county in 1858. 

Rev. Alexander Lane, the subject proper of tliis sketch, was a cler- 
gyman of the Methodist Protestant Church, having joined the Penn- 
sylvania Conference at the age of eighteen ; he traveled as an itinerant 
preacher, on horseback, as was the custom in those early days, in the 
States of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania ; was a 
powerful preacher and an excellent man ; he was nearly sixty years 
in active pastoral work, and died Ai)ril 26, 1890, at the age of eighty 
years. 

WILLIAM PENN LANE, farmer, Burlington township, P. O. 
Luther's Mills, was born October 6, 1842, on the farm where he now 
resides, a son of Zepheniah and Polly (Clarke) Lane, the former of 
whom was born in Poughkeepsle, N. Y., of Scotch-Irish origin. The 
maternal grandfather Clarke, was in the Wyoming massacre, and his 
father was a captain in the Revolutionary War, and a pioneer of 
Ulster township. Grandfather Lane was one of the first settlers of 
Burlington, and experienced all the privations of the pioneer. The 
father, who was a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a 
farmer, with the aid of his sons cleared tlie farm where AVilliam P. 
now resides; he died at the age of seventy-six years; when a mere 
lad he was a soldier in the War of 1812. In 1864 Mr. Lane enlisted in 
Company C, One Hundred and Eighty-eighth N. Y. A^. I., and was in 
several battles; he is now a pensioner (he had one brother and fourhalf- 
l)rothers also in the war). He was married, April 20, 1864, to Jane 
Fairchild, of Burlington, who was born April 18, 1846, a daughter of 
Gideon and Lydia Knight, of English origin. To Mr. and Mrs. Lane 
have been born five children, two of whom are living, as follows: 
Grove, born June 20, 1874, and Minnie, born May 14, 1867. The old 
homestead, where Mr. Lane resides, is a farm of eighty-live acres under 
a good state of cultivation, on which he has a fine dairy. ]\Ir. Lane is 
an excellent man in all respects, is a member of the G. A. R., in politics 
is a Re])ublican, and has held many offices of public trust; is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been a steward, 
and superintendent of the Sundav-school many vears. 

ROBERT II. LANING, Wysox, was born in Wyalusing, this 
county, June 25, 1837, and is a son of Matthias II. and Ann H. (Over- 
ton) Laning. His father, who was a native of Owego, N. Y., and a 
son of John and Mary (IloWenback) Laning, removed to Wyalusing 
about the year 1835, where he built a large section of the North 
Branch Canal, and kept a store, ;ind also for the purpose of looking 
after the estate of his mother wiio was a daughter of Judge Matthias 
Ilollenback, a well-known ])ioneer and large land-owner of the Wvom- 
ing Valley. Matthias Ilollenback Laning located, in 1842, in Wysox 
township, on the farm now occupied by his son, and resided there until 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 957 

his death, May 3, 1800; he was hirgely interested in real estate in 
AVysox andTowanda, and in mining in the Wyoming Valley atAVilkes- 
Barre and elsewhere. His wife was a daughter of Thomas B. and 
Maria (Hodkinson) Overton, of Wilkes-Barre, by w^hom he had four 
children; Eobert II., Mary A. (Mrs. Edward T. Elliott), Emily T. 
(Mrs. William T. Bishop) and Elizabeth L. (Mrs. Clark B. Porter). 
Robert 11. Laning was reared in Bradford county, and was educated 
at Dickinson's Seminar}^, Williamsport, and Susquehanna Collegiate 
Institute, Tow^anda. Since attaining his majority he has been engaged 
in various business enterprises, and during the lifetime of his father 
assisted him in the management of his business. He married. May 21, 
1S90, Mrs. Mary (Mowry) Morgan, daughter of Ezekiel Mowry, of 
Meshoppen. Mr. Laning has served as scliool director of Wysox four 
terms; also several terms as road commissioner, and is in these posi- 
tions now; is a director of the First National Bank, Towanda ; presi- 
dent of the Bradford County Agricultural Society; is a Sir Knight 
Temj)lar, and in politics is a Democrat. 

GEORGE LANTZ, farmer, Franklin township, P. O. Franklin- 
dale, was born in Monroe township, this county, July 21, l!^32, a son of 
Peter and Catherine (VanXest) Lantz, both of whom were born in 
New Jersey, and came to this county about 1825, locating at Wysox, 
from which place they removed to Franklindale, whe/e the father died 
in 1862, at the age of seventy -nine years. He purchased a farm of 100 
acres of wild land, which he improved and beautified, living on it fifty 
years ; his family were ten in number — three sons and seven daughters 
— all of whom grew to maturity, but only three are now living 
— George (our subject) being the youngest of the family. Peter was 
married twice; both of his wives were Van Nests, and cousins; he 
had six children by the former marriage and four by the latter. When 
our subject was twenty -four years of age he purchased a farm and 
made a home for himself; at the age of thirty he married Miss Marga- 
ret, daughter of Samuel and Mary Anable, and the result of this union 
was six children — two sons and four daughters: Cora (died when 
four years old); Jennie; Louella (died when ten months old); Mamie. 
Samuel and James. Mr. Lantz has a neat home in the village of 
Franklindale, besides a farm of 100 acres, on which he raises grain, hay 
and wool; politically he is a Republican. 

LESTER R. LANTZ, physician. New Albany, born February 15, 
1858, in Franklin township, Bradford Co., Pa., a son of William 
and Elizabeth (Arnold) Lantz, the former of whom, a farmer, born of 
German origin in New^ Jersey, was one of the representative men of 
the township, and died at the age of sixty-Hve; the mother died aged 
thirty-eight. Grandfather Lantz was a Revolutionary soldier; and the 
paternal grandfather was in the War of 1812. The subject of these 
lines, who is one of a family of eleven children — seven sons and four 
daughters — was reared on the farm, and educated in the common 
schools of his tow^n. He studied medicine from a very early age; and 
attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from 
there in the spring of 1880; and in the winters of 1885-86 he took a post- 
graduate course at the University of New York. Immediately after his 



958 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

graduation lie engaged in tlie practice of his chosen profession at Hill's 
Grove, Pa., where he was for some time, and then three years at Norfolk, 
Va. In the spring of 1887 he located in New Albany, where he has had 
an extensive and lucrative practice, and is fast becoming one of the leading 
practitioners of the count}'. The Doctor was married, in 1879, to 
Maud Gilbert, of Franklindale. Dr. Lantz is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
and in politics he is an Independent. lie is the owner of one of 
the finest residences in the township. 

PETER LANTZ, farmer, of Franklin township, P. O. Franklin- 
dale, was born in Franklin, this county, January 21, 1851, a son of 
AVilliam and Maria (Arnold) Lantz, the former born in or near New- 
ton, Sussex Co., N. J.; the latter in Ulster, this county. William 
Lantz came with his father, Peter Lantz, Sr., when a young lad, or 
about 181:0, locating in Franklin, where he afterward lived and died; 
he was an industrious farmer, who b}' hard labor and economy accu- 
mulated a farm of 257 acres of good land ; his family number twelve 
by two marriages ; he married, for his first wife. Miss Maria Arnold, 
by whom he had nine children, eight of whom are living; his second 
wife was Miss Catherine Beavens, by whom he had three children, 
two vet living. Our subject, who is the sixth in the first family, was 
reared and educated at Franklin, and always worked on a farm. At 
the age of twentv-seven he married, at Terrytown, August 29, 1878, 
Miss Mary, daughter of Charles and Ann Yiell, and there were born 
to them four children, all of whom are now living, and very young, as 
follows : Charles, Edward, Arthur and Leo. Mr. Lantz, as were his 
forefathers, is a hard-working man, who by industry and economy 
has made himself a comfortable home; he is a general farmer, paying 
some attention to wool-growing; is a member of the Patrons of Indus- 
trv, and a trustee of the Methodist Episcoj)al Church. 

W. L. LANTZ, farmer, of Franklin township, P. O. Franklindale, 
was born in Monroe township, this county, April 17, 1840, a son of 
William and Amelia M. (Arnold) Lantz, the former born in New Jer- 
sey, the lattei" in Ulster, this county. William was the son of Peter, 
who removed from New Jersey about 1840, and located in Franklin, 
noi'th and east of the village; he lived and died on the farm on which 
he located. AVilliam, his son, after taking care of him, and paying ofi' 
the heirs, came into possession of the farm. He was twice married, 
and by his first wife had six sons and three daughters, five of whom 
grew to maturity; by his second wife he had one son and two daugh- 
ters. William (Hed in 1878, at the age of sixty-four years, leaving a 
farm of about 200 acres, all of which he had earned with his own hands, 
which j)roved him to have been a successful and enterprising farmer. 
The suljject of this sketch, who is the second child by the first wife, 
was reared and educated in Franklin, anil early in life learned the mil- 
ler's trade at Horace Willey's mill, in Franklindale, and worked there 
seven years; then removed to New Albany. Pa., where he purchased a 
large mill, renovated and improved it so extensively by the appliance of 
modern machinery, and operating same by steam, that he made it a com- 
plete success. After establishing a paying custom, during the space of 
twelve years, he sold out to Mr. (). M". Fassett, who married his only 



HISTORY OF BRADFOIID COUNTY. 959 

daughter, Amelia M. He married, at Towanda, Septenil)er 28,1861, 
Miss Alary J., daughter of Horace and Debby A. Willey. Mr. Lantz 
is now engaged in general farming in Franklin; he enjoys the confi- 
dence of liis neighbor-s, and was at one time elected county auditor ; 
has also held several town offices; politically he is a Democi-at. 

HON. BARTHOLOMEW LAPORTE'(deceased) was one of the 
leading men of the county in his day, a grandson of 13arLholomew 
Laporte, a leader of the French colony that settled Asylum township — 
refugees from France in the close of the last centur^^ Bartholomew 
Laporte, Sr., came to this county in 1794, and made his settlement on 
tlie farm now owned partly by F. H. Hageman. The subject of this 
sketch was a son of John and Matilda (Chamberlam) Laporte. born on 
the old homestead in Frenclitown, January 25, 1823. He mai-ried, July 
31, 1845, Emilv Terry, wiio was of tlie eminent family of Terrys whose 
names are indelibly connected with tlie early settlement of the north 
branch of the Susquehanna. To this marriage were born four chil- 
dren, two of whom are living, viz.: George B., born February 14, 1846, 
and Nancy M., born May 14, 1859. Of these, George B. married 
Amanda, daughter of John M. and Hannah (Mingos) Piatt, and they 
have three children : Emily G., born November 25, 1877; Nellie M., born 
September 14, 1879, and Jennie E., born October 24, 1881. Nancy M. 
Laporte is now Mrs. J. S. Bovingdon, of Buffalo, N. Y. Hon. Barthol- 
omew Laporte was during his life one of the prominent men of Brad- 
ford county; a strong leader of the Republican party, he was elected, 
and served with eminence three terms in the State Legislature, and 
died September 15, 1889. 

MICHAEL J. LARKIN, boot and shoe merchant, Towanda, was 
born in County Galway, Ireland. January 6, 1830, a son of James and 
Elizabeth (Martin) Larkin. His father came to America in 1835 and 
settled in Schuylkill county. Pa., where he engaged in mining, and died 
in the mines, May 18, 1854. Michael J. was reared in Ireland until 
fifteen years of age. He came to America in 1845, and joined his 
father in Schuylkill county. Pa., where he was employed as a slate 
picker, and later as a driver and miner, and followed mining more or 
less for twenty years, a ])art of the time in Barclay, tliis county, five 
years as a miner and two years as dock boss. He came to Towanda 
in 1868, where he was engaged in various business enterprises until 
1871, when he embarked in the shoe business, in which he still con- 
tinues. Mr. Larkin married. May 9, 1852, Catherine, daughter of 
Michael and Mary (Burke) Welch, of Carbon county. Pa., by whom 
he has six children living, as follows: James, Elizabeth, Michael, 
Mary, Margaret and Joachim. Mr. Larkin is a member of the Catholic 
Church and is a well-known, representative citizen of Towanda. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

PETER LAYMAN, farmer. West Terry, P. O. Marshview, was 
born in Wurtemberg, Germany, November 24, 1828, a son of Jacob 
and Barbara (Bros) Layman, the former of whom, who was a weaver 
of superior skill, and a man of sterling qualities, reared a family of six 
children (all of whom grew to maturity), and died in 1869, at the age of 
seventy-six years. The subject of this sketch, at the age of twenty- 



060 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

four, in 1853, imin iterated to this conntrv, landino- at Castle Garden, 
N. Y. He remained one year in that city, aftei- which he came to 
Terry township, Bradford"^ Co., Pa., where he has since resided. In 
185G, in company with a cousin, he purchased 100 acres of wild land, 
which they highly improved, and in 1877, Mr. Layman purchased his 
cousin's interest, now owning the entire property of 175 acres. These 
men, like other settlers in a new country, had to cut their way through 
the woods to the nearest mill, which in this case was Frenchtown. 
On November 14, 1858, Mr. Layman raari'ied Miss Margaret Brou^n, 
and there were born to them six children, all of whom are living, as 
follows : John J. (married to Miss Mary Williams), Agnes L (married 
to W. C. Jackson, and they have one child, a daughter), Charles F. 
(married to Eva Williams, and has one daughter), William IL, Henry 
L. and Frank. Mr. Layman became a citizen of this country in 1858, 
and has been a law-abiding one ever since; is honest in all his dealings 
with men ; has been elected to the office of town commissioner and school 
director; was also assessoi' three years. He was the principal mover in 
establishing the sciiool in his neighborhood, and is a consistent member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a Republican. 

JOHN LEE, farmer, P. O. Franklindale, was born in Scotland in 
1823, a son of Robert and Sarah (Boyd) Lee, the former a native of 
Ii-eland, the latter of Scotland. Mr. Lee came to this county in 1838, 
and located in Herrick township, where he resided thirty years. He 
owned a farm out West, which he divided between his sons; he 
entered the army in defense of his adopted country, March 15, 1864, 
for the term of three years, attaching himself to Compan}^ A, One 
Huntlred and Forty-first P. Y. L; was wounded at the battle of the 
Wihierness, after which he was discharged for disabilities. He now 
draws a pension of $30 per month, and is living on a small place 
belonging to his wife, whom he married in 1887. She was the widow 
of Charles Smith. Mr. Lee married, for his lirst wife, Miss Louisa, 
daughter of Thomas Bomp, by whom he had four cliildren — three sons 
and one daughter: Thomas, Frank, Harry and Phoebe, three of whom 
are married, and prospering in business, and all are living in this 
county. Mr. Lee enjoys good iiealth at the age of sixty-eight; in 
politics he is a Republican. 

JOSEPH P. LEE, blacksmith, Wyalusing, was born in Herrick, 
Bradford Co., Pa., and is a son of James and Jane (Daugherty) Lee. 
His parents were born in County Armagh, Ireland; his father was a 
clothier and his mother a tailoress; they came to this countr}'^ in 1829, 
and settled in New York City, where the father i-emained about eight 
years; then removed to New Milford, anti engaged in the business of 
manutacturing cloth, and later removed to Herrick, becoming a suc- 
cessful farmer of that section, and remained there until his deatli, 
which occurred in 1857; his widow sui-vived until 1879. Joseph P. 
Lee passed his boyhood on his father's farm, and attentled the common 
schools of Herrick, also two years at the Laceyville Academy. On 
July 9, 1851, he purchased a blacksmitii shop in Herrick, and hired 
men to work for him, and with them he learned his trade; here he 
remained until 18G5, when he went to Carroll county, III., where 



HISTORY OF n RADFORD COUNTY. 961 

he was two years; then came back and opened an extensive shop at 
Campiown, using steam power; here lie manufactured wagons, besides 
doing general blacksmitliing, and worked a large force of men; from 
there he went to Athens, where he engaged in the livery business. In 
August, 188-1:, he came to Wyalusing township, and, with the excep- 
tion of two years spent on the road as traveling salesman, selling a 
tool of his own invention, he has passed his time here in general 
blacksmithing. Mr. Lee is a genius as regards mechanics, and has 
made that his constant study; has numerous inventions, the best of 
Avhich are the liglitning hoof shears, a device for trimming horses' 
hoofs without the use of the old-fashioned nippers and buttress; 
an expansive shoe for diseased feet; also a machine for cutting, punch- 
ing and u}isetting iron bars, all of wliich work to perfection, and are a 
perfect success. Mr. Lee married, March 10, 1860, Elizabeth, daughter 
of Lyman Matson, of Herrick, and they have a family of five chil- 
dren : Joseph L. (a traveling salesman in Nebraska); L3nTian M. (a 
furniture finisher in Waverly); William IL, Lizzie J. and Lulu E., the 
two latter at home. Mr. Lee is a stanch Republican, but has no offi- 
cial aspirations. As a horse-shoer he has no superior, and the numerous 
improvements which he has planned in histrade shows him to be a close 
student of the trade he follows. His hoof-shears are sold in every 
State and Territory, and in Canada, and his shear-punch, and upset 
does heavier work than any other machine now^ made, and is on an 
entirely new princi])le. 

THOMAS A. LEE, farmer and stock-raiser. Herrick township, was 
born November 8, 1835, on the farm he now owns. His father, James 
Lee, was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, August 8, 1801 ; he had 
two brothers w'ho came to this county about the same time, viz.: 
Thomas, who died in Nebraska, in 1884, and Eccles, who died in this 
county in 1881. When James Lee came to this country he located at 
New York City, w^iere he married, March -f, J 830, Jane Daugherty, 
a native of Ireland (whose family came to this State in 1831), and lived 
in New^ Milford, Susquehanna Co., Fa., nearly three years; then came 
to this county and purchased the farm now owned by his son, Thomas 
A. He devoted his whole life to farming and stock-raising ; was a 
deacon in the Baptist Church, and died in 1857, leaving six children, 
viz.: Margaret Jane (wife of David Nesbit), William E., Joseph P., 
James II. , Charles J., and the subject of these lines. Thomas A. Lee 
was educated in the district schools until his twentieth year, then went 
to Nebraska, and from there to Wisconsin, returning home in 1857. 
His father having died intestate, the farm was ap])raised, and he and 
his brother, James IL, took the property, after purchasing the rights 
of the other heirs, soon after they divided, Thomas A. taking fifty- 
three acres, on which ^vere the house and other outbuildings (built by 
his father in 18-19) since which time he has devoted his life to farming 
and stock-raising. He is a Republican in politics, and was jury com- 
missioner in 1870 and 1879; constable, one year; auditor, three 3^ears ; 
he is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Lee marrie<l, in 1869, 
Catherine, daughter of John and Jane (Little) Laffeity, natives of 
New York; she was born August 19, 1835, and ])revious to her mar- 



962 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. ' 

riage had successfully taught school seventeen terms, one term in 
Lycoming county, ten in Luzerne and six in this county. Mr. and 
JVirs. Lee have had three children : John, a successful teacher in Iler- 
rickville; Daisy M., and an infant (deceased). Mr. Lee has sixty-three 
acres of land, three horses, seven cows and thirteen sheep. 

JAMES P. LEES, farmer, P. O. Athens, was born in Athens, this 
county, in 1866, son of William and Charlotte (Isby) Lees, the former 
a native of Manchester, the latter a native of Trowbridge. England, 
born in 1834. The father removed to this county in 1856, locating in 
Litchfield township, and in 1869 he removed to Athens township, where 
he remained until his death, which occurred March 3, 1890, in the fifty- 
ninth year of his age. He leaves a widow, and children as follows : 
John IL, Esther, Joseph, James P. and Lottie. Esther is married to 
a talented minister, Kev. Douglass King, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. James P. is the jirincipal man on the farm, taking charge 
and having the oversight of all in connection with same. They raise a 
mixed produce on a well-cultivated farm of seventy-tln^ee acres; have 
a very fine house, roomy and commodious. The family are members 
of the Methodist E|)isco])al Church. 

DAVID S. LENOX, a farmer and i)roprietor of Mountain Lake 
Summer Resort, Mountain Lake. This resort is fast becoming one of 
the most frequented and popular places in the State ; next to Mount 
Pisgah it is the highest elevation in Pennsylvania, and tliere being- 
abundance of fish in the lake, and beautiful groves surrounding it, it is 
altogether a very pleasant and picturesque place. Mr. Lenox was 
born June 28, 1838, in Ulster, a son of Daniel and Betsey (Head) 
Lenox, farmers of French origin, the former of whom was born in 
Canada, removed to this State when a child, and was reared a farmer; 
the mother was a native of this county: her grandfather (Head) was 
one of the first settlers of the township of Burlington; they died at 
the ages of eighty-two and eighty four years, respectively. Subject 
was reared on the^ farm, and at his*^ majority he went to the oil regions 
of West Virginia and then to Pennsylvania, where he was superin- 
tendent of the largest Avorks; after some years he engaged in the lum- 
bering business in Canton township, near Alba, where he owned a 
sawmill, which he lost by fire, and in 1875 removed to the farm which 
he now owns, and where he entertains many hundreds of people in the 
season. Mr. Lenox was married, September 13, 1871, to Juliet 
Freeman, of Troy, born October 4, 1845, a daugliter of Horace D. and 
Sylvia (Palmer) Freeman, both of English extraction. There have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lenox four children, three of whom are 
living, as follows: S. Mav, born September 5, 1874; P^rnest D., born 
:March 3<), 1879, and Lee' D., born July 21, 1883. Mr. Lenox's farm 
consists of about seventy -eight acres, and lies around two-thirds of the 
shore of the lake. He is a Democrat in politics, and was, dui'ing the 
Civil War, acting in the commissarv department. 

EDWAIil) P. LENOX, farmer and stock-grower, Ulster township, 
was born February 9, 1841, on the farm he now occupies, a son of 
Daniel and lietsev "(Uead) Lenox. His father, a farmer, was born in 
Canada, August 7, 1794, and immigrated to the United States, settling 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 963 

with his parents in Ulster township, in 1790, at the age of live years. 
His mother was born in this county, April 22, 1799 ; they were among 
the early pioneers of Bradford count}', and purchased the old home- 
stead farm about tlieyear 1822, that being about four years after their 
marriage, which occurred in 1818. Daniel died on the old homestead, 
February 24, 1874, aged eighty years ; his widow survived until April 
18, 1881. Edward P. Lenox attended the common schools of Ulster 
township, and received a good common-school education ; when twenty- 
one years old he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty- 
first P. \". I., and was discharged at Baltimore, March 5, 1863. On 
September 16, 1864, he re-enlisted, this time in Company C, One 
Hundred and Eighty-eighth liegiment, N. Y. V. I., and was discharged 
at Rochester, N. Y., July 11, 1865, at the close of the war. He 
participated in the battle of Hatcher's Kun ; skirmishes along the 
Weldon Eailroad, March 30, 1865, in the battle of Lewis' Farm, 
and of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, the siege of Petersburg, surrender of 
Richmond, and was present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox ; 
he was in the hospital about five months on account of disability 
caused by rheumatism, and receives a pension. His farm consists 
of fifty acres of finely-improved and highly-cultivated land ; he is one 
of the few farmers who grow tobacco on the upland, and he culti- 
vates about three acres yearly. His father's family consisted of 
thirteen children, five of whom survive, and three live in this county, 
viz.: John, David S. and Edward P. Mr. Lenox was united in mar- 
riage April 14, 1867, with Mary J., daughter of Hugh and Marion 
(Richie) Templeton, natives of Scotland, and the result of this marriage 
was ten children, viz.: Robert S., James T., Maud B., Myrtle A., Anna 
E., Daniel IL, Edward P., Jessie E., Harry A. and Mary Jane. Robert 
S. (the eldest) is twenty-three years of age, and Mary J. (the youngest) 
is one year old. Mr. Lenox is a member of the K. of H., and is a 
stanch Democrat in politics. He gave the spring-time of his life to his 
country, sacrificing his health as an offering to the Union, and is a man 
broken in his prime, but surrounded by an exceedingly interesting 
familv. 

ALBERT LENT, farmer, Wysox township, was born May 4, 1808, 
in a log house which stood where his barn now is, a son of John and 
Barbara (Croft) Lent, natives of New York, the former born of Hol- 
land origin and the latter of German. Barbara Croft's mother, Mary 
Bowman, was the daughter of tlie Duke of leaden, Germany, and ran 
away with her father's coachman, coming to America. John Lent 
came to Rome in 1797, and the same year located in Sheshequin, 
where he remained two years, and then removed to the farm where 
Albert Lent now resides, buying 120 acres of " Uncle Jesse Allen," 
where he reared a family of thirteen children, eight of whom grew to 
maturity as follows: Mary, Tobias, Hannah, Catherine, Elizabeth and 
Mathias (twins), Sallie and Albert; he and his wife died in November, 
1838, at tiie ages of seventy-five and seventy-three years, respectively. 
The subject of this memoir spent his boyhood assisting his fatlier on 
the fai*m, and attending a school taught by x\lniira Pi'ice, situated on 
the present site of Wysox Presbyterian Church. When he was twenty 



904 HISTORY OF BltADFORI) COUNTY. 

years of age, his father gave him a]X)i'tion of tlie okl homestead, where 
he has since resided, and accumuUited a vahiable estate. He was mar- 
ried, June 3, 1835, to Susan Bull, who was born July 6, 1815, a daugh- 
ter of William and Julia (Conklin) Bull, natives of Orange county, 
N. y,, and of English and Dutch lineage, respectively. Tiie fruits of 
this union were the following: Frances, born August 2, 1836 (married 
to John Webb of North Towanda); Abel K.; Cidney, born January 22, 
1840 (she was married to M. B. Owen, a grocer of Towanda, Pa., who 
died, and she later married George Eran brack, druggist, Athens); Caro- 
line, born March 25, 1842, (married to Dr. Edward Keed. of Genesee 
Forks, Pa.); Julia C, born August 25, 1843 (married to Stephen Ear- 
ner, a farmer, of Sheshequin, Pa.); Sarah, born July 15, 1846, died in 
infancv ; l^arbara E., born November 4, 1849 (married to George K. 
Smith, a farmer and school teacher, Orange county, N. Y.); Abigail, 
born February 12, 1851 (married to George Dewing, a farmer, of 
Warren ham, Pa.); Su.san, born December 5, 1853 (married to E. G. 
Owen, a farmer, of AVysox) ; Albert, born July 13, 1857 (married to 
Wealthy Coolbaugh, of Wysox; they have two children: Agnes C, 
born November 1, 1887, and Barbara, born jS^ovember 26, 1889; he 
is engaged with his father on the farm, and in stock-dealing). Susan 
(Bull) Lent died in 1880 at the age of sixty-five years. M\\ Lent was 
married, November 14, 1883, to Elizabeth' M. Reel {nee Elizal)eth M. 
Moodj^), daughter of Moses and Phebe (Allen) Moody. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lent are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pond Hill ; 
he is a Republican and has held the oflEices of constable, two 3'ears; 
school director, fifteen years; and collector, two years; was jusfcice of 
the peace, but did not take out his commission. Mr. Lent was a pio- 
neer in the advancement of education, having taught the first two terms 
of school at Pond Hill. 

ABEL K. LEXT, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. Myersburg, was 
born October 5, 1838, a son of Albert and Susan (Bull) Lent. lie was 
educated in the common school and in AVyoming Seminar}', and 
remained at home until 1867, when he purchased his present home of 
108 acres of his father, upon which he has since lived and placed it in an 
excellent state of cultivation, Mr. Lent was married, Noveinlter 26, 
1867, to Emma, tiaughter of Jacob and Adaline (Wheeler) Ercanbrack, 
and to them were born three children as follows: Citlney E., born 
October 9, 1868, married to Emerson Bull, who is in the employ of the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad, at Sayre, Pa.; Mattie E., born March 5, 1871, 
and Addie S., born June 15, 1873. The mother of these children 
dying December 25, 1875, Mr. Lent married, in 1879, for his second 
wife, Adilaid Sill, and by this union there have been born the follow- 
ing named children: Elmer D., born March 18,1880; Ethlyn J., 
April 12, 1882 ; Edwin IL, December 4, 1886, and George A., November 
27 1889 

'lewis THATCHER LENT, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. 
Myersburg, was born in Sheshequin, this county, July 28, 1823, a son 
of Tobias and Lucy (Thatcher) Lent, and is the eldest of eleven chil- 
dren. Mr. Lent beiian life for himself at the a«re of eitrhtf en, shoe- 
making, which trade he followed several yeais; then engaged in farm- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 965 

ing, which has been the principal occupation of his life. lie purchased 
his present home of J. M. Wattles, in 1871. Mr. Lent was married, 
JSTovember 12, 1845, to Miss Caroline, daughter of Arunah and Eliza- 
beth ( Allen ) Watties, and this union has been blessed with nine 
children (five of whom are now living): The eldest died in infancy; 
Elizabetli, born June 29, 1847, man-ied M. L. Maynard, a farmer of 
Rome township; the next child died in infancy; Alice Letta, born 
March 24, 1850, married to Charles IL Stevens, farmer of Standing 
Stone; Ada Albina, born May 24, 1852, married to Charles Fox, a 
farmer of Wysox; Edith Ethleen, born July 31, 1854, married to Miles 
B. Caswell, who died in Colorado; Caroline, died when two years old; 
Caroline Ida (second), born February 18, 18G1, lives with her parents; 
Lewis Byron, born April 16, 1808, and died May 27, 1869. Mr. Lent 
is a member of Wysox Grange, and is a life-long Republican in politics. 

THORNTON'F. lent, carriage manufacturer, and justice of the 
peace, Burlington, was born in Towanda, this county, December 15, 
1840, a son of Mathias C. and Susan (Minier) Lent, the former of 
Dutch and the latter of Germcin descent, and natives of this county. 
The grandfather Lent, settled at Pond Hill, Wysox township, early 
in this century, was one of the pioneers, and took up a large possession, 
cleared a fine farm and reared a large family ; he was a man of inHuence 
in his time. Mathias C. Lent was reared on the farm, and largely en- 
gaged in lumbering, which he followed many years; he was a major in 
the Pennsylvania Militia, and died in 1876, aged seventy -six years; his 
wife, Susan, died in 1864, aged sixty-two years. Our subject is the 
sixth in a familv of eio-ht children, six of whom are still livino-. When 
he was twenty years of age, April 23, 1861, he enlisted in Comjiany F, 
Sixth P. R., and was thus one of the first to respond to the call of his 
country in the late Civil War ; among the engagements in which he 
participated were the battles as follows: Dranesville, Fredericlcsburg, 
Antietam, Gettysburg, through the Wilderness campaign, and was 
honorably discharged, June 11, 1864. He had previously served his 
apprenticeship to the carriage-builders trade, and in 1869 settled at 
Burlington wiiere he has since carried on a successful business; he is 
a Democrat in politics. In February, 1891, he was elected a justice of 
the peace, and has been in the council of the borough several years. 
Mr. Lent was married, in September, 1868, to Mary U. Melville, of Bur- 
lington, of Scotch-Irish descent, a daughter of Franklin W. and 
Articica Clark, natives of Burlington. Mr. and JVIrs. Lent have two 
sons : Harry M., born October 29, 1869, and Walter P., born December 
26, 1873. ^Ir. Lent is much respected bv the entire community. 

GEORGE W. LENTZ, foreman in foundry, L. V. R. R. shops, 
Sayre, is a native of Weatherly, Carbon Co., Pa., born September 
3, 1847, a son of George and Mary M. (Kiblei-) Lentz, natives of the 
same county. The father, who was a carpenter, died in Weatherly in 
1873, in his sixtv-fifth year; the mother resides in Carbon county. 
George W., who is the ninth in the order of birth in a family of ten 
children, of whom three are living, received a common-school educa- 
tion, and clerked in a dry-goods store a year; then in 1863 was 
employed by the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company (now a branch 

56 



966 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of the L. Y. R. R.), in the fouiulry, where he worked about twenty- 
one years, acting in the capacity of assistant foreman from 1870 lo 
1884, when he went to Easton, Pa., and engaged in the foundry busi- 
ness for himself, but remained there only one 3'ear, and worked a short 
time in Birmingham, Ala,; then was in the Standard Steel Works, of 
Thurlow, Pa., and the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia; from 
the latter he came to Sayre in 1886, where he was employed as fore- 
man of the foundry, and has acted in that capacity since. Mr. Lentz 
was married in Weatherly, Pa., in December, 1874, to Miss Mary x\., 
daughter of Joseph and Ann (Burn) Fletcher, the former of whom 
was a native of England, and the latter of Wales; her father is a 
molder and a resident of Waverly, N.Y.; she is the eldest of eight liv- 
ing children, and was born in Easton, February 10, 1854. Mrs. Lentz 
is a member of the Presbyterian Church; Mr. Lentz is a member of 
the Knicjhts of Pythias, Sodi Lodge, No. 80. He is a stanch Repub- 
lican, and served a term as school director in Weatherlv. 

HENRY STEYER LEOiXARD, a prominent merchant, of Troy, 
was born in Springfield township, this county, November 1, 1828, a 
son of Ezekiel and Huldah (Stever) Leonard. His paternal grand- 
father, Ezekiel Leonard, formerly of Springfield, Mass., moved to 
Springfield, this county, about 1806. and cleared and improved the 
farm now occu])ied by Mrs. Isaac P. Doane. where he resided until his 
death; his children were: Ezekiel, Nallumiel. Lvnum, Eber. Fred K., 
Albert, Alfred, Laura (Mrs. Joel Calkins), and Abby (Mrs. Abel Leon- 
ard). Of these, Ezekiel, the eldest son, a native of Si)ringfield, 
Mass., came to this county with his parents, and on attaining his 
majority cleared and improved a farm in Springfield; for some years 
he resided in Tro}^ and died there; his wife was a daughter of Jacob 
Stever, of Schoharie county, N. Y., and they had nine children: 
Huldah (Mrs. J. P. Burnham), Lucy (Mrs. Nathan Sherman), Rhoda 
(Mrs. Eleazer Pomeroy), Angeline, Olive S., Betsey (Mrs. William R. 
Buck), Henry S..Renselaer and Solyman M. Henry Stever Leonard 
was reared in Springfield, educated in the common schools and at Troy 
Academ\\ He began life as a clerk in Troy in 1845, and served in this 
capacity until 1852, when he purchased an interest in a dry -goods 
stoj-e. which, as Maxwell A: Leonai'd, was I'un two years, when the 
business was sold to John E. Goodrich, Mr. Leonard renuiining with 
Mr. (4oodrich as manager for four years. (.)n April 1, 1857, Mr. 
Leonard embarked in the dry-goods and grocery l)usiness, continuing 
alone for two years, when he took his brother, S. M. Leonard, and 
Thomas Maxwell into partnership, and the business was continued as 
^taxwell, Leoiuird A: Bro.. until 1802, when the business was sold to 
S. i\L Leonard. Maxwell Sz Leonard then conducted a pj'oduce busi- 
ness until the fall of 186G. In 1866 Mr. Leonard, with Mr. J\Iaxwell 
and G. F. Redington, erected the handsome store now occu|):('d by 
liim, and on October 20, of that year, as Redington, Maxwell & L(M>n- 
ard, embai'ked in the business of general nKM'chaiulising, which coii- 
tinued until 1874, when Mr. Maxwell retired; the business was con- 
tinued as Redington & Leonard until 1878, and up to February 7. 
1801, as the Redington ik Leonard Co., and since as H. S, Leonard & 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 96? 

Son. Mr. Leonard married, January 4, 1860, Ann E., daughter of 
Spencer and Amna (Austin) Crouch, of Corthmd, N. Y., and has two 
children, TIarry S. and Anna E. JVIr. Leonard is one of Troy's leading 
merchants, and an enterjM-ising and substantial citizen; he is a member 
of the Pi-esbyterian Church and L O. O. F.,an(l he is a llepublican. 

A. B. LEWIS, harness manufacturer, Wyalusing, was born in Del- 
aware county, N. Y., Januar}' 19, 1842, and is a son of James and 
Catherine (Belknap) Lewis, the former of whom was a native of Con- 
necticut, and the latter of New York. The father, who was a carpenter, 
but after many years turned his attention to farming and lumbering, 
removed, in i84T, from New York to Wyoming county, and from 
there to Bradford, in 1854, locating in Terry township, where he fol- 
lowed farming and lumbering until his death, in 1882, being then 
eighty -two years old; his wife died the following year, aged seventy- 
eight 3^ears. They had a family of eight children, viz.: Hannah, mar- 
ried to Abrara C. Crounce, a farmer of New York; Martha, married to 
Israel YanLuvanel, a lumberman, of Terry township; Ransaler, a 
lumberman and mill-ow^ner, of New Erie, Pa.; Sallie Ann, married to 
David A. Loomis, a carpenter, of New York; Aborn, who was a sol- 
dier in Company C, Fiftieth P. V. I., and was killed at Spottsylvania ; 
Joseph C, a farmer, of Battle Creek, Mich.; A. B , and Julia, married 
to Norman White, of Sullivan county. A. B. Lewis spent his boy- 
hood in Wyoming and Bradford counties, attending the common 
schools until he was seventeen years of age; was then apprenticed to 
learn the harness maker's trade, and worked over five years. On 
March 20, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, Fiftieth P. Y. X. I., and 
served until after the battle of Petersburg, participating in the follow- 
ing engagements: Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Ann, Cold Harbor, 
Nye River and Petersburg; during the battle of Petersburg, June 18, 
1864, while in line of battle, and charging the enemy's works, he 
received a gunshot wound in the upjier portion of the left arm, which 
shattered the bone, leaving a permanent injurv, greatly impairing the 
use of the arm. He was taken from the battle field to Barrack 
Branch of Lincoln Hospital, and after two weeks was removed to Ches- 
nut Hill Hospital, Philadelphia, v.-here he remained about seven 
months; was then transferred to the Yeteran Reserve Corps, in which 
he served until mustered out. After returning home he commenced 
work, November, 1865, at his trade, and in the spring of 1867 he pur- 
chased the business of Mr. Towner, which he has since conducted alone ; 
his plant is supplied with modern machinery for the manufacture of 
hand-made harness, and his trade is extensive. Mr. Lewis was united in 
marriage April 4, 1868, with E. M. Adams, daughter of Lewis and Sal- 
lie (Robart) Adams; but two of the family are living, Mrs. Lewis and 
Mrs. Daniel Bennett, of New Albany, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Lewis were born two children : Frank C, born in 1869, and who lived 
about eiglit years, and J. Burt, born March 2. 187.3, a student in Mil- 
ler's School of Commerce, at Elmira. Mr. Lewis is a member of 
White Lilly Lodge, No. 808, I. O. O. F.. and has taken all the subordi- 
nate degrees, and has passed all the chairs ; is a member of Jackson 



9o8 HISTORY OF KKADFORI) COUNTY. 

Post, No. 74, G. A. R., and is past commander of the same; in politics 
he is a Republican, and has filled various town and borough offices. 

C. J. LEWIS, the well-known merchant of AVyalusing borough, 
the senior member of the firm of C. J. Sz E. D. Lewis, one of the largest 
firms in the township, was born October 17, 1850, in AYyalnsing town- 
ship, son of Augustus and Sarah L (Stone) Lewis, who are yet liv- 
ing, residing in the borough. His ))arents had a family of seven 
children: of whom four are deceased ; those living are G. M., an 
attorney of Wilkes-Barre; Sarah, wife of J. V. Taylor, farmer and 
stock-dealer, of Wyalusing, and C. J. The father of our subject devoted 
the greater portion of his life to mercantile pursuits, commencing 
business m Wyalusing in IS-iO and continuing there until 1877, when 
he retired, selling to his son C. J., who had thus ])assed almost his 
entire life in Wyalusing. C. J. Lewis was educated in the Wyalsuing 
schools, Towanda Collegiate Institute and Wyoming Seminary, gradua- 
tino- from the latter in 1870, and entered business associated with his 
father under the firm name of A. Lewis & Son, which firm continued 
until 1875, when it was changed to A. Lewis & Co., J. Mills Brown 
purchasing an interest in tiie same; thus they continued until 1877, 
when A. Lewis reticed.and it became Lewis & Brown until 1883, when 
Mr. Brown sold ; then, until 1886, it was C. J. Lewis, when E. D. Lewis 
purchased a one-half interest, and the firm has since been C. J. ife E. D. 
Lewis. Their store is the first one started within what is now the 
borough of Wyalusing, and has had a continuous existence of over fifty 
years, the firm are probably the largest dealers in hay and country- 
produce in the county. Mr. C. J. Lewis was united in marriage, 
Xovember 18, 1879, with iMarion Fasset, daughter of Charles Fasset, 
of Scottsviile. Pa. He is a charter member of White Lilly Lodge, No. 
808, I, O. O. F.. and has taken all tiie degrees; he is an active member 
of the Presbyterian Church, and is a stanch Republican, but not a 
seeker after political spoils. He owns a handsome residence on Front 
street, besides other village property. 

E. D. LEWIS, junior member of the firm of C. J. and E. D. 
Lewis, merchants, Wyalusing. was born April 11, 1859, a son of Elisha 
and Piiilena (Stevens) Lewis, the former of whom is yet living. His 
father's family consisted of four children, of whom two died in 
infancy, W. E., a farmer, of AVyalusing, and E. D. being the only 
ones left. E. D. Lewis spent iiis boyhood at Merryall, where he 
attended the common schools until he was seventeen, when he entered 
the Collegiate Institute. He was graduated in the commercial class of 
that institution in 1877. and then came to Wyalusing and entered the 
eiMplov of Lewis ik Brown as clerk, remaining with them until 1882, 
when he entered the employ of .1. Hay iV: Sons, of Easton, as com- 
mercial salesman, with whom he was one yeai", and then returned to 
Wyalusintr, re-entering the em])loy of Lewis <k Prown, with whom he 
remained until the dissolution of their jiartnershiji. He was next for 
one year with ('..I. Lewis, then went to Noith Carolina and from 
there to Wilkes-l5ai-re, whei'e he remained until July 31. ISSC, when 
he returned to Wyalusing and became a memlier of the linn, as al)ove 
State<l. This IS one of the large business houses of tli<- borough, and 



HTSTOKY OF BKAnFOUD COUNTY. 9G9 

thev do an extensive business, caiTving a general line of goods and 
dealing extensively in hay, grain and country [)roduce. Mr. Lewis 
\v;is united in marriage, December 25, 1883, with Ilattie A., Smith, 
daughter of George Sinitii, wholesale grocer of Wilkes-Barre, and 
this union was blessed with two children: George, who died in 
infancy, and Charles B. He is a member of the First Presbyterian 
Church; of White Lilly Lodge, No. 808, L (). O. F., in which^he has 
taken all the degrees, and passed all the chairs, and now fills that 
of R. S. N. G. He is a .Re})ublican, but takes no active interest in 
politics. 

ELMER F. LEWIS, farmer, P. O. New Era. was born in Wyalus- 
ing township, this county, May 3, 18-lL and is a son of Edwin and 
Polly B. (Lathrop) Lewis, the former of wdiom was born in Wyalus- 
ing, November 19, 1816; the latter in Susquehanna county. Pa., 
December 8, 1817. Grandfather, Ebenezer Lewis, also born in Wj'alus- 
ing, Avas a son of Thomas Lewis, who was born in New London, Conn., 
April 11, 1745, and removed to this county in 1788, having previously 
purchased a Connecticut title in 1776 ; he w^as a patriotic Son of 
America, who, for freedom, liberty and equal rights, gave his life for 
his country; he fought under Gen. Montgomery, and helped to build 
a bridge over a portion of Lake Champlain, and also to erect Fort 
Ticonderoga ; he w^as at the battle of Danbury, when that place was 
burned, and caught Gen. Wooster wdien he fell, wounded, from his 
horse; was an active AVhig, serving his country faithfully to the end ; 
he died in February, 1810; his family consisted of ten children. 
Ebenezer Lewis had eight children, of whom Edwin, the first born, 
learned the wagon-maker's trade at Merryall, Pa., and died June 26, 
1856, at the age of nearly forty years; he had a family of six 
children — five daughters and one son, Elmer — all of whom are now 
living. Elmer F. Lewis was reared and educated in Wyalusing, and in 
1862, at the age of twentv-one, he enlisted in Company A, One tlundred 
and Forty-first P. V. I., for the term of three years ; he received a 
wound at the battle of Gettysburg, at which time, in his wounded 
and helpless condition, he fell into the hands of the enemy, but was 
recaptured again by some of his own forces; he served until the 
end of the war, and was honorably discharged. He was noted for 
his courage and coolness in battle. On his return from the army he 
married, March 25, 1808, Miss Ada Eliza, daughter of Ebenezer 
Chubbuck, by which union there were born four children : Frances D., 
Charles E., E. W. and Don C, all living and unmarried. Mr. Lewis 
is a prosperous farmer and a leading man in his township; has filled 
by the choice of his fellow-citizens the offices of commissioner, town 
clerk, auditor and school director to the entire satisfaction of all. He 
is a general farmer, and gives special attention todaiiying. 

EVAN LEWIS, Ulster, farmer and stock-dealer, P. O. Towanda, 
was born in Ulster township, this count}^ September 1, 1823, and is a 
son of John and Anna (Reese) Lewis, natives of Wales. His father 
followed the occupation of repairing farm implements, carrying a kit 
of tools from farm to farm, and doing the necessary work on the prem- 
ises. After coming to the United States, in 1820, he bought a farm, and 



970 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

located in Ulster township, Mr. Lewis being the fourth man to settle 
in the vicinity of Moore's Hill ; he cleared that farm and built the 
fourth house in that vicinity. He died, December 1, 1853, aged sixty- 
six years; his widow died September 20.1868, aged eight}^ -three ; 
their family of children was as follows: John (deceased), Anna (wife 
of WilUam' Wright, residing on Moore's Hill), Mary (wife of David 
Bevans, of Burlington township), Elizabeth (who died of small-pox in 
Wales), Lewis (of Monroe township), these were born in Wales; Evan, 
Thomas (who died young), Elizabeth (married to Stephen Bennet, 
died leaving two children), Margaret (widow of William Manger), and 
William (of North Dakota.) Evan Lewis, the subject of the sketch, 
had no school privileges until he was ten years old, as there was no 
school-house in his neighborhood prior to that time; he obtained, nev- 
ertheless, a very practical education. He commenced life farming 
and rafting. He was married, November 6, 1850, to Amanda, daugh- 
ter of John and Nancy (Shaver) Mingus, natives of Tompkins county, 
N. Y.; her father's family consisted of fourteen children (she being 
the eldest) of whom six girls and three boys, residents of Bradford 
county, survive. Mr. Lewis moved on the farm he now occupies, in 1850. 
He cleared 100 acres altogether, and set out orchards; he put up the 
present buildings in 1869, all of w^hich are substantial frames and have 
all modern conveniences ; the house contains fourteen rooms, and is 
one of the best in the county. Besides the farm he occupies, Mr. 
Lewis owns two others in Ulster township — about 286 acres alto- 
gether — and, with the exception of about fifty acres, all are susceptible 
of cultivation. He had nine children, seven of whom are living, as fol- 
lows: Tliomas H. (married to Belle Brown), Sarah Ann (married to 
James Olmstead), John James (married to Sarah Heath), William A. 
(married to Emma Kindle), Ida (married to Charles Olmstead), Ettie 
(married to Allen McMorran) and George (married to Tillie Ayres). In 
his political views Mr. Lewis is Democratic. 

LEONARD LEWIS, member of the State Legislature, and resid- 
ing at Alba, is a native of Canton township, this county, born March 
4. 1830, a son of R. S. and Maria (Bakeman) Lewis, natives of New 
York. 11. S. Lewis, who was a farmer, was born April 8, 1800, and 
died in Canton township, November 29, 1883, in his eighty-fourth 
year. Mrs. Maria Lewis was born April 16, 1806, and died May 30, 
1875, at the age of sixty-nine years. The grandfather, Elnathan 
Lewis, was a native of New York, and died in the western part of this 
county. The subject of this sketch is the third in order of birth in a 
fainilv of fourteen children, and was reared on a farm, receiving his 
education in the public schools. He has made farming and dairying 
his occupation until the present time. He was married in Alba, Octo- 
ber 4, 1854, to Amanda M., daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Granteer) 
Itockwell, the former a native of Vermont, the latter of New Vork, 
who had a family of eight children, of whom three nre now living; 
Mrs. Lewis is the youngest in the family in order of birth, and was 
born in Canton townsliip, August 28, 1836. To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis 
were born two children : C. S., married to ISIyra .Inne Greenlaw, and 
Jennie, wife of E. A. Lilley, residing in AVilliamsport. Mr. and Mrs. 



HISTORY OF BRAnFORI) COUXTY. 971 

Lewis arc members of Christ's Church. He is a member of tiie Key 
stone Grange. Politically he is a Re[)ublican, and was elected to tiie 
IState Legislature in the fall of 1890; he served two terms as school 
director, and filled an unexpired term; served one term as township 
auditor, also two terms as road commissioner, and was serving his 
third when elected to the Legislature in 1890; was assistant assessor 
one term. 

W. S. LEWIS, M. D., Canton, is to the "manor" born, which 
controlling event in his active professional career occurred in Mon- 
roe township, on August 12, 1841. llis parents were Timothy and 
Lucy Lewis, the former a farmer, as well as a successful merchant, 
lumberman and hotel proprietor; he <lietl in this county, in April, 
1873, aged seventy-three years; the latter died in February, 1869, 
aged sixty-three years. The father was also a native of this county, 
a son of James Lewis, who came here and settled in Monroe, in 180G. 
His maternal grandfather was born seven miles above Wilkes-Barre. 
The paternal great-grandfather was a native of Wales, and came to 
America with a party of 3,000 colonists, brought by William Penn, 
when he came to plant his colony in his American purchase. Timothy 
Lewis' family consisted of three sons and four daughters, who grew to 
maturity, and four of whom are yet living. Dr. Lewis, who was the 
fourth of the children, lived with his parents in Greenwood until 
1857, when, with his family, he went to Franklin township, where he 
attended the public schools, and then became a pupil in the high 
school of Monroeton, and afterward attended the Normal School at 
Mansfield, Pa. He then commenced a course of reading in medicine, 
and became a student of the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, 
Ohio, where he graduated February 28, 1873, and at once returned to 
Frank! indale and opened his office, and was actively employed there 
until May 3, 1879, when he removed to his present home, Canton, 
and has been professionally engaged here since. He married, in 
Franklindale, March 21, 1869, Arilla E., daughter of Charles W. and 
Mary (Manley) Stevens, of Vermont and Connecticut, respectiv^ely, 
who came to this county with their families, when each was three 
years old. Mr. Stevens is a retired farmer. Mrs. Lewis' grandfather, 
Thomas Manley, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was one of 
the prominent men of his time. Mrs. Lewis' father had a family of 
five sons and two daughters, of whom she is the fourth, and was born 
at Franklin, June 5, 1845. To Dr. and Mrs. Lewis have been born 
four children : Liston Leone (junior in Cornell University), Lucy 
May, Mary E. and Z. Freeman. Mrs. Lewis is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church; the Doctor is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
and G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91. He served five years in 
Franklindale, and is now serving, in Canton, his third term as presi- 
dent of the school board. In September, 1861, he enlisted, although 
among the youngest, in Company E, Fifty-second P. V. I., a regiment 
noted in the annals of the CiviTWarfor its long, severe and efficient 
service, in which the Doctor bore his part with tireless energy. At 
the organization of the regiment he was made lieutenant. He resigned 
his commission, and returned home in May, 1862. He is identified in 



972 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

politics with the Republican party. Mrs. Lewis' eldest brother, 
Manley T. Stevens, a member of Company K, Fiftieth Infantry Regi- 
ment, was killed in a skirmish, in South Carolina, May 29, 1862, the 
shot being instantly fatal. The four surviving cliildren of Timothy 
Lewis, in order of birth, are as follows: James W., Dr. W, S., 
Benjamin L., and Mary D., a resident of Detroit. Timothy Lewis' 
father was James Lewis, who, when aged twelve, lived with his 
parents near Sunbur}^ on a farm where they had been removed for 
safety, at the time of the French-Indian War. One night they were 
attacked by a band of Indians, tlie father was killed, and James and 
his brother escaped by climbing out of a window ; the former took 
to the woods and was captured by the savages, while his brother 
reached Sunbury. Tlie Indians carried N'oung Lewis to Canada, 
where he remained in captivity three years, and when released 
rturned home. In after years he came to this county, settling on the 
Schneder branch of Towanda creek, and lived to be eighty years old, 
dying about 1830. His children were four sons and two (laughters. 
Timothy II. and Benjamin, only, were residents of Bradford ; the 
foi-mer died in Greenwood, in 1873, and was buried in Franklin. 

MoKEAN LILLEY, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Alba, 
J>radford Co.. Pa., in December, 1845, a son of John and Lemira 
(McKean) Lilley, natives of Vermont and Burlington, this countv, 
res])ectively. John Lilley, Jr., was the son of John Lilley, of Irish 
extraction, who came to America and located in Columbia town- 
ship, where he followed farming until the time of his death. John, Jr., 
lived in Columbia sixteen years, after which he removed to Alba, 
where he lived the rest of his 3'ears, and died in Canton, in 1885; his 
familv numbered eight children — six sons and two daughters — seven of 
whom grew to maturit}^ and five of whom are now living. This 
family is the result of two marriages, four children by each wife. Our 
subject is the fifth in order of birth of the family, and the first child by 
the second wife; he was reared and educated at Alba, and has always 
followed farming. At the age of twenty-five, October 12. 1870, he 
married Nancy E., daughter of Daniel and Charlotte Randall, natives 
of this county. They have an adopted son, Carl, who is now seven- 
teen years of age. Mr. Randall owns and operates a gristmill, almost 
one and one-half miles east of Canton. Mr, Lilley is a general farmer 
living on seventy acres of fertile land, and has his farm well stocked 
with Jersevs (registei-ed). When twenty years of age he entered the 
army, in Company G, One Hundred and Twelfth Pennsylvania Heavy 
Artillery Volunteers, for a term of thi'ee years, of which he served 
two. He was wounded in front of Petersburg, June 1, 1864, was 
honorably discharged, and now draws a pension. He is a member of 
the G, A, R, Post; the Church of Christ, at LeRoy, and also of the 
Grange Association, and has been honored with offices of trust by his 
fellow-citizens; politically he is a Republican, 

MIAL E. LILLEY, attorney and counselor at law, Canton, is a 
native of Canton township, this county, born INIa}'^ 30, 1850, a son 
of Eben and Emeline (Slade) Lille3\ the former a native of Columbia 
township, the latter of Fall River, Mass, Eben Lilley was a farmer. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOllD COUNTY. 973 

and served a full term as treasurer of I^radford county, and died in 
October, 181)0, in his seventy-sixth year; the mother died in 1872, in 
her tifty-seventh yeai'. They were the parents of live children, of whom 
our subject is the fourth. He received his education in both public and 
private schools in his native place, and was a farmer-boy until nineteen 
years of age, when he went to learn the blacksmith's trade, in which 
employment he remained seven years, when the condition of his health 
made it imperative to seek other occujiation ; so, while pounding hot 
iron, and vigorously thinking for himself, he decided to commence 
reading law^, and in 1878 entered the law office of J. W. Stone, in Can- 
ton, as a student of Blackstone and Coke-upon-Littleton. In 1880 he 
was an applicant, and having passed an examination successfully, he 
was licensed an attorney of the Bradford county bar, and, from 
that day to the present, has been actively engaged in his profession, 
lie is recognized as strong on the "stump," and yet stronger in the 
councils of his party, and, as chairman of the Republican County Com- 
mittee, he has carried the weight of heavy responsibilities; and, in 
times of unusual party disturbances, he has performed every duty 
with signal ability and" fidelity. Here his labors have not only been 
responsible and pecuniarily profitless, but extremely onerous; but his 
presence and guidance have constantly been called for in every voting 
district in the county, and liis prompt response to everv demand has 
signalled everj^ hour of the incumbency of his position. Compara- 
tively a young man in both law and |)olitics, he is yet well known as a 
leader. 'He married, in Liberty, Tioga Co., Pa., in' 1874, Mary, daugh- 
ter of J. W. and Elizabeth (Irwin) Childs. Her father was a native 
of Clearfield, and her mother of Tioga county, and are residents of 
Cedar Run, Lycoming Co., where he is a lumberman. Mrs. Lilley was 
born August 21:, 185G, and was the second in a family of eig-ht chil- 
dren. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lilley, of whom 
two are living, J.Roy and Floy, who, with their parents, worship at 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Lilley is a member of Canton 
Lodge, No. 415, F. & A. M., Troy Chapter, No. 261, and Troy Com- 
mandery, also of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, and has 
passed all the chairs. He was the nominee of his party, in 1890, for 
the office of prothonotary of the county, but suffered defeat with his 
ticket, on account of divisions in the ))artv. 

JACOB A. LINDERMAN, farmer, P"; O. Troy, was born in Ithaca, 
N. Y., October 5, 1819, and is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Landon) 
Linderman, and of German descent. He was reared in Tompkins 
county, N. Y., and in 1839 removed to Bradford county, with head- 
quarters at Canton, and operated the first threshing machine used in 
this county. In May, 1842, he married Olive M., daughter of David 
and Rachel (Hayden) Williams, of Troy township, and has had four 
children: Alvin K., James, Edith (Mrs.^Thaddeus Wolfe) and George. 
Mr. Linderman has been a resident of Troy since 1842, and for thirty- 
four years lived on the farm he now occupies; has held the office of 
town commissioner six years in succession; politically he is a Democrat. 

DENTON G. LINDLEY, farmer, is a native of Canton township, 
this county, born September 28, 1844, a son of Solomon Lindley, who was 



974 HISTORl OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

born in Rutland, Vt., August 22, 1809. The paternal grandparents were 
David and Ann (Brown) Lindley, natives of Vermont. David Lindley 
moved to Canton township, this county, in 1812, wherelie died, in 1800,in 
his sixtieth 3'ear; his widow died in 1871, in her sixty -first year. Solomon 
Lindley, who still resides on the old homestead, was three years of age 
when ills parents moved to tiiis county; they settled near where East 
Canton now stands, which was then a dense wilderness, and they had 
to buikl a log cabin to put tlie sheep in at night, to protect them from 
wolves; his father, David Lindlev, opened the road from Canton to 
Ualston, and drove the first wagon over it. Solomon J^indley was 
married in Danby, K. Y., in 1833. to Lavina, daughter of Jonas and 
Abigal (Knapp) Weed, natives of Connecticut. Jonas Weed was a 
soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. Weed lived to the advanced age of 
one hundred and one years. Mrs. Lindley is the 3'oungest in a family 
of eleven children, and was born in Connecticut, September 5, 1810. 
Denton G., who is the youngest in order of birth of five children, was 
reared on the farm where he now resides, receiving a common-school 
education, and has made farming and dairying his occupation, giving 
some attention to Jerse}^ registered stock. lie was married in Alba, 
this county, in 1866, to Egestie, daughter of Oliver and Lovina 
(Everhart) Wilson, natives of Canton township and Bucks county. Pa., 
respectively; she is the younger of two children, and was born in Alba, 
June 10, 1849. To Mr. and Mrs. Lindley were born four children: 
Carrie, Guy, Paul E. and Lottie. Responding to the call of his country, 
Mr. Lindley enlisted, x\ugust 20, 1861, in Company I, One Hundred and 
Sixth Eegiment, P. Y. I., and he participated in the following battles: 
Peninsular cam|)aign, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Antie- 
tam, Chancellorsville. At Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864, the day before the 
battle, while on picket duty, Gen. Owens, commander of the Second 
Cor|is, nuide a pi'oposition to those on picket duty, that anyone Avho 
would burn a church, where Kebel shar))-sho()ters were located, he would 
excuse from duty one nionih and ))romote to captain on his staff. Mr. 
Lindley succeeded in burning a church, about four o'clock r. m. that 
day (June 2, 1864). lie was shot through the arm, next day, at the 
battle of Cold Harbor, and June 3 was sent to McClellan Hospital, 
Philadeli)hia, where he remained three months, and then rejoined his 
command, and served until the close of the war. While at the hospital 
Gen. Owens Avas ti-ansfei'red to another command, so he was never 
i-ewarded for his daring act of bravery. He was mustered out in 
Philadelphia, in August, 1865. He is a member of theG. A. P., Ingham 
Post, No. 91, and a member of the LTnion Veteran Legion; politicall}^ 
he is a Pepui)lican. 

SIIELI)ON H. LINDLEY. county commissioner, Canton, was 
born in Canton, this county, February 28, 1836, and is a son of Jose])h 
and Lovina B. (Manley) Lindley. His ])aternal grandfather, David 
Lindley, was a native of Vermont, and a ])ioneer of Canton, settling 
on the farm now owned by Sheldon H. and Denton G. Lindley, where 
he made consideral>le improvements, and died. His children were six 
in number, as follows: Cynthia (Mrs. Horace Stone), Joseph, Solo- 
mon, Hiram, John and Celinda (Mrs. Simeon Powers). Of these, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 975 

Joseph succeeded to a part of the homestead, and hved and died on 
the same farm. His wife was a daughter of Thomas and Betsy 
(Wright) Manley, by whom he had nine children, as follovvs: Char- 
lotte (Mrs. Capt. James Ingham), Sheldon H., Hiram, Helen (Mrs. 
Charles Spalding), Lorena (Mrs. Chester Thomas, Jr.). Ann (Mrs. Bur- 
ton Montgomery), Marion (Mrs. D. J. Manley), Eliza (Mrs. Addison 
Wilson), and Isadore (Mrs. Theron Sweet), all of whom are living; us 
are also the eleven children of Thomas Manley. The father added 
largely to the acreage of the old homestead, clearing and improvino- 
much of it, and died there in 1884. Sheldon H. Lindley, the subject 
of this sketch, succeeded him to the homestead, on which he has 
resided since ISGS. He married, December 17, 1857, Josephine, 
daughter of Chester and Thankfull (Stevens) Thomas, of Canton, by 
whom he had six children, as follows: Helen (deceased), Fannie (Mrs. 
Edward Colwell), Thomas, Jozy, Chester, anti Emma (deceased). Mr. 
Lindley is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian Churcli at Can- 
ton, is now serving his second tei-m as commissioner of Bradford 
countv, and in politics is a Republican. 

ANTHONY LODER, brewer, Towanda, was born in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, August 27, 1823, and is a son of Joseph and Josephine 
(Meyer) Loder. lie was reared in his native province, where he 
learned the brewers' and malsters' trade. In 1852 he came to Amer- 
ica, and in the spring of 1853 settled in AUentown, Pa., where he was 
in the employ of different breweries for several years, and in 1858-59 
was in business for himself there; in 1860 he removed to Towanda, 
where he erected a brewei'y,and has since conducted a successful busi- 
ness — manufacturing from 1,200 to 1,400 bai'rels of beer annually. In 
1857 Mr. Loder married, in AUentown, Pa., Veronica Rotlier, formerly 
of Germany, by whom he has one son living, Anthony, Jr., born July, 
1860, and married, in 1885, to Clara, daughter of Valentine Smith, of 
Dushore, Pa.; they have three children, viz.: Catherine, Veronica and 
Gertrude. Mr. Loder, Sr., married (for his second wife) Catherine 
Bing, of Dushore, Pa., by whom he has two children, as follows: 
Mary and Annie. Mr. Loder and family are members of the Catholic 
Church ; in politics he is a Democrat. 

NATHAN LOEWUS, a prominent, leading dry -goods merchant, 
Towanda, was born in Bohemia, Austria, March 19,*^ 1852, and is a son 
of Simon and Hannah (Sattler) Loewus. He was reared and educated 
in his native country, where he also learned the tanner's trade, and 
came to America in 1872, landing in New York City, where he worked 
at his trade two years, and later at Tunkhannock, Pa., five years. 
In 1879 he located at Towanda, where he engaged in the drs^-goods 
and notion business, and later added a crockery department, in which 
he successfully continued up to the fall of 1890. " During the year 
1890 he erected the Loewus Block, one of the finest buildings in 
Towanda, and, in October of the same year, embarked therein, in the 
dry-goods, carpet, cloak, and millinery business, and carries one of the 
largest and most select stocks to be found in Bradford county, occu- 
pying two large floors to transact his business, and accommodate his 
large and increasing trade. Mr. Loewus was mariied, November 15, 



97G HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUKTY. 

1874, to Hannah, daughter of Yiet and Esther (Hermann) Loewy, of 
Bohemia, and has three children, viz.: Estelle, Bernard and Gertrude. 
Mr. Loeu'us is one of Towanda's enterprising and leading citizens, and 
is a member of the Jewish Synagogue and Jewish Society of New 
York, of the I. O. O. F. of Towanda, and in politics he is a Democrat. 

ALONZO LON(t (deceased) was a native of Wilmington, Yt., born 
March 4, 180G, and died in this county in 1867. He \vas a son of Maj. 
Ezra and Lydia (Alford) Long, natives of Wilmington, who came to 
Troy, this county, about 1812. Maj. Long was engaged in the mer- 
cantile, milling and distillery businesses, and buili the ''Troy House;'-' 
was a prominent Freemason. Their family consisted of five sons and 
three daughters, two of whom. Philander and Ezra, received a classical 
education, Ezra graduating at Union College. Alonzo Long came with 
his family to Troy, then called Sugar Creek, when he was five years 
of age; he was a farmer, and was engaged in the saw and grist mills 
and real estate businesses. He was married in Athens, April 28, 1833, 
to Mary, daughter of Fi-ancis and Anna (McDuffee) Tyler, the latter of 
whom was born near Belfast, Ireland, and came to this county when 
three years of age. Francis Tyler was a native of Athens. He pur- 
chased a tract of land near Athens, farmed and dealt extensively in 
lumber and rafting on the river; served as constable; also organized 
the first State Bank in Waverly ; he was presidential elector in the 
Taylor campaign, Mr. Tyler died in Athens in 1871, in his eighty- 
fifth year. Mrs. Mary Long was the eldest in a family of six children; 
was born in Athens, September 25, 1811, and died in Trov, March 16, 
1890 ; she was a member of the Presbyterian Church, Troy. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Long were born seven childi-en, three of whom are living, as 
follows: Martha J., Frederick A. and Fannie E. F. Miss Martha J. 
Long removed fi-om Troy to Athens in the fall of 1868, and is engaged 
in fai-ming, gardening and horticultural work. Her extensive and 
elegant green iiouses are situated in the outskirts of the borough of 
Athens. 

MAKTIX J. LONG, of Stevens c*c Long, wholesale and retail 
grocers, Towanda, was born in Burlington, this count}', August 9, 
1833, and is a son of John F. and Hannah L. (Merrick) Long. His 
paternal grandfather was James Long, a native of New England, and 
a pioneer of Burlington township, where he cleared and improved a 
farm ; he also kept a hotel, and resided in that township until his deatli : 
his children were John F. and Nancy (Mrs. Lsaac Cash). John F. 
succeeded to the hotel business of his father and also carried on a fai-m, 
became a prominent and re]>resentative citizen, antl served two terms as 
associate judge with Hon. David Wilmot ; his children were five in 
number, as follows: Philander, Martin J., Mason, Celia and Albert. 
Martin J. Long, the subject of this sketch, was reared in Burlington, 
received an academical education, and began life as a teacher in the 
common schools. In 1853 he came to Towanda, where he was clerk in 
a general store two years. In 1856 he embarked in the general mer- 
chandise business at Burlington with his father and bcother. Philander, 
under the firm name of J. F. Long ct Sons, which partnership existed 
up to 1866 ; from 1866 to 1870 it was known as Long Brothers. In 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 977 

1807 Mv. Long located in Towanda, and engaged in the grocei'v busi- 
ness with George L. Keeler under the lirm name of Long & Keeler. 
In 18»i9 Mr. Keeler sold his interest to George Stevens, since which 
time the lirm has been Stevens & Long. Mr. Long is married and has 
two daughters. He is a member of the Universalist Church, has been 
school director of Towanda for twelve years, and is a Republican. 

FRANK LOOMIS, editor and proprietor of the Troy Register^ was 
born in Troy township, this county, May 5, 1856, and is the eldest 
child and only son of Ed. E. and Louisa Loomis. The other children 
are Mrs. Jennie Fanning, wife of A. C. Fanning, Esq., and Miss Edith. 
His father was for many years a leading merchant of West Burlington 
and Troy, and is a descendant of one of the early settlers of Troy 
township, and his grandfather, Ely Loomis, originally came here from 
Connecticut. His mother, who died in 1876, was a daughter of Ira P. 
Ballard, also one of the earl}" settlers of Tro}^ township. Frank's boy- 
hood was spent in West Burlington, where he attended the district 
school, and assisted his father about the store, during vacations. After 
the family removed to Troy, he attended the graded school several 
terms, and afterward went into his father's dry-goods store as salesman. 
After serving several years as salesman, he was for about two years in 
partnership with E. S. Bailey and A. C. Fanning, in the dry-goods 
trade. In 1880, having a great liking for the printing business, he set 
uj) a job printing office, and in 1881 established the Troy Register^ a 
weekly local paper, which was well received by the people, and proved 
a success from the start. The paper was first printed on an old 
Washington hand-press, in a small room, but larger quarters and better 
facilities were soon needed. New machinery and material have been 
added at various times, as the business grew,untilJanuary, 1891, when 
still more room was needed, and the line large brick double store of the 
Enterprise Manufacturing Company was purchased, and the office 
moved into the same. The building is located on thecorner of Canton 
and Railroad streets, and, with the excellent machinery and printing- 
material, makes one of the linest country offices in the State. In 1878 
Mr. Loomis married Miss Marie, daughter of Rev. Wm. W. Andrews, 
of Waverlv, N. Y., and thev have two sons, Edward and Ralph. 

HON. MILTON O. LOOMIS, farmer, P. O. East Troy, was born 
in Troy township, this county, January 28, 18-13, a son of Ezra and 
Harriet (Pratt) Loomis. His paternal grandfather, formerly of Con- 
necticut, settled in what is now Troy township about 1803, locating on 
the farm now owned by his heirs and J. R. Vannoy, and cleared and 
improved the property, consisting of 175 acres, and resided there until 
his death in 1847. His wife was Mary Goddard, by whom he had nine 
children; Marilla (Mrs. P. C. AVilliams), Alvin, Eley, Orrin, Lucy 
(Mrs. George Fritcher), Harriet (Mrs. Gough), Caroline (Mrs. Leonard 
Upham), Ezra and Luther. His maternal grandparents were Asa and 
Celia (Leonard) Pratt, formerly of Massachusetts and pioneers of Can- 
ton township, this county; his grandmotlier, C^elia (Leonaid) Pi'att, 
was a daughter of Tilley Leonard, a pioneer of Burlington township. 
Ezra Loomis was boi'n in Troy township, has always followed farm- 
ing as an occupation, and occupies a part of the old homestead, settled 



978 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUKTY. 

by liis father; he served as commissioner of Bradford county one 
tei'ni, and also held various township offices. His children were: Mil- 
ton O., Lucian E., Gertrude, Florence (Mrs. L. F. Calkins), Helen 
(Mrs. Willis K Smiley) and Arthur E. Milton O. Loomis, the subject 
of this sketch, was reared in Troy township, where he has always 
resided; he received a common-school education, and has always fol- 
lowed farming-. He was married November 2, 1869, to Sarah, daughter 
of Adin and Sophia (Spear) Calkins, of Springfield township, and has 
two children : Grace and Clem A. In 1884, Mr. Loomis was elected 
one of the commissioners of Bradford county, and served one term of 
three years. In the fall of 1888 he was elected representative to the 
State Legislature from the Western District of Bradford county, and 
served with credit to himself and constituents. He is a Iloyal Arch 
Mason, and a member of the G. A. R. He enlisted in September, 
1864, in Company K, Second Xew York (Harris' Light) Cavalry, and 
participated in the battles of Cedar Creek, Waynesboro, Harper Farm, 
Sailor Creek, Five Forks, Appomattox, and other engagements, and 
was honorably discharged as first corporal of his company. June 7, 
1865 ; politically Mr. Loomis has alwavs been a stanch Republican. 

XOAIL LOOMIS, farmer, of Granville township, P. O. Windfall, 
was born in Granville, this county, ]\[ay 9, 1886, and is a son of John 
and Adeline (Haxton) Loomis. His ))aternal grandfather. Augustus 
Loomis, was a pioneer of Canton township, while his father, John, was 
a native of Geneva county, N. Y., and an early settler of Granville 
township, tb.is county, and cleared and improved the farm now owned 
bv S. S. Packard, and died there in 1866. His children were Lvdia 
(Mrs. Warren Bagley), Hannah (Mrs. Milo Webster). Seth, Noah, 
Sherman. John and Angeline (Mrs. Alpha Stone). Noah was reared 
in Granville, and cleared a ))art of the farm he now occupies, and 
made all the improvements in buildings. His wife was Margaret, 
daughter of Silas and Sally (Ayres) Packard, of Canton township, by 
whom he had three children: Maude (Mrs. D. II. Stone), Cora nnd 
Lylis K. Mr. Loomis enlisted in the Civil War, in Company I, Fif- 
teenth New York Engineers, September 15, 1864, and after nine 
months' service was honorably discharged; he is a prominent farmer 
of Gi";inville. and in ])olitics is a Re])ublican. 

SETH LOOMIS, farmer, Franklin township, P.O. West Franklin, 
was born in Canton, September 26, 1833. and is a son of John and Ade- 
line (Haxton) Loomis, the former of whom was born in Genesee Valley, 
N. Y., and the latter near Boston, Mass. John Loomis is the son of 
Augustus, a native of New York State, who came to this county 
about 1806, when his son was ten years old ; he located in Canton on 
what is now called the " Sellard Place," owned by John Innes, and 
lived there until he tiled, in 1841, After his death his son removed to 
Granville, where, like his father, he followed farming; he resided in 
this townshi]) until his death, in 1866, dying in his sixty-lifth year. 
He had seven children — four sons and three daughters — all of whom 
grew to maturity, and live of whom are now living. The sub- 
ject of these lines is the second in the family, and always lived and 
worked on the farm ; he was reared and educated at (Ji-anville, where 



HISTORY OF I5RADF0R1) COUNTY. 9T9 

lie first began his farm life. He married, at Granville, in 185'), Miss 
Ann, dauf,rliter of Biglow and Martha Fenton, natives of Vermont, 
and there have been born to them seven children, viz.: Henry, married to 
Miss Mamie Flemming; Martha, married to Mr. Dwight Vroman; Rose, 
married to Chenie Preston; Marion H.; John ; Adeline and Eva May, 
all of whom are living. Mr. Loorais removed from Granville to 
LeKoy, and from LeRoy to Franklin, where he has lived the last four 
years. In 1862 he entered the army, in Company M, Seventh 
P. V. C, for the term of three years, and was discharged on account 
of disabilities, and now draws a pension ; he is a member of a G. A. R. 
Post. 

FRED LOWE, of Seward & Co., Say re, is a native of Onondaga 
county, N. Y., and was born, March 16,'l853. His parents are John 
and Sarah (Hamilton) Lowe, the former a native of England, and the 
latter of New York State. His father is a miller and resides in Madi- 
son county, N. Y. His great-grandfathers, Hamilton and Henry, were 
soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Fred Lowe, who is the fourth in 
a family of nine children, received a good common-school education, 
learned the machinist's ti-ade, and worked at the carpenter's trade in 
his native county, where he remained until 1875, when he came to 
Sayre, and engaged in the planing-rnill business, which he has followed 
since. He was married in Canastota, N. Y., in 1875, to Miss Lizzie, 
daughter of Cornelius and Ellen Doyle, natives of Canada, where she 
was born in 1858; she died in 1881, 'leaving one daughter, Edith. Mr. 
Lowe mai-ried again in leister, in 1885, his second' wife being Selia, 
daughter of Daniel and Mary (Taylor) Bump, natives of Pennsylvania. 
She is the fourth in a family of nine children, and was born December 
30, 1859, and has one daughter. Bertha. Mrs. Lowe is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Lowe is a member of the F. & A. M., 
Rural Amity Lodge, i\o. 70; also belongs to the Iron Hall, and is a 
Republican. 

WILLIAM T. LOYD, farmer, LeRoy township, P. O. ^Vest LeRov, 
was born in AVayne county, Pa., February 19, 1835, a son of Anthony 
and Catherine (Howey) Loyd, natives of ^ Wayne county. Our subject 
came to this county with liis aunt, Mrs. Jaiie (Howev) Quick, when 
three years old, making his home with her. He was educated m Wil- 
niot, Bradford county, and is a self-made man, having struggled with 
and conquered adversity in early life. He engaged in rafting on the 
Susquehanna river, but followed farming to some extent. On Decem- 
ber 29. 1858, he married Arloa, daughter of Samuel and Christiana 
Dimock, at Towanda. Her father, a carpenter, has lived in this county 
since 1808, and is now eighty-four years of age, and resides with his 
daughter. To Mr. and Mrs." Loyd" were born two sons: Samuel D., 
born February 9, 1860, and W. N., born April 10, 1868. Mr. Loyd is 
a prosperous farmer, owning a tract of eighty -six acres, most of which 
is under cultivation. He is a Republican in'politics, and is a member 
of the Patriotic Sons of America; is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. 

G. M. LLTLL, ])assenger conductor, Lehigh Yallev Railroad, Savre, 
is a native of Llartland, Windsor Co., Yt., and was born February 2, 



980 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1841, the Hfth in the family of seven children of Austin and Mary 
Ann (Kelly) Lull, natives of Yermont. The father, who was a hotel 
and livery stable keeper, died in Tunkhannock in 1882, in his seventy- 
sixth year; the mother died in 1878 in her seventy-first year. The 
family removed to Tunkhannock in May, 1851, where our subject 
received his education in the city schools. He enlisted March 8, 1862, 
in Company B, Fifty-second P. V. I., and some of the many engage- 
ments lie participated in were the battles of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), 
"White Oak Swamp, Malvern Plill, and siege of Charleston, his regiment 
being the first troops to land in Charleston after the evacuation. He 
was mustered out at Beaufort, S. C, March 29, 1805, returned home, 
and attended Lowell's Commercial College at Binghamton, N. Y., 
about one year. Thence he went to Tunkhannock, and engaged in the 
hotel business two years; from there he moved to Cape May with his 
brother-in-law Geo. J. Bolton, who had charge of the "Columbia 
House," and was there two seasons. Returning home he clerked in a 
hotel two years, and then went to Pittston, and was proprietor of a 
restaui'ant over a year. In 1873 he began work on the L. Y. R. R. as 
brakenian, and was promoted to conductor on second-class trains in 
1S75, and continued as such until 1883, when he was promoted to 
passenger conductor, which position he has held ~ince. Mr. Lull was 
married in Tunkhannock, in 1861, to Miss Julia A., daughter of 
William and Parmelia (]\[ackey) Bolton. Mr. Bolton was editor and 
jiroprietor of the first paper published in Tunkhannock, Wyoming Co., 
Pa. Mrs. Lull is the fifth in a family of seven children. To the mar- 
ringe of Mr. and Mrs. Lull Avere born six children, as follows: Ada B., 
George M., Jr., George E., Maud. Afay and M. Howard. Mrs. Lull is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mi-. Lull is a member of 
tlie F. & A. M., Temple Lodge, No. 248, Tunkhannock; of the Order 
of Railway Conductors, Waverly, and B. P. O. E., No. 109, of Wilkes- 
]'>arre He is a Democrat in politics. 

GEORGE LUNN, farmer, Windham township, P. O. Windham, is 
a native of that township, l)orn March 4, 1836, a son of Jesse and 
Almira (Darling) Lunn, natives of Massachusetts, originally of Eng- 
lish extraction, and of the agricultural class, who came to Bradford 
county, locating in Windham township, where they spent the remain- 
der of their davs, the mother dying in 1872, the father surviving until 
1880; they had a family of seven children, of whom George is the 
third. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, where thei'c was an 
abundance of toil, and l)ut few opj)ortun.ities for education. He has 
successfully won his way in life, and resides on liis farm of four acres, 
all of which is highly cultivated and well improved. In 1864 he 
enlisted in the Union army in the Fiftieth Engineers, Company E, and 
with ins command went at once to the front, and was busy building 
bridges for the Army of the Potomac. The severe exposure brought on 
sickness and permanent ill health, and he is now the i-ecipient of a 
j)ension. \\v s(;i'ved until the end of tiie war, and with the great army 
of civilian soldiers i-cturned to his farm and its lal)ors. Mr. Lunn was 
mari-ie<l, in Windiiani, to Etnily A. Forrest, daughtei" of Daniel and 
Achsali (Ames) Forrest, of JNhissachusetts, and of this marriage there 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 981 

are two children : Arthur J. and Frank J., both farmers. Mr. Lunn 
is a member of the G. A. R., Hurst Post, No. 80, and in poHtics is a 
Republican. The members of this family are highlv respected bv all. 

HIRAM D. LUTHER, farmer, P. O. Luther's Mills, was born May 
19, 1849, on the farm where he now resides in Burlington township, 
and is a son of Myron and Phebe E. (Rundell) Luther, natives of 
Burling-ton, this county, born of old New England stock, of German 
origin. The father, who was a farmer and lumberman, was a son of 
the original settler of Burlington township, Enoch Luther, who was 
one of the pioneers of Burlington township, and after whom the village 
of Luther's Mills took its name ; he was a miller and one of the builders 
of the original mills at this place, having had charge of them many 
years ; was a soldier of the Revolution, and died at the age of sixty- 
three years. MN'ron Luther reared a family of three children, was a 
man of influence, and died at the age of sixty-two years. Our subject's 
mother's farail}^ were among the pioneer settlers of the township : her 
grandfather Ruiulell was a pioneer Methodist preacher, and experienced 
the privations of a circuit rider of early days of Methodism. Hirain 
D. Luther was married in October, 1872, to Belle J. Crawford, of She- 
shequin, this county, born August 5, 1854, a daughter of John L. and 
Maria (McNickel) Crawfor<l, the former of New England origin, and 
the latter a native of Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Luther have had six 
children, as follows: Fred. L., Helen M., Martin D., George E., Bessie B. 
and Laura P. He is tlie owner of a farm of seventy acres where he 
resides, and one of sixty-seven acres in Luther's Mills. He is one of 
the most successful growers of tobacco in the vicinity, his land being 
especially adapted to its growth; he is one of the substantial an(l 
enterprising men of the community ; is a Republican and has held 
several offices of public trust. 

ROSWELL LUTHEFl, retired, Towanda, was born in Burlington, 
this count3% December 12, 1820, and is a son of Enoch and Polly (Ben- 
nett) Luther. The paternal grandfather, Elisha Luther, was a native 
of Massachusetts, and settled in Canton township (now Alba), this 
county, about 1793, where he purchased nearly four hundred acres of 
land, built a log house and made a clearing; in 1812 he removed to 
Dayton, Ohio, and later to St. Joseph county, Ind., where he resided 
until his death. The maternal grandfather. Amos Bennett, came with 
his father, Amos, Sr., to Wyalusing, in 1783 ; in 1790 he removed to 
what is now North Towanda township, where he cleared a farm, on 
which he resided until his death in 1839; his wife was Amy Wilcox, by 
whom he had six sons and two daughters. Enoch Luther, father of 
Roswell Luther, was a native of Gorham. Vt., and came to Bradford 
'county with his parents, and removed with them to Dayton, Ohio, 
where he enlisted in the War of 1812. About 1810 he returned to 
Bradford county, and cleared a farm in Burlington township, on which 
he resided until his death. His children were lioswell, Enos B., David 
S., Myron, Hiram, Laura (Mrs. Elijah Grang(!r), Amanda (Mrs. Benja- 
min M. Clark), Elliott, Samantha {Mrs. Erastus L. Price), Mary (Mrs. 
David Strope), Ransom W., Angeline (Mrs. Stephen M. Clark), Ade- 
laide (Mrs. L. F, Langford) and Burton K. Roswell Luther, who is 

57 



982 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

the subject of this sketcli, was reared in Burlington township and 
received a limited education in the common schools: he spent most of 
his life in his native town, where he improved three farms, also engag- 
ing in milling, lumbering and bridge-building, and was an active busi- 
ness man, lie married, in 1849, Ilowena, daughter of Elisha and Han- 
nah (Carpenter) P'oster, of Burlington township, by whom he had two 
children : Mary (Mrs. James McDonald, deceased), and Helen (Mrs. 
Charles Mace). Mr. Luther is a well-known citizen of Bradford county, 
and has been a resident of Towanda since 1884; politically he is a 
liepublican. 

HUGH M. LYNCH, dentist, Wyalusing, was born in German- 
town, April 29, 1840, a son of Robert and Mary (Tillman) Lynch, 
both of whom have been dead many years. The father, who was a 
gardener, had the following children : James, a lumber dealer in Phil- 
adelphia ; William, a drover in Delaware county; George, a lumber 
merchant in Clinton county; Margaret, a dressmaker in Norristown ; 
Hugh M.; Sophia, married to Mr. Rosenberger, whom she survives ; 
Rebecca, with her sisters Sophia and Margaret, conducting a dressmak- 
ing establishment at Norristown ; Robert, a lumber meichant in Clin- 
ton county. Hugh M. Lynch ix-ceived his English education in the 
public schools of Philadelphia, and in 1861 began the study of den- 
tistry which he pursued until November 9, 1862, when he enlisted in 
Company C, Fifty-first P. V. L, of the Ninth Army Corps, serving 
faithfully through many long campaigns, and was present at Appo- 
mattox. He received two gunshot-wounds at the battle of Weldon 
Railroad, one through the left foot, which sent him to the hospital for 
about four months; after his recovery he rejoined his regiment and 
served until August 27, 1865, when he was mustered out. After 
studying his profession a short time, he began the practice of the 
same at Phillipsburg, N. J., and Phoenixville, Pa., until 1882, when he 
there entered the Pennsylvania College of Dentistry, and was grad- 
uated ]\rarch 2. 1883. He resumed his practice at Pha'nixville, remain- 
ing there until 1888, when he removed to Phila(ieli)hia, and remained 
until April 15, 1890, when he came to Wyalusing, where he has built up 
a paying practice. The Doctor was married, January 24, 1872, to 
Lucretia Ramsay, daughter of Samuel Ramsay, of Chester county. Pa., 
by whom he has five children: Mary E., Ida L, Delia C, Robert L. 
and H. Blair. He is a member of Josiah White Post, No, 15, G. A.R., 
of Phd'nixville, and also a member of the F. & A. M., Pha'nixville. 
and has taken degree of K. T.; he is a member of the Lutheran 
Church and is a Re])ul)lican. Dr. Lynch is a successful dentist, and 
has an office fully ecjuijiped for any kintl of work. 

JERRY J. LYNCH, teacher, Rome, was born in Standing Stone 
township, this county, March 15, 1868, and is a son of John and Cath- 
erine (O'Connor) Lynch, natives of County ('hire, Ireland. His pater- 
nal grandparents were Martin and Bridget (Houiigan) Lynch, and 
his great-gland pa rents were Patrick and Mary (Hough) Lynch: his 
maternal gran(li)arents were J<!remiah and I'.ridget (McNertiny ) 
O'Connor, and his great-grandparents were Philip and Ilanorah 
(Collins) O'Connor. His grandfather, Jerry O'Connor, died in Cen- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 983 

tralia, Pa., at the age of one hundred and three years. His father 
was a shoemaker by trade, but abandoned that calling, and set out to 
make his fortune in the New World, in I860; he settled on a farm in 
Standing Stone, where he remained twelve years, and then purchased 
a larger farm in Home townsiii]), which he changed from a dense 
forest to a state of cultivation, and lived upon it until his death, which 
occurred May 8, 1881, at the age of sixty-nine years; Mrs. Lynch is 
still living on the old homestead, with her son, Michael. There were 
SIX Lynch brothers and one sister who immigrated to Bradford county, 
viz.: Michael, Patrick, James, John, Thomas, Catherine (who married 
Andrew Brennan), and Martin. John's family contained seven chil- 
dren, four of whom were born in Ireland, viz.: Mary (deceased wife 
of John C. Cuffney, of Athens; she left one child, William, born 
April 6, 1883), Michael, Martin, Bridget (deceased), Bridget E., John 
J. and Jeremiah J. The last-named gentleman s|^ent his boyhood on 
the farm, and attended school at the Rome S[)rings school-house. At 
thirteen he was left an orphan, with no means of supporting and edu- 
cating himself, not even a robust physical constitution. In 1882 he 
secured a place in the family of A. J. Whitney, working for his board, 
and attending school at the Rome graded school, and next year he 
was in the family of A. W. Wood burn. At fifteen he was granted a 
certificate to teach, and next year began teaching; he taught in all six 
terms, the last as principal of Rome graded school, 1890-9L In the 
spring of 1891 he engaged with S. B. Nelson & Co., of Chicago, in the 
historical business. By teaching, and various other occupations, lie 
worked his way tli rough the Latin Scientific Course at the Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, and was graduated in 1889. Plis poor 
Irish parents had not the means of privileging their son an education, 
but they left him thoroughly imbued with the desire for education, 
and many noble Christian aspirations. Mr. Lynch has surmounted 
every difficulty, and commands the respect and h^ve of all who know 
him, and is one of the leaders in all educational matters in the countv, 
having been chosen president of the Bradford County Teachers' Asso- 
ciation when but twenty years of age; in his religion he is a steadfast 
Catholic, and his political views are decidedlv Democratic. 

THOMAS P. LYNCH, proprietor of the "Cummiskey House,'' 
Tow^anda, was born April 14, 1800, a son of Martin and Mary (Doherty) 
Lynch, natives of Ireland. His father came to America in 1850. and 
worked on the canal, and later engaged in farming in Rome townshi]); 
afterward in Standing Stone township, where he died, January 3, 1879. 
In his father's family there were eight children: Bridget, married 
to Michael Scannell, employed by the Lehigh ValW Railroad at 
Towanda, and has five children; John, died at two years of age; 
Thomas P., the subject of this sketch ; Martin E., fireman on the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad, at Sayre; James F., brakeman on the Union 
Pacific, at Sprague, Wasli.; Michael J., em])loye(l by the Lehigh Val- 
ley Railroad, at Buffalo; Mai'v C. and Peter J., the two last men- 
tioned living with tlieir mother on the old homestead in Standing 
Stone township. Thomas P. began life for himself at fourteen, and 
worked for M. H. Laning on a farm, where he remained five years, 



i)84 HISTORY OF MRADFORD COUNTY. 

and, after one year spent at home, engaged in lumbering on the West 
branch, where he remained three years, then returned home and 
staved there three years; then was employed on the G. I. & S. R. R., 
about a year; then took charge of D. C. Dewitt's livery stable at 
Towanda for two years ; was employed as foreman by the Lehigh Val- 
ley liailroad Company about two years, and afterward embarked in 
his present occupation, where he is doing a good, thriving business. 
He married, May 11, 1S87, Elizabeth, only daughter of Michael and 
Julia (Hurley) Collum, natives of Xew York, and of Irish origin. This 
union has been blessed with two children; Kate, born July 5, 1888, 
died April 9, 1889, and Matthew, born February 6, 1890, at"' RickeLts 
Station, and was the first child born at that place. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch 
are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and though he has been 
identitied with the Democratic party, he votes purely on principle. 

GEORGE F. LYON, furniture manufacturer, Athens, is a native 
of Athens, this county, and was born May 1, 1854, a son of Frederick 
R. and Nancy (White) Lyon, the former a native of Connecticut, and 
the latter of Liberty, N. Y, The father, who was a furniture dealer 
and undertaker, was born February 26, 1884; his widow survives. 
George F. Lyon, who is the eldest in*^a family of four children, served 
an apprenticeship at the cabinet-making trade, from the time he was 
sixteen until he was twenty-one years of age, and remained with his 
father until 1876, when they began the manufacture of furniture, 
under the firm name of F. R. Lyon, Son & Co. On June 17, 1885, 
the factory burned, and they moved to Waveily, N. Y., where the 
factory has been since located. In 1883 the firm name was changed 
to Hall & Lyon. They make fine and medium grade chamber suits, 
and emplov about 100 men. 

OLIVER D. LYON, cabinet-maker, Towanda, was born in Law- 
renceville, Tioga Co., Pa., December 1, 1835, a son of Frederick R. 
and Mary II. (Rood) Lyon, and comes of Pilgrim stock. He was 
reared in Chemung county, N. Y.. and Bradford county. Pa., and has 
resided in the latter county since 1846. His father, who was a native 
of Connecticut, and a cabinet-maker by trade, died in Athens, this 
countv, in 1885; his children who grew to maturity were nine in 
number, as follows : Oliver I)., Elizabeth (Mrs. Georg(; Morgan), Susan 
(Mrs. Leon Ilovt), Clara (Mrs. Hemingway), Edward, George, Charles, 
Frank and John. Of these Oliver D. received a high-school education 
at Syracuse, N. Y., also at Athens, Pa., and learned the cabinet-maker's 
trade with his father at Athens. He worked as ai)prentice and jour- 
nevman eleven years prior to the war, and Api'il 22, 1861, enlisted in 
Company F, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves (Tliirty-lifth Regiment m 
the line), and by reason "of re-enlistment was honorably dischai-ged 
at Bristol Station, Va., February 11, 1864; on February 12, same year, 
he re-enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Ninety-first, P. \. V. L, 
and was honorably discliarged. June 28, 1865, the war having closed. 
He participated in all of tiie |)rincipal battles of the Army of the 
I'otomac (not including Chancellorsville), (except while he was a pris- 
oner of war, and was on the skirmish line at Lee's surrender ; he was 
captured on the skiiinish line, at Xoi'th Anna liiver. May 24, 1864, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 985 

was confined in the prisons at Libby, Danville, Andei'sonville, Savannah 
and Milan ; was paroled, November 'J4, 18()4, exchanged, December (>, 

1864, and rejoined his regiment in front of Petersburg in February, 

1865. Since the war he has followed his trade of cabinet-maker, and 
been a resident of Towanda. Since August, 18T1, he has been contin- 
uously in the employ of one tirm. Mr. Lyon was nuiri'ied, August 16, 
1865, to Harriet A.^ daughter of Julius and Freelove (Lyon) Morgan, 
of Allegany county, N. Y.. and has had ten children, viz.: Mary F,, 
Frederick (died in infancy), LeKoy, Walter, Charles, Edward, Eobert, 
Susan, Kichard and Maud. Mr, Lyon is a prominent member of the 
G. A. It., and is one of the charter members of Watkins Post, jNo. 68, 
Department of Pennsylvania, at Towanda, and has hekl every office in 
the Post, from commandant down, and is now adjutant, »vhich position 
he has held three years; and is also a member of the Union Veteran 
Legion, Encampment No. 28, Athens. Pa. He has been a member of 
the Franklin Fire Company, of Towanda, since 1856; is also a member 
of the K. of L., and politically he is a liepublican. 

SAMUEL LYON, retired farmer and capitalist, East Towanda, 
was born in Seekonk, Mass., September 28, 1807, and is a son of 
Samuel and Olive (Perry) Lyon, natives of Massachusetts and of 
New Eno-Jand origin ; his o-randfather, great-grandfather and great- 
great-grandfather were all named Samuel Lyon. In his father's 
family there were four sons and four daughters, viz.: Benjamin 
(deceased), Nancy (deceased), Olive (deceased), Samuel, Amy (deceased), 
George (a retired farmer, Ow^ego, N. Y.), Cynthia (widow of Elijah 
Reed, and living with her son in East Greenwich, R. I.), and Ezra 
P. (who is very wealthy, and is living a retired life in Providence, 
R. I.). Samuel, who was reared on the farm and educated in the 
common school, began life for himself at the age of seventeen, work- 
ing a turning lathe, which he followed two years, and then went to 
work in a machine shop in Slatersville, R. L, where he remained four 
years. In 1830 he came to Bradford county, and located in Warren 
township, buying 200 acres of land from Cyrus Grant for $1.50 per 
acre. This farm he reduced from a dense forest to an excellent state 
of cultivation, and lived thereon thirt\^-two years; then sold it to his 
brother, Benjamin. After living in Potterville one and one-half 
years, he purcliased the Belding farm, north of LeRaysville, where he 
lived nine years, and then removed into LeRaysville and lived there 
eight years, after which he removed to his present home, which he 
purchased of E. C. Gridley. Mr. Lyon was married, September 23, 
1830, to Miss Asenath P., daughter of Howlen Slade. of Slatersville, 
R. I., and of English-Quaker origin. Their familv consisted of two 
children: Samuel, born May 15, 1833 (was a dry-goods merchant in 
Owego, and died December 21, 1872, leaving one child, Carrie); Caro- 
line C., born November 27, 1835 (was married to James Elsbree, of 
Windham, who died, leaving two children: John F. (deceased), and 
Nelson N.. of Orwell; she married, for her second husband, S. N, 
Bronson, of Orwell). Mrs. Asenath P. (Slade) Lyon died August 23, 
1843, and Mr. Lyon married, July 11, 1844, Hannah H., daughter of 
Noah and Alice^ (Taylor) Makinson, natives of England. By this 



980 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

union there were three children: William M., born February 6, 1851, 
(lied j\[arch 2, 1851; Margaret A., born November 8, 1852, married 
Henry I. Hutchinson, of Pike; and Sarah Ann, born October 22, 185-1:, 
mari'ied Perclval P. Watson, with whom she lived but one vear (they 
had one child, Alice H., born March 2J:, 1877; Sarah Ann and her 
daughter are now living with Mr. Lyon, at East Towanda). The 
Lyon family are all connected with the Presbyterian Church, and in 
politics are Republicans. 

S. W. LYON, of the firm of Lyon & Watts, dealers in groceries, 
queensware, boots and shoes, Canton, is a native of Armenia township, 
this county, born August 25, 1840, a son of William and Rachel 
(Scouten) Lyon, natives of Delaware county, N. Y. The father was a 
farmer, and died at Canton in 1886, in his sixty-third year ; the mother 
still survives and resides in Canton. Mr. Lyon, who is the second in a 
family of five children — three sons and two daughters — was reared in 
his native ]ilace, went to Sylvania where he resided two 3'ears, from 
there to Ward township, Tioga Co., Pa., where he remained until 1877, 
when he removed to Towanda, and ran the stage line between Towanda 
and Canton for four years, then moved to Canton and engaged in his 
present business, in August, 1881. with W. L. Seldon. On January 8, 
1891, the firm changed to Lyon & AYatts. In December, 1871, in Troy, 
Mr. Lyon married Laura, daughter of DeWitt and Clarinda (Wootl) 
Morgan, natives of Connecticut and this county, respectively (she was 
born in Armenia township in July, 1856, and is the third in order of 
birth in a f ami h'^ of seven children — three sons and four daughters). To 
Mr. and Mrs. Lyon were born three children: Lewis, Walter and Ral|)h. 
Mrs. Lyon is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically 
Mr. Lyon is a Democrat. 

ISAAC LYONS, retired farmer and mill-owner, P. O. Allis Hol- 
low, was born in Sheshequin, this county, December 1, 1815, and is a 
S(m of John and Jemima (Horton) Lyons, the former of whom Avas 
boi-n in September, 1875, in the first house built in Ithaca, N. Y.; he 
was married at the age of twenty-eight, and came at once to this 
county, his wife being a daughter of Richard Horton. The father was 
a farmer and lumberman, and had a family of eight children, viz.: 
Isaac, Richard (died April 10, 1859), Joim, Elizal)eth (married to Mahu 
Horton), Rachel (married to John Bish), Anna J. (married to Christ- 
mas Ilanesworth), Diana (married to Alonzo Parns) and Mahala (mar- 
ried to F. M. Maynard). Isaac Lyons spent his bo3'hood in Standing 
Stone, attended the district schools, his first teacher being Abraham 
Westbrooks; he remembers the building of the first school-house, 
which was erected when he was aged ten years. He improved over 
200 acres of land, and now owns about 400 acres; he has always 
owned his own sawmill, which has stood on the spot it now occupies 
about fortv-three vears. He commenced his struij-cjle with fortune, 
with no cai)ital except good health, strong arms and a stout heart, and 
has an ample fortune. Mr. Lyons was united in marriage, November 
12, 1837, with Minerva, daughter of Reuben and Sarah (Norton) Grif- 
fin, and to them have been born three childrpn, viz.: Adelbert G., born 
in 1888, died in infancy; Sarah, born June 9, 1843, married to Joseph 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 987 

Tuttle [see sketch of Joseph W. Tuttle] ; Aiigenora, mai'i'led to George 
Allis. Mrs. Lyons (lied March T, 1S72, since which time tlie daughter 
has kept the iiousehold. ]\[r. Lyons is in faith with the Universahst 
Cliurcli ; is a member of the National Grange, and of the V. & A. M. 
Politically he is a Uepublican, and has been constable ;ind collector, 
assessor and scliool director. In 18G1 he was elected county commis- 
sioner. Ml-. Lyons has always been a careful and conscientious busi- 
ness man, and made his fortune by the slow and sure way of hard 
labor, not by specahation; is scrupulously honest, and is probably as 
well known as any resident of this count}^, and commands the respect 
and esteem of all. 

HUGH MoCABE, farmer and stoclc-grower, P. O. North Rome, is 
a leading farmer of Itome township, and of the county. He was born 
in County Monaghan, Ireland, May 8, 1831, and is a son of George 
and Nancy (Donaldson) McCabe. His boyhood he spent on a farm in 
Ireland, attending schools of his native county, where he received a 
good knowledge of the common branches. He came to this county 
in 1849, and worked for his brothers, James and GJeorge, on the farm 
he now occupies ; tlien rented the farm and worked it five years, when 
he purchased it, and now owns about 290 acres, well improved ; the 
house, wiiich contains fifteen rooms, was built in 1868; he has culti- 
vated about 150 acres, and the farm is well-stocked, in fact one of the 
best in the township. He enlisted, September 5, 1864. in Company K, 
Fifteentli New^ York Volunteer Engineers, serving until the close of 
the war, being discharged June 13, 1865 ; then returned home and 
resumed farmmg. He was united in wedlock. May 12, 1853, with 
Harriet P., daughter of James and Katie (Vasbinder) Layton, of this 
county, wliose family comprised seven children, of whom Mrs. McCabe 
is the sixth. Our subject and wife have been blessed with eight 
children, viz.: Mary E., born iVpril 2, 1854, married in June, 1883, to 
Eeuben Horton; Levi, born March 12, 1856, married to Clara J. Stoll; 
Harrison R., born August 27, 1858, married to Sidney Brainard ; Olin, 
born February 3, 1862, married to Fannie Harvey, August 22, 1883; 
William J., born June 7, 1865, married to Lottie A. Russell, January 
20, 1886; George L., born August 19, 1867, married to Anna Bush, 
September 24, 1888 ; Cora E., born October 11, 1872, and Lester H., 
born June 22, 1876. Mr. McCabe is a member of Stevens Post, 
No. 69, G. A. R., of Rome; is a Republican, and has been called by 
his friends and neighbors to fill various township offices. Mr. McCabe, 
from a poor, struggling lad, has developed into a wealthy and highl}^ 
respected citizen. 

JAMES McCABE, grocer, Towanda, was born in Anaghan, County 
Monaghan, Ireland, April 8, 1816, and is a son of George and Rosa 
(Stockdale) McCabe. He was reared in his native place and with two 
brothers and a sister — George, William and Elizabeth — came to America 
in 1836. He spent one year in Philadelphia, and in 1837 came to 
Bradford county, where, in 1839, he purchased a farm in Rome township, 
which he cleared and improved, and on which he resided until 1853 ; 
then removed to Towanda, where for twelve years he was the proprietor 
of the principal meat-market in the place. After again engaging in 



988 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUN^TT. 

fanuing- two years, in Eonie township, he returned to Towanda in 1867, 
and embarked in the grocery business, in whicli he has since continued. 
In 1839 he married Polly, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Amelia (Pratt) 
Towner, of Rome, this county, by whom he had four children, as 
follows : Joseph G. (deceased), Rosa (Mrs. John N. Califf), Elizabeth 
A. and Joseph T. (deceased). Mr. McCabe is a prominent grocer of 
Towanda. antl one of its most enterprising citizens. lie is a member of 
the Episcopal Church, and has served ten years as councilman of 
Towanda borough, and three years as burgess ; politically he is a 
Republican. 

RICHARD McCABE, farmer and stock-grower, in Rome town- 
ship, P. O., North Rome, was born in County Monaghan. North Ire- 
land, January 5, 1834, and is a son of George and Nancy (Donaldson) 
McCabe, natives of that country. His father was twice nuirried, and 
by his first wife, Rosa (Stockdale), he had four children: James (of 
Towanda), George (deceased), William and Elizabeth; by his second 
wife were Hugh [see sketch of Hugh McCabe], Mary (died in Ireland) 
and Richard. The father was a farmer during the latter portion 
his life, but had learned, and for many years had worked at, the 
weaver's trade; he died when Richard was about six months old. 
When Richard was about fifteen years old, he accompanied his mother 
and Hugh to the United States, and came at once to Rome township, 
where James and William had alreaily located, prior to his immigration. 
George and Elizabeth lived in Philadelphia, Pa. He had attended 
public schools in Ireland, also the public schools of Rome township, 
and secured a good common-school education ; he worked for and 
resided with his brother, William, one year ; then worked by the month 
for different men, until the fall of 1854, when he rented a sawmill, 
which he operated until 1859, Avhen he purchased the farm he now 
lives on ; the first piece comprised seventy-three acres, and afterward 
he bought other land, making in all in the farm 160 acres. He cleared 
and improved the land, and converted the trees into lumber. The 
|)resent house, built in 1883, is a modern building, handsomely finished 
inside and contains seventeen rooms. Mr. McCabe is one of the model 
farmers. He enlisted August 18, 1862, in Company I, One llundi'ed 
and Forty-first P. V. I., being the last man to enlist in that company ; 
lie nuide a good military record, and served until October 19,1864, 
when he was discharged on account of disabdity accruing from a gun- 
shot wound received at the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863 ; 
the ball, which he still preserves, struck him in the arm, close to the 
wrist, ranged upward and lodged near the bone, close to the elbow, where 
it was cut out ; he was in tlie hospitals many weeks, and was at last 
discharged, having so far i-ecovered as to be able to return home, but 
the wound permanently disabled him. He was promoted to corpoi-al, 
January 2, 1863, and to sergeant, January 1, 1864. Retui'ning home he 
resumed farming. He is one of the charter members of Stevens Post, 
No. 69, G. A. R., has held different offices in the Post, but holds none 
at present time. Mr. IVIcCabe was united in wedlock, July 3, 1860, Avith 
Almira Towner, daughter of Pliilander and Clarissa (Davidson) 
Towner, of Ptome township, this county; she was born February 23, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 989 

183G, the second in a rainil}^ of nine children. To Mv. and Mrs. McCabe 
have been born six children: Josepli G., born October 21, 1861; Ella 
M., born May 5, 1803, married to J. K. Drake, J)eceniber 3, 1884; 
Douglass T., born October 7, 1805, died October 2, 1808; Clara V., born 
August 3, 1809; Berton R., born September 6, 1871 (is a teacher); 
Lannie T., born November 4, 1877. In his political views, he is a stanch 
Republican, and has hekl various township offices. Mr. McCabe with 
nothing" but industry and determination, and out of the wilderness, has 
carved himself a home, with no assistance, except that of his faithful 
and devoted wife. He has a beautiful home, surrounded by a lovely 
family, and is enjoying the esteem and respect of ail who knew him. 

WILLIAM W. iVIcCAIN, merchant, Stevensville, was born February 
15, 1844, in Auburn township, Susquehanna Co., Pa., a son of Joseph 
H. and Sarah L. (Ribble) McCain, natives of New Jersey, and of Dutch 
and Irish descent. Josepli II. McCain was one of the pioneers of 
Auburn township, where he settled about the year 1837, coming from 
New Jersey. He began in the woods, and felled thetree whose stump 
served as a table for the family during the first year of his pioneer 
life; he taught school seven years, and then engaged in farming 
twenty-five years, during which time he was a justice of the peace; 
served one term as register and recorder of Susquehanna county, and 
then embarked in mercantile business in Montrose, as a member of the 
firm of Baldwin, Allen & McCain, which lasted six years, and is now 
living a retired life at Rush, Pa. In his family there were five chil- 
dren, of whom William W., the thii-d in order of birth, was educated in 
the common schools, also at Montrose Academy, and the State Nor- 
mal school at Millersville, Pa.; began life for himself at the age of 
twenty-three, teaching one year. In 1808 he became a member of the 
firm of Weeks, Faurot & McCain, dealers in dry goods and general 
merchandise at Montrose, where he remained three years; then read 
law six months with J, B. & A. H. McCollum, of Montrose, and 
engaged in the insurance business with Henry C. Tyler, with whom 
he remained two years; then did business for his mother two years, 
and in 1873 engaged in mercantile business with his brother, S. B. 
McCain, in Rush, where he remained eleven years; sold his interest 
and purchased the general mercantile business of Minot Riley, at 
Springville, at which place he remained five years. In 1890 he located 
in his present place of business, where he has a very large and growing- 
trade in all kinds of merchandise and produce. Mr. McCain was mar- 
ried February 15, 1879, to Orpha A., daughter of Henry and Elizabeth 
(Melhuish) Granger, natives of Vermont and England, respectively, 
and they have three children: L. Bruce, born December 27, 1879; 
William Arthur, born April 22, 1882, and Mildred Lenoir, born Janu- 
ary 17,1887. Mr. McCain was first-lieutenant in the first company of 
the Seventh Division of National Guards, .and was elected captain, but 
never took out his commission ; he was also an honorary member of 
the "Rough and Ready" Fire Company, of Montrose. Fie is a fre- 
quent contributor to literary and s})orting journals, is an ardent life- 
long sportsman, and an earnest advocate of wise game legislation and 



990 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

game protection. Politically he is in strong sympathy with the 
lte[>iiblican pai'ty. 

C. A. McCALLUM, photographer, Athens, is a native of Orleans 
county, I^. Y., and is a son of John and Mary (Moore) McCallum, 
natives of New York. His father, who was a farmer, was born 
December 18, 1810, and died in Paw Paw, Mich., December 18, 
1890: his wife survives, and is in her seventy-fifth j^ear. Our sub- 
ject, Avho is the sixth in a family of eight children, followed farming 
some time, and clerked in a store about one year. In 1876, he began 
an apprenticeship at the photographers trade, and was in this business 
one and a half years at Portville, N. Y., then sold his gallery and went 
to Olean, N. Y., and worked there one year; then traveled on the road 
four 3'ears for the Union View Company, of New York. He came to 
Athens, September 17, 18S3, and opened his gallery, October 11, the 
same year. His reputation as a photographer is well and favorably 
known. He was married in Waukegan, 111., in July, 1878, to Miss 
May, daughter of Pev. Benjamin and Saphire E. (Norton) Brunning, 
the former a native of England, the latter of Yermont. Mr. Brunning 
is a Universalist minister, and preached at Athens two years. Mrs. 
McCallum is a native of Canada, and is the youngest in a family of 
three children. They have an adopted daughter, Clara Winifred ; thej'^ 
are members of the Equitable Aid Union and the International Alliance, 
and Mr. McCallum is president of the former, and treasurer of the 
latter; in politics he is a Pepublican. 

JAMES McCARTY, a prominent farmer of Ulster township, P.O. 
Ulster, was born in Muncy, Lycoming Co., Pa., November 3, 1821, a 
son of Silas and Martha (McAfee) McCarty, natives of the same place; 
the father was of Scotch and German descent; the grandparents came 
to Muncy from near Philadelphia, and were among the early |)ioneers. 
His nuiternal grandfather was a major at the battle of Black Hock, 
in the War of 1812. The son received his schooling at Muncy, until he 
was twelve years old. In May, 1832, his father removed to the 
Maumee Valley, Ohio, and in August of that y(!ar died, and the family 
returned to Muncy, reaching there in September of the same year; 
and next spring they removed to AVysox, their present liome. The 
family consisted of six children, viz.: William, James, John, Francis, 
Martha and Mary, of whom four survive; William and Francis are 
deceased. James mai-ried Sarah J. l>aker, October 7, 1863, in New 
York State, a daughter of Daniel IJalvcr, and the fruits of this mar- 
I'iage were two children, Mary and Daniel, the latter of whom mari-ied 
Mary Sullivan. j\[is. McCarty died in October, 1867, and in 1871 
Mr. McCarty married Louisa, daughter of John Lyons, of Bradford 
county; one child, Jennie, came to bless this union. His mother 
mai'ricHJ a second time, and the son took care of her and her husband, 
in their declining years, and afterward paid oif the mortgage notes 
and acquired the old homestead, on which he had always i-esided. The 
farm c(;nsists of about 200 acres of fine river land, and is well 
improved, and under a high state of cultivation. lie is independent in 
iiis religious views, but liis family are membei's of the Presbyterian 
Church ; politically he has always been identified with the Democratic 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 991 

party, and held the office of postmaster at Ulster over thirty years. 
He assisted in clearing seventy acres of the farm he now owns, sawing 
the logs into lumber and rafting them down the rivei*. He is among 
the oldest men of this county, and has been eminently successful in his 
business; has acquired a beautiful home with an independent fortune, 
and, surrounded with an accomplished and interesting family, is now 
prepared to enjoy the fruits of his early toils and privations. 

A. D. McCRANEY, chief of police, Canton, is a native of Otsego 
county, N. Y., born September T, 1838, a son of Samuel and Nancy 
(Allen) McCraney, natives of New York. His father was a black- 
smith, and died at LeRoy, this county, in 1852; his mother died in 
1883, in her eighty-ninth year. Mr. McCraney is the youngest in a 
family of eleven children — eight sons and three daughters; he was 
reared in his native place until five years of aoe, and then came with 
his family to LeRoy, this county; he farmed, and also followed lum- 
bering, until March, 1875, when he removed to Canton, and engaged 
in the hotel business, for some time. In 1879, he was appointed chief 
of police, and has held the position since, with the exception of three 
months. He married, in Leiioy, in 1858, Dinette, daughter of Eli and 
Harriet (Bailey) Holcomb, natives of this county and Connecticut, 
respectively; her father was a farmer, and died at the advanced age 
of ninety years; she is the third in a family of seven children, all of 
whom grew to maturity. To Mr. and Mrs. McCraney have been born 
three children, as follows : CoUis, married to Fannie Williams ; Samuel, 
married to Charlotte Masters, and Emma, wife of Asa Stull. Mr. 
McCraney enlisted in September, 1864, in Company I, Fifteenth New 
York Engineers, served until the close of the war, and was mustered 
out in New York, in July, 1865. He is a member of the F. & A. M., 
Monroeton Lodge, and politically he is a Democrat. 

HENRY^ W. McCRANEY, county commissioner, Towanda, was 
born in Oneonta, Otsego Co., N.Y., September 26, 1835, and is a son 
of Samuel and Nancy (Allen) McCraney, who settled in LeRoy town- 
ship, this county, in 1843, and in 1846 began a settlement on South 
mountain, known as the "McCraney settlement," and cleared and 
improved the first farm on the mountain, wliich is now owned by this 
gentleman; later, they removed to the valley in LeRoy township, and died 
there. Samuel McCraney was twice married. His first wife was Marie 
Smith, by whom he had seven children, viz.: John (deceased), Marie 
(Mrs. Harvey Smith, deceased), Sallie(Mrs. Jesse Robart), William, and 
James (deceased), Polly (Mrs. Mathew Mott) and Samuel. For his 
second wife he married Nancy Allen, by whom he had four children, 
viz.: Thomas A., Henry W., David M. (deceased), and A. Douglas. 
Henry W. McCraney was reared in LeRoy township, from eight yeai's 
of age, and received a common-school education, and in earW manhood 
taught school several terms. In 1868 he located in Barclay, this 
county, where he was engaged in lumbering, contracting and building, 
until 1875, when he was appointed superintendent of the Towanda Coal 
Company, by the Erie Railroad Company, which position he held five 
years. He was also elected a justice of the peace for Barclay town- 
ship three successive terms, and held other minor offices in the town- 



092 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

sliii). In 18S0 he returned to LeKoy township, where he lias since 
been engaged in farming and lumbering. In 18(>2 he mari-ied Julia A., 
daughte° of Albert and Sarah (Andrews) Barnes, of Gi-anville, this 
county, formerly of Connecticut, by whom he had nine children, viz.: 
Elnettie, Albert 13., Clarence A., Elizabeth N., 11. DeWitt, Lottie C, 
Roderick M., Julia A. and H. Wesley. Mr. McCraney is a member of 
the I. O. O. F. Encampment, and K.Vf H. In 1878 he was the candi- 
date of his party for the office of county treasurer, but was defeated. 
In 1885 he was appointed postmaster at LeRoy, this county, under 
Cleveland's administration, which he held about four years. In 1890 
he was elected to the office of county commissioner by a large majority. 
In April, 1891, he moved to Towanda, Pa., where he now resides; in 
politics he is a Democrat. 

ALBERT B. McCRANEY, liveryman, at Towanda, Pa., was born 
in LeRoy township, this county, July 6, 1865, and is a son of Henry 
W. and "^ Julia A. (Barnes) McCraney. IIis paternal grandfather, 
Samuel McCraney, formerly of Otsego county, N. Y., settled in LeRoy 
township, about 1842. The maternal grandfather was Albert Barnes, 
a native of Connecticut, and an early settler of Granville, this county. 
Ilenrv W., father of this subject, "" was reared in LeRoy township, 
where he has been engaged in farming and lumbering for the past 
ten years. He was for fifteen years a resident of Barclay township, 
where for ten years he was a*^ jobber for the Towanda Coal Com- 
panv, and five years general foreman. He is now one of the com- 
missioners of Bradford county, to which office he was elected in 1890. 
The subject of these lines was reared in LeRoy township, and received 
a common-school education, and after attaining his majority, engaged 
in farming and lumbering, until December, 1890, when he and 
Clarence A. purchased the livery of D. C. DeWitt, of Towanda, Pa., 
and are doing a successful business, under the firm name of McCraney 
Bros. They are both members of the I. O. O. F. and P. O. S. of A., 
and in poLtics are Democrats. 

JAMES McDonald, retired farmer, IJurlington, was born 
September 15. 1844, in Ulster township, Bradford Co., Pa., a son of 
Jatnes and Mary (McNamee) McDtmald, natives of County Cavan, 
Ireland, who removed to America when young married people, and set- 
tled in Newark, N. J. About the year "^1838, they came to Bradford 
countv, where the father engaged in farming, which he followed the 
remainder of his life. He resided some years in Ulster, and then 
moved to Sheshequin, where he died at the age of eighty-four years, 
and his wife at the age of seventy -six. Their family consisted of three 
children— two sons and one daughter. James McDonald, the subject 
of these lines, was reared on the farm ; at the age of eighteen was ap- 
prenticed to the trade of miller, but when twenty he enlisted in 
Company II, Twelfth New York Cavalry, and at once joined the Army 
of North Carolina. He was under fire several times, was taken pris- 
oner at Kingston, N. C, confined in Libby prison, and was not released 
u!itil the termination of hostilities ; his only brother, Robert, was a 
member of the First New York Veterans. At the close of the war 
Mr. McDonald engaged in milling in Sheshequin, which business he 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 993 

continued until about 18S0. He came to Burlington in 186S, and was 
in the mills at Luther's Mills about twelve years, when he commenced 
agriculture, and he now owns a nice farm of sixty acres. Mr. McDon- 
ald was married July 14, 1869, to Mary Luther, of Burlington, born in 
1851, a daughter of Roswell Luther, now of Towanda. To them were 
born three children: Iloswell, born August 8. 1870 (he enlisted in the 
U. S. Army, March 28, 1891, and went to Jefferson barracks, where he 
was trained as a soldier; from there he was sent to Fort Beno, Okla- 
homa Territory, and died October T, 1891); Marion A., born July 8, 
1873, and Robert, born March 21, 1881. The mother died May 13, 
1885. Mr. McDonald is a pensioner, owing to the loss of health 
incurred in the service of his countr^^ and m 1889 he was obliged to 
retire from his farm, moving to Burlington borough, where he now 
resides. He is a Republican in politics, and has been several terms 
treasurer of the township. 

MICHAEL J. McDONOUGH, machinist, Sayre, was born in Scran- 
ton, Pa., January 26, 1862, and is a son of John and Margaret (Flannery) 
McDonough, natives of Ireland. The subject of this sketch was reared 
and educateil in the city of his birth, and at seventeen commenced an 
apprenticeship at the machinist'strade, in Dickson's Locomotive Works, 
Scranton, where he remained four years; he then came to Sayre, where 
he has since been engaged in his trade in the Lehigh Valley Railroad 
shops at that place. He was married to Miss Anna, daughter of Luke 
and Mary (Warren) McGraw, of Waverly, N. Y., and to them have been 
born two children: Agnes, born September 4, 1884, and Gertrude, born 
November 6, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. McDonough are members of the 
Roman Catholic Church at Sayre; in politics he takes no active ])art, 
but rather devotes his entire attention to his trade, and it may be truly 
said of him that he is a complete master of his art. 

THEODORE L. McFADDIN, farmer, P. O. Granville Centre, 
was born in Lewisburg, Union Co.. Pa., June 2, 1841, a son of William 
W. and Harriet (Loushbaugh) McFaddin, and is of Irish and Dutch 
descent. He was reared in his native county, until twelve years of age, 
when he went to Williamsport, where he served an apprenticeship of 
four years at the confectioners' trade, after which he worked at the 
business as a journeyman until the breaking out of the Civil War. In 
October, 1861, he enlisted in Company G, Eighth Pennsylvania Cav- 
alry, and served until May 25, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. 
He participated in all the engagements of the Army of the Potomac, 
and was wounded in his right arm at the battle of Reams Station. 
After his discharge he returned to Williamsport, and in 1872 settled 
in Granville township, this county, where he has since been engaged 
in farming and poultry business. In 1870 he married Julia, daughter 
of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gamble) Babb, of Babb's Creek, Tioga Co., 
Pa., and has one son, Louis T. Mr. McFaddin is a member of the 
F. & A. M., Union Veteran Legion, G. A. R. and K. of P.; politically 

EDWAIU) O." MACFARLANE, president of the Citizens' National 
Bank, Towanda, and superintendent of the Barcla}' Railroad and the 
Long Valley Coal Company, is a son of the late James Macfarlane, of 



994 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

whom it is no disi)aragenient to the eminent men of Bradford county, 
to say that he will take his place in history as pre-eminent, for in the 
varied walks of his busy life, lawyer, scholar, geologist, scientist and 
author, he has left his indelible footprints. > Edward O. Macfarlane 
is the eldest of six children of James and Mary (Overton) Macfarlane; 
the latter was a daughter of Edward Overton, Sr., and a native of 
Towanda. Their other children are: Graham Macfarlane, of Louis- 
ville. Ky.; James R. Macfarlane, attorney, of Pittsburgh; Ella, Mrs. 
William Little, of Towanda; Mary (Mrs. E. J. Angle) and Eugenia. The 
son, reared in such a family, had far more than the average advan- 
tages in the start of life. The surroundinij-s were gentle and refined, 
and the parents had that high order of culture that must impress 
itself upon even its associates in the outer world, and far more so, of 
course, on the loved ones beneath the family roof-tree. Our subject 
was born March 24, 1849. in Bloomfield, Perry Co, Pa., and came to 
Towanda when two years old, and passed through ^he public schools 
and thence to college, where he enjoved the best advantages, and left, 
in 1864, to enter the United States Naval Academv, Annapolis, as 
midshipman, where he remained until 1869, when he was graduated; 
he resigned from the navy in October, 1871, at the time as ensign, and 
Soon thereafter became engaged in the wholesale coal trade, in Elmira, 
and from there removed to Rochester, and was in this business and 
prosecuted it successfully, until 1879, when he became connected with 
the Long Valley Coal Company, and is now filling the position of 
superintendent and president. His father was at the time of his death 
one of the directors of the Citizens National Bank, Towanda, and his 
son was elected to fill the vacancy in the board, November 10, 1890. 
On the resignation of Judge Benjamin M. Peck, he was elected presi- 
dent of that institution. 

A. McKINNEY, jeweler. Athens, is anative of Athens, this county, 
born February 16, 185."), and is a son of Henry and Amanda (Brink) 
McKinney, natives of this county. The mother died July 20, 1883, in 
her sixty-four year ; the father is a resident of Athens. A. McKinney, 
who is the youngest in a family of three children, received a public- 
school education, and at the age of seventeen began work at the 
jeweler's trade in Athens, in which he was employed until 1878. when 
he began business for himself. He carries a fine stock of watches, 
cU)cks and silverware. Mr. ]\[cKinney was married in Athens, IMarch 
15, 1881, to Miss Emma M., daughter of Delos and Teresa (llepass) 
Jordan, natives of Tioga county, Pa., and residents of Athens (she is 
the elder of two children, and was born in Lawrenceville, Tioga county, 
June 25, 1862). To Mr. and Mrs. McKinney were born two children 
viz.: Minnie B. and Fi'ed. Mr. McKinney is a member of the F. & 
A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 7<». has passed the chairs in the subor- 
diuiite L()dfi:e, and is a member of the Tiahoga Societv of Athens. 
Politicallv he is a, Republican. 

HUSTON McKINNEY, farmer, Ulster township, P.O. Ulster, was 
l)()rn in Litchliehl township, this county, March 17, 1883, and is the 
son of Henry and Anna (Itussell) McKinney, natives of Pennsylvania 
and New York, resi)ectively, who are of the agricultural class and had 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 995 

a farm of ITO acres in Litchfield township, and were among the jiio- 
neers ; they had a family of eleven children — five boys and six girls — 
and of these are surviving, J. H., Mary L., Sarah, Francis, 0. E. Mc- 
Kinney and Huston, all of Litchfield. The father died in September, 
1879, aged eighty-two; the mother had ])assed away the preceding- 
May, at the age of seventy-nine. Huston McKinney, the subject of 
the sketch, received his education in the old school-house, in the short 
winter session. When of age he taught school in Ulster, two terms. 
He enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Regiment N. Y. 
V, L, Company K, August 31, and served until June 8, 1865; he was 
in the battles of Po})lar Springs Church, Hatcher's Run (before Peters- 
burg) and the capture of Petersburg. In November, 1865, he pur- 
chased the farm on which he resides, of 150 acres, now highly improved 
and stocked; he was married, the first time, in 1855, to Sarah L. Lenox, 
sister of -L. P. Lenox, and they had three children : Elma M.. died in 
infancy; Nora L., married to"^Edward Huflf; Luella M., married to 
William McQueen. His first wife died February 20, 1873. He was 
married, the second time, to Ellen, daughter of Hugh Templeton, and 
of this union are five children, as follows: Robert IL, Hugh H., 
Sarah Ellen, Leon K. and Carrie M. Mr. McKinney is a member of 
the Equitable Aid Union, No. 244:; member and steward of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, in politics a Republican, and is one of the lead- 
ing and prosperous farmers of the countv. 

JOSEPH MclvINNET, P. O. Athens, youngest son of Henry and 
Rebecca (Hinman) McKinney, was born in Athens township, SeVem- 
ber 17, 1802, on the old Franklin farm near where he purchased a farm 
and lived until his death, June 17, 1879. His father was among the 
first settlers of the township. December 18, 1828, he married Mary 
Bidlack, and located on the farm he had previously purchased, and 
built a log house; she survived him twelve years, and died. May 10, 
1891, in the eighty -sixth year of her life. Six children were born to 
them: Eliza, born March 21, 1830, married C. S. Wheaton, and is still 
living ; Horace, born February 5.1832, died January 19,1877, unmarried ; 
Clarissa, born September 14,^1834, married to T. W. Brink, and is still 
living ; Joseph, Jr., born February 11, 1838. lives on the old homestead ; 
Alfred, born June 3, 1842, died" December 3,1843, and Anna, born 
June 9, 1845, died June 15, 1875. Joseph McKinney, Jr., married 
Emily Yangorder, January 2, 1862, and to them were born four chil 
dren: Horace, born December 4, 1865, died Julv 20, 1890; Delia, born 
December 21. 1866; Mary, born October 23, 1868, and Johnnie, born 
September 8. 1873, died October 26, 1882. 

MICHAEL J. McNULTY, of the firm of Haggerty & McNulty, 
masonry contractors, Troy, was born in Troy, Jiradford Co., Pa., August 
29, 1859, and is a son of Michael and Alice (FLiggerty) McNulty. 
His paternal grandfather, Michael McNulty, was a native of Ireland 
and an early settler of Towanda, this county, where he reared a fam- 
ily of three children: Michael, Bridget and Maggie, of whom Michael, 
a native of Towanda, and a painter by trade, in early life located in 
Troy, where he worked at his trade until his death, "in 1859; his wife 
was a daughter of Richard and Margaret Haggerty, natives of Ireland, 



996 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and by her he had one son, Michael J., who was reared in Troy, was 
educated in the pnblic schools and learned the mason's trade, at which 
he served an apjirenticeship of five years. lie afterward worked as a 
journeyman one 3'ear, and in 1879 formed a partnership with his uncle, 
John Hago-ert\', as contractors in stone and brick masonry, in which he 
has since successfully continued. Mr. McXulty married, April 15, 1885, 
Alice, daughter of^ Martin and Katherine (Gleason) Kyan, of Troy, 
and formerly of Ireland, the issue of which union is one daughter, 
Katie L, Mr. McNulty is a member of the Catholic Church ; in poli- 
tics he is a Democrat. 

MICHAEL MoMAIION, proprietor of the '' Bradford House," 
Towanda, was born at Foot of Plane, in Barclay township, this county, 
September 27, 1859, and is a son of Simon and Mary (Falsey) 
McMahon, natives of County Clare, Ireland, who, for many years, 
were residents of Barclay, this county, and are now living at Arnot, 
Tioga Co.. Pa. jMicliael was reared in Barclay, where he received a 
common-school education, and after attaining his majority he learned 
the blacksmith trade, which occupation he followed four years. He 
has been a i-esident of Towanda, since 1881; clei'ked in hotel several 
years; in 1887 embarked in the hotel business, and has been proprietor 
and popular landlord of his present house since 1890. On February 
22, 1887, he married Margaret, daughter of Nicholas and Winifred 
Irvin. of Towanda, and formerly of County Clare, Ireland. JMr. and 
J\Irs. McMahon have had three children, viz.: Joseph S., born August 
22, 1887; Mary, born September 2, 1888, and Winifred, born Septem- 
ber 15, 1890. Mr. McMahon is a member of the Roman Catholic 
Church, and in })()litics he is a Democrat. 

ISAIAH McPHERSON, Esq., of Towanda, a member of the law 
firm of McPherson & Angle, was born in Ilerrick township, Bradford 
Co., Pa., August 15, 1847. His parents, William and Mary (Kennedy) 
McPherson, emiorated from Ireland to this countrv in the vear 1840, 
and pui'chased a farm in that township, where they contmued to 
reside until his death, which occurred in 1887, when he was aged 
eighty-three years ; here his widow still resides, at the age of eighty- 
one years, with her eldest son, John. The subject of this sketch, who 
is their fourth child, in the order of birth, spent his early life at home 
on the farm, and improved such advantages for acquiring an education 
as the public schools and neigiil)oring academies afforded, until in 
lSfi5, when he became a student at the Towanda Susquehanna Colle- 
giate Institute, and, in 1808, of LaFayette College, where he remained 
for two years. In 1870 he began the study of law at Towanda. Pa., 
under the directions of the late Hon. P. D. Morrow, and was admitted 
to the bar in May, 1872. Upon his admission to the bar, he immedi- 
ately o]Kmed an office in Towanda, and began the practice of his ])ro- 
fcssion. He was soon regarded as <me of the ablest young lawyers at 
the Bradloi'd county l)ar. In 1S77 he was eleeted district attorney of 
the county, and discharged the duties of the ollice with marked al)ii- 
ily. He is an ai)le lawyer, and has a large general practice. He takes 
great interest and displays much earnestness in the trial of cases. Mr. 
McPherson cast his first vote (just after entering college in 1868) for 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 097 

Gen. Grant for President, and has kept on voting with tlie Republican 
]'>arty ever since. He is a favorite campaign s{)eaker in ])olitical con- 
tests. He has never been a candidate for, or hekl any office, except 
tliat of district attorney, from 1877 to 1880. He was married, in 1879, 
to Miss Berenice JVIcGill, a daughter of Hiram W. and Emily (Sweet) 
McGill, of Towanda, Pa., and they had two beautiful little daughters, 
Christine and Gertrude, but the former died in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. 
McPlierson are both members of the Presbvterian Church. 

ARTHUR B. McKEAN, of Beardsley & McKean, general hard- 
ware merchants, Troy, was born in West Burlington, this county, 
August 4, 1850, and is a son of James S. and Sarah W. (Blackwell) 
McKean. His paternal grandparents were Robert and Martha (Wilson) 
McKean, and his great-grandparents were James and Jane (Scott) 
McKean; the hitter, who were natives of Scotland, resided for some 
time in Cecil county, Md., then settled in West Burlington township, 
on what is known as the County Farm, in 1791, and resided in that 
township until their death; their children were: Allen, William, 
James, Andrew, John, Rebecca (Mrs. John Dobbins), Robert, Samuel, 
Benjamin and Jane (Mrs. John Calkins) ; of these, Samuel was United 
States Senator from Pennsylvania, and lived and died on the old 
hotnestead. Robert, the paternal grandfather of Arthur B., also 
resided in Burlington township until his death, and cleared and 
improved a farm. By his wife, Martha Wilson, he had the following 
children: Allen, Thomas J., Noah W., Lemira (Mrs. John Lilley), 
Andrew J.. James S., Robert, and Jane (Mrs. Edward Kemp); of 
these, James S., father of the subject of this sketch, was born, reared 
and died in what is now West Burlington township. He was a black- 
smith by trade, and was postmaster of West Burlington for eight 
years; his wife was a daughter of John and Sarah (Blackwell) Black- 
well, natives of England. Thev had one son, Arthur B., who was 
reared in West Burlington, educated at Susquehanna Institute, 
Towanda, and began life as a bookkeeper in Troy, Pa., in August, 
1868, which he followed three years m Troy, and two years in Wil- 
liamsport ; he then engaged in the grocery business one year at 
Williamsport; returned to West l>urlington in 1873, and embarked in 
general merchandise business, in which he continued up to 1878, and 
then enoao-ed in the lumber business. In 1884 he located in Trov and 
engaged in the hardware business as member of the firm of Beardsley, 
Spalding & McKean. He married, June 17, 1873, Sibyl, daughter of 
Bingham L. and Abbie (Pierce) Rockwell, of Trov, and has one son, 
Scott R. Mr. McKean is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
is the present burgess of Trov, and in politics is a Republican. 

COLONEL HENRY B.' MoKEAN, of Towanda, was born in 
Columbia township, this county, September 13, 1831, and is a son of 
Benjamin and Elizabeth (Mathewson) McKean. His paternal grand- 
parents were James and Jane (Scott) McKean, of Scotch-Irish descent, 
pioneers of Burlington township, this county, and who lived and died on 
what is now known as the County Poor Farm. The maternal grand- 
])arents were William and Elizabeth (Satterlee) Mathewson, formerly 
of Connecticut, and pioneers of Tioga Point (now Athens), this county. 

58 



9;»8 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

The father of our subject spent most of his life in Columbia township, 
and was a farmer by occupation. lie was sheriff of Bradford county 
m 1828, '29 and '30, and was thrice married; his first wife was Lucy 
Calkins, of Burlington, by whom he had two sons, James C. and 
Charles S. ; his second wife was Elizabeth Mathewson, by whom he 
had two children, twins, Henry B. and Helen E. (Mrs. Dudley Long) : 
his third wife was Laura LeBarron, by whom he had one daughter, 
Alma (Mrs. Hezekiah Lament). Henry B. was reared in Bradford 
county, and educated at Troy and Athens academies; he studied law 
with John C. Adams and William Elwell, of Towanda, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1855. He practiced his profession until the breaking- 
out of the Civil War, and had been postmaster of Towanda, during 
Buchanan's administration. April 21, 1861, he enlisted in Company 
I, Sixth Eegiment Pennsylvania Reserves, and April 22, 1861, was 
elected and commissioned second lieutenant of the company ; on the 
organization of the regiment. June 22. 1861, was appointed adjutant, 
and A])ril 1, 1862. was commissioned lieut.-colonel of the regiment. 
Pie participated in the battles of Dranesville, Ya., the Peninsular cam- 
paign. Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam, but on 
account of disability was compelled to resign, and was discharged by 
brigade and corps surgeons' certificate of disability, Xoveraber 25, 
1862. On Lee's invasion of Pennsvlvania, in 1863, he was commis- 
sioned colonel of the Thirty-fifth Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia. 
He resumed the practice of law at Towanda. where he continued until 
1875, when he entered the employ of the Lehigii Yallev liailrijad as 
attorney and car agent, at Sayre, Pa., which position he held until 
1880, when he again resumed the practice of law at Towanda, and 
continued until 1887, when he was appointed to a position in the Pen- 
sion Bureau, Washington, D. C. In 1888 he was transferred to the 
Executive Mansion, and remained there until March, 1890, when he 
was transferred to the Pension Bureau of the Interior Department, 
where he now is. Col. McKean was married, November 19. 1869. to 
Mary E., daughter of John P. and Mary E. (Sayre) Cox, of Bethlehem, 
Pa., and has one son, John C. He is a member of the Episcopal 
Church, is past master of Union Lodge, No. 108; past H. P. Union 
Chapter, No. 161, past E. C. Northern Commandery, No. 16, K. T., Tow- 
anda. Pa., Scottish Rite, Thirty-second degree. Bloomsburg and Harris- 
burg Consistory; ]iast G. C grand commandery Ivnights Templar of 
P(,'nnsylvania, ])ast comnutndei' Watkins Post. G. A. R., No. GS, 
Towanda, Pa., and member of the Militaiy Order of the Loyal Legion 
of the United States Commandery, of the District of Columbia, and 
member of the Military Order, Sons of American Revolution, of Wash- 
ington. D. C. Elisha Mathewson, his great-grandfather, enlisted 
August 1, 1777, under Capt. Robert Durkee. and Lieut. Spaldinn-. and 
was discharged in Novembei-, 1783, (icoi'ge AVashington certifying to 
six and a half years of sei'vicc; ]»olitically he is a Democrat. 

CHARLES J. MclvKE, fai'nu*r aiul dairyman. P. O. Grovcr, is a 
native of Canton township, this ccjunty, aiul was born March 25. 1859, 
a son of John McKee, who was born in County Down, Ireland, March 
17, 1824; his parents were John and Klizabeth (McMahon) McKee, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 999 

natives of Scotland. Mr. McKee emigrated, in 1850, to New York 
with his family, where he remained five years, and then removed to 
Canton township, where he has since resided on his farm. Mr. McKee 
was married in Ireland, in 1850, to Margaret, daughter of James and 
Sarah (Dougan) Clements, natives of County Armagh, Ireland, and of 
Scotch descent. She is the youngest in a family of seven children, and 
was born in County Armagh, March 7, 1830. To them were born four 
children, of whom two are now^ living: Joseph A., married to Gertrude 
Fitzwater, and Charles J. Our subject received his education in the 
public schools, and has made farming and dairying his occupation, 
shipping most of his milk to Williamsport. He was married in Canton 
township, June 2, 1887, to Harriet, a daughter of Ichabod and Harriet 

A. (King) Sellard. Mr. Sellard was born in Canton township, March 
24, 1821, the youngest son of Stephen and Polly Sellard; he married, 
in 1845, Harriet, the youngest daughter of John and Sophia King of 
Tioga county, Pa., who were earl}^ settlers of Sullivan township, Tioga 
Co., Pa. Mrs. McKee's great-grandfather, Simon King, was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary War, and her grandfather, Stephen Sellard, was 
a .soldier in the War of 1812. Ichabod Sellard was a farmer and cattle 
dealer; was instrumental m getting the switch railroad ])ut at Grover ; 
owned an ore mine near there, and also gave the land for the switch ; 
he died October 21, 1877; Mrs. Sellard died January 22, 1888, in her 
sixty-first year. Mrs. McKee is the youngest in order of birth in a 
family of five children, of whom four are now living, and she was born 
in Canton township, January 23, 1866. To Mr. and Mrs. MoKee was 
born one son, Harry C. The family are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. He is a member of Grover' Grange, No. 815, and is secretary 
of the same. Politically he is a Pepublican. 

McKEE BROS., proprietors of the Towanda Daily Review, Elmer 

B. McKee being general manager, and Frank C. McKee, editor. The 
publication firm was formed in June, 1885, and has been one of the 
prosperous houses of the county's capital; the paper started "Inde- 
pendent'' and the "boys" are evidently to be considered as much so 
as their valued publication; and in public life the man or paper that is 
"Independent" of all cliques and clans may w^ell be envietl. The 
gi-andfather, Asa McKee, was a pioneer in Orwell township and a 
prominent citizen, his son Robert McKee, who died at Towanda, 
April 7, 1891, the father of these brothers, was born in Orwell in 1829, 
and came to Towanda in 1868. His wife, the mother of three chil- 
dren, was Jane E. Craft, a native of New York. Elmer B. McKee, who 
was born February 4, 1859, became widely known as a teacher before 
entering the publishing line; lie is a product of the Towanda public 
schools and the Susquehanna Collegiate College, where he graduated 
in 1873, then attending the State Normal, at Oswego, N. Y., where he 
graduated in 1882. He had been teaching in Towanda and at Sayre, 
and in 1884 was employed in the Teachers' Institute work. He was 
married, January 29, 1891, to Fannie M. Burns, of Fresno, (kl. He is 
a member of the school-board, the Presl^vterian ( 'hui'ch, and Towanda 
Lodge, No. 107, I. O. O. F. 



1000 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTT. 

JOHN McQueen, florist, Kobert Packer Hospital, Sayre, is a 
native ol" Scotland, and was born August 1, 1825. His parents were 
Huo-h and Jane (Cornell) McQueen, natives of Scotland, who immi- 
grated to this county about the year 1852, and here the former died, 
m 1859, in his eighty-third year, and the latter in 1876, in her seventy- 
eio-hth year. John McQueen, who is the second in eleven children, 
was reared in Scotland, and came to Philadelphia, in ISIS; he learned 
floriculture, and in 1852 came to Smith field; then removed to Ulster 
township, and engaged in farming and lumbering until the spring of 
1883, when he came to Sayre and took charge of the greenhouses, 
grounds, etc., of the Robek Packer Hospital. One greenhouse is 
20x80 feet, and the other 24x120 feet. Mr. McQueen w^as married, in 
Smithfield township, in 1856, to Miss Emma, daughter of Ira and 
Sophia (Mason) Adams, natives of Connecticut (she is the fifth in a 
family of eight children, and was born in Smithfield, in 1833, and 
died in 1875). To Mr. and Mrs. ]\[c(iueen were born seven children, 
of whom four are now living, as follows: William, Mary (wife of 
W. S. Sleighter), Annie and Frank. Five of our subject's brothers 
served in the Civil War. Mr. McQueen casts his suffrage with the 
Democratic party. 

JOHN MADDEN, engineer, Lehigh Yalley Railroad, Sayre, a 
native of Towanda, this county, was born Decem.ber 15, 181:9, and is 
a son of Patrick and Mary (Lyons) Madden, natives of Ireland, who 
immigrated to Towanda in L836. The mother died in May, 1889, in 
her seventy-third year; the father is still living. John, who is the 
seventh in a family of nine children, found his first occupation in life 
at boating for the railroad company; then he worked on the track for 
some time. About the year 1869 he began firing for the L. V. R. R., 
and afterward was promoted to first engineer, which position he has 
held since. He was married in Dushore, Sullivan Co., Pa., in 1863, to 
Miss Ann, daughter of John and Mary (Clarey) Dauglierty, natives of 
Ireland (she is the second in a family of seven children, and was born 
in Ireland in 1848). Mr. and Mrs. Madden had eleven children, three 
of whom died young. The living are: Kate (wife of John Sherry, 
of Elmira), Annie, James, ALaggie, Agnes, Nellie, Jerry and Mary. 
The family are members of the Ptoman Catholic Church. Mr. Mad- 
den is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and is 
a Republican in ])olitics. 

MAJOR-GENERAL II. J. MADILL, Towanda, is a Bradford 
count}^ man whose military fame is national, and whose record in the 
Civil War will ever fonn a most thrilling chapter of our country's 
historv. He was born in Adams county, this State, March 30, 1829, 
the son of Dr. Alexander Mudill, a native of L'cland, born of Scotcli- 
Irisii stock, and who immigrated to America in 1823, locating in 
Hunterstown, Adams Co., J*a., where he was in the practice of his 
])rofession; thence he removed to Bradford county, settling in Wysox 
township, in 1831, where he had an extensive practice many years, 
and died in 1852; his family of children were five in number — four 
sons and one daughter- -of whom Gen. II. J. Madill is the eldest. 
The subject of this memoir received a liberal education, both from 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1001 

private teachers and in an academy, and then entered, as a law student, 
the office of John C Adams, in Towaiida. He was licensed as an 
attorney in 1851, and, opening a law office, rose quickly in the line of 
his profession. He was thus busily engaged when the Civil War 
coming upon the devoted land; he laid down his briefs, buckled on his 
sword, and was one of the first to answer his country's call. With 
two companies he went to Ilarrisburg, where they found the call for 
three months' men was alread}^ full, and that thev'^ could not be 
received; but in a few days, June 26, 1861, they were mustered into 
the three years' service, as a part of the Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, 
Henry J. Mad ill, major. He was with this command, in the front, 
until August 30, 1862, when he was appointed colonel of the One 
Hundred and Forty -first Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry. The 
already brilliant service of Maj. Madill pointed to him as the proper 
person to take command as colonel of this regiment, seven companies 
of which had been recruited in Bradford county. The "boys" bailed 
this fortunate appointment with joy, and from that hour until the day 
of its muster-out there was no command in the Union army that was 
more conspicuous for dash and courage; as cool in the fiercest of the 
battle as at the mess-table, always careful of the lives of his men, yet 
as reckless of danger to himself as a plumed knight, he forged his wa\^ 
to the highest militar}^ office ever conferred upon any one from Brad- 
ford county — from major of a regiment, at the beginning of the war, 
to that of brevet-major-general at its close. His command of the One 
Hundred and Forty-first Regiment was itself not only historical, but 
soon made a reputation for that command that was as brilliant as it 
was dangerous to the lives of the total membership. The chaplain 
and historian of the regiment, Rev. David Craft, in his history says: 
"To show the estimation in whicli they were held by the officers of 
the Corps, I need now but mention the fact that they were selected 
by the Division and Corps commanders, in the celebrated mud march 
of Gen. Burnsides, to cross the river alone, carry the opposite heights 
at the point of the bayonet, and hold the crest of the hill, in order that 
the army might cross to the opposite side, for the purpose of attacking 
Fredericksburg in the rear. * ^'' - Through thirty-three battles, in 
which they fought, they never became demoralized, or willingly turned 
their back upon the foe." 

It is said that in the loss of life on the battlefield there was but 
one other regiment in the Union Armies that could show a longer list 
than this Bradford command; " two-thirds of the men on its rolls 
carrying muskets" is the awful score of death on its balance-sheet. 
The remnant of this regiment made forever famous the spot they 
occupied in the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. They had entered 
that field of carnage 200 strong, and already twenty of the brave boys 
had fallen ; Gen. Madill says : " I now found myself alone with a 
small regiment of one hundred and eighty men; twenty had been 
killed or wounded by the severe cannonade, and in a charge of the 
Eighth South Carolina Regiment." This little band received the 
shock of a charge by overwhelming numbers ; thirty of the one 
hundred and eighty fell at the first fire of the enemy, and in a 



1002 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

moment, as it were, twenty -seven lie dead on the field, and one hundred 
.more are prone on the ground, bleeding from severe wounds; the 
color-bearers and all the color-guards are killed or severely wounded, 
when Col. Madill seizes the flag, and marches slowly from the slaughter 
pen, with but nineteen of his brave boys able to follow him. The little 
forlorn hope are met by Gen. Sickles who beseechingly says to Col. 
Madill: '"Colonel, for God's sake, can't you hold on?" when with 
tears and choking voice he answers: " Where are my men ? " Of the 
nineteen followers of their leader were tliree officers, Capt. Horton, and 
Lieuts. Brainard and Atkinson, the latter of whom, though severely 
wounded, was able to w^alk and was at his post. There is nothing in 
war history, not even the "Charge of the Six Hundred," that is more 
thrilling than this stand by the little band of heroes under Col. Madill 
at Gettysburg. It was more than " when Greek meets Greek," it was 
the flower and pick of the Virginia veterans hurling themselves like a 
thunderbolt of lead and flame and iron upon the brave and unconquer- 
able Pennsylvanians, the leader of whom was defending nearly the 
very spot on which he was born, standing as a stone-wall, defying the 
invading foe. 

Gen. Graham being taken prisoner. Col. Madill was placed in com- 
mand of the brigade, and was commissioned brigadier-general, Decem- 
ber 2, 1S64-, and brevet major-general, March 13, 1865. He was 
wounded by a sharpshooter at Sutherland's Station, April 2, 1865, in 
cliarging a battery at the head of his brigade, the ball lodging in the 
groin, from the effects of wiiich wound he has never recovered. The 
others were slight wounds, one received at Petersburg and the other 
at Gettysburg. The number of bullets that passed through his clothes, 
and the six horses that had been shot from under him in different 
engagements, look as though he escaped with his life through naught 
else than Providential interference. When he had sufficiently recovered 
from his last wound to be moved, the war was over, so as soon as able 
he returned to his Towanda home, and resumed the practice of law. 
This, how^ever, was soon interferred with by bis election, in 1866, to 
the office of register and recorder of Bradford county, in which he 
served a full term. In 1879 he represented this district in the State 
Legislature. In 1890, in obedience to the behests ol" his many friends 
all over the county, he stood for the office of prothonotary, in opi)osi- 
tion to the regular Republican party nomination, was trium])hant|y 
elected on the Independent ticket, and is now filling that ])osition. No 
man in the county stands fairer with all classes of the people than 
Gen. Madill— cheerful, kind, affable and suave, the w^orld is his friend, 
but it is for his old comrades to love him in those strong bonds that 
came of lite in the tented field. 

Maj. 11. J. Madill was united in marriage, in this county, in 1856, 
with Ellen, daughter of George Scott, and they have one son, Harry, 
who is now in the West. The family worship at the Presbyterian 
Church ; the Major is a member of the G. A. R., the I. O. O. P., and 
of the K. of P. 

THOMAS F. MADILL, M. D., a native of Kingston, Pa., was born 
September 30, 1828, a son of Alexander and liose (Edgar) Madill. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1003 

His father was a physician ol' distinction in his (hiy, receiving his 
education in Edinburgh, Scotland, and coming to Penns\'lvania in 
18ir»; he first settled at Kingston and in ISoO removed to "Wj'sox, 
where he spent the remainder of his life in the practice of his profes- 
sion ; he died in 1864; his family were seven in number, five of whom 
grew to their majority, and of these Thomas F. Madill was the second 
in order of birth, and has spent his life in the spot where he now lives. 
He received a good education in the common schools and Collegiate 
Institute, attending J^afayette college after leaving tl)e Towanda Insti- 
tute. He commenced a course of reading in his father's office in 1850, 
and completed his preliminary studies in the office of Dr. George 
F. Horton, of Terrytown ; 'then he attended Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia, where he was graduated March 13, 1855, and at 
once returned to his home and opened his office, engaging in the 
general practice of j)hysic, but, perhaps, gaining a more extensive repu- 
tation from his operations in surgery than otherwise. One operation, 
the treatment of tiie tibia by the successful insertion of ivory, became 
a noted first case of the kind, and was given in extenso in the " Phila- 
delphia Examiner," 1863 ; he has probably ridden more miles, and 
visited more cabins and farm houses of every degree, than any other 
physician ever in the county. His long professional life has been one 
unbroken success, and while advancing years and wealth have come 
together in his case, he still ministers to the afflicted, but mostly where 
the prejudice of old friends will not allow them to be sent away. Fie 
was married in Bradford county, October 5, 1857, to Eliza M. Weston, 
by whom there are four children living: Jean Lillian, William Lester, 
Daisy Dean and Robert Packer. Mrs. Madill is a daughter of the late 
Dr John N. Weston, of Towanda. No man stands fairer with the 
people of Bradford, both professionally and socially, than F)r. Madill, 
in ids long residence and an active business life ; and now as an 
age is coming with its wane in some respects, his high moral cour- 
age, that command of a strong will over dull matter, still asserts 
itself unmistakably on all proper occasions, and easily commands due 
deference and respect. The Doctor is in the meridian of his intellectual 
vigor, and his trained hand can still guide the surgeon's knife with all 
the steady precision of perfect machinery. His residence in the rich 
Wysox valley is a model of elegance and solid comfort, and is the pro- 
duct of his active professional life, backed by a tireless energy. 

WILLIAM M. MALLORY, coal operator, Towanda, was born 
November 25, 1817, in what is now Corning, N. Y., and is a son of Laurin 
and Mary (Mead) Mallory. His paternal grandfather, Ebenezer Mallory, 
whose wife was Clara Judson, was a nativeof Connecticut, and a son of 
Ebenezer Mallory. He was a pioneer of the Johnson settlement in Schuy- 
ler county, N. Y., and was a farmer. Laurin Mallory was a pioneer of what 
IS now Corning, N. Y., where he was extensively engaged in lumbering, 
merchandising and farming, and also as a shipper of grain and other 
produce down the Susquehanna river in the pioneer days. He was also 
identified with the first bank of Corning, and for a time served as 
cashier, and this bank was one of those that survived the financial 
crisis of 1842. He married, in Corning, Mary, daughter of Eldad Mead, 



1004 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

a pioneer of that section, and a brother of WiUiam Mead, founder of 
Meadville, Pa. William was reared in what is now Ooi'iiing, and re- 
ceived a high-school education, studied civil engineering, in which he 
became proficient in a short time, and was one of an engineer corps 
when there were but three finished raih'oads in the United States, He 
joined this corps in 1837, though he had worked as a surveyor the 
vear previous, and followed that profession for seven years; he then 
operated the Blossburg Railroad, under lease, until 1853, mined atl the 
coal at that place during that time, and up to 1858, when he sold out, 
and spent four years thereafter closing up his business affairs connected 
with the railroad and his Blossburg interests, and spent the years 18G2 
and 1863 at Irvmgton, N. Y. In 1864 he located in Towanda, where 
he has since resided. From 1864 to 1875 he was manager of the Fall 
Creek Coal Company, since which time he has been operating in the 
coalfields of the Wyoming district, lie wa^ twice married: his first 
wife was Sarah T., daughter of Judge Isaac and Sarah (Strong) 
McConachie, of Tro3^ X. Y., and by her he had three children, viz.: 
Catherine, William P. and Judson ; his second w^fe was Anna M., 
daughter of Lucius B. and Martha (Day) Peck, of Montpelier, A^t., and 
by her he had five children, as follows: Mary, Martha, Lucius B., 
Ilarriet Anna and William F. Mr. Mallory attends the Episcopal 
Church; in politics he is a Republican, and he attended the first con- 
vention of the partv held at Syracuse, in 1854. 

LAWRENCE H. M ALONE Y, farmer and breeder of Ilamble- 
tonian horses, Troy, was born in Trov borough, this county, July 4, 
185G, and is a son of Lawrence and Bridget (Ryan) Maloney, natives of 
County Tipperary, Ireland, who came to America in 1849, and settled 
in Troy borough, this county, where his father worked as a laboi-er 
until his children grew to maturity, when he purchased the farm now 
occujiied by subject, and resided there until his death. His children 
wei-e as follows: Bridget (deceased), Michael W., John, Mary (Mrs. 
Robert Gilbert), Anna, Lawrence II., and Ella; of these, Michael W. 
is a popular conductor on the New York, Lake Erie & Western Rail- 
road ; John is a local engineer on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, 
and Lawrence H., the subject proper of this sketch, resides on the old 
homestead, known as the "Troy Hill Stock Farm." lie has followed 
farming as an occupation since reaching his majority, and has estab- 
lished a reputation as a breeder of Hambletonian horses. He is a well- 
known citizen of Bradford county, a member of the Roman Catholic 
Church, and in ])olitics he is a Democrat. 

JAMES B. MANEY, manager of J. W. Carroll's clothing and 
merchant tailoring house, Athens, is a native of Bradford county, and 
was born August 10, 1856, a son of Thomas C. and Anna (Fitzgerald) 
Maney, natives of Ireland. The father immiarated to New York City 
eai'ly in life, and engaged in the hat, caj), and fur business, which he 
followed several 3^ears, but had to al^indon it. on account of failing 
health; then engaged in contracting and building canals and rail- 
road lines, and later in life he bought a farm in North Towanda town- 
shi]), where he resides. Mr. Mane}^, who is the third in a family of 
six children, received his early education in the common schools, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1005 

then attended <i Collegiate Institute about four terras. In 1877 he 
went West, and was in the minino: reoions in C^olorado and- New 
Mexico tor some time, then went to Emporia, Kans., where he received 
the contract for the stone Avork on the State Normal School at that 
place ; returned in the spring of 1881, and was in the employ of the 
Lehigh Valle)^ Railroad four years, and in May, 1885, he took charge 
of J. W. CarrolTs clothing and tailoring establishment in Athens. 
Mr. Maney was married in Towanda, this count}^, in 1881, to Miss 
Margaret E. McDonald, who was born in Buenos Ayres, South Amer- 
ica, in 1858, and to this union have be born two children — Lizzie and 
Mary. Mr. Maney served in the State Militia four years; in politics he 
is a Republican. 

SAMUEL N. MANLEY, farmer and stock-dealer, P. O. Gran- 
ville Centre, was born in Troy township, tiiis county, August 9, 1842, 
and is a son of Darius R. and So})hia A. (Merwin) Manley. His pater- 
nal grandfather, Darius Manley, was a native of Connecticut, and was 
among the first settlers in Tro}^ township, where he cleared and 
improved a farm, and there died; his first wife w^as Miss Phelps, by 
whom he had children as follows: D. Randolph, Charles, Abel, Gil- 
son, Sally (Mrs. Marcus Gillara), Abby (Mrs. Samuel Newman), and 
Almira (Mrs. Thomas Stull); by his second wife, Susan (Loomis), he 
had two children, Ebenezer L. and Susan (Mrs. Irani Wilson), The 
father of our subject was a farmer by occupation, and died in Troy 
township; his children were: Darius, Matthias, Scott, Polly A. (Mrs. 
Valentine Saxton), Ellen, Samuel N., Theodore, Charles, Frank, Ida 
(Mrs. F. C. Packard), Belle (Mrs. A. C. Smith) and Jessie. Samuel 
N. Manley was reared in Troy township, and received a common- 
school education. He w^as a soldier of the Civil War, enlisting August 
31, 1864, in Company I, Fifteenth New York Engineers, and was hon- 
orably discharged June 15, 1865. After his return home lie located 
in Troy, where he was in the restaurant business three 3'ears; 
then located in Granville, where he was eng-ao'ed in the mercantile 
business twenty-two years, fifteen years as a member of the firm of 
Taylor & Manley. He has also been engaged in farming and stock- 
dealing, and is the present postmaster at Granville Centre. Mr. Man- 
ley married, December 22, 1869, Ella, daughter of Luman D. and 
Matilda (Holcomb) Taylor, of Granville, and has six children: Walter, 
Luman, Belle, Matilda, Tavlor and Ida. He is a member of the 
Church of Christ, of the F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., and G. A. R. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

ULYSSES J. MANLEY, of Grohs & Manley, grocers, Troy, was 
born in Troy borough, this county. May 23, 1849, a son of Thomas S. 
and Lucy (Taylor) Manley. His paternal grandparents, Thomas and 
Betsey (Wright) Manley, were natives of near Hartford, Conn., and 
were among the first settlers of Canton township, where they cleared 
and improved a farm, and resided until their death. Their children 
Avere: Lucina (Mrs. S. H. Fitch), Lavina (Mrs. Joseph Lindley), Clara 
(Mrs. Henry Baxter), Marian (Mrs. Charles Stephens), Jane (Mrs. 
Jesse Stalford), Achsa (Mrs. B. S. Scott), Mercia (Mrs. Edward Wood- 
house), Ann (Mrs. William Lawrence), Thomas S. and Sylvester. 



lOOG HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Thomas S., father of Ulysses J. Manley, was born in Connecticut, was 
a wao-on-niaker by trade, and began his career as a wagon manufac- 
turer^'in Troy, in which business he continued for several years; then 
tauo-ht school at East Canton, and for the past tiiirty 3'ears has been 
encrao-ed in farming in Canton township. He is a breeder of thorough- 
bred'' Jersey cattle. His wife was a daughter of Allen and Olive 
(Stephens) Taylor, of Troy township, and by her he had eleven chil- 
dren: Lawrence, Ulysses J., Rollan, Lydia (Mrs. Arthur Mason), Lis- 
ten, Sarah (Mrs. Sumner Lilley), Jennie (Mrs. Eugene Chubbuck), 
Lulu Clara, Joel and Julia. Ulysses J. Manley, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared in Canton township, and educated at Troy public 
schools and Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, at Towanda. He began 
life for himself as a telegraph operator, which occupation he followed 
five years ; after which he engaged in the dray and express business, in 
Troy for eio-ht years. In 1886, he embarked in the general merchan- 
dise busines?, in Troy, as a member of the firm of Lamkm, Bloom ds 
Manley, and continued in that until 1888, when he became a member 
of the firm of Grohs & Manlev, grocers, in winch he has since con- 
tinued He married, November 5, 18T3, Jennie, daughter of Andrew 
and Cynthia (Ilolcomb) Spalding, of LeRoy, this county, by whom 
he has one son, Kav B. Mr. Manley is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church and I. O. 6. F.; he has served as burgess of Troy borough one 
term, and as councilman three years ; in politics he is a Republican. 

P J. MANN, Camptown, was born in Smithfield township, Mon- 
roe Co., Pa., June 29, 1845, a son of Henry and Harriet (Blood) Mann, the 
former of whom was born in Germany, and the latter in Connecticut. 
The father, who was a farmer, was born March 31, I80T, and was 
brouo-ht. when one year old, to America by his parents, who located in 
New°Jersey, and thence removed to this county, settling in Terry 
township, in April, 1854. They are still living, and have had a fainily 
oF eleven children (eight of whom survive) : John, a farmer ot Wya- 
lusino-; Sarah, married to B. T. Allen, a farmer in Terry township; 
Georo-e W., a mechanic, of Sugar Run ; Catherine and Rhoda (both 
deceased); Amzi, a mechanic, of Binghamton; Ellen, married to Ne - 
son White, a farmer in Terry township; P. J.; Matilda (deceased); 
Susan, married to AViiliam Farr, of Wyalusing, and Lydia, married to 
Henry Averv, a farmer, of Wilmot; three of the sons were in the 
service; George, in Battery 13, Fifth United States Artillery; Arazi, 
in the One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I.; and P. J. The subject 
of these lines was born and reared on a farm, and educated at the 
common schools. When eighteen years of age, March 28, 1864, he 
enlisted in Company K, Fifty-first P. V. I., and was in the battles of 
the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna and Cold Harbor, where he 
received a gunshot- wound through tlie right ankle ; was carried from the 
field to the hospital at Philadelphia, and was there and on furlough one 
year- then was transferred to Chestnut Hill Hospital, and received his 
discharge June 2, 1865 ; the wound has never properly healed, and has 
caused muscular atrophy of the entire limb. After coming home, Mr 
Mann entered the employ of John Bidleinan, a harness-maker ot 
Towanda, and learned the trade, working with him three years ; then 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1007 

returned home, and farmed five years; alter which he opened a sliop 
in Terr\'to\vn, this county, wliere he remained a slioi't time, then came 
to W3'alusino-, wliere he worked three years, when he opened a shop in 
Laceyville. The next four years were spent, first in Caraptown, and 
afterward in New Albany, but he returned to Camptown, and has 
since made that his home. In 1890 he built and opened the Wyalusing- 
Valley Poultry Yard, purchasing a " perfect hatcher and brooder," 
where he produces many different breeds. Mr. Mann was married 
January 1, 1S7S, to Clara E. Bump, of Camptown, and the}^ have three 
children: EarlJ., born October 7, 1882; Mark S., born May 3, 1880, 
and Laura H., born February 10, 1891. Mr. Mann is a member of 
Hurst Post, G. A. II., JSTo. S6; politically is a Republican. 

J. M. MAPR, chief of police, Wyalusing borough, was born in 
Philadelphia, March 15, 1845, a son of George and Mary (Murray) 
Marr, who came from Ireland, and were married in Philadelphia. The 
father immigrated to this country when a boy of seventeen or eighteen 
years of age, coming direct to Philadelphia; he became an engineer, 
and from Philadelphia he and his wife moved to Wyalusing township, 
thence to Wyoming county, and thence to Williamsport, where the 
father died in the winter of 1871, aged sixty-one ; the mother had died 
in 1885. Their family consisted of the following named children: 
Margaret, married to Patrick Burk, a mechanic, in Williamsport ; 
Mary, married to Patsey Carne3% of Williamsport; Ellen, married to 
Thomas Duffy, a lumberman, of Williamsport; Alice; George, who 
went to Minnesota, where he was lost ; Katie, in Williamsport; Ora, 
who died in infancy ; J. M. and James. His parents having left 
Philadelphia when the subject of this sketch was a small boy, he went 
to live with a relative in Lovelton, where he attended school, remain- 
ing there several vears, then rejoined his parents at Terrytown. When 
seventeen years old, he enlisted, January 25, 1864, in Company K, 
Fifty-first P. V.V.I, and was in the following engagements: the 
battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, White House 
Landing, Petersburg, where, June 19, 1864, in line of battle, he was 
wounded three times : first, by gunshot, which took off the forefinger of 
the left hand, and afterward received flesh wounds in the left shoulder 
and right hip. He was then taken to Harwood Hospital, Washington, 
D. C, where he remained till July 4, when he came home on furlough, but, 
being taken sick, had his furlough extended thirty days; was then 
transferred to the Invalid Corps, and was discharged, December 20, 
1864, on account of disability, being disqualified, aft6r his return, for 
manual labor for one and a half years; then, partially recovering, he 
followed teaming, but is now retired. Mr. Marr was married, Septem- 
ber 18, 1859, to Priscilla J. Corsin, of Terrytown, and they have three 
children : Ada (married to Henry Hall, of Wyalusing), Margaret and 
Emma. This wife dying, February 25, 1884, Mr. Marr married, 
September 13, 1890, Mrs. Hannah A. Camp, widow of T. B. Camp, 
and a daughter of Mason Brown, of Wyalusing; she had three chil- 
dren by her former marriage : Walter, Robert (deceased) and Emma. 
The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. 
Marr is a member of the G. A. R., Jackson Post, No. 74 ; politically 



1008 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

he is a Republican, and was elected chief of i)olice in 1890, and 
re-elected in 1891, both times unsolicited. 

HON. J. H. MARSH, real estate broker, Wyalusino', was born May 
7, 1822, and is a son of William and Martha (Nichols) Marsh. His 
father came tothiscount}^ September 7, 1817, and settled in Pike town- 
ship. The first of the family to come to America was William Marsh, 
Sr., a native of England, who immigrated to Connecticut in early Colo- 
nial times, but of his famiW little is known ; he had a son, Thomas, born 
in Connecticut, who married there and reared a family, of whom nearly 
all traces have been lost ; his son, Elihu, married Sarviah Abbv, and 
had a son, Joseph (the grandfather of Hon. J. H. Marsh), who mar- 
ried Abigad Waldo, and was the father of the following children: 
William (father of Hon. J. H. Marsh), born January 15, 1783, and died 
in his seventy-fifth year; Hannah, born September 10, 1785; Sarviah, 
born April 30, 1787 ; Arabella, born February 2, 1789 ; Waldo, born 
April 18, 1791; Allen, born Januar\' 8, 1797; Abigail, born August 
18, 1799, and Holeman, born April 28, 1802. William was the only one 
who came to this county; he was twice married, first to Rachel Nichols, 
by wdiom he had the following children : Elliott, born November 14, 
1802, died in 1853, who was a manufacturer of safes; Wealthy, born 
October 18, 1804, married to E. B. Mints, farmer of Herrick, she died in 
1864; Cordelia, born January 12, 1806 (she was also the wife of E. B. 
Mints, and died in 1826) ; Amy, born January 26, 1808, tnarried to 
M. D. F. Hines, a farmer of Herrick, and died in 1870. William M. 
Marsh was married, the second time, to Martha Nichols, a sister of his 
first wife, by whom he had the following children: Rachel, born 
March 2, 1811, married to John Bowles, a farmer and carpenter, of 
Pike, and died in 1876; Lois, born January 2, 1813, married to Davis 
D. Black, a farmer, of Tuscarora ; Aden, born i\larch 19, 1814, resided 
in Pike township until his death in 1846; Luc}^ born April 19, 1816, 
married to Daniel C. Miller, a farmer of Wilmot, Avhere they resided 
until her death, in 1882; Joseph H., born May 7, 1822; Isaac, born 
December 21, 1825, of Rome borough; Hannah, born April 24, 1832, 
married Gould Stevens, and removed to Carroll county, 111., where she 
died in 1856. Mrs. Wm. Marsh died in the winter of 1856. Wm. 
Marsh was a farmer and purchased a large body of land, upon his 
arrival in this county, which he cleared and fitted for cultivation. On 
this farm, Joseph H. Marsh, the subject of this sketch, was born and 
reared, with the only advantages ofi'ered to a boy of those times. 
Procuring a store of knowledge, he laid the foundation for that prac- 
tical business education that was to render him a successful man in 
later 3'ears; when sixteen years old he began his apprenticeship to 
learn the carpenter's and joiner's ti"ule, served two yeai-s. then started 
out for himself, and devoted his attention exclusively to his trade, until 
about 1843, when he purchased a farm in Herrick township; he then 
combined farming with his trade until 1847, when he sold his farm, 
and for one year worked at his trade in New Haven, Conn. Return- 
ing to this county he purchased the old homestead in Pike, where he 
turned his attention to farming for the next nineteen years; then he 
purchased a farm close to LeRaysville, and, moving onto it, combined 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1009 

farming with tanning and harness making. He was thereabout seven 
years, then moved to Wyalusing, where, in 1873, he purchased a tract 
of Jand and started a furniture manufactory. After being in business 
here two years, and just getting matters on a solid foundation, his 
factory, which was filled with furniture, was entirely destroyed by 
lire, which left him with his life over half gone, and his fortune, 
acquired by years of unremitting toil, swept away. Without repin- 
ing at his loss, he sold the residue of his real estate, and again returned 
to Pike, purchasing a small farm, and beginning anew ; after a short 
time spent on that farm, he traded it for a larger one, containing 265 
acres, which he still owns; he resided there from 1878 to 1880, when 
he returned to Wyalusing, where he purchased a tract of land, which 
he laid out m town lots, and opened his real-estate office, in which 
business he has since continued. Besides his farm in Pike, he owns a 
handsome residence in Wyalusing, also the Wyalusing Creamery build- 
ing, and many valuable town lots. 

Mr. Marsh has been three times married: the first time, on May 28, 
1842, to Eliza A. Stevens; she died childless, January 15, IS-lf), and Mr. 
Marsh afterward married, January 17, 18-18, Harriet Lines, of New 
Haven, by whom he had one child, W. D.. born November 20, 1818, 
who married Flora Welle, of Pike. This second wife dving, Novem- 
ber 20, 1848, he married, July 3, 1851, Sarah M. Carry," and had two 
children: Hattie L., born December 2,1856, and Langdon H., born 
January 7, 1860, who married Ella McCauley, and resides on his 
father's farm in Pike. Mr. Marsh is a stanch Republican in politics, 
and has held various town and borough offices. In the fall of 1863 he 
was elected a member of the State Legislature, and was re elected in 
1864; during the second term the bill introduced in the Senate by 
Jake Ridgeway, of Philadelphia, to charter the New York & Penn- 
sylvania Canal and Railroad Company, passed in the House, owing its 
passage to his successful engineering. The same session he advocated 
and voted for the constitutional amendment to abolish slavery in the 
United States. The people, having unbounded confidence in his 
JLulgment and integrity, again elected him to represent Bradford 
county in the Lower House, in 1881, where he served two years. The 
family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he has 
always been a liberal contributor; he is an active Freemason. He is 
one of the best representatives of the successful business men the 
county has produced ; starting in life with nothing but energy, good 
judgment and industry, he accumulated a considerable fortune, which 
was swept away; but now, having almost reached the autumn of life, 
he has accumulated a handsome competency, and is, to-day, one of Brad- 
ford's solid men. In connection with other business interests he has 
been executor and administrator of many estates; has had many wards 
entrusted to his guardianship, always giving jierfect satisfaction and 
commanding the esteem and trust of all for his careful management. 

REV. JAMES A. MARTIN, resident j)riest, Overton, is a native 
of Providence, R. 1., born April 25, 1853, and is a son of ('hristopher 
and Eliza (Sheridan) Martin, natives of County Tyrone, Ireland. The 
father was a mechanic and livervraan, who immigrated to America in 



1010 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

1820, locating in Providence, which he made his permanent home in 
the country of his adoption, and died there in 1886, his wife having 
precetled him to the grave in 1876. Their family consisted of eleven 
children, of whom the subject of this brief sketch is the eighth. His 
educational training was received in the schools of his native place, 
and then with the Christian Brothers, completing his literary course at 
the higher schools of, first at St. Lawrence College, Montreal, then at 
St. Bonaventure Seminary and College of Allegany, Cattaraugus Co., 
jN". Y., and then pursued his theological course until ordained a priest, 
when he was assigned, by the Bishop, to the charge of the parish at 
Towanda ; from there he was sent to Athens, then to Susquehanna, 
then to the cathedral at Scranton, and from there to his present charge 
at Overton. He has in his charge a congregation of 475 souls. His 
pious and gentle ministrations have contributed much to make this 
one of the favored congregations of the Mother Church. He is a faith- 
ful shepherd, relieving distress, and ministering, at all seasons, to the 
weary and afflicted; beloved by the children of the Church, and 
respected greatly by all to whom he is known. 

HIRAM MASON, farmer, of South Creek township,?. O. Bentley 
Creek, was born in Hamden, Delaware Co., N. Y., May 19, 1808, a son 
of William and Lydia (Payne) Mason, the former a native of Ireland, 
the latter of Connecticut. "^ William Mason came to this country -early 
in life, and located in Delaware county, N. Y., where he engaged in 
farming. His life, like that of all other farmers, had been uneventful; 
he reared a family of five children — three daughters and two sons— 
who grew to maturity, and tw^o are now living. Hiram is the third in 
the family, and is now in his eighty-third year ; he was reared and edu- 
cated in Hamden, N. Y., and wiien twenty -two years of age removed 
to Columbia township, where he lived thirty years, then removed to 
South Creek, after selling his farm in Columbia township, and bought 
one of 100 acres, which he has since added to until it has attained the 
proportions of 250 acres. When Mr. Mason removed to this county it 
was very thinly settled, but by hard labor, economy and perseverance, he 
succeeded in making for himself and his posterity a beautiful home. At 
the age of twenty-three he married Jane, daughter of Peter and 
Diadana Furman. on January 12,1832, at Columbia, and this union 
resulted in the l)irth of three' sons and three daughters, all of wliom 
grew to maturity, and four of them are now living, as follows : Emily, 
Furman, Walter and Laura, and all of whom are married and prosper- 
ous. Mr. Mason has lived a long and useful life, enjoying the full con- 
lidence of his fellow citizens, and has held the offices of town commis- 
sioner, auditor and sciiool director; he is a general farmer, but makes 
a sj)ecialty of dairying ; his stock is of the celebrated Jerseys, and 
registered"; he also grows wool to some extent. J. II. Mason, his grand- 
son, who works the farm, married Sarah ]\lclvee,and they have two sons, 
Arthur and John; politically, the voters of the fainilv are Democratic. 

JAMES G. MASON, farmer, P. (). AVest Franidin, was born in 
Di'llii, Delaware Co., N. Y., March 4, 1830, a son of Kobert and 
Agnes (Martin) Mason, tlu^ former a native of Delaware county, the 
latter of Scotland, a daughter of Joseph Martin, who came to this 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1011 

country about 1S08, when she was four years old (she was born P'ebru- 
ary 11,' 1804). Robert Mason was born August 28, 1802. In 1833 he 
removed from Delhi to Armenia (then Troy), where, in conjunction 
with his trade of carpenter and joiner, he carried on farming; he 
purchased 300 acres which was then a wilderness, and at that time there 
were only twelve families in what is now called Armenia. In the 
spring of 1864, after a residence of thirty years in Armenia, Robert 
Mason removed to LeRo}^, where he died, March 31, 1875. He reared 
a family of four children — one daughter and three sons: Jane M., 
John H., James G., Robert, Jr., all of wdiora are living. Of these, 
James G. was reared and educated at Armenia and Canton, and when 
a young man he learned the brick-maker's trade, which he successfully 
followed fifteen years, after which he gave his attention to farming. 
On January 1, 1851, he was married, at Armenia, by his father, 
who was then justice of the peace, to Miss Jane, daughter of Isaac and 
Experience Williams. By this marriage seven children were born — 
two sons and five daughters — as follows : Alma, Margaret, Agnes, 
Mary, George (deceased), William II. and Frankie, all married except 
the latter. Mr. Mason purchased a farm in LeRoy township, which 
he traded for the old homestead, in Armenia, to his brother; sold the 
old homestead, and, in 1871. removed to Franklin, wiiere he now 
resides. In 1864 he entered the army, attaching himself to Company 
I, Fifteenth New York Volunteer Eng-ineers, servino- until the close of 
the war, during which time he received a sun-stroke which disabled 
him for life, and he now draws a pension. Mr. Mason has 130 acres 
of fertile land, with cropping of coal at various points, and is a general 
farmer. He is a Republican, politically, and at present holds the office 
of town commissioner; is a member of the Church of Christ, of the 
F. & A. M., and of the Grange. 

ROBERT MASON, farmer, LeRoy Centre, was born in Delaware 
county, N. Y., October 18, 1832, a son of Robert and Agnes (Martin) 
Mason, the former born in New York State, on the Delaware river, 
the latter in Scotland. The father, who was a carpenter of some note, 
at the age of five years was lost for three days, d'lring which time the 
woods were searched by a hundred men, who found him, and returned 
him uninjured to the anxious parents. He came to this county in 
1834, located in Armenia township, where he engaged in the mill- 
wright and carpenter's trade ; his family consisted of three sons and 
one daughter, who grew to maturity, our subject l)eing the fourth in the 
family. He was educated in his native town, and has followed farm- 
ing. When twenty-six years of age he married Samantha A., daugh- 
ter of Richard and Julia Ann Montgomiery, of Armenia, and this 
union was blessed with five children, all of whom grew to maturity, as 
follows : Jennie, Ernest M., Carrie D., Julia A. and Ruby. Mr. Mason 
IS a prosperous farmer, living in a beautiful residence in LeRoy Cen- 
tre ; he is a member of the Grange, and politically is a Republican. 

WALTER MASON, farmer, I\ O. Gillett, born in Columbia town- 
ship, Bradford Co., Pa., May 15, 1836, is son of Hiram and Jane (Furman) 
Mason, the former of wiiom was born in Haraden, Delaware Co., N. Y., 
the latter near Columbia Cross Roads. Hiram Mason is a farmer of larg-e 



IQl'Z HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

experience, and one of the early settlers. About the year 1830 he 
removed from llamden, N. Y., to Columbia township, this county, 
where he lived about thirty years; then came to South Creek township, 
where he now resides. His farm, which at that time consisted of 100 
acres, has grown to be now 250 acres. He is the father of six children, 
all of whom grew to maturity, and four are yet living. Mrs. Jane 
(Furnian) Mason died in 1887, aged seventy-two years. Walter Mason, 
who is the fourth in the family, was reared and educated in Columbia 
townsiiip; and, when a lad of fourteen years, he came to Gillett. At 
the age of thirty, in 1866, he married, at Troy, Maria, daughter of 
Benjamin and Saloma Inman, and by this union there were born six 
children, four of whom are now living, viz.: Cora, Jane (married to 
Samuel Seafuse), Saloma and Bertha. In 1862 Mr. Mason enlisted in 
Company G, One Hundred and Seventy -first P. V. I., and after serving 
one vear was honorably discharged ; he then entered the First Con- 
struction Corps, Gang B, in which he served one year, and was again 
honorablv discharged. Mr. Mason follows general farming successful^, 
but pays more especial attention to dairying. He has held the office of 
schooldirector ten years ; is a member of the G. A. R. and also of the 
Grange; politicallv'be is a Republican. 

JAMES MATHER, merchant, Ulster, was born in Ulster, this 
county, May 29, 1840, and is a son of John and Agnes (Jackson) 
Mather, natives of Scotland. He was educated at Ulster, and at the 
Collegiate Institute, Towantla, attending the latter two years, and 
then commenced teaching school, which he followed four years; after- 
ward, with his father-in-law (E. B. Tuttle), he opened the Exchange 
Hotel in Ulster, which he carried on five years. In 1874, he began 
merchandising, carrying a general assortment of goods, his stock 
bein<2- viilued at 82,500, and the business has prospered well under his 
management. Mr. Matiier was married, December 4, 1864, to Arlette 
E. Tuttle, daugliter of E. B. and Lucinda (Horton) Tuttle, of Sheshes- 
quin, this county, of which place the parents were natives. The fruit 
of this marriage is one child, Fred E. Mr. Mather is a Knight of the 
Golden Cycle, is a member of the Republican party, and is treasurer of 
the school board ; was postmaster at Ulster for eleven years, appointed 
in 1876; was also town clerk several vears. 

JOHN MATIIER. Ulster, was born July 8, 1824, in lienfrewshire, 
Scotland, the son of John and Agnes (Jackson) Mather. The father 
immigrated to this country in 1829, and located in Ulster; the family 
consisted of seven children, John and Agnes (both born in Scotland) 
and Andrew (deceased), Thomas, William, Eliza (deceased) and James 
(l)orn in this county). Agnes married William McQueen, of Pitts- 
l)urgh ; the others live in tliis county. John Mather, the subject of our 
sketch, was reared on a farm and received his education in the Ulster 
schools; when twenty-one years of age he gave up farming and 
engaged in a general store in Ulster, and was also in the lumber trade 
at the same time; in 1862 he received an appointment in the Treasury 
l)ej)artment, Washington, D. C, and remained in thatoftice until 188(>. 
lie was married in 1847, to Susan Conklin, of Newark \'alley. N. Y., 
and they had one child, which died in infancy. His wife died in Wash- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1013 

ington City, in 1886. In religion Mr. Mather is a Presbyterian, and 
socially he is a Royal Arch Mason, and is attached to Federal Lodge, 
No. 1, and Eureka Chapter No. 4, of Washington, D. C. 

JOHN C. MATHER, farmer and stock grower, Ulster township, 
P. O. Ulster, a son of Thomas and Rachel (Middaugh) Mather, was 
born in Ulster, August 28, 1860. He attended the public schools of 
Ulster borough and received a good English education. He married, 
March 12, 1884, Mary, daughter of G. B. and Deiphine (Shaw) 
Rodgers, and they have two children, Edna, born August 3, 1886, and 
Lillian, born June 17, 1888. Mr. Mather is a member of the Golden 
Cycle and fills the chair of speaker ; in politics he is a Republican. He 
resides on the old homestead and farms the same, in connection with 
his father and uncle William. 

WILLIAM Mi\.THER, farmer and stock-raiser, Ulster township, 
P. O. Ulster, was born in Ulster township, this county, October 24, 
1833, a son of John and Agnes (Jackson) Mather, natives of Renfrew- 
shire, Scotland, who immigrated to this country, and settled on the farm 
their son William now occupies, arriving a short time before his birth. 
Our subject received his education in the Ulster schools, attending 
until he was twenty-one years old, and receiving a good English edu- 
cation. The farm he now occupies is the old homestead, containing 
320 acres, which has never been partitioned, and is managed by him 
in connection with his brother Thomas, and nephew, John C. Mather; 
the residence on the farm occupied by him was built by his father, in 
1830, but the other buildings built by his father were entirely 
destroved, as were the orchards and a large portion of the timber, by 
a cyclone which swept through the lower portion of the valley, in 
1884; the present farm buildings have been built by the members of 
the family since that time, which are all on the modern and improved 
style — large and commodious; he has also a fine dairy and twenty cows. 
The only mineral wealth of the farm consists of a stone quarry, w^hich 
is not open at present. Nearly one-half the farm is wood-land, and 
bears a magnificent growth of white pine, oak and chestnut. Mr. 
Mather is a bachelor. He is a member of the Golden Cycle, No. 158, 
and in politics is a Republican, having cast his first presidential vote 
for John C. Fremont, in 1856. 

NATHANIEL H. MATTOCKS, farmer, P. O. Springfield, born 
September 19, 1822, in Springfield township, this county, in the house 
where he now resides, is a son of James, Jr., and Isabella (Ilarkness) 
Mattocks, the former of whom was born in Kingsbury, Washington 
Co., N. Y., December 17, 1796; removed to Springfield' township, this 
countv, with his father, Capt. James Mattocks, in 1806, when ten years 
of age, when there were not more than eight or ten families in Spring- 
field. Capt. Mattocks was descended of English ancestry. He was a 
soldier in the War of 1812, and a man of great influence; he was a 
captain in the militia; a justice of the peace over thirty years; a car- 
penter, general mechanic and farmer, and in his Christian principles 
lie was a strong Universalist : he died July 12, 1858, at the age of 
eighty-eight years. James Mattocks, Jr., the father of subject, who 
was a carpenter, and an extensive contractor, continued in that 

59 



1014 HISTOIIY OF BKADFORD COUNTY. 

line until 1846, after which time he devoted himself to farming; he 
died April 7, 18ST, at the age of ninety-two years. Mr. Mattocks" 
mother was born at Granville, Washington Co., N. Y., October 15, 
1798, removed to Springfield township, this county, in 1810; and died 
January 11, 1876, at the age of seventy-six years. Nathaniel H. Mat- 
tocks is the eldest in a family of five children, and is the only survivor, 
lie followed the trade of wagon-maker for thirty years, having com- 
menced it in 1847, and then took up farming. lie owns a fine farm of 
eighty-five acres. Mr. Mattocks was in the Civil War in the One 
Hundred and Thirty-second r. V. I., and participated in the battles of 
South Mountain and Antietam, Md., and Fredericksburg, and Chan- 
cellorsville, Ya.; afterward he joined the New York Engineers, and in 
1864-65 was at Citv Point, and saw the last shots fired in front of 
Petersburg, Ya., from" Fort Steadman Mr. Mattocks was married, April 
18, 1853, to Elizabeth Iluson, who was born May 7. 1821, and they have 
had one son, Frank H., born June 10, 1854, who has been a merchant, but 
at present is a farmer. Mr. Mattocks was first a Republican, but is now 
an Independent. He is a member of the G. A. P., and a pensioner of the 
Civil War; he is a great temperance man; a genial gentleman and a 
good neighbor. 

THOMAS MAXWELL (deceased), a son of Hector and Irene 
Maxwell, was born in Elmira, N. Y., November 1, 1822. When twelve 
years of age he entered the store of JNIr. Tuttle, at Elmira, settled in 
'i?roy, and engaged in business where the Pomeroy Bros'. Bank now 
stands. In 1851 he formed a partnership with H. S. Leonard, in which 
he continued two years. In' 1857 he again entered into partnership 
with H. S. and S. M. Leonard, and, as Maxwell, Leonard & Bros., con- 
tinued in general merchandising until 1862, when the business was 
sold to S. M. Leonard, and the firm of Maxwell c^- Leonard engaged in 
the produce business until the fall of 1866. In 1855, soon after the 
completion of the railroads at Troy, he became station agent, contin- 
uing in same for a year ; then spent some time in Savannah, Ga., in 
business with Mr. "^Horace Morse. In 1866 the firm of Redington, 
Maxwell 6c Leonard was formed, and they erected the store now occu- 
])ied by II. S. Leonard & Son, in which "they opened, October 20,^of 
that vear, as dealers in general merchandise, continuing until 1874, 
when' Mr. Maxwell retired from active business. Mr. Maxwell always 
took an active part in the public affairs of Troy, was a member of the 
council for several terms, and was a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow. 
A man of sterling character and business capacity, he was honored 
and respected bv all who knew him. He died September 23, 1875. 
His wife was Eliza A., daughter of Orrin P. and Eliza A. (Spalding) 
iJallard, of Trov, to whom he was nuirried, September 18, 1850, the 
issue of the union being tw(j children : Fannie E. (Mrs. McKean Long) 
and William P. 

Wir.LiAM P. Maxwkll was born June 20, 1864, and was educated 
in the public schools of Trov and the academy of Chester, Pa., grad- 
uating as a civil engineer in"^1884. In February. 1885, he embarked in 
the drug business in Troy, as a member of the fii'm of Stuart iSc Max- 
w^ell, in which he has since successfully continued. On January 3, 



HISTORY OF RHADFORD COUNTY. 1015 

188S, he married Edith, daughter of James and Emily (Walton) Fred- 
ericks, of Lock Haven, Pa. Mr. Maxwell is a member of the Presby- 
terian Church, and is a Republican in politics. 

WILLIAM MAXWELL, attorney and counselorat law, Towanda, 
though comparatively a .young man in the profession, yet is reckoned 
one of the prominent and influential members of the Bradford county 
bar. lie is a native of Steuben county, IST. Y., born March 18, 1852, "a 
son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Carey) Maxwell, of Irish nativity, who 
came to America and located and made their home near Bath, in Steu- 
ben county, IST. Y., on their farm, and there spent the remainder of their 
days. The father died in 1853, when his youngest child, William, was 
about twelve montiis old ; there were three other children then living. 
The youngest son grew to manhood in his native phice, and his mother 
tenderly cared for him, and sent him to the public schools of the place, 
and then to Bath, N. Y. Quitting school at an early age, he soon 
found employment as a handy boy in a store, commencing in the hum- 
blest capacity, but rapidly picking uj) a knowledge of the business and 
the ways of the business world, and meeting rapid promotions. Then 
he entered the office of Peet & Davis, Towanda, as a law student in 
1873, where his diligence in his studies, his quick perceptions and ana- 
lytical mind enabled him to master the books, pass a successful exami- 
nation and receive his license as an attorney and counselor at law in 
May, 1875. He at once formed a partnership with Mr. Andrew^ Wilt, 
Towanda, and they opened their office to clients, to practice in all 
the courts. This firm continued one year, and then Mr. Maxwell 
opened his law office, and has called about him a large and eminently 
respectable clientage, and has pushed his way to the front of the Brad- 
ford bar with unequaled strides. His executive abilities marked him 
as a leader of men, and the Democracy of Bradford county called him 
to the chairmanship of their county central committee, ancl also made 
him a member of the State committee. He has signalized his dis- 
charge of these onerous official duties with marked ability. The third 
ward of Towanda is largely Ilepublican, the majority reaching from 
ninety to one hundred in a poll of about 300 votes. In 1888 he was 
elected member of council for three years for this ward (in which he 
resides), w^as chosen burgess of Towanda, and at the end of his term, 
in 1801, was re-elected councilman over his competitor, by more than 
two votes to his competitor's one. He has rendered the ])eople of the 
borough valuable service. As an organizer in political campaigns, he 
has few equals; as a leader, he is regarded as safe and discreet; as a 
lawyer he is careful and painstaking, and stands at the head of his 
profession. He was united in marriage, January 3, 1877, to Anna D., 
daughter of John Beidleman, of German extraction. 

D. SMITH MAY, farmer, of Granville township, P. O. Windfall, 
was born in Essex county, N. J., September 30, 1823, and is a son of 
Anthony and Huldah (Corby) May, who settled in Canton township, 
this county, in 1834, and later in Troy township. The father, who was a 
manufacturer of tobacco, died in Ithaca, N. Y.; his children were: 
Daniel S., David J., Stephen W.. William II.. John C. and Woodford 
C, all of whom reside in Bradford county. D. Smith May was reared 



1016 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in Bradford county from twelve years of age, since wliich time most of 
his 3^ears have been spent in Granville township. He cleared the farm 
now owned by Patrick Maney, in Granville, one in Canton owned by 
Eustace Clason, a part of the farm he now occupies, and also a portion 
of the Fitch farm. He married, April 1, 1844, Garafilia, daughter of 
Joel and Esther (Avery) Packard, of Granville township, and has four 
children : Jerome B., Mary (Mrs. John S. Fenton), Leland and Lillie 
(twins), the latter being now Mrs. Myers Case. Mr. May was in the 
Civil War, enlisted September 5, 1864, in Company K, Fifteenth New 
York Engineers, and was honorably discharged June 13, 1865 ; he is a 
popular and enterprising citizen ; has held several township offices ; is 
a member of the F. & A. M., and in politics is a Republican. 

T. S. MAY, dealer in boots and shoes, Athens, is a native of West 
Fairlee, Yt., and was born January 18, 1842. His parents were George 
and Jane (Fulton) May, the former also a native of West Fairlee, Yt., 
born January 7, 1800, and died December 2, 1846 ; the latter is now a 
resident of Boston, Mass. George May represented his county in the 
State Legislature during the years 1836, 1837, 1840 and 1841, and held 
numerous local offices ; he also aided in organizing the anti-slavery 
, party in Yermont. T. S. May is the youngest in a family of four chil- 
dren, of whom two are living ; his brother, George May, was president 
of the First National Bank, St. Johnsbury, Yt., until 1885, when he 
accepted the position of secretary of the Massachusetts Mortgao^e and 
Debenture Company, of Boston, where he resides. T. S. May was in 
the employ of the Lehigh Yalley Railroad Company sixteen years, 
during thirteen of which he was train dispatcher; then traveled 
through the West about two and one-half years, when he came to 
Athens, and engaged in the boot and shoe trade in the spring of 1889. 
Jle was married in Newark Yalley, N. Y., in 1869, to Miss Ellen M., 
daughter of William H. and Miranda (Burbank) AYade, natives of War- 
ren, Pa., residents of Newark Yalley, N. Y.; she is tlie second in a 
familv of nine children, and was born in Newark Yallev, September 
13, 1848. 

Responding to his country's call, Mr. May enlisted, September 12, 
1861, in Company C, First Regiment, Yermont Cavalry, and took part 
in seventy-five battles and skirmishes; was wounded and captured 
near Boonsboro, Md., July 8, 1863, was paroled about the 2nth of the 
same month, and was mustered out at Burlington, Yt., August 9, 
1865. He is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, 
and in politics he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM H. MAY, farmer, in Springfield township, P. O. Big 
Pond, was born May 4, 1833, in Newark, N. J., a son of Anthony and 
Hulda (Corby) May, the former of whom was a native of New York 
City, and came to this county, settling at Canton in 1836; he was a 
manufacturer of cigars and tobacco, lived to the age of fifty years, 
and died at Binghamton, N. Y.; the mother died at tlieage of seventy- 
two years. The families were of English ancestry. William II. May 
is the sixth in a family of nine children, all sons, five of whf)m are liv- 
ing. He enlisted, in the summer of 1861, in Company E, Fifty-sec<md 
P. Y. L, serving onlv a few months in the Civil War, as he was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1017 

discharged on account of disability; he is a pensioner and a member 
of the G. A. li. Three of his 'brothers — Daniel S., John C. and 
AVoodford C — were also in the Civil War, each of whom saw long 
service and are pensioners. Our subject was married, July 2, 1856, to 
Mary E. Fleming, born March 5, 1838, a daughter of Freegift E. and 
MarV E. (Mix) Fleming, natives of Tompkins county, N. Y., who set- 
tled ui Granville in early life, were farmers and are both still living, 
the father aged eighty-eight years and the mother aged eighty. Mrs. 
May is the tifth in a family of eleven children, all of whom are living; 
her' grandfather. Mix, was a soldier in the War of 1812. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Mav have been born four children, as follows : Ella S., who died at 
the age of eight years ; Lizzie B., born October 31, 1860, wife of John 
Stirton, of Ilidgebury; Garfilia, who died at the age of one year; Fred 
D., born October 18, 1867, married to Effie D. Covell, and is on the 
farm with his father. Mr. May has a tine farm of lOY acres on one of 
the highest and best locations "in the State. He is a Republican; has 
been school director, and has held other offices of public trust; is a 
member of the I. O. O. F. and of the Patrons of Husbandry. He is a 
man of sterling worth, respected by all who know him. Mrs. May is 
a member of the Free-Will Baptist Church. 

F. M. MAYNARD, farmer, Orwell township, P. O. Allis Hollow, 
was born in Susquehanna county, this State, February 14, 1832, and is 
a son of Erastus and Olive (Leonard) Maynard, the former of whom 
was a farmer. They had a family of eleven children, five yet living. 
F. M., who is the youngest, passed his boyhood, until he was sixteen 
years old, in Susquehanna county, where he received his education in the 
common schools, and then came to Bradford county, and made his 
home with his brother, William, in Orwell township. He attemled 
the district schools of Orwell, untd he was twenty -one; then went to 
New York and worked there one summer, and, returning home, he com- 
menced farming, which he has followed to the present. He enlisted 
February 2, 1865, in Company K, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth N. 
Y. V. L, and participated in the following battles: Quaker Road, 
Gravely Run, Five Forks and Appomattox. After Lee's surrender, 
and while on a march, he broke down, and was in hospital about six 
weeks; he was discharged from Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia, June 
29, 1865, and returned home. In 1858 he purchased the farm he now 
owns, and sold it in 1864, but repurchased in 1867. It contains thirty 
acres of well-improved land. His health was greatly injured in the 
service of his country. Lie was married, June 2, 1855, to Mahala, 
daughter of John and Jemima (Horton) Lyons. Mrs. Maynard has 
been twice married : first time to Elihu Ransom, by whom there was 
one child, Adelbert, born May 12, 1851, married to Frankie Westbrooks, 
of Standing Stone. Mr. and Mrs. Maynard have been blessed with 
one child, Montville, born September 28, 1861. married to Eva AVheeler, 
of Tioga county, and is now a telegrapher, Mr. Maynard is a member 
of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R. They are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and he is a steward and class-leader. Mr. Maynard 
has lived the greater portion of his life in the neighborhood where he 
resides, and has always commanded the respect of all who know him. 



1018 HISTORT OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

H. F. MAYNARD, attorne}^ Athens, is a native of Rome, this 
county, and was born March 12, 1838, a son of L. M. and P. E. (Wash- 
burn) Maynard, natives of Vermont, who came toTlome, this county, 
when quite young; the father was French, and the mother was of Irish 
descent. They were agriculturists. The father died in Rome, in 1859, 
in his fifty-first 3'ear; the mother survives. II. F. Maynard, who is the 
second in a family of four children, received his education in the com- 
mon sciiools, at the Rome Academy; in 18(58 he commenced a course of 
law reading in the office of Jacob DeWitt, and had read considerable 
while at school. He was admitted to the bar, remaining with Jacob 
DeWitt until 1872, when he formed a partnership with D. C. DeWitt, 
and the}^ continued together until the fall of 1876, when Mr. Maynard 
removed to Athens. Previous to this time the firm liad a branch office at 
Athens. Mr. Maynard was married in Rome, this count}^ August 19, 
1861, to Miss Pamlia, daughter of Josiali and Lutheda (Watkins) 
White, natives of New Hampshire; she is the youngest in a family 
of four children, and was born in Litchfield, Bradford Co., Pa., August 
20, 1840. To this union have been born four children, two now living, 
viz.: Edward L., married to Miss Anna Rogers, and Paul E. Mr. 
Maynard is a Democrat, and at the Bradford bar is widely known as a 
leading and successful lawyer. He is a self-made man, and by his own 
unaided efforts has risen steadily and successfully from humble and 
unpretentious beginnings. 

CHARLES FREDERICK MEAD, farmer, North Towanda town- 
ship, P. O. North Towanda, was born in Athens, July 2, I860, and is a 
son of Abijah and Mary (Swain) Mead, the former a native of Athens, 
Pa., and of Irish origin, the latter a native of Chemung, N. Y., and of 
Irish origin and American lineage. During the reign of William and 
Mary of England, in 1690, James, Diiniel and Albert Mead came to 
America, and settled near Boston. James had a son Daniel, who was a 
Revolutionary soldier ; Daniel had a son James A., who married Hannah 
Barnard, daughter of Louis Barnard, a French soldier, who came to 
America with Rochambeau. James A. was a soldier in the AVar 6^ 
1812, and had eleven children : Daniel, Martha, Abijah, Robert, Sarah, 
James A., Hannah, Elias, Mary, George and Peter. Abijah was born 
July 31, 1815, followed teaching for twenty years in his native State, 
and the latter part of his life was a farmer; he died July 2. 1887. He 
married, October 5, 1859, Mary, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth 
(HoUan) Swain, of Chemung, N. Y. They had born to them four 
children: Charles F., the subject of this sketch ; Ira Henry, born June 
12, 1864, and died July 6, 1866; Allen Lloyd and Elwin Floyd (twins), 
born May 14, 1866. The three sons and their mother are living on the 
old homestead. The famil}' are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and are Democrats. 

HIRAM B, MEEKS, farmer, Wilmot township, was born in Steuben 
county, N. Y,, April 12, 1837, and is the eldest of ten children of 
Edward and Polly (Reydor) Meeks, natives of New York, the former 
born of Dutch and Scotch descent, and the latter of Dutch ancestry; 
they settled in this county when Iliram B. was ten years of age. The 
subject of this memoir began life for himself at the age of sixteen, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1019 

lumbering in Terry, where he remained about one \^ear; then went to 
Lock Haven, where he was also engaged in lumbermg. Returning to 
VVilniot, he here remained until February 2, 1862, when he enlisted in 
Company K, Fifty-Eight Regiment F. Y. I. He participated in the 
following battles: Fair Oaks, Black Water, Petersburg, Siege of Rich- 
mond, Fort Harrison, Chafton's Farm, Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Spott- 
sylvania Court House, and several minor engagements; he received a 
gunshot-wound at Fort Harrison, which disabled him for about sixt}"^ 
days, when he again returned to his company, and was mustered out at 
City Point, Ya., Januarj^ 29, 1866; then returned to Wilmot township, 
and purchased his present home, where he has since been engaged in 
fanning. On November 22, 1866, Mr. Meeks was married to Rebecca 
M., daughter of William and Margaret (Asle^^) Bartley, of Milledge- 
ville. 111. Thev have had seven children, viz.: Captola B., born August 
16, 1867, died June 19, 1870 ; William W., born December 12, 1868, 
died September 11, 1869; Pollie M., born July 10, 1870, married to 
A. A. Schock, May 7, 1891 ; Inez Y., born June 6, 1872; RobinaEtta, 
born June 2, 1875, died March 2, 1879 ; Loema A., born April 9, 1877, 
and Edna M., born February 4, 1880. Mr. Meeks is a Republican, and 
has held the office of town commissioner two terms. 

ANDREW MELYILLE, contractor and builder, Luther's Mills, 
was born in 1843, a son of Peter C. and Lucinda M. (Travis) Melville, 
the former of whom was of Irish origin, and by trade a carpenter. 
The father removed to Burlington, from Albany, when he was six 
years of age; the mother's familj^ were among the early settlers of the 
township. Great-grandfather Travis was a soldier in the Revolutionar}^ 
War. The paternal grandfather was born in Ireland. Andrew Mel- 
ville was reared to the trade with his father, but in September, 1861, 
he enlisted in Company F, Fiftj^-Second P. Y. I., in which he served 
three years, and then re-enlisted, so tha.t his whole term of service was 
for nearly the entire war. On July 3, 1864, he was taken prisoner 
with his company, as was also their colonel (ex-Governor Hoyt), and 
they were held in Andersonviile and Libby prisons; he was wounded 
by the explosion of a shell, and was honoralDly discharged, January 12, 
1865. He is now a pensioner. At the close of his army life Mr. 
Melville engaged in the building and contracting business with his 
brother, John C, and they have carried on an extensive and successful 
trade since their commencement; they are, without doubt, the most 
enterprising gentlemen in their line of business in their vicinity. He 
was married, March 16, 1868, to Harriet S. Grist, by whom he has had 
two children, Harry T. and Walter E. Mr. Melville is a Republican 
in politics, and has been town clerk twenty-one years in succession; is 
a member of the G. A. R., and is much respected. 

JOHN D. MERCUR, M. D., Towanda, was, from both sides of 
the house, the descendant of as illustrious families as have ever formed 
a portion of the strong men and women of the "Northern Tier" of 
the old Commonwealth. A native of the borough of Towanda, born 
July 15, 1853, to Judge Ulysses and Sarah Simpson (Davis) Mercur, 
the son spent his youth and childhood in his father's family, and 
among their good friends in the borough, attending the public schools, 



1020 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and when suificiently advanced he became a student at Phillips Exeter 
Academy, whence he passed to Harvard University, and was grad- 
uated from Jefferson Medical College, an M. D., in 1878. He then 
practiced one year in the Philadelphia Hospital, where he had all 
the advantages of a practical application of the theories to which he 
had been a diligent student, during the preceding years. He returned 
in June, 1889, to his old home and friends, in Towanda, offered his 
services to the good people, and has continued actively in the practice 
to the present time. Dr. Mercur inclines to the political faith of the 
grand old Republican party, and worships at the Episcopal Church; 
he is a member of the Sons of Revolution, and of the Medical Society of 
Philadelphia, and served two years as delegate to the State Medical 
Society. He makes his home at the family residence, with his widowed 
mother. 

RODNEY A. MERCUR, a prominent member of the Bradford 
county bar, was born in Towanda, September 29, 1851, and is the eld- 
est son of the late Chief- Justice Ulysses and Sarah Simpson (Davis) 
Mercur. He was reared in his native town, and was educated at Sus- 
quehanna Collegiate Institute, PhiUips Academy, at Exeter, N. H., 
and Harvard University; studied law with the late Judge Paul D. 
Morrow, of Towanda; was admitted to the Bradford county bar. May 
3, 1875; was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit and 
District Courts, June 20, 1876, and to the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- 
vania, March 11, 1878. On May 29, 1877, he was commissioned Reg- 
ister in Bankruptcy for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and 
filled the office from 1875 to 1879. Mr. Mercur was associated in 
business with D. A. Overton, from his admission to 1879, since which 
time he has been in active practice alone. He was married, June 12, 
1879, to Marv, daughter of James M. and Louisa (Overton) Ward, of 
Towanda, and has two children living, Sarah D. and Rodney A., Jr. 
Mr. Mercur is an active member of the Episcopal Church, of which he 
has served as a vestryman twelve years, and is now the junior warden 
and treasurer. He has represented his j)arish in Diocesan Convention 
a number of years, and was a lay deputy to the General Conventions 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Chicago in 1886, and at New 
York in 1889. He has always taken an active interest in politics, and 
was elected an alternate delegate to the National Republican Conven- 
tion held at Chicago in 1888; is a director, and the solicitor of the 
First National Bank, of Towanda, and is also a director of the James 
H. Hawes Manufacturing Company, the Towanda Gas Company, also 
the Towanda Cemetery Association, and is a member of the Union 
League, of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of 
Re\^lution, also a commissioner to the World's Columbian Exposition 
from the State of Pennsvlvania. 

JOHN MEREDITH, grocer, Towanda, was born at Brady's Bend, 
Armstrong Co., Pa., July 20. 1843, a son of Evan and Margaret 
(Lewis) Meredith, natives of Wales. His parents came to America in 
1840, locating in Pittsburgh, and in 1861 removed to Bradford county, 
where his father, who had charge of the Barclay mines tracks, was 
accidentallv killed, January 8, 1864; he had been twice married, and by 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUISTTY. 1031 

his first wife had one daughter, Mary (Mrs. John Bennett) ; b\^ his 
second wife, Margaret Lewis, he had three children, wlio grew to 
maturity, viz.: John, Martha (Mrs. Thomas Muir) and Thomas. John 
Meredith, the subject of this sketch, was reared in Armstrong county, 
and on September 10, 1861, he enhsted in Company F, Seventy -eighth 
Pennsylvania Regiment, participating in the battles of Stone River, 
Chattanooga and many minor engagements ; he never had a furlough, 
and was honorably discharged at Kittanning, Pa., November 4, 18G4, 
after three years and two months' service. In the fall of 1864 he 
came to Towanda, where he engaged in the grocery business, until 
1872; then he entered the employ of the Cambria Iron Company as 
manager of their store at Henrietta, Blair Co., Pa., and filled that 
position two years, when he resigned, and went to Confluence, Somer- 
set county, where he was engaged in the drug business, and was also 
agent for the Adams Express Company two years. He then took 
charge of a store at Hopewell, Bradford county, for the Sand}' Run 
Coal Company, until 1880, when he located in Canton, where he was 
elected justice of the peace, which office he resigned in May, 1883; 
again he came to Towanda, and held the position of night ofiicer on 
the police force two years, when he resigned, and has since been 
engaged in the grocery business. On December 14, 1870, he married Mary 
E., daughter of Jane and Ann (Perry) Morley, of Johnstown, Pa., 
formerly of Cornwall, England, by whom he has seven children living, 
viz.: James E., Kate B., Charles, Margaret, Ann, Bertha and John A. 
Logan. Mr. Meredith is a well-known and respected citizen of Brad- 
ford county, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
I. O. O. F., K. of P., G. A. R. and Union Veteran Legion ; he is a 
Republican in politics. 

H. A. MERRILL was born March 22, 1849, in Litchfield township, 
this county, in the house where he now resides, a son of Ir-a and Maria 
C. (Wolcott) Merrill. The father, who was a farmer and a carpenter, 
spent a greater portion of his life in Litchfield township, and died 
March 31, 1878, aged sixty-nine years, eleven months and eleven days; 
his widow still survives him. The grandfather, Eleazer Merrill, was a 
native of Connecticut, and moved his family into Litchfield (on the 
same ground where the family residence now stands) in the year 1803, 
and when he had paid his teamster he found he had just one dollar left. 
But nothing daunted, he, wnth that sterling energy and ambition that 
characterized the pioneers of this country, set to work to provide for 
the wants of his family of four small children and an invalid wife, 
by walking three or more miles, crossing the river in a canoe, and 
working by the day, carrying his provisions home on his back. So he 
worked his way. until he succeeded in clearing over 100 acres of the 
wilderness; he died April 4, 1855, at the age of eighty-two years, eight 
months, twenty -one days ; his wife, Nancy, died August 29, 1842, aged 
seventy-four years. The great-grandfather, also named Eleazer Mer- 
rill, died in December, 1819, aged eighty years; his wife, Rebecca, died 
January 3, 1827, aged eighty-five. Solomon Merrill, the grandfather's 
brother, died October 3,1844, aged seventy -four; Abigal, his wife, died 
August 13, 1833, aged fifty-five years. In Ira Merrill's family there 



1022 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

were six children, viz.: Edwin, ii farmer, of Litchfield township; Eliza 
C, married to B. S. Iladlock, a farmer of Athens township; Emily L., 
who makes her home with her brother Edwin ; Ira F., who hves on the 
homestead; II. A., the subject of this sketch; Martha M., married to 
W. F. Perry, a farmer of Litchfield ; Marion, who died in infancy; 
Susie C, an adopted child; Mary J., also adopted, married to AlvinPha- 
lin, a farmer. The subject of'^these lines was reared on a farm, and 
received his early education in the common schools. His first business 
on his own account was keeping a dairy. Mr. Merrill was married 
March 11, 1871, to Almira, daughter of Moses and Hannah (Cornell) 
Park. Mr. Merrill has joined the Order of the World, is a member of 
the fjniversalist Church, in politics is a Democrat, and has held the 
office of town clerk one year, 

A. B. MIDDAUGH,^proprietor of livery and Herdic Ime, Athens, 
is a native of Sullivan county, N. Y., born October 27, 1841, a son of 
Eli and Ellen (Decker) Middaugh, the former of whom was a con- 
tractor and died in 1847, in his thirty-second year, the latter died July 3, 
1888, in her sixtv-sixth year. Our subject, who was the elder of two 
children, left Sullivan county when eight years old for Tioga county, 
N. Y., and worked at farming and teaming, and in 1862, he went to 
the woods until 1863, when he went to work in a lumber mill in Will- 
iamsport, clerking in a store during the winter ; then was employed as 
sawyer for Lentz & White about two years, and about fifteen years was 
foreman for Mr. Ilerdick, the extensive public-works' contractor, of 
Williamsport ; from there he went to Philadelphia, where he remained 
a short time. In the fall of 1880 he went to Washington, and was there 
two years, running Herdic coaches for Patts & Ilerdick, known as the 
Herdic Phaeton Company; from thei-e he came to Athens and estab- 
lished the Herdic line from Athens to Waverly, in connection with 
which Herdic line he started a livery stable at the same time. He is 
also extensively engaged in the stone business, and has teams to deliver 
the stone from the quarries. Mr. Middaugh was married in Williams- 
port, in 1863, to Miss Meda, daughter of William Angle, a native of 
this county (she is the sixth in a family of eight children, and was born 
in this county in 1817). Mr. Middaugh is a member of the F. &. A. M., 
Rural Amitv Lodge, No. 70, and is a Republican. 

CARROLL E. .AlILLER, of the firm of Miller Brothers, propri- 
etors of saw, planing and shingle mill. Alba, is a native of Chemung, 
N. Y., born June 8, 1850, a son of Phillip S. and Cynthia (Jones) 
Milier,'natives of Delaware and Chemung counties, N. Y., respectively. 
Phillip S. Miller was a lumberman, and died in 1889, in his sixty-third 
year; his widow resides in Alba. The subject of these lines, who is 
the eldest in the family of three children, was reared in Chemung 
county, until five years of age, when the family removed to Granville 
township, where they resided seven years; then moved to Alba, where 
he received an academic education; also learned the carriage-maker^s 
trade, and in 1860, he went to Corning, N. Y., where he worked at his 
trade, until the fall of 1872; thence removed to Grover, and was 
engineer and sawyer in a sawmill, until 1876; then returned to Alba, 
and engaged in business for himself. He was married in Grover, in 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1023 

1874, to Olive E., daughter of Allen and Samantha (Rockwell) Tajdor, 
natives of Canton township. Allen Taylor was a farmer, and died in 
1889; his widow resides in Grover. Mrs. Miller, who was the third in 
order of birth in a family of five children, was born in Grover, March 
4, 1851, and died February 13, 1890; she was a member of the Chris- 
tian Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller were born three children, as fol- 
lows: Carroll (deceased), Edith M. and Maud. Mr. Miller is a member 
of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and has served as burgess, and several terms as member of the 
borough council in Alba; also several terms as school director and 
president of the school board. 

F. W. MILLER, of the firm of Miller Brothers, Alba, was born in 
Granville township, this county, July 28, 185T, the second in the 
family of three children of Phillip S. and Cynthia (Jones) Miller. Pie 
received his education in the common schools, and served an appren- 
ticeship at the carriage-maker's trade with J. S. Reynolds, in Alba. 
He began working at his trade in 1875, and continued in same until 
1881, when he became a memljer of the firm of Miller Brothers. lie 
was married in Canton township, in 1878, to Sarah II., eldest daughter 
of Ward and Helen (Liliey) Warren, natives of this county; she was 
born in Canton township. May 12, 1857. Ward Warren was a farmer 
and died in 1881 in his fiftieth year; Mrs. Warren died in 1872. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Miller was born one daughter, Lillie H. The family are 
members of the Christian Church. Mr. Miller is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321. Politically he is a Republican, and 
has served as auditor and town clerk, and is a member of the borough 
council. 

FREDRICK J. MILLER, of the firm of F. J. Miller & Son, LeRays- 
ville, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1839, a son of Peter Miller, 
who was born in the same place, in 1810, was a shoemaker by trade, 
and came to Ilonesdale, Pa., in 1841, where he followed his trade until 
his death, in 1858. Peter Miller married, in German3% Elizabeth 
Wagner, and had one child, F. J. Our subject was educated in Hones- 
dale, Pa., learned his trade there, and worked fifteen years; then 
opened a shop in Honesdale, in 1859, which he conducted until 18 — , 
when he went to Erie, and thence, in 1883, to Warren County; then 
came to LeRaysville and worked for the Northern Tier Cigar Manu- 
facturing Compan}^ until April 19, 1888, when he opened his present 
shop in company with his son, John F., under the firm name of F. J. 
Miller & Son. They have been generally successful, and are doing an 
annual business of $5,500. Mr. Miller is a member of Lodge. No. 88, 
L O. O. F., and No. 402, K. of P.; also of the G. A. R., Spalding Post, 
No. 33. In 1860, he married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John and 
Amie (Neat) Evans, and they have had ten children, as follows: Carrie, 
born in 1861, wife of Andrew Button ; Charles, born in 1863, died in 
infancy; John, born in 1864; Agnes, born in 1866; Margaret, born in 
1869; Elizabeth, born in 1870; Isabel, born in 1873; Albert, born in 
1875 ; Nettie, born in 1878, and William, born in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. 
Miller and family attend the Congregational Church. John F. Miller 
was born in Ilonesdale, Pa., received a common-school education and 



102+ HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUKTY. 

in his sixteentli year began his trade with A. S, Piatt, of Warren 
county, this State, with whom he worked four months; then worked 
for a Mr. Flacke, of the same place, nine months, after which he 
was with the Warren Cigar Company, two years; then he went to 
Chicago, where he followed his trade, and in the fall of 188-1, came 
here and worked for the Northern Tier Cigar Manufacturing Company, 
four years, and then went into business with his father. Mr. Miller 
was married, October 8. 1890, to Ella, the second of three children born 
to Emanuel and Corinthia (Brink) Ashton. Mr. Miller is a member of 
Leliaysville Lodge, No. 471, F. & A. M., and Post, No. 232, Sons of 
Veterans. 

LOUIS J. MILLER, LeRaysville, was born October 8, 1845, in 
Dansville, N. Y., a son of Theodore and Elizabeth (Truman) Miller. 
In his fathers family were seven children of whom Louis J, is the 
\'oungest. His parents were natives of Germany ; the father a cabinet- 
maker by trade, died in 1875, at the age of eighty; the mother died 
in 1870, at the age of seventy-five years. Louis J. Miller, the subject 
of the sketch, began life for himself when sixteen years of age bv 
enlisting, October 23, 1861, in Company E, One Hundred and Fourth 
Regiment, N. Y. V. I., and was in the following engagements: Cedar 
Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap, Bull Run, Chan- 
tilly. South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Get- 
tysburg, Wilderness, Cold Harbor and the Weldon raid. At Bull Run 
he received a gunshot wound in the left breast, and at Cold Harbor in 
the left leg, but was not out of service long enough to miss any of the 
battles of his regiment ; he was made corporal No. 1, in 1864, which 
position he held until he was mustered out at Elmira, N. Y., July 29, 
1865, Mr. Miller then returned to his home at Dansville, where he 
served a barber's apprenticeship, since which time he has been engaged 
in that business ; nine years in Bath, N, Y., and the past seven years 
in LeRaysville. He married, April 25, 1875, Sarah Fronk, and the 
following children were born to them : Louis H., Herbert G. and 
Gracie B. His wife died July 10, 1889, and his three children are 
living with friends at Cohocton, N. Y. Mr, Miller is a Republican. 

RUSSEL MILLER, farmer. Asylum townshi)), P. O. Durell, was 
born June 15, 1824, in Laddsburg, Albany township, a son of Daniel 
and Hannah (Fowler) Miller, natives of Elizabethtown, N. J., of Ger- 
man and English extraction, respectively. Daniel Miller, who was a 
tanner, currier and shoemaker, came to this county and settled in 
Monroe township, about 1801, and in 1805, he removed to Laddsbui'g; 
he was one of the valuable pioneers, and experienced many hardships, 
but being a man of strong nerve and unflinching resolutions, he carved 
his wav in the wilderness to ultimate triumph; he built several saw- 
mills and a gristmill in that town, and became an extensive farmer. 
The subject of this sketch was reared to his father's vocations, and 
when eighteen took charge of and conducted the business from that 
on, and, being of the same persevering nature as his sire, made a suc- 
cess of life, lie was married March 22, 1848, to Margaret O,, daughter 
of Moses A. and Susan (Lawrence) Ladd, and there have been born to 
them five children, as follows: Alice L., born June 13, 1849, and died 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1025 

at the age of sixteen years and six months ; Newton L., born Novem- 
ber 10, 1854, married to Emma A. Brown ; Austin R., born May 14, 
1862, married to Eliza J. Benjamin: Ettie A., born November 9, 1864, 
wife of Gurdon E. Delong ; Elliston E., born October 3, 1869 — all being 
prosperous and successful farmers. Mr. Miller, with all his other ex- 
tensive enterprises, put up a building, and opened a general store at 
Laddsburg, and conducted it many years ; he removed to Durell in 
September, 1877, and is at present the owner of a fine farm under a 
good state of cultivation ; he is a member of the Masonic Fraternity 
and the I. O. O. F.; he is a Republican, and has filled many offices of 
public trust, such as school director and commissioner. Mr. and Mrs. 
Miller have been members of the Protestant Methodist Church, since 
before their marriage, and he has been one of the officers, and several 
times a delegate to the Conferences. 

WILLIAM W. MILLER, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. North 
Rome, was born in Rome township, this county, August 11, 1833, and 
is a son of Hiram and Esther (Clark) Miller, the former of whom was 
born in New York, was a farmer, and had a family of six children, two 
of whom survive: William W. and a daughter, Mrs. Marcus A^ancise. 
William W. Miller attended the district school a few terms, and at the 
age of nine had to make his own living and quit school. He was 
married at the age of twenty -four years, and from that time dates the 
beginning of his prosperit}', which has continued to the present time. 
Soon after marriage he purchased his first farm, which he still owns, 
twelve acres of w^hioh had been " chopped," and one and one-half acres 
partly cleared, an old log house being the only building. He has 
devoted a great portion of his time to lumbering. On August 21, 1862, he 
enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment. P. Y. I., 
but, being seized with typhoid fever, he was discharged on surgeon's cer- 
tificate, and returned home, where he remained but a few months, when 
he again enlisted, this time in Company I, One Hundred and Eighty- 
seventh Regiment, P. Y. I., until the close of the war, being mustered 
out at Harrisburg with the regiment. He receiveil a flesh-wound in 
the right leg from a minieball, was in the battle of Fredericksburg, and 
many other minor engagements. After returning, he resumed farming 
and now owns 325 acres, Mr. Miller was united in wedlock, November 
17, 1850, to Sarah, daughter of William L. Taylor and Sarah (Yastbinder) 
Taylor, by which union there are six children yet living, two being 
deceased, as follows: E. M., married to Rosa Johnson ; William, died in 
infancy; Mary, married to Godfrey Eiklor; Helen, married to George 
Manold, and died in 1885; A. B.,married to Yernie Eiklor; Sarah, Stella, 
Clara, The famih^ are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which Mr. Miller has been a member thirty-Hve years, and a class-leader 
nearly the whole time, also a steward ; is a member of Stevens Post, 
No. 69, G. A. R., a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and is a Repub- 
lican. Mr. Miller is a self-made man, as he entered the wilderness 
with no assistance but his faithful wife, and lias accumulated a fortune 
bv his own exertions. 

GEORGE B. MILLS, farmer, in Towandatownshit), P. O. Towanda. 
was born in North Towanda, this county, April 13, 1829, a son of 



1026 HISTORY OF BKVDFORl) COUNTY. 

Stephen A. and Amanda (Fannino-) Mills, natives of this State. His 
grandfather, Edward Mills, came to this count}^ in 1808. llis great- 
grandfather was brutally murdered by the British soldiers at Fort 
Griswold, Conn. George B. Mills, the subject of this sketch, was 
united in marriage. June 19, 1856, with Ruth J., daughter of Samuel 
K. Harkness, a native of Madison county, N. Y.; they have the follow- 
ing children : Florence A., wife of Sidney R. Smith, residing in Rome, 
th?s countv; Leslie D., married to Orris Smith; Willis, married to 
Isabel McMurran. Mr. Mills' present home is the homestead of his 
father, who built the old stone house, in 1839, which was for a long time 
used as a hotel, and is consequently one of the historic places in the 
county; he has the old farm under a fine state of cultivation, and is 
considered one of the principal farmers of the township. Mr. Mills 
has been for many years an active member of Masonic Lodge. No. 108; 
has been school director nearly twenty years; he is a Republican in 
politics, and takes an interest in the affairs of the county. Mrs. Mills 
and all of her children are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Cliurch, Towanda; she has been an active worker in the Sunday- 
school. 

SILAS MILLS, farmer, P. O. North Towanda, one of the oldest resi- 
dents of North Towanda, was born in Ulster township, thiscounty, Sep- 
tember 12, 1808, and is a son of Edward and Lusinah (Stuart) Mills. 
Edward Mills was a native of Connecticut, born August 12, 1780, 
whose father was killed by the British in the massacre at Fort Gris- 
wold. when Edward was three years old. While yet a child, Edward's 
mother married a Mr. Smith, and moved to Delaware county, N. Y., 
where he was reared and married. Edward Mills settled in Ulster 
township, this countv, in 1808, and in 1809 moved to what is now 
North Towanda township, and in 1814 purchased a farm, a part of 
which is now owned and occupied by his son, Silas, most of which he 
cleared and improved, and resided there for many years. In later life 
he removed to this place; his wife died while on a visit to Illinois, 
October 29, 1847, and after her death he concluded to remain in that 
State, and resided there until his death, which occurred in Winnebago, 
July 5, 1869. He was an active member of the Methodist F^piscopal 
Church, and an esteemed citizen. His children v/ere as follows: 
Stephen A.. Hannah S. (twice married ; her first husband was George 
K. Bingham, and her second was Cornelius Coolbaugh) ; Esther (also 
twice inarried ; her first husband was Erastus Pratt, and her second 
was Abram Huff); Silas Freeman, Dr. Edward, Garner C, and Lusinah 
(Mrs. Wright). Silas ALUs was reared in North Towanda, received a 
limited education in the schools of his day, has always been a farmer, 
and has been a continuous resident of the old homestead since 1855. 
He married, February 28, 1840, Mary E., daughter of Eleazer (Rutty) 
Allis, of Orwell, this county, and by her he had five children, four of 
whom grew to maturitv, viz.': Sophia (Mrs. George N. Strunk), Viletta, 
NLirvin V. and Mary (Mrs. Charles P.des). Mr. Mills is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, ;uid in politics is a Ue])ul)lican. 

AUSTIN MITCHELL, proprietor of foundry and machine shops, 
Troy, was born in Franklin, Delaware Co., N. Y., August 5, 1827, and 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKI) COUNTY. J 027 

is a son of A¥illiam and Mabel (Channay) Mitchell, who settled in Bur- 
lington township, this county, in ISSi, where the father, who was a 
blacksmith by trade, resided until his death, which occurred October 4, 
1847; the mother died April 22,1855. Their children were Leroy, 
Chaunay, Austin, Eugene, Oscar and James. The subject of this 
sketch was reared in Burlington township, received a common school 
education and learned the blacksmith and machinist trade. He worked 
as a journeyman up to 1877, in which year he embarked in business 
for himself in Troy (whither he had come in 1847), in which he has 
since continued, carrying on a machine foundry and general repair 
shops. Mr, Mitchell was twice married, on first occasion to Samantha, 
daughter of Benjamin Shattuck, of Troy, and by her he has had six 
children : Frank, Eugene, Mary, Austin, Jr., Emma (Mrs. C. J. Bloom) 
and James ; the secoHd wife of Mr. Mitchell was Jane, daughter of 
John Berry, of Gillett, Pa., and by this union there have been four 
children: Mary, George, Nellie and John. Mr. Mitchell is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a Royal Arch Mason. 
Politically he is a Democrat, and has served as member of the council 
of Trov one term. 

HON. B. B. MITCHELL, a well-known druggist of Trov, was 
born on a farm in Tioga county, Pa., January 14, 1839, and is a son 
of Richard and Harriet M. (IJartt) Mitchell, formerly of A'ermont, of 
Scotch-Irish descent, and among the first settlers of Tioga countv. 
Hon. B. B. Mitchell, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the 
schools of his native county, Lewisburg University and Brvant c^: 
Stratton's Business College, Buffalo, N. Y.; was in the employ of E. 
Bradford Clark, of Philadelphia, as bookkeeper, from Januarv 1, 1859, 
until January 1, 1860. In the latter year he established a drug and 
book business in Troy, Pa., and, though a stranger and without any 
practical experience, succeeded in building up a^prosperous business. 
In August, 1861, he helped recruit and organize the first cavalrv 
company in the county, was chosen first lieutenant, and with hjs 
company joined Harlan Inde])endent Cavalry at Philadelphia, Pa. 
The raising of this regiment, which was authorized by the Secretarv of 
War, was from different States, and was to be on same footing as 
regulars. Gov. Curtin, however, took issue wnth the Secretary of 
Way, claiming the Pennsylvania troops; he was finally successful, 
and then the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalrv was organized, and the 
Troy company became Company F, in that regiment. In 1862 Lieut, 
Mitchell was promoted to captain, and took an active part in the cam- 
paign and battles of the war, until October, 1864, when he was offered 
a major's commission ; but having already served over the three vears 
for which he had enlisted, and being broken in health, he declined 
further promotion, left the service, and returned to Troy, and, as soon 
as his health permitted, resumed mercantile business, which he has 
continued to prosecute with marked success. On Mav 29, 1865, he 
married Ellen E., only daugiiter of Samuel W. and A. Malvina 
(Davidson) Pomeroy, of Troy, by whom he had seven children, as 
follows: Louie P. (deceased), Josephine P., Nannie B., Samuel Pome- 
roy (deceased), Benjamin B., Henrietta D. (deceased), and Emma 



1028 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Eloise. In 1884, with three others, he engaged in the live-stock busi- 
ness, on the plains of South Dakota. In 1885 the live-stock company 
was incorporated as the Keystone Land and Cattle Company, with an 
authorized caj^ital of half a million ; Capt. Mitchell was chosen secre- 
tary and treasurer of the company, and has continued to look after 
their large business interests, both at home and in the West, to the 
present time. For many years he has taken an active interest in 
politics and public matters generally; was a member of the State 
Legislature from 1882 until 1884; has served as justice of the peace of 
Troy by appointment, and by election has been member of the 
borough council and clerk of the borough, an active member of the 
board of education for fifteen years, and is at present secretary of said 
board. He has, for many years, presented the Mitchell Gold Medal 
to the pupil, in the Troy graded and high schools, most perfect in 
orthograph^^ He w^as a charter member of the first G. A. II. Post at 
Troy, and was its commander, two years ; was also a charter member 
of Glenwood Cemetery Association, and has continued its secretary 
to the present time. Mr. Mitchell is a member of the Fresb3'terian 
Church, and was three years superintendent of the Sundaj^-school ; he 
is a Sir Knight Templar, a member of the G. A. R., and in politics is a 
Republican. 

WILLIAM MITTEN, farmer, Wyalusing township, P. O. Wyalu- 
sing, Avho is one of the few survivors of the Mexican War, was born 
in County Monaghan, Ireland, about 1819, a son of Thomas and Mary 
(Conn) Mitten, and came to the LTnited States with his parents in 1889, 
locating in Herrick township. His mother died when he was two or 
three years old, and his father was married, the second time, to Jane 
Wood; he had three ciiildren by his first marriage, viz.: Joseph, who 
died in infancy; James, now residing in Herrick, and William; the 
children by iiis second marriage were: Susan, who died in infancy; ]Vtar\^ 
Ann, married to Nesbit Gamble (now deceased) and Eliza, married to 
Jesse Carman, and living in Camptow^n. William Mitten, the subject 
of this sketch, spent his time on the farm until May 30, 1844, when he 
enlisted in Company H, Eighth Regiment, United States Infantry, 
commanded by Capt. J. Y. Boneford, stationed at St. Augustine, Fla. 
He remained thereuntilJune8, 1845, and was transferred to Tampa Bay, 
and same fall to Corpus Christi, Texas, where he remained until March 
9, 1846, when the army was started on the march for the East, along 
the bank of the Rio Grande, and the troo])s of which he Avas a mem- 
ber, were engaged for some time in building Fort Brown. He was of 
the party that started on May 1, for Fort Isabel for supplies, securing 
which, they started, on May 7, on their return, and on May 8 fought 
in the battle of Palo Alto. The next day they again encountered the 
enemy at Resacca de la Paima, where they were posted in the dry bed 
of a ravine; here the Eighth Infantry, commanded by Col. P)elknap, 
was held as reserve to support the attacking army, but were soon into 
the fight. The JNIexicans fought until nearly all were slain or taken 
l)risoners of war. The army crossed the Rio Grande on the 18th, and 
shortly afterward were taken by water to Comorgo, whence they 
started on the campaign against Monterey; during this campaign his 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1029 

regiment was under fire one night from the division of deserters from 
the American army, and Captain McKavctt was killed, and others 
wounded; the next day he was in tlie division that stoned and cap- 
tured the Bishop's palace; next day they captured the city and army 
of Monterey, and shortly afterward started to Saltill, which was taken 
without opposition. He then joined the forces of Gen. Scott, and, 
after the army concentrated and organized, started on the campaign 
against the city of Mexico; the army landed through the surf at San 
Juan de UUo, Worth's division being the first to reach shore, and at 
once engaged the enemy, which, after a short but severe skirmish, fell 
back; they then invested the city of Vera Cruz, and remained there, 
after the fall of the city, until April 18, 1847, when they had moved 
on and fought the battle of Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna's wooden 
leg was captured; tlien Puebla was surrendered without a fight, and 
the American flag unfurled upon the walls of the city that the Mexi- 
cans boasted would never surrender. A few days later, after suffering 
from severe cold in the mountain, they came before the fortifications 
of the City of Mexico; then, on the twentieth, came the storming antl 
capture of Contreras and Cherubusco, his compan\^ being the first to 
enter the latter fort, which they did after wading a ditch filled breast- 
high with water; the next engagement he participated in was the 
storming of Molino del Key, where he narrowly escaped a bayonet 
thrust, turning aside so that the bayonet pierced his knapsack; next 
vas the storming of Chapuitepec, where Longstreet was wounded, and 
carried to the rear on the back of William Mitten; his division was 
under a constant fire along the acqueduct road into the city, where he 
lost one of his companions, Sergt. John H. Hoose, whom he had 
tented w^ith since entering the army; they worked their way into the 
city, and the war was over. From JSTovember 1-tth, Worth's armv was 
away from the city, occupying the city of Toluca, until August, 18-18, 
when they started for home, makmg the trip by way of Vera Cruz 
and New Orleans, thence to St. Louis, Mo., and W. Mitten was there 
stationed for a short time, and in the fall of 1848 started for Port 
Lavaca, in Texas; the cholera broke out in his regiment, and out of 
the remnant left from the Mexican War, one hundred and tw^enty- 
seven fell victims to its ravages; from there he came home on a thirty 
days' furlough, and was discharged without rejoining his regiment; he 
was promoted to corporal at St. Augustine, and to first sergeant at 
Monterey, also was honored b}' having the straps taken from another 
sergeant and given to hinj; he was in the service five years, and met 
with many narrow escapes from the dangers of the field and march. 
After returning home he settled down to the duties of civil life, taking 
up farming, and he has passed the remainder of his life so far in the 
vicinity where he now lives; he now has 137 acres of land, beautifully 
located and well improved. On September 6, 1849, he was united in 
wedlock with Margaret Morrow, a daughter of William Morrow, a 
prominent farmer of Wyalusing, and to them were born seven chil- 
dren, five of whom yet survive: Nancy J. married to J. W. Hurst, of 
Herrick townslfip, and ex-register and recorder of Bi'adford county; 
K. J., mendjer of the mercantile house of Mitten, Nesbit & Mitten, of 

60 



1030 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

Tekamah, Neb.; W. T., farmer, having charge of the old homestead; 
Jessie, married to T. J. Claggett, of Standing Stone, and Mary A., 
now housekeeper for her fatlier and brother, W. T. Mr. Mitten is a 
member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church; he neither votes nor 
sits on juries. He lost his devoted wife by death, April 24, 1S91. 
This family fills a prominent place in the love and respect of the 
communitv in which thev live and move. 

FREDERICK A. MOGER, retired farmer, P. O. Wyalusing, was 
born in Standing Stone, this county, July 29, 1842, a son of Nathaniel 
and Anna (Iluyck) Moger. Ilis parents were natives of Bradford 
CDunty, of German origin; his mother died about thirty years ago, and 
his father, who was a farmer in Standing Stone, died in 1886, aged 
eighty-four years. They had a famil}' of ten children, viz.: Sally, 
Margaret, Jane, William, Franklin, Lydia Ann, Frederick A., Arte- 
mesia, Inez and Anna, seven of whom are still living, and six reside in 
Bradford county. Frederick was born and reared on a farm, received 
a limited common-school education, and worked on his father's farm 
until March 1, 1864, when he enlisted in Company E, Fifty-second P. 
V. V. I., and served until July 22, 1865, when he was mustered out with 
his reo-iment, nt Ilarrisburo-; soon after his enlistment he was attached 
to the Signal Corps and did scout duty the greater portion of Ins term, 
thus being in no pitched battles, but enduring as hard and dangerous 
service as was to be found in the army; upon his return home he 
resumed the occupation of farming, and followed that for a short time; 
then entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, 
where he remained fourteen years. Prior to this time he had pur- 
chased a farm in Susquehanna countv. In March, 1873, he came to 
Wyalusing, where he has since remained. On February 21, 1871, he 
married Martha Roberts, widow of Mortimer Roberts, and daughter 
of Albert Leonard, of Susquehanna county, and to them was born one 
child, who died in infancy. Mr. Moger is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Wyalusing, of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R., and 
has been an officer of the guard the past three years; politically he is 
a stanch Democrat, but does not interest himself greatly in ])olitical 
matters. 

GEORGE P. MONRO, farmer, P. O. Sylvan ia, was born in what 
is now North Towanda township, this county, August 31, 1838, and is 
a son of Peter and Lavinia (Pettibone) Monro, natives of Bristol, R. I., 
and Bennington, A't., respectively; his j)aternal grandfather, Thomas 
Monro, son of Dv. Thomas Monro, settled in Columbia township, in 
1823. and ])artially cleai'ed the farm now owned by the heirs of Henry 
(.'ard, and died tiiere; his wife was Sybil Borden, by whom he h.-nl 
children, all of whom grew to maturity: Sally (Mrs. Henry Card), 
Thomas B., William, Mary T., George, Abratii, Peter, Sybil (Mrs. 
James Metier), Bateman, John and James, of whom Peter was born in 
Bristol. R. I., September 15, 1808; came with ])arents to Columbia 
township, in 1823, and aftei- attaining his majority worked at the car- 
penter's trade, until 1858; then engaged in nu3r('aiitile business. lie 
died, February 13, 1888, after a permanent residence in (.'olumbia 
township of fifty years ; his wife was a daughter of Ira and Betsey 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1031 

(Tenney) Pettibone, of Manchester, Yt., by whom he had two chil- 
dren: George P. and Luc}^ L. (Mrs. L. W. Webb). Our subject was 
reared in Cohimbia township, received a common-school education, and 
for twenty seven years was with his father in the store at Sylvania, 
and was postmaster durino' that period, having been appointed May 
8, 1858. He resigned, October 1, 1885, and has since been engaged in 
farming. He married, December 25, 1879, Josephine, daughter of 
Thomas M. and Ann (Eustace) Embrey, of Fauquier county, Va., and 
has three children; Ira T., George H. and Max L. Mr. Monro is a 
member of the Universalist Church ; is a charter member of Sylvan 
Lodge. No. 926, I. O. O. F. In politics he is Republican, and in 1860 
was appointed assessor of United States Internal Revenue, holding 
position two vears. 

ALEXANDER MONROE, farmer, of Pike township, P. O., Le- 
Raysville, was born in Sharon, N. Y., October 5, 1838, the youngest 
living of the eleven children of Jacob and Rachel (Bice) Monroe, the 
former of whom, who w^as a blacksmith by trade, and of Scotch-Irish 
descent, moved from Connecticut, by teams, in March, 1852, to Barker, 
N. Y., where he died in 1863. Our subject obtained his echication 
chiefly by private study until the age of eighteen. Afterward he 
attended school at Lodi and Argusville, N. Y., and fitted himself for 
teaching. He began life for liimself in October, 1861, by enlisting in 
Company F, Twenty-seventh New York Yolunteers, and was in the 
following engagements: West Point. Gaines' Mills, and Seven Days' 
fight at White Oak Swamp, where his ankle was fractured, while on 
])icket dutv. He was mustered out, May 31, 1863, at the expiration of 
his term. Since that time he has chiefly followed farming, summers, 
and blacksmithing, winters, and has lived successively at Sharon 
(N. Y.), Franklin (Pa.). Barker (N. Y.), Rush (Pa.). LeRaysvilleand 
Towanda, then returned to LeRaysville, where he now resides. Mr. 
Monroe married Miss Emma E., daughter of Ira and Polly H. (Shum- 
way) Hyde, natives of Connecticut, and of English origin ; the children 
born to them are as follows: Arthur B., born September 1, 1868, a 
graduate of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, class of '90, and one 
of Bradford county's most successful teachers; Addie C, born March 
11, 1871, also a teacher, and Mertie N., born February 22, 1881. Mr. 
Monroe is a member of Spalding Post, No. 33, G. A. R., and is a Pro- 
hibitionist in jiolitics. 

M. MONTGOMERY, stone dealer, Silvara, was born in Delaware 
county. N. Y., May 25, 1825, a son of Alexander and Mary Ann 
(Hopkins) Montgomery. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, but both par- 
ents were natives of \¥ashington county, N. Y. His father was a 
farmer l)y occupation, and passed his entire life in New York. They 
had a family of nine children, viz.: Hannah, Daniel, Lydia, Polly Ann, 
John, Martin, J. W., Moses and Olive A., of whom three are now 
living, as follows: Martin, Polly Ann (who married John Orcutt, and 
now resides in Washington county, N. Y.) and J. W., a farmer and 
miller, of (ilreene county, N. Y. Our subject was born and reared on 
a farm, but did not attend school until after his fourteenth year, and 
then only a short period of eighteen months. Until after his majority 



1032 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

he then attended Hobart Academy and State Normal, of New York, 
and began teaching; taught in New York about three years, and in 
1854 he came to Bradford county, where lie taught the school at 
Merrvall. also engaged in operating a sawmill at that place. He 
remained in Wyalusing township about three years, and then removed 
to what is known as Montgomer}'- Corners, on Spring Hill, where he 
resided until 1874, when he removed to Silvara and purchased his present 
home. He had learned the trade of stone-mason, which, together with 
teaching, constituted his occupation until 1883. In 1879 he first turned 
his attention to the stone business, and began operating a quarry in the 
neighborhood of Silvara, known as the Coggswell quarry, which he 
operated five years, and then opened his present quarry, known as the 
Montgomerv quarry, which is situated on the land of A. J. Silvara, 
and is an excellent place, producing both flag and stock of superior 
quality, which he markets on the yards at Skinner's Eddy. He employs 
a force of about seven men, and has an output of twenty-five hundred 
feet per week. Mr. Montgomery was united in marriage, December 
31, 1851, with Esther Morris, a daughter of Gilbert Morris, of Ulster 
county, N. Y., and their union was blessed with two children: Mary E., 
who married William Sterling, a stone-cutter, of Silvara, and Hayden, 
who engaged with his father in the stone business. Mrs. Montgomery 
died March 16, 1883. Our subject is a member of the Methodist 
Protestant Church, of Silvara; poliiicalh% he is aEepublican, and takes 
an active part in local i)olitics, but has never been a place-seeker. Mr. 
Montgomery has one of the best of the many excellent quarries in his 
section, and has it fitted with a good derrick, and all modern improve- 
ments for getting out stone. 

DR. HORACE M. MOODY, physician. East Smithfield, born 
December 7, 1838, a son of Moses and" Phoebe (Allen) Moody. Moses 
was the eldest of five sons, and came to this county with his father 
when five years of age, from Haverhill, Mass. The grandfather^ of 
the Doctor, Nathaniel Peasly Moody, Avas in the senior class in Yale 
College at the commencement of the Revolutionary War; he enlisted on 
a privateer and went to sea, but was soon captured by the British and 
pressed into the Dutch service; after two years he was exchanged, and 
went into the army, rose to the rank of major and was at the surren- 
deror P)Ui-goyneat Yorktown. Nathaniel settled in Rome in 171)5, and 
soon took a possession near the nu)uth of Baliai'd creek, and after two 
vears traded for a farm, where the village of Rome now stands, and 
paid a difference of 180 pounds of maple sugar; on account of his 
superior education he was a man of great influence in his time. Hor- 
ace M. was educated at the schools of his native village, and at the 
Old Academy at Smithfield; he read medicine with Dr. E. P. Allen, 
now of Athens, attended one course of lectures at Ann Arbor, and 
was graduated at Geneva Medical Cf^llege; he commenced the ] ractice 
of his profession at East Sinithfi(:l(l in 1801. He was assistant-surgeon 
from 1SG;5 until the close of tin? war, in the One Hundred and Eighty- 
third Pennsylvania, and was present at the surrender of Loe's ai-my at 
('lover Hill', Va. He was married. October 20, 18C5, to Lucinda L. 
Allen, a sister of Dr. Allen, born in 1841, and they have one daughter, 



HISTORY OF imADFORI) COUNTY. 1033 

Corie Etta, born in 18G6. The Moodys have l)een Federalists, Wliigs 
and Republicans. Dr. Moody has five brothers who have been justices 
of the peace, and two, Myron and Nelson, wei'e soldiers in the Civil 
War. He was the first man to help in the erection of the monument 
at the Centre in memorj' of the fallen heroes of the war, from Smith- 
lield township, which was the first monument erected in northern 
Pennsylvania; he is a commander of the G. A. 11., and a Freemason. 

ULYSSES MOODY, merchant. Asylum, was born May 9, 1811, 
in Rome, this county, a son of JSTathaniel P. and Susan (Griffin) 
Moody. Nathaniel P. Moody was a Revolutionary soldier; he offered 
himself to his country early in the war, but being too young was 
rejected, and was then shipped on board a privateer, at Boston, but 
in a few days it was captured at sea bv the British, and he was taken 
as a prisoner of war to England, where he was pressed into service in 
the war against the Dutch. At the time of Burgovne's defeat, he was 
exchanged, and then enlisted in the AVar for Independence, in which 
he experienced many hardships; he was a man of great perseverance 
and sterling worth, and settled in Rome, this county, in 1790 ; his 
son, P)enjamin, was the first white male child born in the county east 
of the river in Rome, Warren, Windham and Orwell. Ulysses is the 
3^oungest of nine children. He was married, August 17, 1837, to Mary 
A., daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Franklin) Terry, the father a 
native of Pennsylvania, the mother being English. Her grandfather 
was the first settler of Terry township. To Mr. and Mrs. Moody have 
been born four children, three of whom died in childhood. The sur- 
vivor, Nathaniel P., born December 16, 1843, in Asylum township, 
was educated in the common schools, and then at Towandaand Easton; 
was a sergeant in the Civil War ; was in the battle of Fredericksburg, 
but, on account of failing health, was discharged ; he married Sarah, 
daughter of Dr. Edward C. Crandall, who died, October 14, 1887 
(Nathaniel is a partner in the business with his father). The father 
has been continuously in the business since 1835, fifty-six years. This 
is one of the highly respectable families of the county. 

GEORGE H. MOORE, wholesale and retail grocer, Towanda, was 
born in St Paul, Minn., April 17,1866, and is a son of Charles P. and 
Elizabeth (McCabe) Moore. His paternal grandfather, Henry P. 
Moore, who was a resident of Bradford countv about sixt}^ years, 
spent his boyhood in Standing Stone, and after reaching his majority 
became the junior member of the firm of Tracy & Moore, dealers in 
general merchandise there, and later in Towanda. He was also inter- 
ested in boating on the North Branch Canal, and owned a couple of 
boats which he operated several years. He died in Towanda, in the 
fall of 1888, at the age of seventy years. His wife was Amelia 
Nobles, by whom he had nine children, of whom Charles P., father of 
subject, was the second child, and eldest son. He was born in 
Towanda, and reared, educated and married there. In 1864 he 
removed to St. Paul, Minn., where he remained two years. He 
returned to Towanda in 1866, and took charge of his father's store for 
a time, and later, for ten years, was in the employ of the Erie Railroad 
Company at Barclay, as weighraaster and assistant superintendent of 



1034 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

their mines. He afterward engaged in the liquor business one year, 
in Towanda, and then was for tive years in the grocery business. Mr. 
Moore died January 5, 1889. His wife was a daughter of George 
McCabe, a native of Ireland, and a pioneer of Bratiford county, and by 
her had two children, George H. and Jeanette. George H. Moore 
was reared and educated in Towanda, and when sixteen years of age 
took charge of Patch & Packer's store, at Sayre, for one year, and at 
seventeen embarked in business for himself at Towanda, in which he 
has since successfully continued. He married, October 15, 1890, 
Isabel, daughter of John and Aurissa (Angle) Spalding, of Towanda. 
He is a member of the Episcopal Church ami F. & A. M.; politically 
he is a Republican. 

P. W. MOREY, farmer, P. O. Rummerfield Creek, was born Octo- 
ber 20, 1832, in Northampton county. Pa., a son of Tobias and JNlarga- 
ret (Wiedman) Morey, natives of Pennsylvania, wiio were of Scotch 
and German ancestry. He was marrfed, April 9, 1850, to Emma, 
daughter of Joseph and Sarah Lochr, of Michigan, who were of Ger- 
man extraction ; she was the third in a family of four children, all of 
whom are living. This union has been blessed with six children, all 
yet living, as follows: Sarah A., born July 9, 1857; Eugene, born 
October 1, 1859; Joseph L., born August 4, 18C2, married to Emma 
Decker. December 24, 1885; Ida, born November 12, 1SG4, wife of 
C. F. Park; Maggie May, born March 27, 1870, niarried to George A. 
Frutchey, and Augusta, born June 13, 1873. Mr. Morey was raised 
(jn his father's farm, came to this county in April, 1871, and purchased 
a part of the old Laporte farm in Asyhim township, on the French- 
town flats, and owns over two hundred acres of as fine land as there is 
in the State. He is a very successful and prosperous farmer, combin- 
ing the growing of tobacco and stock-raising with that of general 
agriculture. He is a member of the F. & A. M., No. 311, Mount 
Bethel Lodge, and is a Democrat in politics. The family are members 
of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Morey ever manifests an interest in the 
education and welfare of his community. 

ENOS W. MORGAN, farmer and carpenter, P. O. Burlington, 
was born in Massachusetts, September 15, 1830, a son of Herman and 
Orilla (Boyce) Morgan, farmers and natives of New England, of Eng- 
lish ancestry. The grandfather, Morgan, was a soldier in the War of 
the Revolution. Our subject was brought by his parents to Bradford 
countv, in 1832, and thev settled in Armenia, where they engaged in 
farming. In 1862, Enos W. enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and 
Seventy-first P. Y. I., and was many times under fire. On account of 
great exposure, and consetpient loss of health, he was disciiarged in 
September, 1863, and is now a pensioner and a member of the G. A. R. 
Mr. Morgan has been twice married, his first marriage being with 
Rosilla Brown, who died, and he then married, April 10, 1878, Mrs. 
Permelia (Lane) Riley. Bv his first wife he had four children, as fol- 
lows : G. Lorenzo, married' to Laura Beals ; Alma ,L, wife of Joseph 
Pierce; Susan, wife of Clinton Murray ; and Charles Newton, married 
to Alice Farnsworth. Mr. Morgan lias been a car))enter, builder and 
farmer all his life. In politics he is a Republican, but his sympathies 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1035 

are largely with the Prohibition part3^ His father died atthe age()f 
eig-hty-one years, and his mother liveii to the great age of ninety -five 
veiirs. The family are members of the Disciple Church. 

ZOPHAli L. MORGAN, farmer, P. O. Luther's Mills, was born 
October 3, 1842, in Truxton, Cortland Co., N. Y., a son of Samuel 11. 
and Harriet (Wicks) Morgan, the former a native of Massachusetts, and 
the latter of Connecticut, both of English ancestry ; they were agricul- 
turists and removed to Bradford county, where they first settled in Ulster 
township, in 1852, and here with his sons the father engaged in the 
lumbering business and farming; the family numbered nine children. 
The father died at the age of eighty years; the mother is living at the 
age of eighty-eight vears. Zophar L. was reared on the farm, and in 
August, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty- 
second P. V. I., for service in the Civil War ; he lost bis health while 
in active service, caused from an injury, was discharged in November, 
1803, and is now a pensioner. Mr. Morgan was married, September 19, 
1860, to Juliette C. Knapp, who was born September 8, 1850, a daughter 
of Mortimer and Melisa (Clark) Knapp, of P>urlington; she is a niece 
of R. M. Knai)p, of Burlington, and her family were among the pioneers 
of the township ; her father is a grocer at Luther's Mills in which 
business he has been engaged many years, and is now seventy-one 
years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are residing on the old homestead 
of her father and grandfather, a nice farm of about eighty acres. They 
have had one child— a son named Mortimer M. M., born June 12, 1868. 
Mr. Morgan was several years in the grocery business at Campbell, 
N. Y., and Sayre, Pa. He is a Republican, has been treasurer of the 
town many years, and is a member of the G. A. R. Tlie family are 
members of the Church at Luther's Mills. Mr. Morgan is respected by 
the entire communitv. 

DWIGHT MORLEY, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born, Feb- 
ruarv 26, 1831, in Springfield township, this county, a son of Walter 
and Julia (Sargent) Morley, both born m Litchfield, Conn., of English 
origin ; they removed to Bradford county in 1828, and settled at Leona. 
The father was a blacksmith, and followed iiis trade at that place until 
1844, when he removed to Wellsbui'g, and engaged in the hotel busi- 
ness up to his death, which occurred when he was aged eighty years. 
The grandfather, Walter Morley, was a captain in the Revolutionary 
War, and a hotel-keeper. D wight Morley was apprenticed to the 
carpenter's trade, which business he followed until 1862, when he 
enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Forty-first N. Y. V. I., and 
served as a sergeant in the Army of the Potomac ; he saw considerable 
hard service, but on account of the loss of health he w^as mustered out, 
and returned home, and he is now in the enjoyment of a pension. Mr. 
Morley was twice married, first time, in January, 1856, to Sarah Stev- 
ens, who died, and he then married, July 5, 1869, his present wife, 
Catherine Rhodes, of Elmira, N. Y., who was born December 25, 1848, 
and by her he has two children : La Francis, born August 31, 1881, and 
Fav D., born February 18, 1884. Mr. Morley is the owner of a beau- 
tiful farm of seventy-five acres, under a good state of cultivation, with 
fine buildings, and carries on dairying and stock-raising; he is a mem- 



1030 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ber of the G. A. K., Bingham Post, No. 555, a Ke])ublican in politics, 
and is one of the substantial and reliable men of tlie township, much 
respected by a large circle of friends. 

J. D. MORRIS, proprietor of Quarry Glenn Stone Works, Sheshe- 
quin township, P. O. C^uarr}^ Glen, was boi-n in Greene county, N. Y., 
March 19, 18-1-2, a son of J/D. J. and Margaret D. (Uedritch)^ Morris, 
natives of Germany and Greene county, N. Y., respectively. The 
father came to the United States with his parents, when a small child, 
and was brought up, and learned the butcher's trade, and then went 
in the drovers business. He was married in Greene county, and reared 
his family there; his business, while in Greene county, was deabng in 
stone, and he was pi-oprietor of the quarries at Maiden and Cats- 
kill ; he now resides in Philadelphia. His mother died August 31, 
1874. His father's family consisted of eight children — five boys and 
three girls — two, John C. and Wm. H., deceased, while the others 
live in Philadelphia. J. D. Morris spent his boyhood in Greene county 
N. Y., where he attended the common schools, and received his educa- 
tion ; he learned the trade of stone-cutter in his father's quarries. In 
1861, he opened a quarry in Greene county, N. Y.,and conducted this 
until February 22, 1864,'when he enlisted in Company E, fifteenth 
Regiment, New York Engineers, and was discharged, June 13, 1805, 
at Fort Berry, Va., at the close of the wai-. He was engaged in 
building bridges, repairing roads, etc. After returning from the army 
he opened a quarry in Ulster county, N. Y., and operated same two 
years ; then located at Philadelphitu and dealt in granite and blue-stone, 
remaining there five years, then, in 1874, came to his present place, and 
was foreman for the' Pliiladelphia and Susquehanna Blue Stone Co.'s 
(Quarry, one and one-half years, after which he commenced operating 
a quarry for himself, and his product is a stone that is unsurpassed^ m 
quality by any in the United States. He works about twenty-five 
men during the summer months, and ships to Philadelphia, Baltimore 
and Florence, turning out, annually about 200,000 tons; and supplies 
the stone for many of the most noted ])ublic buildings in the county, 
and many of the finest residences. The machinery for Avorking the 
quarries consists of several huge derricks, four rip-saws, with steam 
power furnished by two ten-horse-power portable engines. Mr. 
Morris was married, December 4, 18 — , to Mary A., daughter of Archi- 
bald Davis, of Greene county, N. Y., and hasafamily of live children : 
Ella J., married to Ellsworth Gooding, and has one son ; Edward S., 
the only son was married, August 5, 1891, to Myra A. Gilletta;Louetta, 
died June 14, 1891, after an illness of but a few" days, in her nineteenth 
vear; Ada and Mary. Mr. Morris is a member of Watkins Post, No. 
68, G. A. R.; I. O. O. F., Valley Lodge, No. 108,Towanda; is officer of 
the day in the G. A. R. Post, and in politics is a Republican. The 
family"^ moved to Towanda, in March, 1891 , and are members of the 
Methodist Ejiiscopal Church. 

THOMAS J.MORRIS, of Pike township, car|)enter and joiner, 
P. O. LeRaysville, was born in Towanda, Novemlici- 26, 18;^>7, and is 
the eldest of five children of John and Elizabeth (.Icnkins) -iMorris, 
natives of Wales, and a grandson of William and Mary (Lewis) Morris. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1037 

His maternal oraiulparents were Joseph and Elizabetli (Jones) Jenk- 
ins, and tliey were tiie first Welch Taniil}' tliat settled in Pike. John 
Morris was born in 1806, came to Ameriparin 18»>2, and wor-ked at the 
carpenter's trade one year in New YorJ^then took up a farm in Tike 
township, and lived there a year. In 1835 he went to Towanda, and 
took contracts in the carpentering business for fourteen years, and built 
the first Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Methodist Ejiiscopal churches 
in Towanda, also the first ''Ward House'' and the C. L. AVard residence, 
and man}^ other buildings in that place. In 1840 he returned to Pike, 
and was emploj^ed by Caleb Cannalt, thirteen years, in constructing- the 
buildings around Cannalt's lake. In 1862 he engaged in farming 
where he now lives. Thomas J. was educated in the common schools 
and Towanda graded school, and worked with his father at the car- 
penter's trade until twenty-four years old. when he started in business 
for himself, and went to Tennessee, in 1862, where he was a "squad 
boss'' in the United States' construction department for six months. 
He was drafted to enter the arm}^, but paid for a substitute, and 
returned to Leiiaysville. Later he entered the quartermaster depart- 
ment at Alexandria. Ya., and after six months re-entered the con- 
struction department, where he remained until the close of the war. 
He had charge of 130 men, and was paid a salary of $140 a month. 
At the close of the war he attended the grand review. President Lin- 
coln's funeral, and many noted public events, then returned to Pike 
and jnirchased a farm, which he now owns, and where his father lives. 
In 1881 he built his own beautiful residence in LeRaysville. June 4, 
1865, Mr. Morris married Sophia, daughter of John and Jane (Will- 
iams) Williams, natives of Wales, and they have had six children: Wal- 
ter T., born November 24, 1867, married to Sarah Smith, May 6,1891; 
Nellie E., born September 5, 1873 ; George R., born March ^27, 1877 ; 
Grace, born June 11, 1879, died February 10, 1882; Mabel, born 
August 3, 1885, and Fred, born August 19,"^ 1888. Mrs. Morris is a 
member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Morris is a member of 
the Masonic Lodge, and is a Republican ; he has been a member of the 
borough council nine years, and school director the same length of 
time, besides having held other minor offices. 

NEWTON J. MORROW, farmer, of Herrick township, P. O. 
Ballibay, was born in Herrick township, this county, January 31, 1848; 
His father, Hamilton Morrow, was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, 
in 1812, and came to this county in 1826. He first purchased fifty 
acres of land and, later, 120 acres, which he afterward exchanged for 
fifty acres adjoining his original purchase; in 1862 he purchased fortv- 
four acres and, in 1872, fifty acres, making a total of 194 acres in Her- 
rick, besides 189 acres he had in Wyalusing. He was a successful far- 
mer, and followed lumbering; he died of apoplexy in 1886. In 1839 
he married Jane, daughter of Thornas and Catherine (Walsh) Walker, 
the fourth in a family of six children, and she bore him the following- 
children : James (deceased), Catherine Anne (wife of J. A. Morrow), 
Dr. Francis G. (of Warren Centre), William J., Mary Jane (deceased), 
Julia F. (deceased,) William T., Arietta (wife of F. Pendleton), Newton 
J., and two who died in infancy. Mrs. H. Morrow died September 29, 



1038 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1874. William T. attended school in Ballibay and Camptown, and 
taught school two terms in Wyalusing, then worked on a farm one 
vear, and in 1877, went to Nebraska, but soon returned home and 
farmed two years, then again went to Nebraska. When he retnrned 
he purchased of his father, forty-four acres of land, and in 1886, from 
his brother, N. J. Morrow, fifty acres adjoining his first purchase, and 
farmed until 1887, when he went to Camptown, and opened a general 
store, in company with Charles Mallert, under the firm name of Mor- 
row ife Mallert. They closed this out after two years, and AVilliam T. 
returned to his farm permanently. He married, December 11, 1883, 
Carissa, daughter of Miles E. and Sarah (Van Buren) Keed, the third 
in a family of four children, and they have one child, Edith Geraldine, 
born in 1888. The family are members of the Keformed Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Morrow is a Repnblican in politics. 

Newton J. JNIorrow attended school in Ballibay and Camptown 
until his twenty-first year, and then worked on the farm and taught 
school three winters. " In 1873 he purchased from his father fift}' acres 
of land in Herrick township, on which he farmed, also carried on the 
business of buying and shipping hay and grain. In 1875 he went to 
Eummerfield, and went into business with Wellington Whittaker, deal- 
ing in general merchandise, under the firm name of Morrow & Whitta- 
ker, until 1877, when they closed the business out, and he returned to 
his farm, and has since followed farming, lumbering and shipping. In 
1884 he purchased the homestead from his father; he has been school 
director two years, an elder in the Presbyterian Churcii, elected in 
June, 1890; politically he is a Republican. In 1872 he married Adeline, 
daughter of John and Mary (Fee) Nesbit, the eldest of seven children, 
and they have three children : Mary Jane, Hamilton and John Andrew. 

C. T. MORSE, farmer, LeRoy, was born in LeRoy, this county, 
December 30, 1834, a son of Sullivan and Phoebe (Bailey) Morse, also 
natives of the county. The father was a son of Jesse Morse, who located 
in LeRoy township, this count}^ about the year 1805, having been for- 
merly a resident of Massachusetts. The family consisted of seven 
chikfren — five daughters and two sons — all of whom are now living. 
C. T., who is the second in the family, was reared in LeRoy township, 
educated in the common schools, and in early life learne(l the black- 
smith's trade, which he followed fifteen years; also worked at the 
mason's ti-ade, and then engaged in farming. He was married, at 
LeRoy, October 4, 1857, to Elma McKee, who was born in 1840, a 
daughter of Robert and Hannah McKee, the former of whom was 
born in Seneca county, N. Y., in 1815, the latter in LeRoy, in 1818. 
To tiiem were born six children, five of whom are now living, as fol- 
lows: Eva, born in 1858; Floyd, born in 1859 (married Ann, dauo-hter 
of Wesley and Belle Kerr); Clarice, born in 1865 (married John Kerr); 
Gertrude, born in 1868, and Martin L., born in 1872. Mi-. Morse is 
an Independent-Republicnn, and has held various offices of public 
trust, such as judge of elections and commissitmer ; he is a member of 
the Grange. 

HON. GEORGE MOSCRIP, farmer and salesman, P. O. Burling- 
ton, was born in Greenock, Scotland, January 23, 1840, a son of 



HISTORY OF RRADFOKD COUNTY. 1030 

Andrew and Fanny (White) Moscrip, former of whom was a carpenter 
and builder ; he was a native of Scotland, and when a young man 
removed to America where he was marr'ied, l)ut after some years he 
returned to his native country. The mother was a direct descendant of 
Peregrine White (of the Pilgrim stock), who was the first male child 
born in the Plymouth colony. The paternal grandfather was a graduate 
of the University of Edinburgh, was a clergyman of what was known 
as the secession'branch of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, and was 
the pastor of that church at Greenoclv forty years. Andrew Moscrip 
was an educated man, but chose a trade in preference to a profession. 
Returning to America he settled in Herriclv township, in 1840, and died 
at the age of sixty -three years, his wife at the age of forty-eight. 
Their son George, our subject, who was educated in the schools of the 
township, and at LeRaysville Academy, taught school most of the 
time, from sixteen years of age until he was thirt}^ and has, for many 
years, been engaged in the sale of school books and apparatus. In 
the fall of 187-i he was elected to the State Legislature, where he served 
two years. Mr. Moscrip has been twice married: first on April 5, 1870, 
to Harriet L. Pease, who died in 1874, and afterward, July 18, 1878, to 
Sarah M. Loomisof Windham, a daughter of Rev. A. W. Loomis, of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, a member of the Wyoming Con- 
ference ; she was born at Rome, this county, September 18, 1853, and 
died August 27, 1891. They ha(l born to them five children : Fannie E., 
George L., Andrew L., Lewis S. and Clarence A. In the Civil War 
Mr. Moscrip served in the commissary department of the Second 
Array Corps. Lie is one of the representative men of the county. 

E. M. MOSIIER, farmer and stock-raiser, a son of Earl and Abigail 
(Mackey) Mosher, natives of the State of New York, was born in 
Alban}^" county, N. Y., October 5, 1834. His father's family were of 
French descent, and grandfather Mosher was among the early pioneers 
of Dutchess county, N. Y. His mother's people were of Dutch and 
Irish extraction ; his grandfather, on his mothers side, was a colonel 
in the War of 1812. The father emigrated to this county in 1872, and 
died August 24, 1889, at the age of eighty-two; the mother died in 
New York, March 12, 1876, aged sixty-four ; they were farmers. E. M. 
Mosher was educated in the State of New York, first in the common 
schools and afterward he attended the New York Conference Seminary, 
of Charlotteville, N. Y., about one year, having to leave the Institution 
on account of sickness before receiving his degree, When twenty -two 
years old he engaged in teaching, and continued at that four years, 
during the winter months, farming during the summer ; he then devoted 
his attention to farming and now owns the "Seven Oaks farm," 
situated in the Milan Yalley ; it is beautifully located, and contains 
125 acres of bottom and upland, besides a dairy of eighteen cows. 
February 15. 1800, he was united in marriage with Sarah E., daughter 
of G. W. and Silvia C. (Newel) Stryker, and they had the following 
children : Lillian (the oldest). May (wife of Henry Nolte, of Duluth, 
Minn.), one died in infancy, Georgie, Dency, Sarah, Eva and John. Mr. 
Mosher is a member of the Baptist Church, and is a trustee of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church ; in politics he is a Democrat. 



1040 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

JAMES S. MOSIIER, M. D., Austinville, born in Columbia town- 
sliii), this county, January 24, 18(VT, is a son oC Coinelius II. and Martha 
(Vankirk) Mosher; his paternal <>'i"antll"iither, William A. Mosher, and 
maternal grandfather, Joseph V'ankirk, wei-e pioneers oi" Columbia 
and Wells townships, respectively. The subject of this sketch was 
reared in his native township, and educated at Troy public schools, 
where he took a preparatory course for college. In 1882 he began 
the study of medicine with Dr. T. D. Gray, of Sylvania, later with 
Dr. E. G. Tracy, of Troy, and entered the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., in 1889, and in May 1891, he began the 
practice of his profession in Austinville, where he is now located. On 
April 16, 1891,' the Doctor married Laura, daughter of Lesser and 
Hannah (Lesser) Lesser, of Bremen, Germany. Dr. Mosher is a mem- 
ber of the I. O. O. F. Lodge, ISo. 920, Sylvania, and politically he is a 
Democrat. 

REV. ABRAHAM M. MOTT. P. O. Granville Centre, was born in 
Southport, Chemung Co., N. Y., August 28, 1824, a son of Alvah and 
Anna (VanCampen) Mott, of German descent. He was reared in his 
native county, and received ver}' limited school advantages. He 
served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade, as carriage ironer, 
in Elmira, N. Y., and settled in Granville, this county, in 1845, where 
he worked at his trade, with the exception of the time he was in the 
army, until 1865. In 1861, he enlisted in Capt. Tilford's Company, 
Fiftieth Regiment, P. V. I., but was soon discharged, on account of 
disability. In 1864, he re-enlisted, this time in Company F, One 
Hundred and Eighty-eighth N. Y^. V. I., and was honorably discharged 
at close of the war. On April 16, 1885, he was ordained a minister of 
the Church of Christ, and he is an advocate and worker in Sunday- 
schools, and is a successful revivalist. He married, January 1, 1846, 
Cynthia, daughter of Elisha Bailey, of Granville, and has one son, 
Devyr, now a prominent }ihysician of Fontana, Kans. Mr. Mott, some 
years ago, was a[)pointed United States Pension Attorney b}'^ the 
Government. He has been a successful official, and practised before 
all departments of the Pension Bureau, at AVashington, D. C. He 
has held several of the minor offices in Granville; is a member of the 
G. A. R., McKee Post, No. 584, West Franklin, Pa., and in ])oliticshe 
is a Re])ublican. 

II. K. MOTT, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Middletown, Dela- 
ware Co.. N. Y"., May 19, 1838, a son 'of Matthew and Mary (Knicker- 
bocker) Mott, natives of Germany, the former of whom was born in 
New York, in 1808. Matthew Mott removed from New York in the 
year 1851, and located in LeRoy, where he built a tannery the same 
year, which he operated until his death, which occurred March 12, 
1877. He was twice married, and l)y his iirst wile he had children, as 
follows: Knickerbocker, Hiram K., Pratt. Matthew B., Phebe and 
Sophia, and by the second wife he had as follows: Fremont, Thomas, 
Samuel, Mary, Myrtle, Al.ce and Ann, all of whom grew to maturity, 
ten living in this county. II. K. Mott was reared and educated in 
LeRoy, and in early life he learned the tanner's trade in all its depart- 
ments, continuing the business until his twenty -sixth year, after which 



HISTORY OF HRAnFORl) COUNTY. 1041 

he became a prosperous speculator, and is now a farmer of extensive 
means. On January 1, 1859, he married JVIary E., daughter of George 
and Sailie M. Whipple, who removed to this county in 1840. To this 
union were born six children — live sons and onedaug'hter — viz.: Georo;e 
W., JohnS., Omar D., Kiah, Andrew and Sadie, the latter married to 
Charles S. Holcomb, publisher of the Weekly Monogram, oi LeRoy. 
Mr. Mott has a very extensive carp pond on his farm, and in the fall of 
1890 he placed about 1,6Y3 young cai-p therein. Politically he is a 
Eepublican, and has been favored with many offices of public trust; 
he now holds his fifth commission as justice of the peace; he is a mem- 
ber of the I. O. O. F. 

MARTIN MULLEN, a prominent, respectable farmer of Overton 
township, .p. O. Overton, a native of Ireland, born November 10, 1837, 
is a son of Bartholomew and Ann (Judge) Mullen, of County Mayo. 
The family immigrated to Canada, in 1847, and from there moved to 
Ovei-ton, in 1851, where they spent the remainder of their lives, the 
father dying in 18()2;the mother yet survives. Martin is the fifth 
in a farail}^ of nine children ; his childhood was spent on his father's 
farm, commencing at a young age, assisting at the farm work in sum- 
mer, and attending the short-term winter's school. He has followed 
the precepts and example of his beloved parents, and from his fathers 
farm he went out into the world on his own account and continued 
farming. His fortune, chiefly, was his honest industry and thought- 
ful frugality, and this is told in the fact that he is now the possessor 
of a farm of 100 acres of rich land in Bradford county, all iiighly 
improved. Martin Mullen married Sabina Clark, of Williamsport, 
daughter of John and Barbara (Brown ) Clark, of Ireland, who came 
to this country in 1853. Of this happy union are the following chil- 
dren : Mary Ann (wife of John Welch). Edward J. (school teacher) 
and Barbara C. The familj^ are members of the Catholic Church. 
Mr. Mullen has been road commissioner, and votes the Democratic 
ticket, 

THOMAS MULLEN, farmer, P. O. Overton. [See sketch of his 
brother, Martin Mullen, for family i-ecoi'd.] He was born in Ireland 
in December, 1829, the eldest in a family of nine children, grew to 
manhood in his native home, and came with his father's family to 
Overton in 1851. He has spent his life farming, having commenced a 
poor boy, but is now the ptoud possessor of 100 acres, a finelj' 
imjiroved farm, that is the dear old family home. He married, in 
Williamsport, in 1855, Bridget, daughter of Matthew and Johanna 
(Brown) Murray, natives of Ireland. To this union were born the 
following children: Mary E., Annie B., Johanna A., Anthony J. and 
Maggie A. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church, 
and are among the most respected people of Bradford county. Mr. 
Mullen has held the office of school director for twenty-five years, 
road commissioner for the term of twelve years, and township auditor - 
several years ; has been ])oor mastei- and school ti-casurer, and in poli- 
tics he is a Democrat. 

ALEXANDER MURDOCK, a, lavnier and stock-grower, P. O. 
Ulster, was born in Ayishii'e, Scolland, Jiwie 2(5, 1825, and is a son of 



1042 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Robert and Margaret (Pollock) Murdock, natives of the same place. 
His father died in Scotland in 1849, but his mother survived about 
twenty years. Alexander came to this countr}^ in 1849, and located 
on a farm in Ulster, His father was a weaver, and worked in the 
cloth mills of Gaulstone, Scotland, but did not follow this trade many 
years. Our subject received a common-school education in his native 
l)lace, but was put to work at the loom when ten years old, and fol- 
lowed weaving* until he was twenty-one, when he was appointed to a 
})osition on the police force of Kilmarnock, where he served three 
years. The farm he purchased was covered with heavy timber which 
he cleared, and he now owns the farm he cleared on first coming here, 
which consists of 200 acres of upland, and is well improved and under 
a splendid state of cultivation. Of his immediate ancestors he knows 
but little, and with the exceptions of his own family he has no relatives 
in this country. He Avas married, in Scotland, to Janette, daughter of 
George and Helen (Patterson) Rodgers, natives of Gaulstone, and to 
them the following named children were born : Robert and George 
R., born in Scotland (Robert is now a phvsician in Wilkes-Barre); 
Christina, wife of Adolphus Watkins ; Maggie, wife of Louis Pussell, 
of Wisconsin; Alexander, a prominent farmer of Smithfield; Ellen, 
wife of A. ]^. Eockwell, of Ulster; James, of Binghamton, N. Y. 
and Carrie. In religious belief Mr. Murdock is a Baptist, and in his 
political views he is a Republican. 

GEORGE Pt. MURDOCK, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Ulster, 
is a son of Alexander and Janette (Patterson) Murdock, and was born 
in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, October 11, 1848. His parents 
immigrated to this country when he was about eight months old, and 
settled in Ulster township ; the son attended the Ulster schools until 
nearly twenty-one years of age, and received a good common-school 
education, assisting the father in clearing 150 acres of land, which he 
now owns. He was married, September 16, 1886, to Georgia, daughter 
of William and Jessie (Gallespie) Irving, and is the father of two 
children — Lawrence and William. His wife's ])eople are of Scotch 
descent, and she was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and immigrated 
to this countrv about 1 870. Mr. Murdock cultivates six acres of tobacco 
yearly, besides the cereal crops, and now owns the old homestead, 
which consists of 150 acres of upland, and, with the exception of about 
three acres in woodland, is all under cultivation ; he also keeps twenty- 
one cows for dairy purposes. His wife is a member of the Presby- 
terian (Miurch, and he is a Methodist in his belief, but is not attached 
to any church : he is a Repul)lican in ])olitics. 

J()IIN H. MURRAY, farmer and stock-dealer. South Wavei'ly, is 
a native of the place, born Ma}^ 20, 1826. His parents were Harris 
and Ellen (Gordon) ISIurray, the former a farmer, a native of xVthens 
township, born in June, 1800; his death occurred August 4, 1877; the 
latter was a native of Standing Stone township, and died in 1880. Mr. 
Hai-ris Murray was twice married, the; second time to So])hia Canfield, 
a native of Sniilhsborough, Tioga Co., Ts^. V., and is now in her 
ninetieth year, and I'esides on the old homestead in South Waverly. 
John is the second in a family of live children \>y the first marriage; 



HISTORY OF BRAUFOKD COUNTY. 1043 

hie was reared on the farm, and in 1850 started a meat-market, which 
he sold in the spring- of 1862, and rented two large farms, and engaged 
in buying and selling cattle, mules and horses. During the wnv he 
bought horses and sold them to the Government. In 1870 he again 
started a meat-market, this time with S. W. Miller, his brother-in-law, 
and they followed the business about twelve years. In 1870 he pur- 
chased a tract of timber land at Wyncoop Creek, Chemung Co., N. Y., 
which contained 525 acres of valuable timber, and erected a sawmill 
on it, and was engaged in lumbering about twenty-one years. He sold 
$16,000 worth of lumber off the tract, erected a large barn, and has 
been improving the land since. ' In the same year he bought a tract of 
land in Charles county, Md., which contained 800 acres, of which 700 
is timber land ; he also owns considerable land in this county, on 
which he keeps stock. He has had charge of the stock-yards in 
Waverl}^ for the Lehigh Valley Railroad since they built their line. 
He was married in Athens township, December 28, 1850, to Jane, 
daughter of Alvin and Eliza (Parmater) Morley, natives of Connecti- 
cut. Mr. Morley was a miller early in life, and later went to Man- 
chester, Iowa, and bought 1,800 acres of land for a speculation. He 
invented a barb wire for fencing, but did not have it patentetl. Mrs. 
Murray was the third of a familv of five children, born in Athens 
township, June 3,1832; she died April 15,1888. She was a consist- 
ent member of the Presbyterian Church. They had two children, 
Lida and John H. The latter is en^a^'ed in the coal business for the 
D. L. vfc W. R. R, Co. at South Waverly. Mr. ]VIurray is a member of 
the F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70. He served as burgess 
of South Waverh^ borough two years, and was township commissioner 
three years; was nominated for county treasurer, but was defeated 
with his ticket; he is a L^emocrat in politics. 

J. R. MURRAY, dealer in boots and shoes. Sayre, is a native of 
Orange county. N. Y., born February 3, 1845, and is a son of Thomas 
and Harriet (Dunning) Murray, also natives of Orange county. The 
father, who was a farmer, died in 1879, in his seventy-third year; the 
mother survives. Our subject's maternal grandfather, Benjamin Dun- 
ning, was a soldier in the AVar of 1812. J. R. Murray, who is the eldest in 
a family of six children, received a public-school education, read law 
and was admitted to the bar in Tioga count\% N. Y^., in 1875, but did 
not practice his profession long, as he engaged in the insurance business, 
in 1867, and has followed it more or less since. He was married, in Wav- 
erly, to Addie E., daughter of George and Emily (Crawford) Goulden, 
natives of Connecticut, the former of whom is a cabinet-maker (she is 
the second in a family of eight children, and was born in Waverly, 
April 12, 1848). Mrs. A. E. Murray had a ladies' fancy-goods store in 
Waverly about four years. To this union were born two children, viz.: 
Albert and Lora. The family removed to Sayre in 1883, and he 
engaged in his present business. Mrs. Murray is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Murray is a member of the Royal 
Arcanum and Equitable Aid Union; is chief engineer of the Fire Depart- 
ment of Sayre, and is a member of the Wilbiu' Hook and Ladder Com- 
panj'. He is a Republican, and served as justice of the peace, two terms, 



104:4 HISTORY OF BRADFORD ^ OUNTY. 

police justice, one term, and was town clerk and collector, Waverlv, 
N. Y. He is now a justice of the peace for Sayre borough, havino- 
been elected to that office in P'ebruary, 1891, for a term of five vears. 
II is }ieculiar litness for the office was so well known that he was elected 
without opposition. Mr. Murray is a fluent and eloquent speaker, and 
has delivered a o-ood many addresses in his section of the county. He 
has, upon two different occasions, delivered the Memorial Address at 
Sayre and at AVaverly, and they were spoken of as the finest ever 
delivered at either of these places. 

BERLIN F. MYEK, coal merchant, Towanda, was born in Monroe 
township, this countv, March, 1843. and is a son of Henr^^ B. and Sarah 
(Young) Myer. His paternal grantlfather, Jacob IMyer, a native of 
New Jersey, settled in Franklin township, in 1817. His maternal 
grandfather was Martin Young, formerly of Orange county, N. Y.,and 
later a pioneer miller of Bradford county, [For history of the Myer 
family see sketch of Capt. George V. Myer.] Berlin F. Myer was 
reared in Monroe township, receiving a common and select school 
education. He was in the Civil War, enlisting August 1), 1861, in 
Company K. Fiftieth P. V. I., and participated in the battles of Hilton 
Head, Second Bull Eun, South Mountain and Antietam; after the 
battle of Antietam he was detailed as clerk in the commissary depart- 
ment, Arn\y of the Potomac, and at Fort Foote. He was captured 
l)y the enemy during Stuart's raid just before the battle of Gettys- 
burg, but escaped the following day. He was mustered out of the 
service in November, 1804, and afterward was a sutler in the army 
at Fort Foote one year. He returned home in 1865, and in 1866 
engaged in the market business at Monroeton, continuing there until 
1869, when he located in Towanda, and was in the grocery business 
two years, then for eleven years furnished meat for the Sch racier 
Coal Company, at their mines at Carbon run. In 1885 he was in 
the mercantile business at Monroeton with D. J. Sweet, under the 
Hrm name of Myer iSz Co. Since 1887 he has been engaged in the coal, 
baled hay and lime business at Towanda. Mr. Mver married, in 1868, 
Grace A., daughter of Lorenzo D. and Cynthia (Mace) Bowman, of 
Towanda, and has four children, as follows: Joseph H., Theresa, 
Robert A. and Louisa A. Mr. Myer is a member of the Masonic 
PVaternitv, K. of P. and G. A. P.. and politicallv he is a Republican. 

CAPTAIX GEORGE V. MYER. pension andpatent attorney and 
city engineer, Towanda, Avas born in ^Monroe townshij), this county, 
August 5, 1811, and is a son of Henry B. and Sarah (Young) Myer. 
His ])aternal grandfather, Jacob J\Iyer, was a native of 1\q\v Jersey'' 
and settled in Franldin township, in this countv, in 1817, and Avas a 
farmer. He reared a large family, of whom the father of George Y. 
was the second son, anil succeeded to the homestead; he followed 
farming and lumbering until 1S58, and is still a resident of Monroe 
townshi]). His wife was a dangler of Martin \'oung, formerly of 
Oranj^c county, N. Y., who was one of the ))ioiU'er millcrsof P>radford 
countv. Uv h<'r Ih^ had si,\ childnm, vi/.: (leorge V., Berlin F., Ella 
A. (Mrs. b. J. Sweet), Esther St. L. (Mrs. Eli Griggs), Charles M. 
and Anna M. (Mrs. Dr. W. J. DeVoe). (Tcorge V., the subject of this 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COL'NTY. 1045 

sketch, was roared in Bi-adford county, educated at Sus(|uehanna 
Collegiate Institute, and the Polytechnic College, Philadelphia, lie 
has been a resident of Towanda since 1867, and for sixteen years has 
followed the business of a pension and patent attorney. He was in the 
Civil War, enlisting August 9, 1861, in Company K, Fiftieth Regiment 
P. V. 1., and re-enlisted January 1, 1864. He Vas promoted to lieu- 
tenant and to captain of his compan^^ He was wounded and taken 
prisoner at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, was paroled and 
exchanged April 11, 1865, being for eleven months a prisoner-of-war; 
he was honorably discharged from the service Julv 31, 1865. Capt. 
Myer was married, in 1869, to Ella V., daughter of D. W. Brown, of 
Wyalusing, this county, and has three children, as follows : Harry W., 
Willie W. and Cecil B. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, 
the G. A. R, and the Union Veteran Legion, and he has served one 
term as surveyor of Bradford county; in ])olitics he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM G. MYERS, conductor on the L. Y. R. R., residence 
Say re, is a native of Sullivan county, X. Y., and was born May 22, 
1850. His young life was a tragedy ; his mother died when he was an 
infant, and from the best information he can get his father was killed 
by an accident when he (William G.) was about eighteen months old, and 
he was left alone in the wide world, with neither kith nor kin to claim 
him. Mr. Miles kept him until he was nine years of age, when the lad 
commenced to search for the whole story of his parents and relatives, 
trying to get some definite information in regard to them. He learned 
that his fatlier had made arrangements with Mr. Miles (in case any- 
thing happened him) that he was to take charge of him, and get his 
pay from the estate. At nine years of age young Myers started out 
to make his own living, without even having any of the advantages of 
school. He began work, the first year, for L. Il'indman in the lumber- 
ing business, and followed that until 1867, when he went as a brakeman 
on the Erie Railroad, and worked on that line a short time; then went 
to breaking on the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad, and worked on 
that line about two years, when he returned to the Erie road and was 
there several years;' in 1874 he went to braking on the L. Y. R. R., 
Avas promoted to conductor, in June, 1881, and has held that position 
since. He had mastered by his own industry all the education 
necessary for the position. 'He was married, 'in Waverly, X. Y., 
December 20, 1877, to Dora Belle Tozer. daughter of Frank Tozer, 
natives of New York ; she was the youngest in order of birth in a family 
of three children, and Ayas born in Waverly, JST. Y., February 9, 1860, 
and died March 10, 1889, a most estimable wife, and a consistent mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. To Mr. and Mrs Mvers were born four 
children, as follows: Frank T., Lizzie (deceased). George F. and 
Nellie D. Mr. Myers is a member of the K. of P.. Xo. 101, Waverly; 
Equitable Aid tlnion, and Sexennial League. He is a Democrat. 

A. J. NASH, proprietor of the ''Mountain Yiew Plouse," Canton, 
is a native of Winfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y.. and was born October 
31, 1842, a son of William S. and Jane (Maxum) Nash, natives of 
Lancashire, England, and Warren county. ]S\ Y.. respectivelv, of Eng- 
lish and Scotch descent. William S. Nash came from England to 

61 



1040 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Warren county, N. Y., when he was about eighteen years of age; he 
was a mechanic, and died in Steuben county, N. Y., in 1861, in his 
lifty-eighth year. ^[rs. Nash resides in Cohocton, Steuben Co., N. Y. 
A. J. Nash, who is fifth in order of birth in a famil\^ of seven children, 
was reared in Herktmer, Otsego and Steuben counties, N. Y. At the 
breaking out of the war, responding to a call of his country, he enlisted, 
May 16, 1861, in Company D, Twenty-third N. Y. Y. I., from Elmira, 
N. Y., for two years, and re-enlisted, in 1864, in Company C, One 
Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, X. Y. Y. I. After enlisting in 1861, 
he was detached and put in Gibbon's Fourth Artiller}" Regulars, on 
detached service, fie participated in the following engagements: 
Rattles of Bull Run, Centreville, Fredericksburg, South Mountain, 
Antietam, Slaughter Mountain, and was wounded at Gravelly Run, Ya., 
in April, 1865, and was sent to Douglass General Hospital, at Washing- 
ton, where he was mustered out at the close of the war. He returned 
to Elmira, but removed to Elossburg, Pa., where he engaged in the 
boot and shoe business up to Octobei", 1885 ; then removed to Norfolk, 
Ya., and bought a truck farm four miles from the city. Here he 
i-emained one year, and then returned to Elossburg. In the spring of 
1888, he removed to Roaring Branch, and engaged in the hotel busi- 
ness; was there until April 1. 1891, when he came to Canton, and took 
charge of the " Mountain Yiew House." Mr. Nash was married in 
I)lossburg, Pa., in 1866, to Ellen R., daughter of John and Rebecca 
(Schriner) Evans, natives of Ireland and Tioga county. Pa., respect- 
ively ; she was the youngest in a family of two daughters and one son, 
and was born in Blossburo-, August 22, 1845. To Mr. and Mrs. Nash 
w-«re born seven children: Fred B., AVillard A., Charles A., Hester E., 
Jay Raymond (deceased), Jennie and Bella. Mr. Nash is a member 
of the Masonic Fraternity, Blossburg Lodge, No. 350, A. Y. M.; also 
a member of the G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91. Politically he is a 
Democrat. 

DANIEL C. NEWELL, cabinet-maker. Troy, was born in Cum- 
berland, Md., March 5, 1841, a son of Lewis P. and Caroline M. (Web- 
ler) Newell, natives of Connecticut. His father was a millwright by 
trade, and in early life located in Armenia township, this count}', 
remaining there several years. In 1839 he went to Cumberland, Md.; 
returned to Bradford county in 1859, and resided in Armenia town- 
ship until 1890, when he removed to Tioga county. Pa.; where he now 
resides. Daniel ('. Newell, the subject of this sketch, was reared in 
Cumberland, Md., and at the age of twenty he located in Troy, Pa., 
where he learned the cabinet-maker's trade. He was in the Civil War, 
enlisting September 15, 1864, in Company X, Fifteenth New York 
Engineers, and was honorably dischai'ged, June 13, 1865, after nine 
montlis' service. He has i-esided in Troy township since 1861, and was 
married. March 23, 1864, to ]5etsy A., daiigliter of Timothy and Delia 
(Cowell) Case, of Troy, and they have two children: Fred W. and 
Grace AI. Mr. Newell has been in theemj)l()y of L. 11. Oliver, of Troy, 
twenty-two years; he is a member of the G. A. li.. and in politics is a 
Republican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1047 

E. J. NEWELL, a prominent farmer of Slieslie(|uin township, P.O. 
Ilornbrook, was born January ^(i, 1829, in Slieslieijuin township, this 
county, on the farm now occupied by John (/haffee, and is a son of 
Stephen and Catherine (Cole) Newell, the former of whom was a 
native of Bradford county, and the latter of Kingston, N. Y. Grand- 
father Abel Newell came to this county from (yonnecticut about 1784, 
locating in the vicinity of Hornbrook, and lived here until his death ; 
the grandmothers maiden name was Sallie AVilcox ; a ))oi'tion of her 
family passed through the terrors of the Wyoming massacre. Stephen 
Newell was boi-n in 1800, and i)assed his entire life on the farm now 
occupied by his son ; he had ten children, viz.: Maria (died in infancy), 
David, John, Sallie (married to William Skinner, of Minnesota), Cath- 
erine (married to Joseph Keegan), William (died aged seventeen), 
Sylvie (married to George Frink, and died, leaving a family of three 
children), George (died aged seventeen), Mary (married to Ransom 
Horton) and E. J. Our subject's earl\' life was spent on his father's 
farm, with only the average adv^antages of a farmer's son. When 
twenty -six years old he commenced life for himself, managing his 
father's farm, and then purchased part of what is now known as the 
Lige llorton farm, which he still owns; it contains sixty acres, and is a 
part of the old homestead. He married, August 3, 1854, Eliza, daugh- 
ter of Abram and Caroline Patterson, and to this union came children 
as follows: Eva (married to Joel llorton, a teacher). Aline (married to 
C. A. Child, a merchant, of Franklyndale). Mrs. Newell is a member 
of the Metho'Jist Episcopal Church. Mr. Newell is a member of the 
L O. O. F.. Valley Lodge, No. 446, and has passed all the chairs 
except No. 2 ; in politics he is a Pepublican. Mr. and Mrs. Newell 
have passed almost their entire lives in the neighborhood where they 
now reside, and are noted for their kindness and hospitality; and at 
their fireside the young people of the vicinity alwaj's find a welcome, 
and are sure to spend a pleasant time. Mrs. Newell, like her sister 
Mrs. Culver, has always been a great reader, and has a fine library. 

J. J. NEWELL, farmer, surveyor and veterinary surgeon, Orwell, 
was born April 8, 1831, in the house he occupies, in Orwell township, 
this county, a son of James D. and Licena A. (Grant) Newell. J. J. 
Newell was born and reared on a farm, educated in the common schools 
and at Towanda Academy, and when seventeen years old began the 
study of surveying, under the instruction of Robert McKee, and after a 
few months he began surveying, which he has followed more or less 
constantly since. He took possession of his present farm in 1852. In 1857 
he was elected county surveyor, has served nine years, and has probably 
done more surveying than any other man in the county, being noted for 
the thoroughness and accuracy of his work. Over twenty years ago he 
began the study of vetei'inary surgery, is now a registered doctor, and 
has an extensive practice, having been excej)tionalIy successful. He 
owns one hundi'ed and four acres of fine farm land, well stocked 
with cattle, sheep and horses. Mr. Newell has l)een twice married: 
the first time, December 20, 1852, to Charlotte Elsbree, who died 
August 31, 1857, and he then married, December 31, 1857, Amanda 
M. (>)wles. daughter of William and Polly W. (Russell) Cowles, 



1048 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

whose family consisted of four children, viz.: Amanda M., born July 19, 
1832; John'H., born 'December 5, 1834; Chester G., born October 
15, 1830, and Mary E., born September 29, 1839, married to Charles 
Beers, of Orwell Hill, and died in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Newell have 
had four children, as follows: Maggie St Leon, born June 29,1860, 
died aged seven years ; Willie E., born December 15. 1861, died the 
same week as his sister, both dying of diphtheria; Henry G., born 
June 13, 1868, and James W., born December 27, 1869. Henry G. has 
great mechanical ingenuity, and has made some useful inventions, 
among others an appliance for gearing on wind engines, which shows 
great ingenuity. The family are meinljers of and active \yorkers in the 
Presbyterian Church. Henry is also a member of the Y. P. S. C. E., 
and an active worker in it. Mr. Newell is a stanch member of the 
Republican party. 

DPt. J. K. NEWELL, banker and State Senator, Towanda, is a native 
of Wysox township, tiiis county, and was born July 28, 1843. His 
parents were Charles and Julia (Smith) Newell, natives of County 
A[onaghan, Ireland. The Doctor is the fiftrh in the order of birth in a 
family of two sons and four daugliters. He received his education in 
the public schools, and in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Luzerne 
Co., Pa., studied dentistry at LeKaysville, this county, and in 1866 
opened an office at Wvalusi'^no-, where he practiced his profession twenty- 
four years. He was elected, in 1884, State Senator in the Twenty-third 
District, composed of Bradford and Wyoming counties, and was 
re-elected in 188S, serving tAvo full terms with distinguished ability and 
eminence. On January 1, 1890, he was elected cashier of the Citizens 
National Bank, his present position. Mr. Newell was married in Wysox, 
in 1874, to Miss Adelaide, daughter of Henry Passmore, and to them 
were born two sons: Henry P. and James M. (deceased). Dr. Newell 
is a member of the F. & A. M. and the L O. O. F., No. 808, Wyalusing, 
and is a Re|)ublican in politics. 

ALBERT S. NEW.AIAN, merchant, P. O. East Smithtield, was 
born February 16, 1842. in P:aton, Wyoming Co., Pa., and came to 
Canton, this county, with his father, when four years of age. He is a 
son of Samuel H. and Abbie A. (Manley) Newman, natives of Penn- 
sylvania. His father was a merchant, and he entered his father's store, 
and wiien a young man went to Troy and clerked several years ; then 
commenced in mercantile pursuits for himself, and remained tiiere until 
1880, when he came to East Sinithfield. He was united in marriage, 
June 10, 1865, with Carrie, daughter of John and Eliza (Reynokis) 
McDougal, of Alba. There has come to them one daughter. Helen M., 
born FcTbruary 16, 1867, now the wife of James H. Phillips, of Smith- 
li<-I(l. Mr. Newman is a member of the L O. O. F.; is a Republican, 
and takes an active interest in politics; hasbeen a school director seven 
years. He has a line farm of 140 acres, which he carries on besides 
his extensive mercantile intei-csts, and raises stock for the nuirket. 
Mr. Newman is a very genial and agreeable gentleman, and is resp(^cted 
by a wide circle of friends; his wile is a consistent member of the 
Baptist ('hurch. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1040 

HENRY T. NEWMAN, farmer, Warren township, I*. (). Warr(Mi 
Centre. Many \'ears ago tliree Newman i)rothers came to America 
in tlieship "Ma}' Flower;" one returned, another settled in Connecti- 
cut and the tiiird in Rhode Island, ami from the latter descended the 
Newmans of Bradford county, the link being- traced by a son, Samuel 
Newman, a Presbyterian minister, of whose family not much is 
definitely known, except that he had a son, Jesse Newman. The 
latter died in 1814, and his widow died in 1820; of their children was 
Nathan Newman, who first married Maiy Cole, and by her had three 
children ; his second marriage was with Chloe Cole, and by her he had 
four children ; his eldest son was John Newman (by the first wife), 
who married Sarah Taft, June 6, 1814, and removed to this county in 
1819, in company with his brother Nathan, the transportation and 
possession being two yoke of oxen and a horse; they made their 
permanent home in Warren township, and boldly met the hard fate 
of all early pioneers. John Newman died March 20, 1803, and his 
widow, May l(i, 1869; they had one child, who grew to maturity- 
Henry T., the subject of this sketch, who was born July 13, 1817. 
He was sixteen months old when the family came to this county, and 
was carried in his mother's arms most of the way. These pioneers 
followed in the long wa}^, through the forests, marking the trees, and it 
was literally in the wilderness that this child grew and imbibed his 
first lessons of life, and saw his parents commence the little clearing 
that eventually became the farm home. He remembers his first 
impressions, that this dear old farm was the center of the earth, and 
he felt genuine sorrow for the poor |)eople that lived so far off as New 
York or London, supposing that they must be very lonesome so " far, 
far away from home." He has become one of the most important 
farmers, and is proprietor of 250 acres of fine farm land. He was mar- 
ried. May 6, 1841, in Warren Centre, to Martha A. Bowen, daughter 
of George Bowen, and to this union were born two children, Sarah 
and David C. Sarah married Lewns N. Wade, of Owego, and has 
three children : George H., John W. and Louis D. Of these children, 
George H. married Bessie Root, and has one child, Edna A. This last 
introduces us to the seventh generation that have been looked upon 
by Henry T. Newman, who had but one ambition — to care for his 
family. Both ancestors and descendants have always voted the 
Rejiublican ticket, and Mr. Newman, has in time past, reluctantly filled 
the local offices of school director, assessor, clerk and auditor. 

DAVID C. NEWMAN, farmer, of Warren township, P. O. War- 
ren Centre, was born October 23, 1853, in Warren township, this 
county, a son of Henry T. and Martha A. (Bowen) Newman, whose 
sketch is given above. David's sister, Mrs. Lewis N. Wade, resides in 
Owego, and has three sons: George il., an electrician and superin- 
tendent of electric lights in Atlanta, Ga.; John W., Jr., a dentist at 
Sua Paulo, Brazil, S. A., and Louis D., a school lad. David C. New- 
man, the subject of the sketch, was reared on his fathers farm in 
Warren township, engaged in farming, and now owns a valuable farm 
of 150 acres. He was married at Little Meadows, in 1872, to Belle 
W., daughter of William P. and Jane (Carey) Arnold, natives of 



1050 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Pennsylvania. William P. Arnold is the son of Benedict Arnold, and 
his \vi"fe the daughter of Daniel A. Carey, better known as " Scjuire 
Carey," as he hati been justice over twenty years. . lielle, the eldest of 
his children, was born, educated and married in the township. Mr. 
and Mrs. Newman had four children: Charles, born February 3, 
1874; William, born June 9, 1876; Noah, born September 10, 1878, and 
Martiia J., born April 5, 1880. Mr. Newman is a charter member of 
Sexennial League; has been town collector, and is a Republican in 
politics. Mrs. David Newman's mother is a widow, the father having 
died in 1887. 

C. F. NICHOLS, justice of the peace, and ticket agent of the D. L. 
& W. li. R.. Athens, is a native of Burlington, this county, and was 
born October 2, 1824. His parents were Earland Ursula (Clark) Nich- 
ols, the former of whom, a native of Rutland, Vt., came to this county 
when quite young; the latter was a native of Burlington townshij). 
The father was a prominent farmer, and died on his farm in June, 
1860, in his sixty-seventh year; Ursula Nichols died in 1885 in her 
ei»-hty-tifth year. . C. F. Nichols is the eldest in a family of five chil- 
(lren,"and was reared on a farm, receiving his early education in the 
common schools; then attended the academy at Waverly, one year, and 
Troy Academv, two years; was offered and accepted the principalship 
of the Bellefonte school one year; taught five years in Burlington vil- 
lage, and three years in the'district school. He purchased a farm in 
18^51, and farmed until 1869, except the time he was in the army. He 
enlisted in August, 1861, in Coin))any B, Two Hundred and Seventh 
Pennsylvania Regiment, and was mustered out in Washington in May, 
1865. " In 1869 he entered the Towanda pos^office as clerk, where he 
remiined two years; then was elected president of the Boss Fanning 
Mill Manufacturing Company, a position h^ held three years; after 
which he went to Kansas, and acted as newspai)er correspondent about 
six months, and then returned home. In April, 1878, he visited 
McPherson City, Kan., whither he moved the following year, and 
purchased a farm of 160 acres, which he operated by hired help. He 
was elected and served four years as justice of the |)eace, and police 
judge. Returning, in the spring of 1884, to Elmira, he here remained 
about one year; was then appointed ticket agent of the D. L. & W. R. R. 
and removed to Towanda, where he remained until the spring of 1888, 
when he came to Athens. Mr. Nichols was married in Burlington, 
April 10, 1851, to Martha, daughter of Thonuis and Elizabeth (Lowe) 
Smith, natives of Orange county, N. Y.; she is the lifth in a family of 
eight children, and was born in'Nichols, N. Y., Fel)ruary 9, 1824. To 
M°. and Mrs. Nichols have been born four children, as follows: 
Ul3^sses A., deceased; Albert, a telegraph operator in Missouri; Maur- 
ice J., manager of the Western Union Telegraph, Cheyenne, Wyo., and 
Maria E., wTfe of L. H. Woodward, conductor on the Lehigh Valley 
Railroad.' Mrs. Nichols is a meml)ei- of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Mr. Nichols was elected auditor of P>i'adford county in 1851, 
and elected to the State Legislature in 1856, and re-elected in 1857; has 
served twelve years as justice of the peace; was appointed sergeant-at- 
arms of the House of Representatives, in 1873; is a member of the 
G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 200, and politically is a Republican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFOIin COUNTY. 1051 

JAMES W. NICHOLS, farmer, Burlington township, V. O. Moun- 
tain Lake, was born October 1, 182(3, in Buriinoton township, this 
county, a son of Earl and Ursula (Clarke) Nichols. His father, who 
was of English origin and a native of Chenango county, N. Y., removed 
to this county with his father when a lad, who settled on Sugar creek, 
near where the village of Bui-lington now stands; the grandfather of 
James W. Nichols was born in Connecticut, and was but a lad durins' 
the Revolutionary War; he married in his native State, and removed 
to Chenango county, N. Y., remaining only a few years, then came to 
Burlington, where he was one of the pioneers of the town; he reared 
a family of ten children, of whom Earl was the second; he died at the 
advanced age of ninety-seven. Earl Nichols, who was a farmer and a 
man of influence, died when sixty-six years of age; the mother died at 
eighty-two years. James W. Nichols, the subject of this sketch, who 
is the second in a familv of five children, was reared on a farm and has 
always followed agricultural pursuits; he resides on the old horriestead 
which comprises 296 acres of land, a fine elevation on the mountain, 
south of the village. He was married, November 8, 1848, to xlnna 
Walters, a native of the south of Wales, who was born Februarv 5, 
1820, and removed to America with her parents (who were farmers) at 
the age of five years; her father died when eighty-two years old, and 
her mother at seventy-seven. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have had four 
children, as follows: James O'Mera, Mary U., Linnie A. and Jennie 
W. Mr. Nichols is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the 
Knights of Honor. He is one of the substantial men of the township. 
Mrs. Nichols and two daughters, Mary and Jennie, are members of the 
M. E. Church at Mountain Lake. 

P. H. NICHOLSON, proprietor of meat-market, Athens, is a native 
of County Galway, Ireland, and was born March 17, 1853, a son of 
William and Winifred (Spellman) Nicholson, natives of Ireland. The 
father, who was a farmer, died in Ireland in ISG-i, in his fifty-fifth year; 
the mother is now a resident of Athens. P. H. Nicholson is the fifth 
in a family of ten children, of whom four are now living. He came 
from Ireland to Athens in 1870, and worked in the tannery six years; 
then followed the butchering business one year, after which he was 
in the furniture works until the spring of 1883, when he engaged in 
his present business. He was married in Jersey City, in May, 1881, to 
Miss Anna M. Rohan, who was born in County Clare, Ireland, in Jan- 
uary, 1861, and to them were born four children, viz.: William E., 
John T., Mary and Winifred. Thev are members of the Catholic 
Church ; Mr. Nicholson is a member of the Sexennial League and of 
the World Beneficial Association. Politicall3% he is a Democrat. 

GEORGE W. NOBLE, farmer and dairyman. Wells, is a native of 
Chenango county, N. Y., and was born May 29, 1832, a son of Alonzo C. 
Noble, who was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., July 20, 1808, 
The parents of Alonzo C. Noble were Oliver and Thankful (Crosby) 
Noble (natives of Massachusetts and Dutchess county, N. Y., respec- 
tiveh'), the former of whom, a tanner, currier and shoemaker, died in 
Cayuga county, N. Y., in the fall of 1839, Mrs, Thankful Noble died 
January 18, 1830, in her fiftieth year. Alonzo Noble's grandfather, 



1052 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Aaron Noble, who was a native of Massachusetts and a captain in the 
Revolutionary AVar, died in Butternuts, N. Y. TJje paternal grand- 
father, Obediah Crosby, was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y. 
He was reared in Schoharie county, N. Y., until the age of seven- 
teen vears, when he went to Chenango county, N. Y., and remained 
there"' eight years; in May, 1833, he removed to Wells township, 
where he resided four years, and then proceeded to Broome county, 
N. Y., and was there "two years, when he returned to Wells town- 
ship, lie lumbered in Springfield township, and resided there about 
one and one-half years; also' lumbered in Tioga county. Pa., and 
resided there five years, since when he has resided in Wells town- 
ship. He married," in Bainbridge, Chenango Co., N. Y., October 
24, 1830, Aurelia Landers, daughter of Joseph and Deborah (Rider) 
Landers, natives of Massachusetts, whose family consisted of two 
sons and four daughters, of whom Mrs. Noble is the only one living, 
and was born in P>ainbridge, Chenango county., N. Y., JNfarch 28, 
180ti. Joseph Landers was a soldier in the Revolutionary Wai-. Mr. 
Noble, although in his eighty-fourth year, is active, and has been a 
man of remarkable endurance; by industry and good management he 
has accumulated considerable i)r<)perty. Our subject, who is the eldest 
and only living child of two children, was reared in Chenango county, 
N. Y., until one year old, when the family removed to Wells township, 
this county, where he has since resided, excei)t the times mentioned 
above, when he was with his father in the lumber business. Mr. Noble 
is one of the most successful farmers of the township, and is engaged 
extensivelv in thedairv business ; is also a breeder of Jersey cattle ; he 
owms a well-improved 'farm of 230 acres, and a timber lot of eighty 
acres. Mr. Noble was married in Southport, N. Y., in 1856, to Mary, 
daugiiter of John AV. and Sarah Ann ( Wyker) Tellett, native of Sussex 
county, N. J.; she is the eldest of two children living, and was born 
in Sussex county, N. J., February 28, 1837. To Mr. and Mrs. Noble 
were born two children : Ella, wife of Edward Joralemon, and Alonzo 
P., married to Helena Corry. The family are members of the Ba])tist 
Church. Mr. Noble is a member of Wells Grange, No. 524, and is noAv 
filling the office of justice of the peace, a position he has held fourteen 
years"; he has served two terms as school director and nine years as 
auditor; politicallv he is a Democrat. 

JOHN CP^RIEN, farmer, Ridgebury township, P. (). Wilawana, 
was born in Athens, this county, September 1, 1841, and is the young- 
est of the six children of John and Mary (Daley) 0'l>rien, natives of 
County Cork, Ireland. He began life for himself at nineteen, farming, 
which'has been the chief occupation of his life. He enlisted at Elmira, 
June 5, 1861, in Company D, Thirty-lifth N. Y. V. I., and participated 
in the battles of Second P.ull Run (where he was taken prisoner), 
Fredericksburg, Antietam, Rapidaii, White Sulphur Springs, Culpei)er, 
Slaughter Mountain, and several othei-s, also in the skirmishes at 
Fail's Church, Ball's Cross Roads and Arlington Heights. He was 
mustered out June 5, 1863, and then relurned to Ridgebury, where he 
resumed farming on his jiresent i)lace. Air. O'Brien was married, 
April 30, 1864, to Miss Ellen, daughter of Thomas and Catherine 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1053 

(McCartv) Cliambers, of Ividgebury, natives of Ireland. They have 
had ei^iii children, viz.: Thomas, born March 17, 1805; Frances, 
born September 30, 1867, and died May 17, 1870; Kittie, born August 
5, 1868; John, born May 27, 18—, and died April 11, 1870; Mary, born 
March 16, 1875; William, born April 4, 1877; Nellie, born June 10, 
1879, and Gertrude, born June 1, 1886. Mr. O'Brien and his family 
are members of the Catholic Church at Kidgebur}^, and in politics he 
has always been a Democi-at. 

JOSEPH OCHS, proprietor of " Ochs' Hotel," Towanda, was born 
at Rochester, N. Y., March 17, 1848, and is a son of Augustus and 
Theresa Ochs, natives of Baden, Germany, who came to America in 
1848, settling in Bochester, X. Y., where they died. The subject of 
this sketch was reared in his native city, where he received a German 
and English education, and served an apprenticeship of three years at 
the shoemaker's trade. On June 6, 1863, he enlisted in Comj>any C, 
Sixteenth New York Cavalry, and was honorably discharged from the 
service October 3, 1865. In 1866 he located in Elmira, N. Y., where 
he worked at his trade three years; he then went to Chicago for 
eighteen months, St. Louis, six months, antl in 1871 he came to 
Towanda, entering the employ of Humphrey Brothers & Tracy, shoe 
manufacturers, with whom he remained ten and one-half years; then 
embarked in the restaurant business, in which he was engaged six years; 
afterward kept the " Commiskey House," three years, and in May, 1891, 
purchased the " Seeley House," now known as "Ochs' Hotel," which 
he has completely refurnished, muking, also, other improvements, and 
has since successfully conducted. Mr. Ochs married, September 29, 
1875, Mary, daughter of James and Mary Nestor, of Towanda, and has 
two children: Frank and Nellie. Mr. Ochs is a member of the G. A. R., 
and in politics is an Independent. 

EDWIN C. OLIVER (deceased) was born in New Jersey, February 
19, 1816, a son of William and Mary (Carpenter) Oliver, and of English 
parentage. He was reared in his native State until fourteen years of 
age, and his early education was received under his mother's instruc- 
tion. On the death of his mother, in 1830, he located in Watkins, N. Y., 
there learned the cabinet-maker's trade, and afterward, for sometime, 
worked as a journeyman in Elmira, N. Y.; in 1838 he settled in Troy, 
embarking in business for himself on a small scale, and succeeded b_v 
his indomitable energy in building up a business that eventually gave 
him a competency. lie died in 1881 after a successful business career 
of forty-three years, honored and respected by all who knew him; he 
was the first burgess of Troy, having been elected to that office in 
1845, and served as a justice of the peace of Troy several terms. His 
tastes were literary, and he was a critic of note. On September 5, 
1838, he married Eliza M., daughter of Jabez H. and Rebecca (Wood) 
Beers, of Elmira, N. Y., by whom he had three children : Perry H., 
Ellen (Mrs. C. G. VanFleet) and Lyman II. Mr. Oliver was a promi- 
nent member of the I. O. O. F., and *one of the charter members of 
Trov Lodge ; in politics he was a stanch Democrat. 

SEVELLON S. ORMSBY, postmaster, New Albany, born in Albany 
township, this county, within the limits of the present borough, August 



1054 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

15, 1838, is a son of Dver and Charlotte (Wilcox) Ormsby, the former a 
native of Connecticut, wiio came to Bradford with two brothers, Daniel 
and Milton, in 1812. The fatlier was a t'ai'iner and a man of consid- 
erable political inliuence ; Avas a justice of the peace; died at the age 
of seventy-nine ; the mother was a native of Monroe toAvnship, and a 
daughter of Fi'eeman Wilcox, one of the pioneers of the township and 
a soldier of the War of 1812 ; she died at the age of eighty-eight years. 
The subject of this memoir was reared as a farmer; in August, 1861, he 
responded to his country's call for troops by enlisting in Company K, 
Fiftieth P. V. I., and was in active service nearly three years, when he 
was wounded by a gunshot in the left leg, below the knee, in the charge 
in front of Petersburg; the same da3Miis leg was amputated in the 
field hospital. He remained in the service until June, 1865, after the 
close of the war, and is now a pensioner. Mr. Ormsby was married 
December 25, 1864, to Matilda Brown, of Albany township, and they 
have had three children, as follows: John B., a telegraph operator, 
married to Louise Arnt, of Scranton, Pa.; Ella Louise and Fred C 
Mr. Ormsby is a member of the G. A. R. and the L O, O. F.; politi- 
cally he is a Republican, and has been collector, constable and assessor 
of his township ; is now postmaster at New Albany, which position 
he has held some time ; he is much respected in the community. 

DANIEL G. OSBORN", farmer and stock-grower, of Windham, 
Pa., P. O. Nichols, N. Y., is one of the leading citizens of Windham 
township, and a war veteran. He resides in the immediate vicinity of 
where he was born, February 26, 1839, and is a son of Peter and 
Rachel (Gardner) Osborn, natives of Orange county, N. Y., who came 
to Bradford count\^ in 1827, locating in Windham township, and spent 
the remainder of their lives on their farm. The father died Novem- 
ber 12, 1882, the mother September 24, 1852. Their family consisted 
of eight children, as follows : Elizabeth, Sarah (wife of Charles John- 
son, a farmer of Windham, who died in 1861), Parmelia (wife of Job 
liixby, who died in 1883), William (died April 25, 1800). Laura (wife 
of Peter Barnes, who died in 1850, and she married Jefferson Wait, 
of Nichols, N. Y.), Henry B. (a harness-maker in Evergreen). Richard 
(died in 1874, in Wisconsin, had been a soldier in the Fifth Regiment, 
New York Cavalry, Company G, retui-ned from the army in broken 
health and never recovered), and Daniel G.. whose name heads this 
sketch. The latter received his portion of his father's estate, and 
purchased the interest of the other heirs in the homestead, and now 
owns 100 acres of highly improved land. lie was married in LeRays- 
ville, January 1, 1866, to Esther E. R,ussell, widow of Morgan Russell, 
and daughter of i^iartin V. B. and Abigal (Bidlack) Towner. Morgan 
Russell was killed in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863; he 
and his brother lay side by side on the field. Daniel G. Osborn's 
familv was as follows: Millie A., Martin P., Lettie M. and Morgan 
])., and twochildren that died in infancy. Mr. Osborn enlisted in the 
cause of his country, in 18ti2, in tlie Seventeenth Regiment, Pennsyl- 
vania Cavalry, Company D; went direct to AYashington, then into 
Yjn'-ini a, and his regiment was detailed on jiicket duty for two months 
on the Oquaqua river, when they were captured, December 28, 1863, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1055 

and carried off to Tlichmond ; were in Castle Tiiunder two weeks, when 
with a steamboat-load of others, they were exchanged, and were on 
parole, at Annapolis, until June 1, following, when the exchange was 
completed. He returned to duty with his regiment. Three months 
after, he was taken sick with ty})hoid fever, and was sent to Columljia 
Hospital, and finally given a certificate of disability, and discharged, 
February 15, 1864. He has never recovereil from the effects of his 
army sickness, and receives a smalk pension ; he is a Republican. 

W. H. OSIi>ORNE, station agent, L. V. R. R., Athens, is a native 
of Chemung county, N. Y., born June 16, 1848, and is a son of Ira and 
Sarah (Jadwin) Osborne, the former a native of Chenango, and the 
latter of Orange county, N. Y. His grandfather, Jonah Osborne, was 
a soldier in the War of 1812. W. H. Osborne, who is the second in a 
family of seven living children, received an academic education, and 
taught district school five terms ; then learned telegraphy, and in 1870 
he commenced work as an operator at Athens. On October 3, 1871, he 
went to Frenchtown, this county, as agent and operator; he remained 
there three years, when he was again transferretl to Athens, as operator, 
and in 1877 he was appointed assistant to agent; June 16, 1886, was 
appointed station agent. The receipts of the station are about $150,000 
a year. Mr. Osborne was married, in Athens, March 20, 1877, to Mrs. 
Charlotte B. Halbert, daughter of Hewitt and Elizabeth (Dodge) 
Andrews, the former born in Washington county, and the latter in 
Onondaga county, N. Y. Both her grandfathers, W. H. Andrews and 
Josiah Dodge, were soldiers in the War of 1812. She is the eldest of 
four living children, and was born in Windham, Bradford Co., Pa., 
October 8, 1852. To this marriage have been born four children, viz.: 
Ralph, Izora, Elizabeth (deceased) and Harold. They are members of 
the Methodist Church ; he is a member of Queen Esther Council, No. 
1153, Royal Arcanum, and Sexennial League. In politics he is a 
Democrat. 

CHARLES OSTRANDER, farmer, of South Creek township,?. O. 
Gillett, was born in Orange county, N. Y., November 25, 1827, a son 
of Daniel and Mary (Halleck) Ostrander, both of whom were born in 
Orange county, N. Y. Daniel Ostrander is a son of Jacobus Ostrander, 
who was a native of UlsteT county, N. Y., and was an unostentatious 
farmer, who lived an uneventful life ; he reared a family of four children 
all of whom grew to maturity. Charles was reared and educated in 
Ilamptonburg, Orange Co., JST. Y., and always confined himself to 
tilling the soil in preference to speculation. March 1, 1847, at the age 
of twenty, he married Miss Mary Ann, daughter of David Van Buskirk, 
by whom he had six children, five of whom are living: Almira, Ann 
Marie, Charles, Samuel and William H., and four of whom are married. 
In 1859 he removed to Ridgebury, this county, where he resided eight 
years. In 1867 he moved to South Creek, where he purchased a farm 
of seventy acres with improvements. His first wife having died, he 
married, "^December 27, 1870, at Mill Port, N. Y., Mrs. Unice, widow 
of John Sterling. By this marriage he had one child. In 1862, when 
our country needed defenders to protect her integrity and preserve her 
union, Mr. Ostrander was not found wanting; he joined Company G, 



lOoG HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

One Hundred and Sevent\^-first P. Y. L, in which he served nineteen 
months, and was honorably (hscharged, the war having- closed; i)e now 
enjoys a jiension. Mr. Ostrander is a general fanner and an enterpris- 
ing man of sterling qualities ; he is a member ol" the-G. A. R., and polit- 
icalh' is a Republican. 

B. J. 0VERF1P]LD, blacksmith, Camptown, was born in Wyoming 
county, Pa., September -1, 1859, a son of Benjamin and Lois Ann 
(Camp) Overfield. His father was a farmer by occupation, and had 
a famdy of eight children, as follows : Harriet, married to Albert 
Bunnell, a farmer of Wyoming county; Jennie, married to John H. 
Fellows, now mayor of Scranton ; Emma, man-ied to Warren Dunlap, 
a farmer of Lackawanna county. Pa.; Ida, nuirried to Winfield S. 
Lace}?^, a mechanic working at Pasadena, Cal.; B. J.; JST. E., a black- 
smith of Meshoppen, married to Miss Effa Bullard, of Meshoppen ; 
JS'ancy M., married to Wallace Bail}^ a farmer and butcher of Alans- 
lield. Pa., and Ferris, an engineer in a quarr}' at Meshoppen. B. J. 
Overfield, the subject proper of this sketch, was born and reared on a 
farm and educated in the common schools ; at the age of twenty he 
entered the shop of Charles Newman,of Meshoppen, to learn his trade, 
and after eight months spent there he came to Merryall, where he 
opened a shop for himself, and remained one year; then removed to 
Camptown, and for one year rented his present shop ; but in 1883 he pur- 
chased it, together with his residence property. He has a large business, 
and besides horse-shoeing and general blacksmithino- does all kinds of 
cari-iage repaii-ing. Mr. Overfield was united in wedlock, March 15, 
1881, at Little Meadows, with Lucettie S. Billings, a daughter of Samuel 
Billings, a farmer of Wyalusing, Bradford Co., Pa., and this union has 
been blessed with four ciiildren ; Bennie B., born December 19, 1881; 
Nirurn A., born February 8, 1884; Lois A., born July 19,1888, and 
Grace E., born August i, 1890. Mr. Overfield is a member of the 
L O. O. F., Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503; also of the P. of I., Camptown 
Association; in politics he is a Republican. He has always depended 
on his own i-esources. and has been very successful. 

HON. EDWARD OVERTON, Jr., Towanda. While this gentle- 
man is the only living member of the family of that given name, yet, 
in this instance, the careers of father and son, and their professional 
lives, have been so neai'Iy the same, that it makes it easier to ward olf 
confusion bv continuing the designation of senior and junior, than oth- 
erwise. The name Oveiton will remain familiar to the future genera- 
tions of the county, as long as its civic organization lasts. Edward 
Overton, Sr., was a son of Thomas Overton, who was buried in Ulster 
Cemetery in the year 1836; the family had immigrated from Clitheroe, 
Lancashire, England, in 1810, where Edward Overton, Sr., was born, 
December 30. 1795. He was educated for the bai", in London, and had 
the advantages of the counsel and advice of his uncle, Giles Blaisdell, 
an eminent barrister of his day, and commenced the study of law at 
the early age of sixteen. As evidence of the difference between then 
and now, it may be mentioned that the articles of enrollment of 
Edward Overton, Sr., as a student of the law, are recorded, in the 
King's Bench, with a stamp duty of one hundred pounds sterling 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1057 

thereon. The young- Enolisli hiwver, with his father's family, came 
permanently to America, locating- in Wilkes- l>arre in 1815, and was at 
once examined and soon admitted to practice in the courts. 

lie opened his office at Athens (or Tioga Point) and after three 
years came to Towanda, where he spent the remainder of his life, and 
where, for more than half acentury, he stood at the head of his profes- 
sion, and at onetime,inthe much litigation growing out of the Connecticut 
claims, he was widely known as the foremost lawyer of his day, in 
that tremendous arena where many of the most noted jurists of the 
Commonwealth had met as legal gladiators. lie had identified him^- 
self with the PVleral and Whig parties, but eschewed official life 
entirely, giving his time and best efforts to his profession, and to those 
large affairs for the development and improvement of the country. He 
organized the Barclay Coal At Railroad Comjiany, which purchased of 
the Barclays, of London, 20,000 acres of the coal lands, to reach which 
the Barclay Railroad was built. This opened up that heretofore wild- 
erness, and eventually developed the entire coal interests of Bradford 
count^^ Mr. Overton died in Towanda, in 1878, widely honored and 
universally regretted. lie had married, in the year 1818, Eliza, daugh- 
ter of Henr}' Clymer, of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of Hon, 
George Clymer, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, as well as one of che framers of the Constitution of the United 
States. They had the following children: Mary, Giles, Blaisdell, 
Henry Clymer, Louisa, Francis Clymer, Edward, Jr., and Eliza. 

The subject of this sketch, the youngest son, and next to the young- 
est child, was born in Towanda, this county, February -l, 1836; 
attended the public schools and was gratiuated in the Princeton Col- 
lege, in 1856, when he commenced reading law in the office of Judge 
Mercur. He received his attorney license in 1858, and at once opened 
an office. In 1861 Judoe Mercur, who was county attorney, was 
elected president Judge, and the county commissioners thereupon 
appointed young Overton to fill the vacancy in the office of attorne}'. 
In 1867 he was appomted to the office of register in bankruptcv, for 
ten years filling this responsible and busy office with distinguished 
eminence, and it is told truthfull3' by his friends, that in all the busi- 
ness that came before him. he was in no case reversed by the suj>erior 
court. He resigned his office in the bankrujit court when elected to 
Congress, in 1876, and at the end of his term was re-elected, serving 
four years. His career in the national halls of legislation was one of dis- 
tinguished purity and eminence, and as some evidence of this, in Mr. 
Blaine's " Twenty Years in Congress," Col. Overton is one of the five 
Pennsylvania Congressmen that he specially mentions. While there 
is no county in the Commonwealth that made a more brilliant record 
than Bradford in the Civil War, yet there is no name in the county 
more entitled to promineiice and pre-eminence in our war records than 
that of Col. Overton, 

When the war cloud burst, the young lawyer was dee])ly engaged 
in the duties of his office of county attorney, but without hesitation 
laid down his office and volunteered in the cause of his countiy, enlist- 
ing for a term of three years, in the Fiftieth P, V. L, and at its organ- 



1058 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

ization was elected major. The organization of the regiment was 
completed in September, 1861, B. C. Christ, colonel; Thomas Brenholtz, 
lieut.-colonel, and Edward Overton, major. No regiment in the war 
experienced harder or more field service than the Fiftieth, and it 
earned its cognomen of the "Old Ileliable." On one occasion, at the 
battle of South Mountain, when Gen. Wilcox was sent to for two regi- 
ments to go to Gen. Cox who was severely pressed, he turned to Maj. 
Overton, in command of the regiment, and said: " Take the 'Old Reli- 
able' and go; that is as good as any two regiments,'' and, without the 
saying, the command neither on that nor any other occasion fell short 
of the extravagant expectations of them by the generals, under whose 
eyes they had met the enemy in the "thirty-eight battles," the modest 
history that was inscribed upon its banners at the close of the war, by 
order of the Secretary of War. Gen. Wilcox, referring to this circum- 
stance, under date of October 11, 1883, says: " On this day, Septem- 
ber 14 (1802), Major Overton in command of the regiment, " * * 
was performed the double feat of changing front under a heavy fire, 
and checking an incipient panic. This was done well and gallantly 
under the cool bravery and good management of Col. Christ, of the 
brigade, and Maj. Overton, of the regiment."' Col. Christ was brevetted 
brigadier general, Lieut.-Col. Brenholtz was killed at Jacksoti, Miss., 
on B'\g Black Biver, July 16, 1863, and from that time Col. Overton 
was in command of the regiment. A curious error in our war history 
should be here corrected. In the battle of Kye river, near Spottsyl- 
vania, May 9, 1864, Gen. Christ's brigade and Col. Overton's coni- 
mand were exposed, and certain regiments had been driven in con- 
fusion, when Col. Overton, with five companies, took the responsibility, 
and charged the advancing rebels, nearly 3,000 strong, and repulsed and 
scattered them, making considerable captures. Gen. Cutcheon, who, 
by accident, witnessed this remarkable feat, happened to see Capt. 
Schwenk, of one of Lieut.-Col. Overton's companies, but did not 
notice the Lieut.-Colonel in command, and reported the charge as hav- 
ing been made by the captain. Gen. Wilcox, who had incorporated 
this error in his re])ort, afterward wrote and corrected it, as far as he 
well could. He pi-onoimced it a fine bayonet charfje, and said it was 
the "peculiar glorv of Maj. Overton and his little battalion of the 
Fiftieth." 

. Maj. Overton was made lieutenant-colonel, to date from the death 
of Col. Brenholtz. The command went West, and was in the Vicks- 
burg campaign, March 23, 1863. The department reports of the " Old 
Reliai>le,'' at the close of their service, being 125 killed, 450 wounded, 
of whom 150 died; 134 in Southern prisons, of whom 56 died. In all 
this service Maj. Overton was but once wounded, and that was at the 
battle of Antietam, Sei)tember 17, 1862, where he received a gunshot 
wound in the leg. Returning to his home, he resumed at once the 
active practice of his ))j'ofession, and as lawyer and politician has 
well <lemonstrate<l that peace hath her victories as renowned as war. 
In Isoy Edward Overton, Jr., and Miss Colette; T. Itosseel were 
j<jined in the bands of wedlock; she is a daughter of Rev. Joseph A. 
Rosseel, of the Presbyterian Church. The cliildrcii of this mairiage, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1059 

in the order of birth, are as follows: F. C. Overton, Sarah 11., John 
R. and Eliza C. The family are adherents of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

NELSON OVERTON, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Wyalusing, 
was born in Pike county, Pa., August 18, 1819, a son of Justice ami 
Mary (Robinson) Overton, the former of whom was born on Long- 
Island, of English descent. The maternal grandfather, who was a sea 
captain, Avas lost at sea. While the father was a small child, his parents 
removed from Long Island to Pike county. Pa. The father, who was 
a teacher and farmer, removed to Bradford county in the fall of 1855, 
and died the same winter, but the mother survived him several years; 
thev had a family of seven children, only two of whom are now living, 
Nelson and Mrs. Mary Stevens, of Standing Stone. The subject of this 
memoir had the advantages of a common-school education, and came 
to this county when he was nineteen years of age. After his arrival he 
contracted for 100 acres of land, which are now owned by S. S. Butts, 
began to clear the same and convert the timber into lumber, for years 
following lumbering and rafting; then sold and purchased fifty acres 
where James Vaughn, Jr., now lives: finally, he located on the place 
where he now resides, and proceeded to clear and improve the same; 
also purchased land, until he now owns a fine farm of 177 acres. Mr. 
Overton was married, August 18, 1846, to Emeline Baker, daughter of 
Joseph Baker, a prominent farmer of Bradford county, and to them were 
born seven children, viz.: Amanda J. (married to Theodore Coburn ; 
Edward, now a druggist in Chester (married to IMinnie Abbott): Orenzo 
S. (married to Sel)aBlakeslee);Elias. a hardware merchant, of Nebraska 
(married to Belle Lewis); Lyman C; Mary and N. Bernard, living with 
their father. Mrs. Overton died in October. 1879. Mr. Overton is a 
member of the Old-School Baptist Church of Vaughn Hill; politically 
he is a Republican, and has filled the various town offices. He has 
alwavs depended on his own resources, and been verv successful. 

ORENZO STEVENS OVERTON, proprietor'^ of the '^ Bartlet 
House," Wysox, was born, March 19, 1850, at A^aughn Hill, this county, 
a son of Nelson and Emeline (Baker) Overton, natives of Rhode Island 
and Pennsylvania, respectively, and of English origin. The subject 
of this memoir, who is the third in a family of seven children, was reared 
on a farm, educated in the common school, and began life for himself 
when twenty -six yeai's of iige, dealing in hay and grain at Wyalusing, 
and later at Rummerfield, as agent for Paul Billings & Co., of Tunk- 
hannock, whom he still represents; he located in his present place of 
business December 28, 1890, and is a very popular landlord. Mr. 
Overton was married, July 3, 1873, to Seba, daughter of Lyman and 
Alvina (Magar) Blakeslee, the former a native of Connecticut, of Eng- 
lish origin, the latter a native of New York, of Irish lineage. Mr. and 
Mrs. Overton have one child, Maud M., born July 1, 187-1. Mr. Over- 
ton is a member of the T. O. O. F. Lodge, at Wyahising, and of the 
Masonic Lodge, at Towanda. Politicallv he is a Re})ublican. 

LYMAN C. OVERTON, farmer and stock-grower, Wyalusing, 
was born August 17, 1866. on the old homestead, where his father now 
lives, a son of Nelson Overton. He was reared on the farm, educated 



1060 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in the common schools of Vaughn Hill, and his boyhood and early man-, 
hood were passed in clearing the land, and in farming, with the excep- 
tion of one winter spent in Michigan and one in Lycoming county. Pa. 
He remained on the old homestead until the spring of 1886 ; then pur- 
chased and removed to the Vaughn homestead, a beautiful farm of 189 
acres, besides which he owns a small farm of fifty acres, and he has 
his farm well stocked. Mr. Overton was married, March 10, 1886, to 
Carrie L. Archer, daughter of Thomas Archer, of Pond Hill, and they 
have two chiklren : Florence E. and Eaymond A. Mr. Overton is a 
member of White Lilly Lodge, No. 808,"' I. O. O. F., Wyalusing, and 
has taken all the degrees of the Subordinate Lodge. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics, and has filled several of the town offices. 

AUGUSTUS OWEN, Canton, is a native of Canton, this county, 
born September 26, 1843, a son of Samuel and Adelia (Morse) Owen. 
His paternal grandparents were Thomas and Philah (Adams) Owen, 
natives of Orange county, N. Y., and Sussex county, N. J. His father 
was born in Orange county, N. Y., October 5, 1815, the eldest in a 
familv of six children, of whom five are now living. When he was 
eighteen vears of age he left Orange county and moved to Rutland 
township,' Tioga Co., Pa., where he resided until 1838, when he 
I'emoved to Troy, this county, farmed and lumbered until 1848 ; then 
went to Canton", and has resided here since. He was in partnership 
with Col. Pomeroy in the stage business, about twelve years, and 
drove stage from 'Elmira to Wdliamsport, a number of years. The 
subject of this sketch, who is the eldest in a family of five children, was 
reared in Canton, and received his education in the borough schools ; 
began teaching school, but soon resigned his ])osition and enlisted 
Fel)ruarv 23, 1864, in Company B, Fiftieth New York Engineers, and 
served until the close of the war ; was mustered out at Fort Berry, 
Virginia, June 27, 1865, returned home and farmed until he was 
appointed postmaster at Canton borough, in June, 1885, which office 
he held until March, 1890. In November, 1890, he accepted his 
present position with H. Crawford. He was married, in Canton. Sep- 
tember 3, 1868, to Sopiiia, daughter of J. W. and Jane Van Dyke, 
natives of Canton and Lansing, N. Y., respectively ; she was the 
eldest in order of l)irtli in a familv of four children, and was born in 
Canton township Mav 1, 1842, and died June 25, 1888. The family 
are members of the' Presbyterian Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Owen 
were born three children as follows: Adelia II., L. 1). and John 
W. Mr. Owen is a member of the G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91 ; 
politicallv he is a Democrat. 

EDWARD OWEX, farmer and stock-grower. Pike township. 
P. O. LoRiivsville, was born June 14. 1824. in north Wales, a son of 
Edward anil Ann (Morris) Owen, the former of whom was a miller by 
trade. They had a family of seven chiklren, of whom Edward is the 
eldest. lie came to Anierica in 1835, and settled on the farm now 
owned by S. M. Williams, in Pike township, this county. Edward 
assisted his father in clearing the farm, until the age of tiiirty, when 
he began life for himself. In 1870 he purchased the '' Dick Ashton " 
farm of 114 acres, wliere he now resides. He was nuirried, August 15, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1061 

1854, to Elizabeth, (lauglitei' of David and Mary (Pepper) llillis, and 
they have the following children : Mary, born August 15, 1857, 
married to Raymond Cobb, a farmer in Tuscarora township; Martha, 
born August 18, 1859, married to Benton L. Wells, a merchant and 
policeman, in New York City. Mr. Owen is a member of the Wes- 
leyan Methodist Church at Jackson Valley, has been class-leader thirty 
vears, and trustee eighteen years. Politically he is a Prohibitionist. 

KILEON PACKARD, farmer, P. O. Alba, was born in Canton 
township, this county, October 7, 1826, a son of Silas and Sally (Ayres) 
Packard, natives of Pelham, Mass., and Lackawanna county, N. Y., 
respectivelv. Silas Packard was a cooper and saltmaker by trade, the 
latter of which he followed several years in Syracuse, prior to his com- 
ing to Canton townshiji, about the year 1821. Here he worked at the 
cooper's trade, and farmed ; he was born in 1796, and died March 19, 
1863 ; his wife died in 1867, in her sixty-fourth year. The Packards 
came from England to this country' about two hundred and fifty-two 
years ago. The paternal grandfather was a native of Brockton, Mass., 
and was a soldier in the Revolutioniuy War ; he died of the cold plague. 
The subject of this memoir is the second, in order of birth, in a family 
of thirteen children, of whom two died in infancy. He was reared in 
Canton township, and received a common-school education ; is one of 
the successful fai-mers of this county, owning a farm of 200 acres ; he 
followed the lumber business in Clinton county, Pa., nearly seven years. 
In 1884 he purchased the "Packard House," in Canton, which he still 
owns. He was married in Burlington, in 1855, to Matilda, daughter 
of Dr. Henry and Rebecca (Loper) Riley, natives of Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey, respectively ; they were earlv settlers of Lycoming county. 
Pa., and later in life removed to this county. Dr. Henr}' Riley died 
in 1874, in his seventy-eighth year ; Mrs. Riley died in January, 1890, 
in her eighty -third year. Mrs. Packard was the third, in order of birth, 
in a family of three daughters and one son, and was born in Burling- 
ton township in 1833, and died October 11, 1887. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Packard were born two daughters: Arvilla (wife of C. L. Chesley , 
and Laura L. (who died February 22, 1887, in her twenty -sixth year). 
Mr. Packard is a director of the First National Bank of Canton; 
])olitically he is a Republican. 

F. T. PAGE, merchant, Athens, is a native of Athens, and was 
born Januar}^ 1, 1842, a son of Thomas and Anna (West) Page, 
natives of England, who came to America in a sailing vessel, in 1831, 
and were eleven weeks on the water. Thomas was a farmer, and died 
in Athens, in 1876, in his eightieth year; his wife died in 1842, in her 
fortieth year. F. T. Page is the youngest of their ten chddren, and 
received a ]iublic-school education and clerked in a store for several 
years. In the spring of 1862 he opened a general store in Athens, and 
has been actively engaged in business since. The past fifteen years he 
has been devoting his time largely to the wholesale butter trade in 
connection with his retail grocery trade. Fie was married, in 
Athens, in 1866, to Miss Julia C. daughter of Andrew W. and .Tulia 
A. (Bristol) French, natives of New York State ; she is the youngest 
in a family of four children (daughters), and was born in Milford, 

62 



106"-2 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Conn., in January, 1846. To them were born live children as follows: 
Robert F., Walter T., Bertha A., Louis F. and Kenneth A. Mr. and 
Mrs. Page are communicants of the Episcopal Church ; he enlisted in 
the State Militia during the war, but was out only a short time; is a 
member of the G. A. K., Perkins Post, No. 202 ; also a member of the 

F. ifc A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70; has served two terms as 
burgess, four as school director, and several years as member of the 
borough council, and in politics he is a Republican. 

CHARLES PALMER, locomotive engineer, G. L & S. R. R., resi- 
dence, Sayre, is a native of Easton, Pa., and was born January 3, 1853, 
a son of John and Jennie Palmer. His father was a liveryman, and 
died in Easton, in 1859; his mother died in 186L Charles was the 
second child in a family of four, and was reared in Easton, and received 
his education in the city schools. At the age of sixteen he was em- 
ployed as brakeman on the Jersey Central Railroad, at which occupa- 
tion he continued five years, and was a fireman on the same line about 
two vears, and then came to Sayre, August 8. 1878, and went on the 

G. L'vfc S. R. R. as a fireman, and was promoted to engineer. May 3, 
1881, and has been running on that line since. He married, in Easton, 
Pa., August 24, 1875, Miss Sarah, daughter of Patrick and Sarah 
(Burns) McCloskey, natives of County Carlow, Ireland. Patrick 
McCloskey died in Wilkes-Barre, in 1888, in his sixty-seventh year. 
Mrs. Palmer is the sixtli in a family of eight children, and was born in 
Port Carbon, Pa., July 23, 1857. To them have been born six children, 
as follows: Anna, Belle (deceased), Mary, Ella, Sadie, and Harry 
(deceased). Mrs. Palmer is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
Division No. 380, and in politics affiliates with the Republicans. 

R. R. PALMER, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Troy, Brad- 
ford Co., Pa., January 8, 1822, a son of Russell and Sylvia (Case) 
Palmer, natives of Vermont and New Hampshire, resi)ectively. Rus- 
sell Palmer was a son of Jareb and Esther (Rice) Palmer, who 
removed to this county about 1775, locating at what is now Alba, then 
a dense wilderness. Jareb was the father of eleven children — seven 
sons and four daughters — ten of whom came to maturity. R. R. 
Palmer, who is the fourth in the family, was educated in his native 
township. At the age of twenty -eight, C)ctober 11, 1849, he married 
Diantha, daughter of Perly and" Lucy (Morse), of LeRoy, a descend- 
ant of Jesse Morse, one of the old settlers of tlie township. By this 
marriage there were four children, three of whom are living: Alice, 
married to John Jenkins ; E. R., married to Christene, daughter of J. 
^rdveel; R. J., married, July 11, 1890, to '"Dell," daughter of G. L. 
Ross. Mr. Palmer is a well-to-do farmer, living on the high lands 
north of LeRoy; his farm is well stocked with a fine breed of Jerseys. 
In ))olitics he is a Repul)ru'an. 

BENJAMIN PARK, farmer, of Litchliold township, P. O.Waverly, 
N. Y., was bfjrn, January 12. 1820, son of Daniel and Pattic Park, the 
former of whom was a native of this countiy, a son of Th(nnas Park, 
an Englishnuin by birth, who came to this country in its early settle- 
ment, making his home in the Wyoming Valley, from which place he 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1063 

removed to Litchfield township, about two years after the massacre; 
this old pioneer took up 400 acres of land, located on and near the banks 
of the Susquehanna river, building his house on the dividing line between 
the States of New York and Pennsylvania. Tie was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War, and served uiuler Washington; was also C(jnspicuous 
under Sullivan, in driving the Indians from his own settlement back 
to the Niagara, after which he settled in peace, and became a pros- 
perous farmer. Daniel Park was married twice, and had fifteen chil- 
dren (eleven by the first marriage, and four by the latter), thirteen of 
whom reached maturity, Benjamin, the subject of these lines, being 
the eighth member. He was etlucated at the common school, and in 
early life was extensively engaged in lumbering, often piloting his own 
rafts down the river. He married, February 20, 1845, in his native 
town, from which he never moved, Mary, daughter of John O. and 
Mary Shackelton, of English and German descent. Their family con- 
sists of: Dell, born Februar}' 15, 1847; Dunham, born August 18, 
1859; Sumner, born August 9, 1864; Mercur, born September 10, 
1868. Dell married E. L. Walker, a wealthy farmer; Dunham mar- 
ried Catherine McKinney, daughter of Hanson McKinney; Sumner 
married Olie Marie Heath, daughter of M. II. Heath. Mr. Park made 
ample provision for these children, presenting each with a lai'ge and 
productive farm. In politics he is Independent, and in faith lie is a 
Universalist. 

CHARLES F. PARK, commercial travelei". Standing Stone town- 
ship, P. O. Rummerfield, was born in Herrick township, this county, 
October 15, 1859. He was educated in the district school of that 
place, and attended Towanda Collegiate Institute two 3'ears, after which 
he bought and sold hay, grain and all kinds of produce, four years. In 
1884 he entered into partnership with his brother Elmore, at Rummer- 
field, under the fii'm name of Park Brothers, and continued until 
1888. when he withdrew on account of ill-health. He then took a 
position on the road, rej)resenting Bai'ton & Whedon, wholesale grocers, 
of Elmira, remaining with them thirteen months, and then took a 
similar position with S. T. Willets & Co., of New York, his ]>resent 
employment. He married, in 1884, Ida, the fourth child in a family 
of six children of Peter W. and (Loehr) Morey, and of this union are 
two children ; Morey A., born April 10, 1886, and Annie, born August 
15, 1890. Mr. Park was postmaster at Rummerfield, under President 
Cleveland, two years; is a member of Rome Lodge, No. 480, I. O. O. F., 
and in jiolitics is a Democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Park attend the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and have a wide circle of pleasant friends and 
acquaintances.. He built his residence in 1888. 

D. F. PARK, dealer in dry goods and groceries, Athens, is a native 
of Sheshequin township, this county, born January 6, 1830, a son of 
Rev. Chester and Lemira (Fish) Park, the former of whom was a 
native of Sheshequin, and the latter of Wilkes-Barre. The father 
engaged in mercantile trade in Athens about the year 1835, and con- 
tinued in business until 1862; he was born in 1802, and died in 1881; 
grandfather Rev. Moses Park was (me of the first settlers in Athens 
township, and the maternal grandfather, Capt. Fish, was a soldier in 



10(j4 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the llevoliitionai'v War. D. F. Park, who is the second in a family of 
five children, began clerking in his father's store, and in time became 
a partner in the business, remaining- until 1862, when he succeeded to 
the sole ownership, and has continued in business since. He has been 
twice married: first time in Waverly, in 1855, to Miss Kate, daughter 
of Rev. Henry and Mary (Mullock) Ball ; she was the third in a 
family of six children who grew to maturity, was born in Orange 
county, N. Y., in 1830, and died in February, 1859. By this union 
there "is one son, Irving, now Adams Express agent in Athens. Mr. 
Park w-as married, the second time, in 1865, to Miss Lvdia M., 
daughter of Horace and Azubia (Atkins) Garner, both natives of 
Connecticut ; she is the eldest of two living children, and was born in 
Litclifield township in 1837. To this union were born three sons, viz.: 
AVilliam, Robert (now^ at Cornell College) and Charles. The family 
are members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Park enlisted in the State 
Militia in September, lb62, and was transferred to the United States 
service, but was mustered out in a short time; is a member of the 
G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 202. He is a Republican, and has served 
as poor master twenty-five years, and has held the offices of burgess 
and school director and member of the borough council. 

ELI AS T. PARK, farmer and real estate dealer, P. O. Monroe, 
was born in Hunterdon county, N. J., March 6, 1839, and is the ninth 
in the family of eleven children of James A. and Maria (Bergen) 
Park, natives of New Jersey and of English and Dutch origin. Mr. 
Park removed to Monroe township in 1860, and in 1872 located on his 
present liome; in 1884 he purchased the Nagle farm, which occupies 
nearly the entire triangle between the Towanda creek and the Schra?der 
branch at their confluence, and proceeded to cut it up into building lots, 
of which he made ready sale; he donated land for streets, churches, 
etc., built about twenty-five houses himself, and lias sold in all about 
one imndred and fifty lots. Where there were but two or three build- 
ings, now stands the'flourishing little town of Greenwood, the one to 
whose genius and energy it owes its very existence having declined its 
name; and, indeed, he is rightly styled '^^' The Builder of Greenwood." 
Mr. I'ark was married October 8, 1863. to Miss Ehna L., daughter of 
A. L. Cranmer, of Monroeton. and they have five children, viz.: AVil- 
liam C, born January 20, 1864, civ.l engineer on the A. & P. R. R. at 
Addison, N. Y.; Addie L., born November 20, 1865; Helen J., born 
November 20, 1874; Mary E., born December 26, 1876, and Staates 
Bergen, born November 5, 1881. While taking no very active part in 
politics himself, Mr. J*ark is as firm as the everlasting hills in his alleg- 
iance to the cause of Democracy. 

GEORGE B. PARK, farmer, P. O. Franklindale, was born near 
Flemington, Hunterdon Co., N. J.. November 6, 1833, a son of James 
and Maria (Bergen) l^ai-k, the former born in Asbury, N. J , the 
latter near Gernumtown, N. J., neither of wliom ever moved out of 
their native States; their family numbered ten children, nine of whom 
grew to nuiturity, and six arc iiow living, our subject being the seventh 
in the family, "^(^eorge J>. Park was reared and educated in New 
Jersev, and learned the miller's trade. At the age of seventeen he 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1U65 

removed from New Jerse}^ located in Monrooton, this county, where 
he engaged in the miUing business in 1850, wliich lie followed five 
years successfully; he then embarked in a new enterprise in the sale 
of Phillip's Water Wheel, at which he accumulated consi(leral)le money. 
He traveled through various States in the sale of these wheels. At 
the age of twenty -seven he married, March 25 1800, Miss Mar}^ L., 
daughter of S, S. Hinman, by which union there were boi-n four chil- 
dren, two of whom are now living: Charles E. (mnrried to Miss Mary 
Summers, of Newark, N. J.; they have one child, Edward B.) and 
Carrie M. Mr. Park is a prosperous fai-mer, and follows a general 
line of industrv. He is living on a farm of 140 acres of well-watered 
and fertile land on the Towanda creek, between Franklindale on the 
east and West Franklin on the west; also owns a farm in LePoy town- 
ship of 108 acres. lie is a respected and honored citizen, having held 
the office of justice of the peace fifteen years. Mrs. Park's father, S. 
S. Ilinman, was one of the earliest and most successful business men 
of Monroeton; he was born June 18, 1811, died May 22, 1881; his 
grandfather, John Hinman, was the first man connected with the his- 
torv of Bradford count v; he was born February 5, 1748. 

'DOCTOK IRA P. PAPK. The family name of this gentleman is 
that of one of the most noted families in the early history of Susque- 
hanna Valley. The name of Thomas Park is full of history of both 
Bradford county and the Wyoming Yalley, of those dreadful times 
that tried men's souls, and by marriage the blood is linked with that 
of Col. John Franklin, a name that will stand pre-eminent for all time 
in the history of the struggles of the Connecticut people in the settle- 
ment of the " Seventeen Townships." Thomas Park, the grandfather 
of the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch, was 
the first settler in the present township of Litchfield. Josiah Park, 
father of Thomas, was an Englishman, who, when \'oung, was a sailoi-, 
but who left the sea and came to America, settling in Connecticut, where 
his son Thomas was born ; when he had grown to be a young man, he 
heard of the condition of the people in Forty Fort, and was one of the 
first to volunteer to come to their rescue, but reached the ground, unfor- 
tunately, a few daN's after the Wyoming massacre, or battle. He re- 
mained here, however, some time in the stockade the settlers had built, 
and hearing that some sugar-campers were surrounded by Indians, he 
raised a company and went to their rescue, and, in the skirmish that 
ensued with the Indians, he was wounded by a musket ball in the thigh, 
and he carried the leaden bullet with him to the grave. He was mar- 
ried in Wvoming county, at the Shawnee stockade, to AbigaelNesbitt. 
He reared a family of children, as follows : Daniel, Samuel, James N., 
Thomas, Joseph, Amos, Benjamin, Sally, Mary Elizabeth and Susanna. 
Josiah Park, when old and infirm, came and spent his last days with 
his son, Thomas. He cleared away the brush for a cemetery, and was 
the first to be buried there, nearly one hundred years ago. The third 
son, James N., was the first child born in the present township of Litch- 
field, in 1793. and in time became a prominent farmer. He married 
Margaret McKinney, by whom there was one son, Orrin, when she died, 
about the year 1820. His second marriage was about 1823, with Sybil 



1066 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Franklin, daughter of Samuel Franklin, a brother of Col. John 
Fi-anUlin, and of this union there were children as follows: Margaret, 
Samuel, Loduski, Ulysus, Ira R., Clarissa and Hugh W. After this last 
mairiage the father*^\vent to Luzerne county, where this family of chil- 
di-en were reared. The mother of the last above-named children died in 
1841, when Mr. Park returned to Bradfoi-d county to make his home, 
and afterward he married Annie Bronson, by which marriage there were 
two children : Elizabeth and Homer. James Park died in Litchfield 
township, in 1858, and was soon followed to the grave by his widow. 

Dr. Ira 11. Park is the fifth in the order of birth, as noted 
above, in the list of names of the children of James Park, and 
his home, early life and education were in Litchfield, his birthplace. 
When he attained his majority he diligently engaged in the study of 
medicine, and graduated at tlie Philadelphia Medical College in 1870, 
and fr-om that time he has continued in the practice. Dr. Ira II. Park 
and Martha Park were united in marriage in Litchfield; she is the 
daughter of Reuben and Maria (Snider) Park, natives of New York 
and of German descent. Dr. Park then moved to Overton, in 18T0, 
where he has made his permanent home. Their family of five children 
were as follows: Reuben, James F., Maria O., Edgar R. and Sybil G. 
(died at the age of five). The Park family have been noted Democrats 
in their political faith. 

FRANK W. PARKS, P. O. Athens, was born in Sheshequin 
township, April 12, 1854, on the farm now owned by Julius White, 
and is a son of James G. and Lenora (Green) Parks. His father was a 
lumberman and farmer, and spent the greater portion of his life in 
Bradford county; was a soldier in the AVar of the Rebellion, a member 
of the Fiftieth New York Engineers, Company P>. Frank W. was the 
second in the family of four children, Edward, the eldest, INlodora, the 
third, the fourth died in infancy. Frank attended school in ]\Ionroe town- 
ship, and in Athens, Litchfield and Rome, and completed his studies 
at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. He commenced 
teaching in 1873, and followed that occupation seven years; then ob- 
tained employment in the Sayre Axle Works, and remained there three 
vears; then engaged with the Milton Steam Forge Comi)any one year, 
after which he went to Lewisbui'g, and was there about one and one- 
half years, and then went to Litchfield and commenced farming on the 
farm now owned by Phoebe Campbell. Later he removed to the fai-m 
he now owns, of 105 acres, about sixty of which are improved. October 
12. 1887, he married Kate, daughter' of Joel and Phoebe (Perry) Camp- 
bell, sixth in the family of ten children: Edgar, the eldest, married 
Mai'V Cranford, and resides in Elmira; George is with his mother; 
Emerv married Emma Ilulett, and resides in Litchfield; Newton 
married Nellie Luf kin, and resides in Iowa; Jane was married to William 
P^erguson, of Ithaca, N. Y.; Alice was married to William Carpenter, of 
Athens ; Jay died in infancy; Lottie, Perley and Kate. John C. and Har- 
rison, uncles of Frank W.,Were soldiers of the Civil War. John was a 
member of the Fifty-seventh P. V. I., while Harrison joined the Mich- 
igan Cavalry. Mr." Parks is a member of the I. (). (). F., Litchfield 
Lodge, No. 088, and is at present assistant secretary of tiiat Ordei-; he 
is a Democrat in politics. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 10G7 

HARRY PARKS, farmer and nianufacturor of lunibei-, lath, shin- 
gles and cider, Wysox township, P. O. Wickizer, was born in Rome, 
August 9, 1824-, a son of John and Margaret (Strope) I^irks, the former 
a native of Massachusetts, of Scotch origin, and the latter a native of 
Pennsylvania, and of German descent. In his father's family there 
were eleven children: Sarah (deceased), Abigal Jane (tleceused), Will- 
iam B., Harriet, Harry, Nathaniel N., Chester, John M. (deceased), 
James, Herbert and Elisha. Harry began farming on Taylor Hill, 
where he remained fifteen years, then purchased his present home, 
which now includes 275 acres. He married, March i, 1849, Henrietta 
A., daughter of Silas and Margaret (Lent) Allis, natives of Vermont 
and Pennsylvania, respectively. They have had born to them six chil- 
dren, as follows: Celestia, born September 16, 1850, married to Albert 
Robinson-, a farmer, of Wysox; Henry Myron, born October 11, 1852; 
Silas, born April 4, 1854; Emerson Adelbert, born August 21, 1858, 
died February 28, 1882; Lewis, born October 1, 1866, died March 2, 
1873, and William, born February 6, 1868. Henry Myron, Silas and 
AVilliam are engaged with their father on the farm and in the mill. 
The familv are identified with the Republican party. 

ISAAC AUSTIN PARKS, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. South 
Hill, was born in New London, Conn., October 26, 1814, a son of Isaac 
Parks, who was born in Groton, Conn,, October 25, 1784. Grand- 
father Stephen Parks, a native of Connecticut, a farmer by occupation, 
was drowned in the North river while trying to cross on the ice, in 
1792; he married Annie Williams, and Ihey had four children, viz.: 
Stephen, Isaac, Eunice (wife of R. Avery) and Darius. He had 
served in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Stephen Parks died in her 
eightieth year. Isaac Park attended school until his fifteenth year, and 
served an apprenticeship at the boot and shoe trade, while attending 
school three months each year, until he attained his majority. In 1805 
he joined the militia, and served until 1813; was a Minute Man the 
remainder of the year. In 1814 he removed to Otis, Mass., where he 
built a tannery and shoe shop, and carried on business fouryears ; then 
sold and came to Pennsylvania, settling in Orwell township, where he 
took up a " possession claim, *' now the homestead, and here spent the 
remainder of his life. He married, at New London, Conn., in 1812, 
Hannah, daughter of Jonas and Lucy (Spicer) Gray, and died in 1850; 
they had three children, viz.: Isaac Austin, Lucy (deceased) and Jack- 
son. Isaac Austin Parks attended school at Orwell until his nineteenth 
year, and then worked on the farm five years, and went to Arkansas 
two years, as a mill-wright; thence to "old Dick Gentry," of Missouri, 
who was engaged in the Santa Fe carrying trade, arriving at Kansas, 
Council Grove. Mr. Gentry was called to New York, and Mr. Parks 
assumed the responsibility of delivering the goods in Santa Fe, which 
place he reached, and, after disposing of part of the goods, was rejoined 
by Mr. Gentry, and they (after wholesaling the balance of goods) started 
for San Francisco, via the Gila and Sacramento rivers route, arriving in 
June, 1840, and remaining until October, when he returned to Kansas ; 
then at Ft. Scott, Kans., he worked at his trade four years, after which 
he returned home, and purchased his present place of about two hundred 



1068 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and fifty acres, which was a portion of tlie propert}'' bought by his 
father. Here he has made his permanent home. He has ten horses, 
sixteen cattle, sixteen young- stock and sixty sheep. He erected his 
present dwelhng in 1857. In 1862 he raised", and was made captain of, 
Com]mny I), One Hundred and Forty-first Eogiment, P. Y. I., went to 
tlie front and participated in the battles of Fredericlcsburg, Chancellors- 
ville, and immerous other engagements; when his command was on the 
Tlaj^pahannock he resigned, after twenty-two months' service, went to 
Washington, and was discharged. He married, January 1, 1845, Melissa 
A. Mericle, the second in the family of thirteen children of Levi and 
Eunice (Coggswell)Mericle, and they had children as follows: Norman L., 
deceased: Arthur M., deceased; Edith M., deceased; Emma A.-, wife 
of A. R'. Ih'utzman; Ida A., wife of Joseph W. Allen; Elbert J.; 
Charles F.; Willie, died in infancy; Flora M., wife of Ciuirles Ellis, 
and Ella, wife of O. J. Buttles. Mr. Farks is a member of Lelvays- 
ville Lodge, I. O. O. F.; member of Hurst Post, No. 86, G. A. R. tie 
is a Republican, and served as county commissioner from 1853 to 1856; 
as town assessor nine terms; as school director twenty years, and town 
commissioner twelve years. 

W. B. PARKS, fa'rmer, Rome township, P. O. Rome, was born in 
Rome township, this county, March 19, 1820, and is a son of John 
and Margaret (Strope) Parks. His father was born in Massachusetts, 
August 20, 1879, and died in Rome, December 8, 1873. W. B., who 
is the third in a family of twelve children, spent his boyhood on his 
father's farm, and attended the district school; his youthful days Avere 
spent in the usual occupation of the boys on the frontier — chopping, 
lumbering and rafting. In 1858 he purchased a one-half interest in 
his father's farm, and, in 1866, bought the remainder, and added other 
land to it, until he owned 132 acres. On September 5, 186-1, he enlisted 
in Comj)any G, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth N. Y. Y. I., and served 
until the close of the war. He was in all the battles in the campaign 
against Richmond, and was present at the surrender of Lee; he Avas 
discharged with his regiment. May 30, 1865, and came home and 
resumed farming; here he lived until 1865, when he removed to 
Michigan, Avhere he remained four years; then went to Nebraska, 
remaining until 1890, Avhen he returned to Bradford county. Mr. Parks 
married, September 21, 1846, Kansas C, daughter of James Smith, of 
Windham township, and to them were born two children — Ophelia 
and James. The family are Methodists, and James and his father 
vote the Repul)lican ticket. Mr. Parks is a member of Stevens Post, 
No. 9, G. A. R., and has held all the offices in the same. 

E. ASIIMUN PARSONS, proprietor of the Bradford Arr/u.s, 
Towanda, the oldest newspaper in the county, and for the last twenty- 
six years Democratic to the core, and which has been in the Parsons 
family during the long, and surely lonesome, days of the Democracy, 
in good old Bradford county. " Patience,an(l sliuftie thecards" might 
well have been the ornamenting motto of the faithful Ar</i(S, since it 
came into the hamis of the Parsons — father and son — but the '" silver 
linino:'' is now visible in a creat, broadenini'' band, and who shall say 
that so many years of hopeless gloom to this political organ may not 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. ) 009 

return, after "an hundred daj's,'^ in compound interest. Ashniun, the 
more common umuk; of this gentleman, well known all (^ver the county, 
is a son of Elijah Parsons, and was born in Towanda, March 17, 1846; 
his mother's maiden name was Miss Ethlin Brown, the family origi- 
nally came from Stonington, Conn., and both families were of Brad- 
ford county. Ashmun is as much the product of the Argus as any 
"dodger" from the regular job office; in short, the paper and the 
Parsons family have "pulled for the shore" together for more than 
half a century — through sunshine and storm, with a great preponder- 
ance of the latter. The present proprietor came near breaking the 
long record, when appointed deputy postmaster, m 1885, but kept one 
hand, all the four years of his office, on his family favorite. He grad- 
uated at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, but the education 
received there was little compared to his better, very thorough and 
long schooling in a country printmg office, where he w\as under the 
tuition of Wilmot, Grow, Mercur, Piollet and other prominent men, 
giving him a more than ordinary insight into the intricacies of politics 
and statecraft. He was married, in Towanda, January 19, 1887, to 
Anna Laning, daughter of William H. Morgan, an eminent civil engi- 
neer and contractor, son of Judge Morgan, of Wysox. The Morgans 
were from the East, and were among the earliest families in this 
county, and were very prominent people. W. H. Morgan made all the 
first surveys and maps of Towanda and vicinity; and all over the 
county his surveys and plots were esteemed rare specimens of his skill 
as a civil engineer. He was in the Civil War during its existence, 
and was in the Commissary Department. He died in 1876, though yet 
a young man, and was as widely known, and as much respected, as any 
man in Bradford county. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons have two children: 
E. Ashmun, Jr., born December 11, 1887, and William Morgan, born 
June 11, 1890. In their beautiful cottage on York avenue, this is one 
of Towanda's hap|)iest and most pleasant families. 

JESSE PARSONS, farmer, of Columbia township, P. O. Colum- 
bia Cross Poads, was born in Troy township, this county, September 
11, 1861, and is a son of William A. and Harriet (Whaley) Parsons. 
His paternal grandfather was Allen S. Parsons, who was born in 
Columbia township, this county, in 1810, a son of Eli, Jr., whose 
father was formerly of Massachusetts, but settled in Columbia town- 
ship in 1800. All three cleared considerable land in the township. 
The wife of Eli, Jr., was Hannah Rockwell, by whom he had five 
children: Allen S., Almira (Mrs. Lorenzo Jones), Olive (Mrs. William 
H. Pierce), Minerva (Mrs. Thomas J. Strait) and Cynthia (Mrs. Will- 
iam Sherman). Of these, Allen S., the only son, succeeded to the 
homestead, now owned by M. S. Parsons, and died there. He was 
twice married : his first wife was Eliza Harkness, by whom he had 
four children : Eli C, William A., Emma (Mrs. Isaac Fogle) and New- 
ton ; his second wife was Mandana Taylor, by whom he had two chil- 
dren, Mary (Mrs. John A. Patterson) and Mahlon. Of his children, 
William A. was reared on the old homestead, has always been a 
resident of Bradford county, and is now living in Burlington. His 
children are Fred, Jesse, Frank, Newton, Grace (Mrs. Evert Andrews), 



1070 HISTORY' OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Gertie (Mrs. Etnmins Carr), Edward, Kaymond, Cora (Mrs. Barney 
Henson) and Charles. Our subject was i-eared by his grandfatiier on 
the old homestead in Columbia, and has always followed farming as 
his occupation. He married, December 1, 1881, Ida, daughter of 
Nehemiah and Mrs. (White) Hodge, of South Creek township, and has 
one daughter, Nina. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and in poli- 
tics he is a Republican. 

JOHN A. PAESONS, manufacturer, Troy, was born in Troy 
township, this county, December 27, 1846, a son of Dr. Alfred and 
Jane (Wilber) Parsons, the former of whom was a son of Thomas and 
Anna (Osborne) Parsons, and was born at Enfield, Hartford Co., Conn., 
November 16, 1797; was educated at Williams College, and studied 
medicine, attending lectures at Fairfield Medical College, Fairfield, 
N. Y., where he was graduated in 1825 ; in 1826 he settled in Colum- 
bia township, this county, and began the practice of his profession ; 
and later removed to Tro}' township, where he was in active practice 
up to his death, which occurred October 24, 1865. He attained a 
leading and prominent position in his profession, and accumulated a 
competency. He was one of the founders of the Bradford County 
Medical Society, in which he always took a deep interest, and was 
three times elected its president; in religious belief he was a Presbyte- 
rian, and gave the ground to that society, where the First Presbyterian 
Church of Troy now stands. His wife was a daughter of Hon. Reuben 
and Sally (Dobbins) Wilber, and granddaughter, on the paternal side, 
of John Wilber, a Revolutionary patriot, and on the maternal side of 
William A. and Mary (McLean) Dobbins, who settled in Burlington 
township, this county, in 1791. Their children were four in number: 
Mary H. (who died in childhood), Sarah A. (Mrs. Theodora Waldron), 
Sophia L. (Mrs. Capt. W. H. Carnochan) and John A. Reuben Wil- 
ber, the maternal grandfather of subject, was a native of Rhode 
Island, born May 21, 1785, and settled in Troy township, this county, 
in 1807, locating on a farm of 300 acres ; was a soldier in the War of 
1812, in which he did gallant service, and was paymaster with rank of 
first lieutenant ; in 1825 he was elected sheriff of Bradford county ; 
from 1830 to 1837 was State Senator and associate judge of Bradford 
county; from 1846 to 1S51 was one of the presidential electors; was a 
State inspector of prisons and a member of the State Board of Equaliza- 
tion ; he died November 5, 1881. John A. Parsons, the only son of Dr. 
Alfreil Parsons, was reared on the old homestead in Troy township, and 
was educated at Troy Academy and Elmira Seminary. He began his 
business career as a'druggist in Troy, in which he was engaged about 
four years; subsequently he became identified with the Enterprise Man- 
ufacturing Company (now the Troy Engine and Machine Company), 
and is at the head of that establishment, and principal capitalist. He 
was married, October 4, 1871, to Mary E., daughter of Thomas and 
Maria (Briggs) Woodruff, of Towanda, and they have four children: 
ThomasW., Wilber II., Robert B. and Jane. Mr. Parsons is a prominent 
citizen of Troy townshij), an active member of the Presbyterian 
Church, and in politics he is a Democrat. 

J. W. PARSONS, physician and surgeon, Canton, is a native of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1071 

Canton, this county, and was born October 11, 1856, a son of II. B. 
and Fannie L. (Lock) Parsons, the former of whom was born April 22, 
1881, in Canton, and the latter August 25, 1828, in Catiierine, (Jhemung 
Co., N. Y. They now reside in Canton. II. B. Parsons is a cabinet- 
maivcr by trade, and was engaged in the furniture business for a 
number of years; later in life he was a builder, contractor and house 
carpenter. He is a son of Rev. James and Anna (Briggs) Parsons, 
natives of Boston and Alstead, N. H., respectively, the former of whom 
was educated in Boston, and was ordained to preach in the Baptist 
• Church in 1819. In 1826 he came from Colerain, Mass., to Troy, this 
county, and in the spring of 1880 he removed to Canton, where he 
became the second postmaster. In 1832 he went to Allegany county, 
N. Y., and in the spring of 1831: to Orleans county, but in 1846 returned 
to Canton, where he lived until his death, which occurred Mav 1, 1854-, 
when he was in his sixty-founh year. Mrs. Parsons is a direct descend- 
ant of a brother of John Locke, the celebrated English author. Dr. J. W. 
Parsons, who is the eldest in order of birth in a family of three chil- 
dren, living, was graduated from the borouo-h schools, also took lessons 
of private tutors, and then taught in a grammar school four years. 
He entered the New York Medical University in the fall of 1878, and 
was graduated there in the spring of 1880. Returning to Canton, he 
began the active practice of medicine at once, and has been so engaged 
since. He was married in Canton, in June, 1881, to Miss Linda, daughter 
of Emett A. and Fanny G. (Ilendrickson) YanSickle, natives of Phila- 
delphia. She is the eldest in a family of three children, and was born 
in Philadelphia Januar}^ 1. 1861. To Dr. and Mrs. Parsons has been 
born one daughter, Dais}' V. He is president of the Board of Pension 
Examiners for his district, and has served as burgess of Canton bor- 
ough three years. He is a Republican, and takes an active interest in 
politics. Though yet a young man. Dr. Parsons is justly esteemed by 
all, both as a citizen and as a ])hvsician. 

EDWARD PARTRIDGE, "farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was 
born in Schoharie county, N. Y., October 20, 1837, a son of Ahira and 
Seba (Hodge) Partridge, who came to Ulster when Edward was three 
years old, settling in the wilderness, where they cleared a large farm. 
The father was a Republican fi-om the formation of the party, and in 
.religion, during the latter part of his life, he united with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. The great-grandfather was a quartermaster in the 
Revolutionary Army. The subject proper of this sketch is the ninth 
in a family of eleven children — six sons and five daughters — and was 
reared on his father's farm. He married, September 13, 1870, Malvina 
Wright, who was born February 2, 1848, a daughter of Owen and 
Amanda (Parshall) Wright, early settlers in the town of Columbia, this 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Partridge have had four children, three of whom 
are living, as follows : Carrie J., born March 13, 1877; Mattie M., born 
August 28, 1879 ; and Edward L., born August 16, 1888. Mr. Par- 
tridge has, by perseverance and industry, accumulated a nice property, 
being now the owner of a fine farm of 100 acres, where he raises horses 
and cattle. Politically he was formerly a Republican, but for the past 
few years he has been a strong Prohibitionist, He is a very genial and 



1072 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

pleasant gentleman, and has a wide circle of friends. ITe and his wife 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

J. E. PASSMOKE, merchant, Gillett, was born in Wysox, this 
county, October 4, 1858, a son of Henry and Tolly (Allen) Passmore. 
Of his ancestors the Passmores were from New England, and early 
settled in Susquehannah county, while the Aliens have been for a long 
period identified with Wysox and Rome townships, this county. 
Henry Passmore's family consisted of eight children, who grew to 
maturity, of which the subject of this sketch is the fifth. He was 
reared in Wysox, and attended the public schools. He began business 
as a clerk in the county store at Wysox. After two years' experience, 
he opened a store for himself at Gillett, in 1884, and has remained there, 
building up a profitable trade. He has been postmaster, and a member 
of various Democratic committees. In 1880 he married Olive, daughter 
of William und Eunice Patterson, of Sheshequin. They have three 
children : William H., Charity A. and John A. 

THOMAS PAUL, nurseryman and gardener, Waverly, K Y., is a 
native of Clackmannan (near Edinburgh), Scotland. His parents, 
James and Christena (Livingston) Paul, were natives of Scotland, the 
former of whom was a gardener, and died in his native place in 1885, 
in his eightieth year; the latter died, in 1854, in her fiftieth year. 
Thomas Paul, the subject of this sketch, is the youngest in a family 
of seven children, six of whom grew to maturity. He was educated 
in Musselburgh, Scotland, and at Kinnaird Castle, Forfarshire, served 
an apprenticeship at the gardener's trade; he was a gardener for 
Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle, four years. He came to this 
country in the spring of 1868, and in a short time went to Rochester, 
N. Y., where he remained about one year, then removed to Athens 
township, and engaged in the nursery Vjusiness and farming, and for 
the last few years has been engaged in gardening. He has a fine 
grove near his" residence, with a dancing hall and dining hall, patron- 
ized quite extensively for picnics and dances. His sister, Mary Ann, 
lives »vith him; he has served three years as road commissioner in 
Athens township. He is a Repul)Iican in politics. 

EDWARD DUGGAN PAYNE, M. D., surgeon in the U. S. 
Navy, residence Towanda, is the second son of Rev. Thomas and Eliz- 
abeth Pavne, and was born at Reading, Fairfield Co., Conn. They 
were of an old English Protestant family, long settled at Athlone, Ire- 
land. Cajit. Edward Pavne, of the Royal Light Horse, married into 
theDuggan family of Tiillamore, of the Established Church ; their son 
Thomas was l)orii in 1804, and their son Edward two years later. 
Their father died when they were young, and they went to the care of 
an uncle, Thomas Duggan, who designed young Thomas for the army; 
the lad refused an ensign's commission, joined the Dissenters, and was 
ordained to preach ; he exhorted at sixteen, and preached regularly at 
twenty years of age. He came to America in 1830, joined the Metho- 
dist Conference, and was given charge of the Cherry Street Church, 
Phila(iel])hia. Soon after he was sent as a missionary through northern 
Pennsylvania, where he labored until 1831, wiien "he returned to the 
Conference, and was then sent to Centreville, N. J., for one year, then 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1073 

to the Salem circuit, where he remained until the spring of 1838, when 
he went to the Zion circuit, and while here changed to the Congrega- 
tional Church, became a minister of that denomination, and was sta- 
tioned at Rye, Sawpitts and Old Greenwich. In 1841 he went to 
western New York, in charge of the New-School Presbyterian Churches, 
at Somerset, Wilson and Knowlesville, and died in the latter place in 
1852. He had married, in December, 1830, Elizabeth, daugliter of John 
Wilson, of what was then Luzerne (now Wyoming) county. Mr. WU- 
son, who was pure English, had been in this country many years; his 
daughter was noted for great devotion and piety, and now (1891) is, at 
the°ripe old age of eighty-seven years, with all her faculties unim- 
paired, and in contented peace and quiet, in the home of her son, Dr. 
Pavne, where she is patiently awaiting the summons of her Master. 

"^Dr. Payne spent his youth with his parents in Connecticut, New 
Jersey and New York, and the principal part of his education was 
gained at Wilson Collegiate Institute. While yet a youth (in 1850), 
he came to northern Pennsylvania, and in September of the next year 
found employment in the drug store of Dr. H. C. Porter, in order to 
learn the business, and was tlius employed four years, in his leisure 
moments studying medicine, and in the winter of 1855-50 attended 
Jefferson Medical College. On liis return to Towanda that spring, he 
had a flattering offer to go into the drug business with Hon. J. G. Pat- 
ton, and accepted it, but returned, in the autumn of that year, to Jeffer- 
son College, and graduated in 1857. The self-helpful boy was now a 
self-made man, who carved his way, unaided, and was as thoroughly 
grounded in the fundamentals of medicine and surgery as any young- 
man that had ever come from his Alma Mater. He continued in busi- 
ness with Mr. Patton until a long and severe sickness (in 1860) com- 
pelled him to retire; he had overtaxed a delicate constitution, and a 
long rest was enforced. 

The war came in 1861, and his quickened pulse beat high again. 
During the summer he received an unsolicited jiermit to appear before 
the army medical board, was examinetl, and was urged b}^ the eminent 
Dr. II. H. Smith, surgeon-general of the State, to apply to the Navy 
Department, and was at once appointed, September 20, assistant-sur- 
geon in the navy, and assigned to duty at the Naval Asylum, Phila- 
delphia. On December 17, following, he was ordered to the U. S. 
frigate " Congress," Hampton Eoads, and was in the battle of March 
8, 1862, when the "Congress" and "Cumberland" were destroyed by 
the rebel "Merrimac." On his vessel, out of a crew of 250, one hun- 
dred were killed and thirty wounded. The commanding officer was 
killed, the surgeon disabled, the vessel on fire beneath the magazine, 
and the duty of caring for the wounded, getting them on shore and 
into a hospital, devolved upon Dr. Payne. He was detailed to bnng 
the wounded to Ilygiea Hospital, Old Point Comfort, which was 
accomplished on the 10th, the steamer "Adelaide" being placed at his 
disposal for that ])urp()se. For his gallant services on that occasion he 
received high commeiulatioiis from Surgeon Shippen. On Sunday, the 
i)th, he witnessed the battle between tlie "Monitor" and "Meri-imac." In 
June, following, he was ordered to the "Powhatan," and joined the 



1074 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

South Atlantic blockading squadron, off Charleston, and witnessed the 
Hrst iron-clad attack on Fort Sumter. In May, 1863, he Avas inva- 
lided and sent North, but in a few days reported for duty and was 
appointed to the Naval Rendezvous, Chicago. On August 15, follow- 
ing, he applied for surgical duty, and was ordered as surgeon of the 
U. S. S. •' Metacomet," and in her joined the West Gulf blockading 
squadron, under Farragut. At the battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864, the "Hartford," Farragut's Hag ship, and the ''Metacomet,'' led the 
line of battle, lashed side by side. When opposite the fort the " Meta- 
comet " received orders to cast loose and engage the rebel vessels. She 
))ierced the "Gaines" with a shot which sent her disabled under the walls 
of Fort Morgan, chased the " Morgan" behind the defenses, below the 
city, antl captured the '• Selraa." Here again Dr. Payne was highly com- 
mended for his conduct, by the commander of his vessel, to the 
Admiral, as appears in the^-eports of the Secretary of the Navy. 
On January 24,1865, he was ordered North, and March 6, to the Naval 
Rendezvous, Philadelphia. While there he was examined for surgeon, 
and on the 28th of that month was promoted to passed assistant-sur- 
geon. On July 19, he was ordered to the Pacific Station, Panama, 
where he joined the ship " Farallones," and went to the Straits of 
IVIagellan to meet the scjuadron under Commodore Rogers; returned to 
Panama, in April. 1866, and in May was sent to the "St. Marys," and in 
this ship to San Francisco; thence was ordered home, via Panama. 

On the opening of the U. S. Naval Hospital, Washington, 1866, his 
good friend. Dr. Maxwell, who had been fleet surgeon of the Pacific 
Station, and was then in charge, asked the Navy Department to give 
him. as first assistant. Dr. Payne, and he was on duty here until 1868, 
when he was placed on waiting ordei's, and given a long leave of 
absence; but in July, following, was again ordered to the Pacific 
Station, via Panama, to the U. S. Steamer " Saranac," at Mare Island. 
In January, 1869, the officers and crew were transferred to the 
" Jamestown," and ordered to cruise among the Pacific islands. Hardly 
had the vessel left port, when the small-pox bi^oke out, and forty cases 
were rei)orted, with but one death. They touched at Mazatlan, Mex- 
ico, and surveyed the Gulf of California, esjiecially the Bay of To])olo- 
bampo, in the' hope of finding a harbor of outlet to the great Arizona 
Valley; then proceeded to Panama, where they received orders to pro- 
ceed to the Fiji Islands, and Dr. Payne was appointed a member of a 
board to consider all unadjusted claims between citizens of the United 
States and residents at Fiji, and the natives. The board discharged its 
duties, and January 21, 187<t, the ship returned to San Francisco, from 
which station she sailed, in March, for Honolulu, and was anchored in 
the l)eautiful bay of these fairy islands about a month, when she was 
again sent cruising among tiie Pacific islands, and i-eturned, in a few 
nfonths, to Honolulu. In March, 1871, she arrived at Panama, and 
there received mail, which brought Dr. Payne the intelligence of seri- 
ous illness in his family. His three years' cruise being nearly com- 
|)leted, he asked for orders to return home, anti received the same. In 
Septemiier, he I'eceived orders as senior assistant to the Naval Hospital, 
at New York, and hoped to remain here some time, but circumstances 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1075 

caused him to go to the Boston Naval IIosj)ital, as senior assistant, 
November 7 of tliat year, he received iiis promotion to surgeon, and 
while on duty there, he contracted the disabilities which resulted in 
his being placed on the list of retired officers of the ]Srav3\ During his 
hard service in Mobile Bay, he had been infected with malarial poison, 
and duty on the Mexican coasts and the Pacific had intensified it, as 
had his three years' cruise, mostly in the tropics; and wMth his thin 
blood of the extreme South, he was transferred to the rigors of New 
England. During his service at Boston, 1872-73, contagious diseases 
broke out in the hospital; a portion of the medical staff was sent to 
other points, and the remainder were severely overworl<ed. The small- 
pox was followed by malignant typhus, and now Dr. Payne was left 
alone as surgeon ; he ajiplied for assistance in vain, and in May, his 
physical condition was such that he was comjielled to ask a short leave 
of absence, but returned, after three weeks. Within ten days, while 
on dut}^ from exposure to a hot sun, he was completely prostrated, and 
a proper medical examination pronounced him totally unfit for duty; 
so he w^as sent home; in the fall, he went to Philadelphia, and the 
eminent diagnostician, Dr. DaCosta, pronounced the case one of blood- 
poisoning, from attendance on a case of typhus fever, and partial sun- 
stroke. In January, 1875, he was ordered before the Ketiring Board, 
at Washington, but he pleaded so strongly for an extension that it was 
granted, and, again anxious to try duty, he requested to be sent again 
to sea, and was ordered, January 10, 1876, to report as surgeon of the 
U. S. Steamer " Vandalia." the vessel detailed to attend Gen. Grant 
around the world. This trip he greatly desired to make, but almost at 
the moment of starting, he was prostrated by his old malady, and was 
compelled to ask to be placed on the retired list, and, Ai)ril 13, follow- 
ing, was retired. Thus, though a young man, the Doctor found his 
active labors of life ended, and his professional labors restricted, and 
the truth came as a terrible realization; yet his active nature com- 
pelled him to work on, and he opened his office in Towanda. 

In May, 1871, he married adaugliter of the late T. M. Wilson, at 
that time a resident of Illinois. To bless this union, one child, a 
daughter, w^as born, October 7, 1878. 

Dr. Payne is a member of the Bradford County Medical Society, of 
which he has served as secretary and president, and is also a member 
of the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania. Upon the organization 
of the Pennsylvania State Board of Health, he \vas appointed inspector 
of the Lycoming district, composed of the counties of Lycoming, Tioga, 
Potter, Bradford and Sullivan, which office he still holds. In politics, 
as have all naval officers, he has given respect and obedience to admin- 
istrations, regardless of partisan politics, but. at all times, maintains 
tenaciously all rights of citizenship. He is a member of the Presby- 
terian Church, and was ordained presiding elder, in January, 1886 ; he 
has frequently been a delegate to the Presbytery, and was one of the 
commissioners to the Centennial General Assemblv, in Philadelj)hia, 
in 18S8. 

JOSEPH K. PEASE, farmer. Pike township, P.O. LcKaysville, 
was born in Enfield, Conn., December 25, 1821, and is the voungest of 



1076 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

six children \nwn to Alpheus and Prudence (Kingsbury) Pease, who 
were of English descent, and in 1825 settled on the farm where our 
subject now lives, then a dense forest. Joseph K. received his educa- 
tion by attending the district and Lellaysville borough schools, and 
by much persistent private study; he began teaching at twenty-one, 
ami taught fourteen terms. He w^as married, in May, 1862, to 'Maria 
F., daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Bulfington) Chaffee, of Warren, 
where they settled in 1827. Mr. and Mrs. Pease have two children: 
Flora L. and Orlo O., both living at home. Mr. Pease was in mercan- 
tile business at West Warren from 186S until 1877, and deputy post- 
master at tiiat place for three years ; he engaged in farming at Potter- 
ville, in 1877, since then living on his present farm. The Pease and 
Kingsbury families both belong to the early colony at Plymouth, 
Mass. Mr. Pease is a mem ber of the Congregational Church, Farmers' 
Alliance and Democratic partv. 

IIOX. PEXJAMIN M. PECK, president judge of the Thirteenth 
Judicial District of Pennsylvania, of Towanda, is a son of Ilezekiah M. 
Peck, who came with his father, Ilezekiah Peck, from Warren, 11. I., 
to liradford county, in 1812, and first located on a farm in Smithfield 
township. lie remained upon his farm until 1889, when he sold it, and 
bought a gristmill, a tannery, wagon and blacksmith shops, and a furni- 
ture factor}^ of moderate ca[)acity, all of which branches of business he was 
at one time carrying on together. On September 26, 1821, he was 
united in marriage with Ruth Hale, also from AVarren, 11. 1., a daugh- 
ter of Benjamin Hale, and they had a family of three sons and three 
daughters, all living, except William A., who died in 1875, the others 
being as follows: Mrs. Mary W. Stanley, of Clifton Springs, N. Y.; 
George S., of Wysox; Mrs. Sophia C. Shoemaker, of Waverly, N. Y.; 
P)enjamin M., the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Frances C. White, of 
])akota. The motlier departed this life in 1867, and the father died at 
the residence of Mrs. White, in Barclay townshij), in 1872. 

Judge Peck was born in this countv, October 5, 1838, and was in 
attendance at the public schools, also the Smithfield Academy, and was 
then a student for a short time at the Collegiate Institute at Towanda. 
In 1858 he entered the office of Col. Elhanan Smith, Towanda, as a law 
student, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counselor at 
law, in September, 1860, o])ening at once his law office, and was act- 
ively in the practice until August 13, 1862, when he enlisted as a pri- 
vate in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment P. V. I., 
and at the oiganization thereof was made first seigeant of the company; 
in ashort time he became second lieutenant, and May 23, 1863, he became 
captain of Company B; he was wnth his command without interruption 
until October 8, 1864, when he was detailed to command the Fii'st 
iiegiment. United States Shar])shooters, and he continued in this com- 
mand until that regiment was mustered out of tiie service, in January, 
18r»5. He was then ap|)ointed, by IMiij.dli'n. Hum])lneys (subject to the 
approval of the Seci'ctary of Wai"), assistant commissary of mustei's of 
thcThii'd Division, Second Army Coi'|)s, on thestalfof Miij.-Gen. Mott, 
and i-emained in this position until mustered out at the close of tiie war, 
May 28, 1865. He was severely wounded at the battle of Chancellors- 



HISTORY OF HRADFORD COUNTY. 1077 

ville, at a place known as Ilazcl Grove, May 3, 1863, a ball passing 
through his neck and shoulder, just missing the spinal column and the 
jugular vein. His wound necessitated his being sent ti hospital, ami 
he'^was onlv able to resume duty July 7, 1863, after two months and 
four days' absence. When the war was over, and Capt. Peck was mus- 
tered out, still a young man, but a veteran soldier, he returned to his 
home, and opened his law office and was soon deeply engaged in the 
practice. All three of the brothers in the family were in the war. 
AVilliam A. Peck was surgeon of the One Hundred and fourth Regi- 
ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers; was promoted to surgeon-in-charge of 
Casey's Division, and was then medical director of Perkins' Division, 
Fourth Army Corps, and afterward medical purveyor of the Depart- 
ment of Susquehanna on Maj-Gen. Couch's staff. At the time of his 
death he was a leading lawyer of the Towanda bar. Capt. George S. 
Peck was with his company in the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment, and among the earliest to respond to his country's call to arms. 

In 1872 Benjamin M. Peck was elected to the office of prothonotary, 
and was re-elected, serving six years. On retiring from office he resumed 
the practice of his profession. ' U])on the organization of the Citizens 
National Bank, in 1876, he was elected director and vice-president, and 
president in 1887. In 1890 he resigned his official connection with the 
bank upon his election to the position of president judge of the courts 
of this district, a position he is now filling with distinguished eminence. 
Judge Benjamin M. Peck and Miss Sarah H. Watkins were joined in 
wedlock, April 9, 1863; she is the daughter of Mr. John Watkins, of 
Athens, this county, one of the prominent families of the county, of 
English descent. The children of Judge and Mrs. Peck are Guy W. 
Peck (a civil engineer, in Denver, Colo.) and Mary A. (Mrs. Charles J. 
Califf). The family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which Judge Peck is a trustee, class-leader and Sunday-school superin- 
tendent. He is a member of G. A. R., Watkins Post, No. 6S, and 
trustee of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. 

CAPT. GEORGE S. PECK, mill-wright. machinist and pattern- 
maker, Wysox township, was born in Smithfield, this county, July 24, 
1825, and is the second in the family of six children of Hezekiah M. and 
Ruth (Hale) Peck. He was reared on a farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools, and, at twenty-one, entered into ]>artnership with his father 
in his gristmill, at Smithfield, where he remained twelve years, during 
which time he spent two years in Wisconsin. He studied dentistry two 
years with Dr. L. B. Ilvatt, of Smithfield, and tlien located in Towandu, 
in the practice of dentistry. On September 12, 1861, he joined, as cap- 
tain. Company G, Fifty -seventh P. Y. I., and resigned his commission 
September 2,"l862; then returned to Towanda, and for two years was 
engineer on the Barclay Railroad; then engaged in the machinist 
business, which he has since followed ; was superintendent in Carman's 
foundry, at Towanda, four. years, and since that time has constructed 
a great many mills in Bradford and Wyoming counties; he had charge 
of the mach"inery in the cabinet department, in the base of the Treas- 
ury building at' Washington, from April, 1888, until May, 1889. He 
recently remodeled and adjusted all the machinery in the Elmira and 

63 



1078 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Athens Brido-e Works; in his branch of mechanics Mr. Peck is without 
a peer. He was married, December 31, 1847, to Celestia M., daughter 
of Dr. Seth and Lydia (Hill) Salsbury. Mrs. Peck, who was a second 
cousin of the illustrious David B. Hill, of New York, died in 1807. 
Mr. and Mrs. Peck had five children, four of whom are living: 
George 8., Jr., assistant superintendent in the Athens Bridge Works; 
Kincade H., foreman in the Elmira Bridge Works; Clarence Peck, a 
machinist, and Ellen S., who resides in Athens. Mr. Peck is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic Lodge at Athens, and in politics is a most loyal, 
life-long Democrat. 

FPtED ALBERT PENDLETON (deceased) was born in Warren 
township, this county, February 18, 1866, a son of James and Nancy 
(Abell) Pendleton, natives of Ilhode Island and of English stock. His 
father was a farmer, born January 2, 1831, and is a resident of Little 
Meadows, N. Y.; his mother died October 5, 1888. Their only children 
were twins: Fred Albert and Frank Adelbert. The former was reared 
on the father's farm in Warren township, and, when he commenced 
life on his own account, he engaged in merchandising, and followed 
tills successfully till toward the close of his life, when he closed out his 
store, and purchased a farm of eighty acres, where he spent the 
remainder of his days. He married. May 14, 1887, Lettie, daughter 
of Hamilton and Jane (Walker) IVforrow, the father a native of L-eland 
and the mother of New York. They reared a family of seven children, 
of whom Lettie, the youngest, was reared, educated and married in 
Herrick township. Fred Albert Pendleton, the subject of this sketch, 
though young when he died, was one of the promising men of the 
county; his death occurreil Noveml)er 17, 1889. His only child died 
March 15, 1889. Through his mother, who was an Abell, Fred was 
one of the heirs to the great Abell estate of Baltimore, and his widow 
is now the owner of the estate. 

RAYMOND PEPPER, farmer. West Burlington township, P. O. 
Troy, was born in Towanda, this county, September 11, 1824, a 
son of AVilliam and Amy (Bagley) Pepper, farmers of Towanda town- 
shi|), of German origin. The subject of this memoir was reared on 
the farm, educated in the schools of his native town, and lias followed 
agricultural pursuits. He was a soldier in the Civil War, having 
enlisted in Comj)any K, Second New York Cavalry, and experienced 
great hardships by which his health was undermined ;■ was honorably 
(lischarged at the end of the war, being present at Lee's surrender, 
and he is a pensioner. Mr. Pepper was married November 21, 1850, 
to Kmily E. Landon, of Canton. She was l)orn of English descent 
]\rurcli i4, 1S29, daughter of David S. and Lucy (Case) Landon, natives 
of Bradford county. Her gnimlfather Landon was a soldier in the 
War of the Revolution seven and one-half years; was one of the body- 
guards of General Washington, and became a pensioner. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Pep))er have i)een born six children, viz.: David, born September 
10, 1851, married to Odessa Baxter; Frank, born December 1, 1853, 
married to Marilla Clark; Clara B., born January 24, 1859. wife of 
Albert Bailev ; James V., born December 21. 1862 ; Jennie Mav, born 
May 5, 1867,' wife of Fi-ed Allen; Raymond D., born April 16, 1869, 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKD COUJSITY. 1079 

a farmer on the homestead farm, which consists of ninety acres of 
line land. Mr. Pepper is a member of the G. A. R., and he and his 
sons are Ilepublicans. The family are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and he is one of the most respected men in the 
community. 

R. N. PERRY, insurance agent, Canton, is a native of ()\v ego, N. Y., 
born July 13, 1848, a son of Iliram and Mary (Merrill) Perry, natives of 
Connecticut and Schoharie county, N. Y., respectivel3^ His father, 
who was a farmer, was born July 12, 1800, and died February 22, 
1886 ; his mother was born September 29, 1803, and died November 2, 
1865. R, N. Perry, who is the youngest in a family of nine children, 
of whom six are now living, was reared on the farm in his native 
home until twenty-two years of age, and received his education in the 
public schools and in the Commercial College, Williamsport. He worked 
on a sawmill about five years, and then was a lumber shipper in Will- 
iamsport two years ; was in the insurance business two years. Removing 
to Alba, this county, he purchased an insurance agency, and there 
remained one year ; then came to Canton, where he has since been 
engaged in the insurance and job-printing business. Pie was married 
in Owego, N. Y., in 1870, to Mary ]S^eal, daughter of John and Luc}'^ 
(Clements) Fenderson, natives of Maine; her father was a himberman, 
drowned in the Susquehanna at Hyatt's Ferry, N. Y., in 1877, in his 
sixty-seventh year; her mother resides in Sayre. Mrs. Perry is the 
twelfth in order of birth in a family of fourteen children, eight of 
whom are now living, and was born in Owego, JST. Y., February 18, 
1853. To Mr. and Mrs. Perry were born four children, as follows : 
Willis R., William Armstrong (now publisher of the Ca7itonian), Jen- 
nie E. (deceased) and Lorena Neal. The family are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Perry is a member of the 1. O. O. F., 
Canton Lodge, No. 321, also Canton Encampment, and has passed all 
the chairs in both Orders; is also a member of the Equitable Aid 
Union ; politicallv he is a Republican. 

JOHN F. PETTES, of Pettes & Ballard, grocers and crockery 
dealers, Troy, was born in Ulster township, this county, July 12, 1847, 
and is a son of Benjamin A. and Sarah (Moore) Pettes, the former a 
native of Wheeling, West Va., of Connecticut stock, a pioneer of Ulster 
township, where he cleared and improved a farm, and was also, for 
many years, engaged in the dry-goods business in Towanda, where he 
died in 1889, at the age of sixty-nine years; the latter was a daughter 
of Robert and Mary (Grafius) Moore, of Moore's Hill, Ulster township, 
this county. They had three sons : Robert, of Williamsport, Pa.; John F., 
our subject, and William E., of San Francisco. John F. Avas reared in 
Towanda, educated at Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and Eastman's 
Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In the spring of 1870 he settled 
in Troy, where, with the exception of three and one-half years spent m 
Chicago, he has since resided; for thirteen years he served as clerk in 
general stores of Troy, and in 1887 embarked in his present business, 
and two years later took a partner, in the person of Mr. C. W. Ballard. 
In 1882 he married Frank, the daughter of Edwin and Charlotte 



1080 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

(Reynolds) Porter, of Tro3\ Mr. Pettes is one of the popular business 
men of Trov; in politics lie is a Eepublican. 

DITON'^ PHELPS, butcher and proprietor of a meat-market, East 
Smitiitield, was born March 5, 1840, a son of Henry and Phoebe 
(Wheeler) Phelps, the former of whom was born in Becket, Mass., and 
came to this county, with his parents, in 1805. Jared Phelps, the 
grandfather of our subject, was a drum-major in the Revolutionary 
War, and one of the first members of the Congregational Church at 
Smith field ; he was the original owner of all the land where the village 
now stands, comprising over 200 acres; gave the church society the 
land where the church now stands, also the public square and the 
land for the cemetery (a daughter of his was the first ])erson buried 
there). Diton Phelps, who was the only son in a family of four children, 
was educated at the old academy at Smithfield, and, in 1861, he enlisted 
in Company F, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserve. He was discharged, 
June 14, 1864, after three vears' service. Mr. Phelps was twice 
married : the first time. December 27, 1864, with Jane E. Gerould 
(daughter of Ziba and Eliza Gerould, of East Smithfield), who 
died"in Kansas, Julv 21, 1873; Mr. Phelps' second wife, whom he 
married, Mav 3,1875, was Alice, daughter of James and Polly Gorton, 
of Tioga county, Pa. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Phelps 
three children, as follows: George M., born February 8, 1876; Rosa, 
born June 30, 1878, and Mary Jane, born March 9, 1882. Mr. Phelps 
is a Republican ; has been elected by his party to the offices of con- 
stable and school director, and is at present justice of the peace; he 
is a member of the G. A. R. and the Knights of Honor. 

HENRY L. PHELPS, farmer, in Herrick township, P. O. Her- 
rickville, was born in Hartford county, Conn , September 22, 1819, a 
son of David L. and Sarah (Matson) Phelps, the former of \vhom died 
in Connecticut in 1822. The grandfather, Asa Matson, took him after 
his father's death, and they came to this county in 1823, first stopping 
on Wyalusing creek, where they remained about two years, and then 
came to the farm he now occupies; his grandfather had with him one son, 
wife and daughter with three children— Henry L. and two sisters. 
At this time there was a cabin near the house he now occupies. The 
grandfather settled on this land, purchased the title from Col. Kings- 
burv, and had about 150 acres, of which he cleared about thirty acres; 
lie died in 1833. The house Mr. Phelps occupies was built by his 
uncle Asa P. Matson, in 1836. He now^ owns about 100 acres, and 
still leads an active life. His eldest sister married Mr. O. Stevens; 
his sister Emily married L. M. Stevens, now deceased. Mr. Phelps was 
married, October 23, 1845, to Sai-ah E., daughter of Ira and Betsy 
(Pierce) Brister, and they had one child. Burton H., who was educa- 
ted in the public schools and at the Collegiate Institute; he was a 
fjirnier; ho, married Anne P>olles, adopted daughter of John and Tiachel 
(Marsh) Bolles, of Pike township, both now deceased; they had a 
family of five children, two n(nv living— Mrs. Phelps and anoilior; she 
was born Se|)teniber 13, 1854, and has one child Walter II., who was 
born May 4, 1882; He worships at the Meth(Klist Episcopal Church, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1081 

and is a Republican, but bas acted witli tbe I'roiiibition party about 
live years. 

WILLIAM II. PHELPS, farmer, P. O. East Smithlield, was born 
in Smitbfield township, December 21, 1824, a son of Augustus and 
Abigail (Ilackett) Phelps, natives of Massachusetts. Augustus Phelps 
was a son of Jared and Ilowena (Fuller) Phelps, who came to this town 
in tiie fall of 1811, with a large family, one of whom, a daughter of 
fifteen, died in the early winter, and was the fii'st to be buried in this 
part of what was then a dense wilderness. A little church was soon 
built near the lonely grave, which decided the location of the village. 
The rest of the family all settled in this vicinity: Jared Phelps enlisted, 
and served during the Revolutionary War. 

William H. Phelj)s is the third in a famih^ of eleven children, and 
still resides on the homestead settled by his grandfather, Jared Plielps. 
He was married, March 11, 186G, to Marv D., daugliter of Don M. and 
Elizabeth (Harrison) Bacon, and was born April 8, 1829. Mr. and Mrs. 
Pheljis had one child, who died at the age of two years. In politics, 
Mr. Phelps is a Republican, in religion, a Congregationalist, and has 
been a deacon in the church for manv vears. 

H. F. PHILLIPS, of the Red Front Shoe Store, Athens, is a native 
of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., having been born December 13, 1803, and is 
the fifth in the family of thirteen children of William and Ellen (Court- 
right) Phillips, natives of Luzerne count}^ Pa. His father, wdio was a 
canal-boat builder, died in Wilkes-Parre, Januar\^ 2, 1884, in his sixty- 
third year. Mr. Phillips' mother died June 26, 1891, aged sixtj^-two 
years. He has been in the shoe business since he was eleven years okl. 
At the age of seventeen, he was manager of a shoe store in Wilkes- 
Barre, continuing in that position for some time. Leaving there, he 
went to Scranton for about two years, where he had charge of a shoe 
jobbing house for F. E. Nettelton, one of the largest in the city of 
Scranton. Coming again to his native town, he embarked in business 
for himself, forming a partnership with Morgan Weller, under the name 
of Phillips & Weller, Albany Red Front Boot and Shoe Store. Mr. 
Phillips is the originator of the celebrated three-dollar Anchor Kip and 
Calf Boots. He is a genial, whole-souled, active, energetic business 
man. In the spring of 1890, he opened a shoe store in Athens, Pa., 
where he carries the largest and best line of shoes in the citv. He 
was married, September 5, 1888, to Ada, eldest in a family of nine 
children of Leonard Roll, and born in Beach Haven, Pa., October 17, 
1866. By this union there are two children : Charles and Ruth. Mr. 
Phillips is a member of the I. O. O. F., Wj^oming Lodge, No. 39, also 
of Otalessa Camp, No. 39, and is a member of The Royal Societ}^ of 
Good Fellows, and K. of G. E. He is one of the prime movers in 
starting a Y. M. C. A. in his town. 

ISRAEL PHILLIPS, farmer, Smithfield township, P. O. Hoblet, 
was born in Broome county, N. Y., July 15, 1822, and is a son of 
James and Anna (Lockwood) Phillips, natives of New York, of Welch 
descent, and wiio came to this county fifty-six years ago, settling in 
Burlington, then a dense wilderness. William Phillips, great-grand- 
father of Israel Phillips, was one of the party that boarded the vessels 



1083 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in Boston harbor, and threw the tea overboard ; afterward he took 
part in the battle of Bunker Hill. It is said of him that he was never 
known to eat or drink anything imported from England. James 
Phillips, father of our subject, was drafted in the War of 1812. He 
belonged to a ritle company, which was drafted just before the battle 
of Lake Champlain, and they arrived at the scene of the fight the 
morning after; he received his land warrants for his services some 
time after Israel was grown to manhood. Israel, the fifth in a family 
of twelve children, was reared on his fathers farm, and when a 3'oung 
man his family came to Smithfield township, settling near where he 
now resides. He was married June 13, 1847, to Helen, daugiiter of 
James G. Harkness, and born Jul}" 6, 1880; she was born in Spring- 
field township, and lived there until her marriage, a few weeks after 
which she and her husband moved into Smithfield, on a farm thev now 
own, located about three miles from where they now live. Her pater- 
nal grandfather was one of the pioneers of Springfield townsliip. Mr. 
and JMrs. Phillips have had boi-n to them eleven children, nine of 
whom are living, as follows: Walter, boi'n July 30, 1849; Jessie, born 
Julv 8, 1856 ; James H., born December 14, 1858 ; Stephen, born June 
8, 1801 ; Frank, born January 17, 1863 ; Ida, born April 17, 1865 ; 
Dorcas, born January 19, 1868; Cora, born Januarj' 5, 1872; Reuben, 
born Ts'ovember 4, 1873. Mr. Phillips has by great perseverance and 
frugality accumulated a fine projierty, and now owns two farms of 
about three hundred and twenty-five acres, most of which is under a 
good state of cultivation. On one of his farms is one of the finest 
maple groves in the count}^ where each year lie is able to manufacture 
a large quantity of maple sugar. He is a Republican in politics, taking 
an active interest in the affairs of his community, and has been school 
director manv vears. 

JOHN M.' PIATT, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty Corners, 
was born in Lansing, N. Y., January 9, 1824, and is a son of Christopher 
P. and Rebecca (Morris) Piatt. Two Piatt brothers came from France 
with LaFayette to fight for American independence; one started to 
return to his native country, and was never after heard of, and the 
other is the ancestor of all the American Piatts. In Christopher Piatt's 
family there were eleven children, of whom John M., the subject of 
this sketch, is the second ; he came to Towanda in ]^ovember, 1842, 
and next summer went to Monroe; was West two years, in Wysox 
from 1849 to 1852, in Franklin from 1858 to 1860, and with these ex- 
ceptions has always lived in the place where he now resides. He was 
married. November 2, 1848, to Miss Hannah, daughter of John and 
Nancy (Schaffer) Miggos, and they have three children : Amanda E., 
born September 15, 1849, married to George B. Laporte, of Frenchtown ; 
I^fary Ann, born June 26, 1851, married to J. C. Reynolds, of Susque- 
hanna, and died August 10, 1886, leaving two children ; and Lottie E.. 
l)orn June 2, 1853, married to Daniel T. Benjamin, car])enter ami 
joiner, at Athens, they have four childi'en : (irertrude E., Clai-ence J., 
Arthur G. and Harrison Morton. J\[r. Piatt is a member of the 
I. O. U. F. Lodge, at Monroe, and is a Prohibitionist in politics. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1083 

WILLIAM R. PICKERING, farmer and salesman, Orwell town- 
ship, P. O. Allis IJollow, was born in 8iiS(]uelianna county. Pa., 
January 7, 1830, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Ann (Maroerson) Pick- 
ering-. ' His parents were born in Hull, Enoland, where they were mar- 
ried, and had one child, John, before they came to this county. Seven 
children were born in America, viz.: Jacob, born in Philadelphia; Eliz- 
abeth, married to Prunson Roberts, and is now deceased ; May, died 
ao-ed sixteen ; George, deceased ; Ralph, deceased ; William R. and 
Thomas. The mother died in March, 1834, and tlie father then mar- 
ried Julia Westbrook, and by this marriage became the father of two 
children : William and Luc^^ the latter of whom married HoUis Parks. 
Mr, Thomas Parks was a mason, and plied his trade in this and Sus- 
quehanna counties until his death. William remained at home until 
about fourteen, then went to Marcus Easta brooks', and made his home 
with him until the latter's death, since which time he has been con- 
ducting the estate left by Mr. Eastabrooks to his daughters. Our sub- 
ject received his education in the common schools, and assisted in clear- 
ing over one hundred acres of wilderness, and has folloAved drivino- 
oxen until he is the best driver in the county. He and Mr. Easta- 
brooks' eldest daughter followed clearing and log-rolling during nearly 
the entire time of their youth. On December 31, 1808, he bought 
forty-seven acres of land of W. P. Pay son, to which he has added 
from time to time, until he now owns over two hundred acres of fine 
land, a large portion of which he has cleared. Mr. Pickering is an 
extensive farmer, and has his farms well stocked with line blooded 
cattle; they have seventeen cows of the Devonshire breed and pure 
breed, and that they are good dairy cows the annual output of butter 
amply testifies. The barn was built in 1870, and additions have since 
been added; it is now 96x44. The house was built in 1870, and there 
is not a better or more commodious residence in the county. It is 
107x20x25, two stories, and contains eighteen rooms. Mr. Pickering 
devoted his attention entirely to farming until 1887, when he accepted 
a position as salesman for the American Road Machine Company, and 
he has been with them during the summer since. He has been emi- 
nently successful, starting in life with nothing, and has accumulated 
an ample fortune through his own untiring industry. The famih' are 
members of no church, but contribute largely to the support of all. 
Mr. Pickering is a stanch Republican, and has held the office of judge 
of elections, and for the past nine 3'^ears had filled the office of town 
commissioner. 

E. CORODON PIERCE, farmer, of West Burlington township, 
P. O. West B'.^.rlington, was born Se])tember 5, 1851, in Smithfield 
township, this county, a son of William H. and Olive (Parsons) Pierce, 
the former of whom was of Enolish oiioin, and the latter of Scotch, a 
native of Columbia, this county. The father removed to Springfield 
when a young man, was a carpenter and builder by trade, also a farmer; 
the mother's grandfather was one of the first settlers on Sugar creek, 
in Troy township. The subject of these lines, who is one of the family 
of nine children — three daughters and six sons — was reared on the farm 
and educated in the schools of the town; carried on agriculture, and by 



1084 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

practicing the strictest econom}'^, and with great perseverance, accu- 
nmhited a line property, being now the owner of a good farm of 130 
acres, under an excellent state of cultivation; has a dairy, and follows 
sheep raising and general fanning. He was married October 28, 1884, 
to Orris Clatiin, of East Troy, born Januai-y 10, 1863, a daughter of 
Abner and Mahala (Cummings) Clatiin; her mother's family were 
among the early settlers of Towanda townsiiip, and were agricul- 
turists. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have two children: Fred and Martin. 
He is Independent in politics, but his sym])athies are with the Pro- 
hibition cause; he is a member of the Pati'ons of Husl)andry. 

F. H. PIERCE, shoemaker, Leilaysville, was born in LeRaysville, 
this countv, October 13, 1859, a son of Lewis B. and Elizabeth II. 
(P>lack) Pierce (natives of Pike township; the former of New England 
origin, and latter of English), and grandson of Benjamin and Mehitable 
(Bi'ink) Pierce, the former of whom was born in Kingston, Pa., March 
11, 1T9G, and came to Bradford county, in 1802, being apprenticed 
until twentv-one years old to Dinnon Bostwick, a blacksmith, of 
Wyalusing creek; he volunteered in tlie War of 1812, and had reached 
Carlisle, Pa., when the war ended. Coming to LeRaysville in 1810, 
he took up land where he afterward lived and reared a family of four 
children, of whom Lewis B., the youngest in order of birth, was married 
January 18, 1855, and for four years was engaged in general mercantile 
business in LeRaysville, and afterward in farming, two years; he was 
inspector of the training militia, and in 1801 joined, as lieutenant- 
colonel, the One Hundred and Tiiirteenth, Twelfth P. V. Cavalry, 
known as the " Curtin Hussars," organizing his own regiment twelve 
hundred strong. Upon the resignation of Col. Friesciimuth he was 
made colonel, at Harrisburg; spent four weeks at home during the war 
on account of a wound ; was suspended four months on account of a 
charge preferred against him by a Harrisburg gambler, stood his trial 
and was honorably re-instated, and made brevet-brigadier in the spring 
of 1805. In November, 1805, he removed his family to Baltimoi-e, 
where he engaged in the insurance business with the Phoi'nix Mutual 
Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, Conn., in wiiich he remained 
until his death, Avhich occurred October 30, 187G. He was a graduated 
phvsician, but never practiced medicine. In his family there were 
three ciiildren: Martin W., in the Postoffice Department, Washington ; 
F. II., and Mary IL, who died at the age of two years. Our subject 
was educated in'Baltimore High School, and began work.when ninete(}n, 
in Johnson's mill, in LeRaysville, where he remained two and one-iialf 
years, then engaged with Jesse P. Carl in his j^resent business, the firm 
being know as Carl & Pierce, manufacturers of all kinds of men's foot 
weai° doing a wholesale and retail business. Mr. Pierce was married 
January 3, 1883, to Cora B., daugiiter of George N. and Alice (Chaffee) 
Johnson, and thev have three children: Alice E., born October 28, 
1884; :\Iarian Ellen, born June 9, 1887, and Lewis B., born December 
28, 1890. Mr. Pierce is a member of the Masonic Lodge at LeKaysville, 
and has held all the offices in the Blue Lodge. He' is a Republican, 
and has been school director six years. In his younger days he was 
an accomjJished athlete, excelling^is a skater antl oarsman; has also 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1085 

figured with success on the basc-h;Ul diauiond, is now leader of tiie 
Lellaysville brass band, and is master of the cor-net. 

ISRAEL A. PIERCE. The progress as well as development, of 
any section is largely determined by the number of enterprising, 
intelligent and progressive citizens who make their home within its 
boundaries, and such a one is the subject of this brief memoir. Mr. 
Pierce was born in Rehoboth, Mass., October 3, 1820, a son of Israel 
and Polly (Walker) Pierce. His paternal grandfather, Israel Pierce, 
who was born in Rehoboth in 1700, came with his wife, Hannah, to 
Columbia township, this county, in 1830, and here they passed the 
remainder of their lives, he dying in 1838 and she in 1839. He served 
under Gen. Sullivan, in Rhode Island, during the Revolutionary War. 
Their son Israel (father of subject), also a native of Rehoboth, was 
born in 17S7, settled in Columbia township, in 1831, and engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. He died in Troy, this county, in 18G2; he was a 
soldier in the War of 1812. To Israel and Polly (Walker) Pierce were 
born four children, two of whom grew to matui-ity. Walker and 
Israel A., of whom the first named was born in 1809, and for many 
years was a carpenter and builder in Columbia and Troy townships, 
this county, but later in life followed farming; he died in October, 1888, 
aged seventy-nine years. 

Israel Allen Pierce, whose name opens this sketch, was educated in 
the ])ublic schools of Providence and Warren, R. I., and in the common 
schools of Bradford, in which county he was reared from twelve years 
of age. He learned the carpenter's trade with his brother. Walker, and 
worked at same until 1851, from whicii year until 1871 he was engaged 
in the furniture and undertaking business in Troy. Soon afterward he 
embarked in the hardware trade, later adding a stock of crockery, and 
carried on business until he was burned out, in 1884. Having a large 
clientage in the settlement of estates, Mr. Pierce has, since the date 
just mentioned, given his attention thereto, as well as to the manage- 
ment of his own afi'airs. On August 17, 181:8, he was married to 
Harriet Ci., daughter of Charles and Anne (Parmeter) Burgess, a de- 
scendant of an old New England family, of Pilgrim and Puritan stock; 
the issue of this union was two children: J.Franklin and Frederick 
Charles (latter deceased). J. Franklin was born May 24, 1853, and 
April 26, 1883, was married to Margaret, daughter of James Shannon, 
of Troy, this county, and by. this union there is one son, Frederick 
Allen. Mrs. Israel A. Pierce died February 12, 1891, aged sixty-five 
years. Mr. Pierce is a Democrat in politics, and in 1851 he was elected 
a justice of the peace of Troy, which office he held for fifteen years 
continuously. He is an attendant of the Episcopal Church, and is one 
of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Troy. 

NOBLE WILLIS PIERCE, retired farmer. Pike township, P. O. 
LeRaj^sville, was born in Susquehanna county. Pa., September 3, 1818. 
His father, Catlin Pierce, was born in New York, March 11, 1797, the 
son of Joseph Pierce, also a native of New York, who died in 1804, 
leaving five children: Betsey (wife of Ira Brister), Benjamin, Catlin, 
Sally (wife of Alby Bosworth) and Jane (whose first husband was B. 
B. Lewis, and her second, M. Blakesley). Catlin Pierce was educated 



108G HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in this State, his famil}^ having moved here in 1S04-, was a successful 
larnier, and di(;(l Januaiy 5, 18(51; lie was married, January 8, 1817, to 
Eunice Canlield, daugliter of Andrew and Eunice (Fairchild) Cantield 
(she was the sixth in a family of ten children) ; of this marriag-e there 
were ten children : Noble Willis, Commodore Perry, Sarah A. (wife 
of E. T. Billings), Alvira (wife of Harris Beecher), Emaline (wife of 
O. R. Coggswell). Betsey (wife of William Jones), Joseph, Temper- 
ance E. (wife of K. Brister), William and Andrew C. Mrs. Catlin 
Pierce died October 2, 1872. N. Willis Pierce, the subject of this 
sketch, was eilucated in the district school, and learned the trade of 
wheel-right, following that and farming until 1870, when he rented a 
iiouse in LeRaysville borough, and kej)t boarders three 3'ears, tiien 
returned to the farm until 1»86 ; then kept the LeRaysville hotel one 
vear, and purchased his present home on which he has lived. He is 
a llepublican, and was constable and collector in 1875. Mr. Pierce 
was married, December 22, 1841, to Harriet L. Hoadle}^ who died in 
1843, and he afterwanl married, December 29, 1847, Jane A. Weed, 
daughter of John and Sally (Goodall); she died April 12, 1857, leaving 
one child, James E., born July 5, 1840, and died in 1878. Mr. Pierce's 
third wife was Ellen W. Ford, daughter of John and Sally Merritt 
(she was the third of nine children, seven of whom are living) ; they 
have had one child, Frank G., born October 14, 1861, at Prattville, Pa. 
STEPHEN PIERCE (deceased) was born in Smith field township, 
this county, August 29, 1813, a son of Abiram and Sarah (Satterlee) 
Pierce, the former a son of Phineas and Ruth (Gaines) Pierce. Phin. 
eas was a son of Amos and Mary (Spaulding) Pierce, Amos was a son 
of Thomas and Mary (Wyman) Pierce, and Thomas was a son of 
Thomas, who was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cole) Pierce- 
Thomas, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Pierce, in 1633-34 came 
from England, and settled in Charleston, Mass. Phineas Pierce, the 
grandfather of our subject, with his famil3% settled in Springfield town- 
ship, this county, in 1800, removing from Poultnev, Vt., and died in 
1808. He was twice married; bv his first wife, Ruth Gaines, he had 
eleven children, and by his second wife, Ruth Beebe, he had three 
children. Abiram, the father of our subject, who was the eighth 
child and third son by his first wife, was born May 20, 1786, and 
cleared and improved a farm in Smithfield township, which he paid 
for twice, owing to the Connecticut title, and died there, October 17, 
1860. On January 8, 1809, he married Sarah, daughter of James Sat- 
terlee who was a colonel in the Revolutionaiy War, and who settled 
in Smithfield township in 1799. The issue of this union was seven 
children : Christopher E., William S., Stephen, Mary (Mrs. John 
Sj)aulding), Jane L. (Mrs. John J. Johnson), Amos and Emma (Mrs. 
Horace Pomeroy). Our subject was reared in Bradford county, edu- 
cated in the common schools, Clinton Liberal Institute, and a law 
school. He Avas admitted to the bar in 1837, and had an office in 
Trov from that time until 1860, when he removed to Wellsboro, Pa., 
where lie was in active practice o| his profession until 1867; he died 
February 12, 1868, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. G. F. Red- 
ington, now Mrs. Robert Ayres, of Troy. Mr, Pierce married, August 



HISTORY OF I^IIADFORD COUNTY, 1087 

23, 1838, Mary daughter of John and Rlioda (Pierce) Ransom, of 
Poultnev, Vt., and by her liad lour children: Emma J., RolHn A., 
Chirence W. and Jolm R.; the sons all died of consumption. 

Mr. Pierce was possessed of rare natural talent, he was noted for 
his logical and legal ability, and his word was as good as his bond. 
He died honored and respected by all who knew him. He was a 
prominent Mason and Odd Fellow; in religious faith he was a Univer- 
salist, in politics a Democrat, and in 184-0-41 was a member of the 
Lower House of the Penns\'lvania Legislature. His only daughter 
and onl}^ surviving child, a resident of Troy, is the wife of Capt. Rob- 
ert Ay res, a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who from 1855 to 1871 was 
in the United States Regular Army. He served through the Civil 
War, and rose from a non-commissioned officer of United States Engi- 
neers to the rank of captain of infantry, and was honoraby mustered 
out of the service, January 2, 1871. 

THEODORE PIERCE, postmaster, Canton, is a native of Broome 
county, N. Y., born October 9, 1839. His parents were Hamilton and 
Eleanor (Collington) Pierce, natives of Vermont, the former of whom 
was a farmer and died in Broome county, N. Y., in 1858, in his fifty- 
third year ; the latter died in 1852, in her forty-fourth year. Theodore 
Pierce is the fourth in order of birth in a family of five sons ant! three 
daughters, of whom six are now living. He was reared in Broome 
county, and received an academic education; taught one term of 
school in Lehigh county. Pa., and then clerked in a store some time in 
Wliitehaven,same State. In 186-4 he joined the Government Construc- 
tion Corps, and was discharged in June, 1865. Returning to Broome 
county he farmed a short time, and was postmaster at Centre village, 
Broome county, two years ; he was also elected a justice of the peace, 
but in 1869 he resigned his office, and came to Canton, where he 
engaged in the hardware business, which he has since followed. Pie 
was married in Broome county, N. Y., in 1867, to Malinda Light, who 
died in 1870. Mr. Pierce was appointed postmaster, and took charge 
of the office March 10, 1890 ; he served one term as burgess of Canton 
borough ; is a member of the F. &. A. M., Canton Lodge, No. 415, 
and served as master in 1880; Troy Chapter, Ko. 261, and Canton 
Commandery, No. 64. He has been treasurer of Canton Lodge several 
years, and is also treasurer of Canton Commandery. Politically he is 
a Republican. 

FRANK PIKE, of Wilcox, Pike & Co., proprietors of meat-market, 
Sayre, is a native of Owego, N. Y., and is a son of Horace and Lavan- 
tia (Norton) Pike, natives of Massachusetts. The father was a farmer 
and died in 1868, in his sixty-fourth year, while his wife died in 
Owego, in 1870, in her sixty-fourth year. Our subject is the tenth, in 
order of birth, in a family of twelve children, and was reared in Owego 
until he was seven 3'ears old, when he was taken to Long Island, where 
he remained until he was sixteen years of age. He then returned to 
Owego, and served an apprenticeship at the brick-mason's trade, which 
he follow^ed about six years, and then clerked for the Lehigh Yalley 
Railroad Company about five years, when he found employment in his 
present occupation in Waverly, N. Y., in September, 1887. On Janu- 



1088 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

arv 15, 1891. a new shop was started in Sa3^re, of which he has charge- 
He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Manoka Lodge, No. 219, and the 
Order of Ked Men; in ])olitics lie casts his vote with the Republicans. 

HON. VICTOR K. PJOLLET was born in Wysox, this county, 
June 24, 1812, and died August 27, 1890, seventy -eight years, three 
months and three days intervening between the birth and death of one 
of the most remarkable men ever given to Bradford county. A son of 
Joseph M. PioUet, of France, a soldier under Napoleon, who was 
severely wounded at Austerlitz, by which he was so disabled that he 
was made postmaster of the Army'of the Alps, and retiring from the 
armv he entered the banking house of the celebrated financier, Talley- 
rand, of Paris. On the banker's recommendation he was appointed, 
by Count LeRay du Chaumont, his agent for the sale of his lands in 
northern Pennsylvania, and accordingly he came to Philadelpliia in 
1806, stopping there one year to learn the English language. He came 
direct to Wysox, where he married Elizabeth Whitney, a native of 
Massachusetts, a lady of rare accomplishments and intelligence. 
Their children were: Victor E., Frances Theressa, Emily Victorine, 
Joseph E. and Elizabeth Josephine. The great Carlyle has described the 
French as " a volcanic people ;" and Avhile we all know them as fiery 
and impulsive, philosophers who laugh, yet the meaning of Carlyle's 
words are not so readilv comprehended in their full by one wiio has 
been careless of French history. Victor E. PioUet combined the 
remarkable qualities of the volcunic French and the stern and rigid 
Puritan, blended and so mixed up in him were these forces that all 
nature might stand up and say: "Here was a man." And over his 
grave the fitting w^ords spoken"^ bv Rev. Thomas K. Beecher when he 
said: "Col. Piollet was a 'character;' whatever may have been his 
faults, follies, virtues and deservings, they were patent. They were 
his. No one ever called him lukewarm. His words were not whispers. 
He was a downright man, and all who knew him knew where to find 
him. * * We may recall with admiration his strength, his industry, his 
persistence, his constancy, his earnest prosperity, his pronounced 
character, his hospitality"^ and his large acquaintance. Yes, we may 
note the great gap (as when a tree falls, and did not know before its 
si)read and bigness) left by his fall." 

Victor E. Piollett had precious little of book education ; he needed it 
not. He was his own schoolmaster, and therefore he had a great 
teacher, and his rise was as the resistless up-liftof the mountain, either 
guiding or creating circumstances. A farmer, born and dying on the 
same acre, he was the greatest champion of the farmers — the whole 
people— that the State has produced. Philosophic in expression, fear- 
less in thought and deed, he (lesi)ised all cant, and the arts of the dema- 
gogue and trimmer he spat upon. His business life, extending over a 
period of more than half a century, was characterized by that energy 
and rare ability that are given to'^ but few men. Nature had richly 
endowed him with her choicest gifts; when but twenty-five years of 
age, in 1837, he and his brother were the contractors foi- the work on a 
section of the North Branch Canal, then under construction by the 
State. His promptness in the execution of the work secured him the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1089 

favor of the State otficials, and being active and influential in the coun" 
cils of the Democratic party, in the northern })ortion of the State, 
upon the election of Governor David K. Porter, in 1839, he was 
appointed superintendent of the North Branch Canal, then owned by and 
operated under the control of the State Government; subsequently he 
was elected a colonel in the State Militia. The duties of these positions 
he discharged with unwavering fidelity and signal ability. During bis 
incumbency of the office of superintendent of the canal, the late David 
Wilmot, author of the celebrated " Wilmot Proviso," was then a young 
attorney, just commencing practice in the courts of Bradford county. 
Col. Piollet was allowed, as superintendent, $1,000 per annum for clerk 
hire, and he generously gave the position to Wilmot, and performed 
the greater portion of the duties himself. 

In 1846 he was elected to the House at Ilarrisburg as a Democrat, 
and re-elected in 18-1:7. The war between the United States and 
Mexico was then in progress, and while a member of the Legislature 
he was appointed a paymaster in the army, with the rank of major, by 
President Polk, and assigned to duty with the army of invasion under 
Gens. Taylor and Scott. He immediately arranged his business affairs 
at home, and departed to enter upon his duties in Mexico. While 
there he became acquainted with many of the officers in the regular 
army, who, later, achieved distinction in the Union and Confederate 
armies of the late Rebellion, which acquaintance was maintained when- 
ev^er opportunitv presented, during his life. Just prior to his departure 
for Mexico he was married to Miss Jane Miller, daughter of Hon. Jesse 
Miller, the then Secretary of the Commonwealth, under Governor 
Porter; had been previously a member of the Twenty -fourth Congress, 
and a recognized leader of the Democrac}'' in central Pennsylvania. 
This union was a fortunate one. Miss Miller inheriting many of the 
admirable characteristics of her gifted and distinguished father. She 
possessed a refined and cultivated taste, combined with those qualities 
of mind and heart which rendered her beloved and respected by a large 
circle of friends and acquaintances. The genuine and generous hos- 
pitality of Col. Piollet and his wife was unlimited, and was as exten- 
sive as his acquaintance. Mrs. Piollet died in ]\Iarch, 1879. Tlie sur- 
viving children of Col. Piollet are Emily V., an estimable and accom- 
]Jished lady, now the wife of 11. IT. Eggleston, of New York City, and 
Louis, who for some years has been the active business manager of his 
father's farm. 

In 1855-56, in company with Marcus Blair, of New Jersey, he con- 
structed twenty miles of railroad in that State, In the same year his 
l)rother, Joseph E., built the Barclay Railroad from Towanda to the 
Barclay mines, a distance of sixteen miles. While at this time he was 
actively engaged in various enterjirises, the political world received 
a share of attention. A life-long personal friend of Mr. Buchanan, in 
his election Col. Piollet performed the most excellent and loyal service 
on the stump in Pennsylvania. Mr. Buchanan, recognizing the ability 
of his friend. Col, Piollett, ])roffered him the position of private secre- 
tary. Being then engaged in business that refpiired his personal atten- 
tion, he declined the place, but consented to remain a few weeks at 



1090 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the National Capital, and act in the capacity that the President desired 
him to occupy during his administration. lie once informed the author 
of this sketch that his duties, while he remained at the White House, 
consisted larg-elv in returning the presents which had been sent the 
President. While the guest of Mr. Buchanan, one day, at dinner, he 
was seated opposite the British Minister, with whom he conversed quite 
freely in regard to the relation of the two countries. The dinner over, 
the representative of Great Britain inquired of Mr. Buchanan in regard 
to the profession of Col. PioUett, and was quite astonished when 
informed that he was a Pennsylvania farmer. 

In April, 1861, immediately after President Lincoln's proclamation, 
calling for 75,000 volunteers to put down the Rebellion, a meeting was 
called at the court-house in Towanda, to enlist volunteers to fill the 
quota of Pennsylvania. Col. PioUet addressed the meeting from the 
court-house balcony in a speech, which for eloquence and patriotism, 
has never been excelled in this county; his words were the strongest 
ap])eal to our citizens to stand by the emblem of our nationality, and 
our free institution; the integrity of the Union, and its indissolubility 
had no firmer or more loyal advocate and friend than Victor E. Piollett 
from 1861 to 1865. 

In 1864, in June, he represented the Thirteenth Congressional 
District in the Democratic National Convention, which nominated 
Gen. McClellan for the Presidency. In the same year he was the 
Democratic candidate for Congress, in the district composed of Brad- 
ford, Sullivan, Montour, Columbia and Wyoming counties; his oppo- 
nent was the late Chief- Justice Ulysses Mercur. The district was 
Ilepublican by a majority of one thousand. Of the vote actually cast 
in the district, CoL Piollet had a majority, but was defeated by the 
vote declared cast against him by the soldiers in the Held. Many of 
his friends seriously questioned the declared result. He was instru- 
mental and the active agent in the purchase of the North Branch 
Canal for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and when accom- 
])lished was made supei'intemient of the construction, in 1866. of the rail- 
road extension from Lackawanna Junction to Waverly, N. Y., the work 
occupying three years; the first train bearing the president of the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad, Hon. Asa Packer, its chief officials and hun- 
dreds of citizens along the line, passed over the road September 9, 
1869. Col. Piollet was the active spirit in formulating this great 
enterprise and bringing it to the attention of the officials of the 
- Lehigli Valley." 

In 1868 he was made the Democratic candidate; for Congress,^ and 
was again confronted by his old opponent. Judge Mercur. Party 
lines were sharply drawn" on the issues of the war, viz.: the reconstruc- 
tion of the Southern States, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. 
After an active canvass he was defeated by the insignilicant majority 
of ;ni in the laroest vote ever cast for Congress, in the Thirteenth 
District, In 1874: he was elected lecturer of the State (ii-ange, 
Talrons of IIiisl)an(li-v, :ind visited every county of the State. 
Through his efforts tli'e number of organizations and mtMubers was 
greatly increased, lie was subsequently honored by being elected 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1091 

master and chairman of tlie Executive Committee. Plis interest in 
the success of the producing classes never wavered, and was untiring. 
Plis desire was to educate and elevate all engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. How earnest and energetic were his efforts can be attested by 
thousands in his native State. In 1875 he was nominated by the 
Democratic State Convention for State treasurer, and canvassed 
Pennsylvania, from Lake Erie to the Delaware, but was defeated by 
4,000 in the State. In 1886 he was again the leader of the forlorn 
hope for Congress in a district containing 1:,000 Republican majority. 
In the Presidential canvass of 1888 he, with Hon. Samuel J. Ilandall 
and thousands of other Democrats, refused to support President 
Cleveland's tariff reform platform, and opposed his election on the 
ground that the protection was for the best interests of the American 
people. Victor E. Piollet possessed the courage of his convictions, 
and in that canvass severed his connections with the Democratic 
party. 

He has passed from "the land of shadows," and peacefully rests in 
the beautiful valley of the Susquehanna, made glorious by his efforts 
more perhaps than bv any other man, living or dead. 

JOSEPH E. PIOLLET, farmer, Wvsox, is a son of Hon. Joseph 
M. and Elizabeth (Whitney) Piollet. He was born August 30, 1810, 
almost on the spot where he now resides, and of him it may be said 
(and what more need l)e said of any man) that he h a worthy son of an 
illustrious father. His father came to this county in 1807. and the 
first year was at Rummerfield, and then in 1808 removed to Wysox, 
and was for years merchandising with William Keeler. Joseph M. 
Piollet died in Wysox, in, 1850, aged seventy-seven. Victor E. and 
Joseph M. Piollet were more than brothers ; the\^ were insejmrable com- 
panions and partners in all the business affairs of their lives, a close 
communion without variableness and change, that only parted when 
the Grim Reaper gathered his harvest, in August. 1890, in the death of 
the elder brother, and when the two were thus forever separated, the 
next nearest thing to that continued companionship and communion 
was to place Victor's son, Louis, in the place of his father, and the 
business went on. Joseph E. Pi(.)llet and Esther A. Cox (a daughter of 
John Cox, of Scotch-Irish descent) were united in the holy bonds of 
wedlock, in Dauphin county, in 1819, and of this happy union were 
born four sons and one daughter, of whom, John C. is at home, and is 
manager of his fathers large farm ; Heister is a locomotive engineer 
on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and resides at Sayre. 

The two brothers, Victor and Joseph, engaged largely in railroad 
building at different times, and constructed many miles of the Lehigh 
Valley, almost the entire road bed of the P)arclay Railroad. Jose]ih 
was president of the Bradford County Agricultural Society, elevenyears; 
he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for the Legislature, but 
suffered defeat with his ticket, though running largeU^ ahead of it. 
The brothers were contractors on the old canal. It is proper to stale 
here, that while the brothers were Democrats, the younger one 
eschewed politics and left that almost wholly to his brother, and his 
one ambiti(ju was to be one of the best of the many famous farmers 



1092 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of old Bradford county, and he fully realized his fondest expectations 
in this respect. Of his brothers and sisters, other than Victor E., it is 
proper here to say that his sister Frances T. married Alexander DcAving 
(she is now a widow and a resident of Wysox); Emile V., married to 
Thomas T. Wierman, resides at Ilarrisburg ; her children are two sons 
and three daughters (her eldest daughter married the eminent Dr. 
Mitchell); Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Joseph M. PioUet, married 
D. C. Salsbury, and "^died at at the age of twenty-two, leaving one 
child. 

To the outside public these two companion and partner brothers' 
lives ran in very different grooves, but it was not so. The one simply 
was indifferent to all except the vast business affairs and his quiet 
home ; this was merely responsive to his nature, the conservatism of 
his born characteristics, and they were best known and best, or per- 
haps only fully, appreciated by that brother and partner. His long 
and useful life is gently closing, and it brings to him the cheering con- 
solation that it has been a true life, and is rounded out with those 
features that will make it a study and subject of fond respect by a 
remote posteritv. 

JOHN PIOLLET, farmer and stock-grower, Wysox township, was 
born in Wvsox, this county, April 12, 1856, and is a son of J. E. Piol- 
let. He spent his boyhood on the farm, attending the common schools, 
and has always been engaged with his father on the farm. Mr. Piollet 
was married, "^November 1, 1882, to Miss Carrie, daughter of Eugene 
D. and Clara (Kraffl) Morgan, of Memphis, Tenn., and this union has 
been blessed with three bright and beautiful children, viz.: Theresa, 
Clara Eugenia and John Cox. Mr. and Mrs. Piollet are members of 
Wysox Grange; he is a life-long and full-fledged Democrat, and a 
strong advocate of political reform. 

LOUIS PIOLLET, farmer, of Wysox township, is a descendant of 
one of the most illustrious families of Bradford, a people eminent for 
their progressive enterprise, as well as for their convictions, that 
comnuind universal attention and respect. He was born May 22. 1859, 
and is the only son of Col. Victor E. Piollet. His sister, Emily V., 
first married Robert A. Packer, known throughout the country in con- 
nection with the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and whose splendid residence 
is now the noted Robert A. Packer Hospital, Sayre; he died when a 
voung man, and she afterward married Richard H. Eggleston, cashier 
"of Lincoln National Bank. New York', and of which they are residents. 
She is the only other surviving child of Col. Victor E. l*iollett. 

The childhood life of young Piollet was surrounded with the unusual 
advantages that came of' great wealth, and one of the most intelligent 
and interesting families of the Commonwealth. At his mother's knee 
he imbibed his first lessons of life, impressed, as they were, every hour 
and minute of his childhood, by the stronger will and the nearly equal 
deej) affection of a father of i-are intelligence and gentle blood. AVhen 
he was old enough, his parents provided a private tutor, both a teacher 
and companion, who guidcid his footsteps along the intricate paths of 
that higher and better education, including the s(;iences and the classics. 
Thus he came, in tender years, in touch with only the best influences. 



HISTORY OF rmADFORD COUNTY. 1093 

and the lad was res})onsive to all this parental care and solicitude that 
their fond hearts could bestow. His home education completed, the 
text books had been successfully passed, when his parents sent him to 
polish the whole with travel, both in this country and in Europe. His 
companionship in his travels was, most fortunately, part of the time 
with Robert A. Packer, with whom he visited most of the noted spots in 
Europe, many parts of this country, especially Florida, at Mr. Packer's 
cottage by tlie sea, and at the National Democratic Convention, St. 
Louis, in 1870, that nominated Gov. Samuel J. Tilden for President. 
Thus, by travel and by circumstances, he was thrown in contact with 
many of the most noted men of the day, both in this country and in 
the Old AVorld. When he returned to his old home, he began at once 
to relieve his father of some of the vast business cares that were well 
and bravely met, and in a short time, when he had demonstrated his 
ability, he was more and more entrusted, until soon the declining years 
of his father were soothed with the glowing satisfaction that both his 
confidence and hope were well placed. Thus and then only may the 
young, in part, repay the solicitous love and care of fond parents. 
The young man soon mastered affairs, and carried along successfully 
the entei'prises that had been so well placed on their foundations by 
his sire. The great farm, and its interests and many-sided concerns, 
were being moved ever forward by the young man. At the same time 
he was not allowing his literary tastes to rust or spoil, and he gave 
careful attention to the great economic questions of government, and, 
young as he was, in 1890 he canvassed the entire State in behalf of the 
grand old Uepublican party, winning laurels where often okl veterans 
of the stump had failed to catch the public favor. 

The young man had hardly passed his "teens" when he stood at 
the head of the noted farmers of the grand old Commonwealth; and 
hardly had he passed his majority before his eloquence and wisdom 
Avere sought, and not in vain, in the more important councils of his 
party — a party in Bradford county that can boast of its Wilmot, its 
Graw, and its Mercur. Thus, as intimated above, as child, youth, and 
young man, he was most fortunate in all his surroundings, happily 
found fallow ground in his young soul, and ready responses have come 
to every touch. He was married November 29, 1885, to Geoi'gianna 
Mowery, daughter of Hon. Ezekiel Mowery, of W3"oming county, of 
English descent. To this marriage were born three children, as fol- 
lows: Emeline V.. Victor E. and Thomas "VVierinan. The family are 
members of the Presbyterian Churcli; he is a Master Mason, and a 
member of Pomona Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, No. 23, of Sulli- 
van and Hradford counties. 

WILTON L. PITCHER, blacksmith, P. O. Warren Centre, was 
born in Jackson Valley, Pa., March 26, 1861, a son of Joel and Eliza- 
beth (Beeman) Pitcher, natives of this State, and of English stock. 
The father was a wagon-maker by trade, and was born in this county, 
where he now resides. His family consisted of four children, and our 
subject, who is the third in the order of bii'tii, was reared and edu- 
cated in Warren township, and was placed, while quite young, in a 
blacksmith shop here, where he learned the trade, which he has fol- 

61 



1094: HISTORY OF BRADFORD COL'NTY. 

lowed with marked success, and his shop in Warren Centre is well 
known and largely patronized ; his residence is one of the elegant 
buildings of the place, which has man}' find residences. lie married, in 
in his native township, February 15, 1882, Ella A., daughter of James 
and Frances (Corson) Tibbetts, natives of Rhode Island and New 
York, respectively, and of English extraction. Iler father was a school 
teacher, and died December 12, 1888, aged sixty seven ; he was the son 
of Capt. James Tibbetts, who died July 19, 1879, aged ninety-seven 
vears. The Avidow of James Tibbetts, Jr., survives, and is a resident 
of Owego, N. Y. To them were born two children, Seth E. (of Maine) 
and Ella (wife of our subject). To Mr. and Mrs. Wilton L. Pitcher have 
been born three children, as follows: Lee E., born June 2, 1884; Lora A., 
born January 17, 1886. and Walter W., born April 26, 1887. Mr. 
Pitcher is a member- of the Sexennial League, and is a Republican. 
Mrs. Pitcher is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
family count among their intimates and friends many of the best peo- 
ple of the countv, and are highlv respected. 

GEORGE PLANTS, farmer, Litchfield township, P. O. Litchfield, 
was born April 20, 1836, in Chemung county, N. Y., a son of Leonard 
and Hulda Plants, the former a native of Cumberland county, Pa., the 
latter of Orange county, N. Y.; they settled in Litchfield township on 
a farm of eigty-six acres. Their fauiily consisted of ten children, eight 
of whom are living, George being the youngest. The subject of this 
memoir was reared in Litchfield, and eclucated at the common school. 
lie served one year in the War of the Rebellion under Gen. Butler, as 
a member of Company E, Seventy-sixth P. Y. L, and was honorably 
discharged. lie is now a prosperous farmer, enjoying the confidence 
of his fellow citizens. lie is a Republican in politics, and was elected 
to the offices of auditor, judge of elections, and justice of the peace, 
which latter office he is at present filling. In his religious views he is 
a Baptist. 

C. BURTON POMEROY, a prominent farmer of Bradford county, 
P. O. Troy, was born in Troy township, this county, x\pril 11, 1839, a 
son of E'benezer and Laura (Brewster) Pomeroy, both natives of 
Tolland county. Conn., and is of Puritan and Pilgrim stock. His 
paternal grandparents were Eleazer and Priscilla (Kingsbury) Pomeroy; 
Eleazer was a son of Daniel and Naomi (Kibbs) Pomeroy; Daniel, a son 
of Noah and Elizai)eth (Sterling) Pomeroy; Noah, a son of Joseph, 
who was a son of Eltweed p7jmeroy, who came from England to 
America in 1630, settling in Northampton, Mass., and later, at Wind- 
sor, Conn. Eijenezer Pomeroy settled in Troy township about 1818, 
and for some vears carried on the carding and cloth dressing works 
near Long's Mills. He afterward purchased the land now owned 
by his sons Chauncey N. and our subject, which he cleared and 
improved, and wliere "he resided until his death, which occurred in 
1878, when he was aged seventy-three years, lie was the father of 
ten children: Edwin S., Emily (Mrs. Volnoy M. Long), Kingsbury, 
Favette, Augustus, Chauncev N., Sybil M. (Mrs. E. P>. Parsons), Mary, 
Frances (Mi-s. W. V>. IIolT) and C. Burton. The subject of this sketch 
was reared on the old homestead, a part of which ho now owns and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1095 

occupies. He married, October 30, 1867, Sophia, daughter of Lorenzo 
and Jane A. (Welch) Webber, of Elrnira, N. Y., by whom he has five 
children: Edwin 8., John W., Adelle, Horace B. and Fayette B. 
Mr. Pomeroy is a leading and progressive farmer of Troy township, is a 
breeder of Jersey cattle, registered in the American Herd Book, of 
Shropshire sheep and AVood Hambletonian horses; he is a member of 
the Presbvterian Church of Troy, and is a Republican in politics. 

SAMUEL WHITE POMEROY, of the firm of Pomeroy Bros., 
bankers, Troy, was born in Troy, this county, December 8, 1821, a 
son of Col. Isaac N. and Anna (Kingsbury) Pomeroy, and can trace 
his ancestr}^ to the time of William the Conqueror. His father, a 
native of Coventry, Conn., was born March 28, 1791, and was a son of 
Eleazer and Priscilla (Kingsbury) Pomeroy. Eleazer Avas a son of 
Daniel and Xaomi (Kibbs) Pomero}' ; Daniel was a son of Noah and 
Elizabeth (Sterling) Pomeroy; Noah was a son of Joseph, a son of 
Eltweed Pomeroy, who came from England to America in 1630, 
settling in Dorchester, Mass., and later in Windsor, Conn. Isaac N. 
Pomeroy received a good education, which laid the foumUition of his 
future successful business career ; he spent some years in Genoa, 
Cayuga Co., N. Y., and in ISIS settled in Troy, Pa., and at once 
engaged in the manufacture of cloth, which he followed successfully 
for ten years ; he then purchased a farm near Troy, upon which he 
lived ten years, when he bought the "Eagle Hotel " at Troy, which 
he rebuilt, and was its successful proprietor for nearly twenty years. 
About this time he built the residence, adjoining the bank, in company 
witli his son Horace ; he was interested largely in village pro])erty, 
imparting, by means of his excellent business talents and liberalit}^ a 
stimulus to Troy that will long be gratefully remembered ; he was 
extensively engaged for many years with staging and bridge building, 
being considered one of the most courteous and genial of employers. 
He took an active part in militar^^ affairs, and was elected colonel of a 
militia regiment, his affability and fine military bearing making him 
one of the most popular officers of the regiment. He was married 
three times : his first wife was Anna O. Kingsbury, to whom he was 
married December 8, 1813, and the issue of this union was seven 
children: Sybil K , Daniel F., Eleazer. Horace, Samuel W., Laura A., 
and Charlotte Eliza (Mrs. Charles C. Paine); his second wife was 
Maria A. Merrick, whom he married March 17, 1832, and by her had 
two children : Newton M. and Anna M.; by his third wife, Lucinda 
W. Merrick, whom lie married October 9, 1839, he had three children: 
Solyman, Henrietta B. (Mrs. George -B. Davidson) and George H. 
Few men have left the impress of their lives and characters upon the 
community where they resided more forcibly and indelibly than Col. 
Pomeroy, or liave been more just in their business transactions. He 
died May 30, 1861, in his seventy-first year. 

Samuel W. Pomeroy, the subject of the sketch, was the fifth child 
and fourth son, was reared in his native town, received an academical 
education, and began life as a clerk in a dry -goods store in Owego, 
N. Y., when twenty-one years of age. He embarked in the general 
merchandise business in Troy, Pa., as a member of the firm of 



lO'Jt) HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Pomeroy & Redington, and from 1844 up to 1860 as S. W. & D. F. 
Pomeroy & Co.; he then engaged in the banking business with his 
brothers, Daniel F, and Horace, under the name of Pomeroy 
Brothers, in which name the business has been successfully conducted 
to the present time; in 1860 a branch bank was established at Bloss- 
bur«-, Tioga Co., Pa., under the name of Pomeroy Bros, tfe Smith, which 
has also been conducted and success!' ull}' managed up to date; besides his 
banking interests, Mr. Pomeroy is also interested in farming, in Troy 
township, and is a stockholder in a large cattle ranch in South 
Dakota. Mr. Pomeroy was married, May 15, 1843, to A. Malvina, 
daughter of Edward and Olive (Bennett) Davidson, of Tompkins 
countv, N. Y., and has one daughter: Ellen E. (Mrs. Capt. B. B. 
Mitchell). Mr. Pomeroy is pre-eminently a self-made man ; he and 
his family are members of the Presbyterian Church ; politically he is 
a Ilepublican. 

A. B. PORTER, postmaster, Wyalusing, was born in Newton, Fair- 
field Co., Conn., January 10, 1834, and is a son of M. B. and Sabra (Peck) 
Porter. M. B. Porter, who was born in Danbury, Conn., in 1808, learned 
the trade of blacksmith, which he followed several years ; then began 
to preach the Gospel, belonging to the Wesley an Methodist denomi- 
nation; in 1844 he came to Bradford county, and after a short sojourn 
in Pike township, he purchased a farm in Herrick township, where he 
resided some time; he then went to LeRaysville, and from there to 
Montrose, where he was engaged in mercantile business, and died June, 
20, 1876; of a family of four children, three reached maturity, viz: Hor- 
ace S. (deceased), Harriet M. (married to Hon. Asa Nichols, and died 
in LeRaysville in December, 1889), and our subject. A. B. Porter was 
born and reared on a farm, attending the common-school until seven- 
teen, when he began teaching, which he followed about twelve years, 
attending the LeRaysville Academy in the meantime; he afterward 
took a course in Bryant 6c Stratton's Commercial i^ca<lemy, in Phila- 
delphia, graduating from same, October 3, 1861. He enlisted in Com- 
pany L, Second Pennsylvania Cavalry, in 1862, he was promoted to 
hospital steward, and veteranized December 26, 18(!3; he served until 
July 13, 1865, and was then mustered out with his company; he partic- 
ipated in over forty engagements, among which were Second Bull Run, 
Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Wilderness and the campaign against Rich- 
mond. After returning home he learned the piiotogra))her's business 
at Wyahising, where he remained twelve years, and was traveling 
salesman for a book house one year. In July, 1889, he received his 
ap))()intrnent as ))ostmaster at Wyahising. Mr. Porter was united in 
wedlock, January 5. 1870, with" Amelia R., daughter of Henry and 
Martha (Taylor) Gaylord, and tiiey have the following children: Sabra 
L. (born October 13, 1870), Gustavus A. (born June 22, 1872, died 
September 23, 1872), and Evangeline (born August 28, 1877). The 
familv worship at the Presbyterian Church of Wyahising. Mr. Porter 
is a incmb.'r of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R.. also of the I. O. O. F., 
Xo. 808, Wyahising, and has passed all the chairs; he is a Ilepiil)lican 
in politics, and has held the oHice of justice of the peace fifteen years. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 10U7 

CLAPJv B. PORTER, a prominent druggist of Towanda, was 
born in Clieshire, New Haven Co., Conn., January 11>, 1844, and is 
a son of Hobart C. and Jerusha (Bronson) Porter. His paternal 
grandfatlier was Horace Porter, of Puritan stock, and a lai-ge land 
owner and dealer in real estate, at Waterbury, Conn., where he lived 
and died. The maternal grandfather was Benjamin Bronson, also of 
Puritan stock, and a prominent merchant of his day, at New Haven, 
Conn. Hobart C. Porter was a native of Waterbury, Conn.; was edu- 
cated at New Haven, and began his business cai-eer as a merchant, in 
Cheshire, Conn., and died in New Haven, in 1859; his children were 
Clark B. and Helen P. (Mrs. Arthur Snow, now deceased). Clark B. 
Porter was reared in New Haven county. Conn., until fifteen years 
old. In 1859 he came to Towanda, and entered the drug store of Dr. 
H. C. Porter, as clerk, and served an apprenticeship of seven years at 
the business, after which he was employed in the Treasury Depart- 
ment at Washington, two years. In 1868 he embarked in the drug 
business, at Towanda, with Job P. Kirby, tlie partnership existing 
four years, under the firm name of Porter & Kirby, when he sold his 
interest to Mr. Kirby, and engaged in business alone, at his present 
location, south end of the " Ward House," where he has since con- 
ducted a successful business, and is now the pioneer druggist of the 
city. Mr. Porter married Lizzie L., daughter of Matthias H. and 
Annie (Overton) Laning, of Wysox township, this county, and has 
three children, viz.: Mary R., Fannie L. and Emily L. Mr. Porter is 
a member and vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church, and is a F. & 
A. M. He is president of Oak Hill Cemetery, president of the Lin-ta 
Hose Company, a director of the Ilawes Manufacturing Comjmny, and 
Electric Light Company, and is a member of the Board of Trade. 
He has served two terms as a member of Towanda borough council, 
and burgess of Towanda, three years. He has served two terms as 
chief engineer of the Fire Department, is president of the Providence 
Shield Insurance Comoanv, and in politics is a Democrat. 

JASPER B. PORTER, general merchant, Columbia township, 
P. O. Sylvania, was born at Rising Sun, Cecil Co., Md., June 20, 1849, 
and is a son of William and Mary E. (Ratlibun) Porter, of English 
descent. He was reared in his native county, until thirteen years of 
age, when he removed to Washington, D. C, and was graduated from 
the public school of that city, in the English, French and German 
branches. On account of ill-health he traveled extensively over the 
American continent for several years; and in 1883, locating in Syl- 
vania, this county, he embarked in the drug business, at which he 
continued two years. In 1890, he became proprietor of a general mer- 
chandising store, the principal one of Sylvania. On October 4, 1881, 
he married Stella F., daughter of Harry and Mary E. (Gregory) Coan, 
of Bloom vi lie, Delaware Co., N. Y. Mr. Porter is a member of the 
F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F.; he has served as burgess of Sylvania four 
years, and in politics is a Republican. 

THEODORE F. PORTER, salesman, Elmira, N. Y., was born in 
Granville township, this county, September 5, 1844, and is a son of 
Minor T. and Anna (Ayres) Porter. His paternal grandparents, Zora 



1098 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

and Anna (Keeler) Porter, formerly of Vermont, were pioneers of 
Granville township, where they cleared and imjiroved a farm on which 
they lived and died. Their children were Seth K., Minor A., Major 
13. and Albert. Of these, Minor T., the father of Theodore F., was born 
in Ti'oy township, in 1810; has always followed farming, and cleared 
and improved the farm he now owns and occupies in Granville town- 
ship; his wife w^as a daughter of Abijah Ay res, who settled in Gran- 
ville township in 1820. Their children, who grew to maturity, were 
Edward, Sally (Mrs. Fred Black), Roxie (Mrs. Seely Ayres), Nancy 
Mi's. John Grantier), and Theodore F., who was reared in Granville 
township, was educated in the common schools, and was engaged in 
farming there for twenty-four years, being now the owner of one of 
the best farms in Granville township, which was cleared and imi)roved 
by his father-in-law, Dr. Bovier. Mr. Porter married, in 1806, Helen 
S., daughter of Dr. Solomon and Almira (Edsell) Bovier, of Granville 
township, and thev have one daughter, Effie (Mrs. S. P. Tinklepaugh). 
Mr. Porter was in the Civil War, having enlisted, in 1864, in Company 
I, Fifteenth New York Engineers; participated in the battles of Fort 
Fisher, the Weldon raid and in other minor engagements, and was 
honorably discharged after eleven months' service. Mr. Porter has 
resided in Elmira, N. Y., since 1890. He is a Sir Knight Templar, 
and is a member of the G. A. P.; in politics he is a Democrat. 

UEL C. PORTER, retired, Troy, was born in Troy township, this 
county, March 16, 1829, and is a son of John and ]\fartha (Furman) 
Porter. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Poi-ter, was of English 
parentage, and settled in Troy township in 1814, when he purchased 
about one hundred and fifty acres of land on the "Drinker tract," 
which was cleared by himself and sons; he taught school for many 
years, and was generally known as "Master Porter;" he died in 1S24-. 
lie married a widow, Mrs. Wiltsie (formerly Hannah Mosher),"by 
whom he had three children: John, Uel and P)etsey (Mrs. AVarren Will- 
iams). The sons succeeded to the homestead, ancl for twenty years 
or more, worked the farm in unison, then divided the jiroperty on the 
best of terms. John, the father of our subject, was born in Bethlehem, 
Albany Co., N. Y., in 1798, and died on the homestead in Troy town- 
shi]), in 1858. His wife was a daughter of William and A bey (Ilalleck) 
Furnuin, the former of whom was a pioneer of Columbia township, 
where he settled prior to 1810. The issue of this union was eleven 
children, of whom nine grew to maturity : Betsey (Mrs. Howard Tay- 
lor), Julia (Mrs. S. H. Hill), Electa (Mrs". C. T. Merry), Lyman, Uel C, 
George, Furman, William Burton, and Sarah (Mrs. F. P. Gates). 
Our subject was reared in Troy township, served an a])prenticeship at 
the harness-makeFs trade, in Burlington, this county, from 1847 to 1849, 
and from 1856 to 1866 was engaged in farming on the old Porter home- 
stead. At the latter date he eml)arked in the hai-ness business at Troy, 
with B. II. Hobart, as Ilobartit Porter, which they continued until 
1888. In 1873 the lii-m built a tannery, and opei-ated it for a period 
of three years, when they took E. VanDine in as a partner, and cai- 
ried on the business for a period of four years longer, under the firm 
name of E. VanDine cV: Co., at which time (1880) the firm of E. VanDine 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1099 

& Co. was dissolved, and Ilobart and Porter retired. Mr. l*orter having 
been in business a periotl of twenty-two years. He lias been four 
times married : his second wife was Sarah E., dauojiter of Jacob and 
Olive (Williams) Linderman, of Troy township; his third wife was 
Laura, daughter of Ansel and Betsey ' (Case) AVillia,ms, of Troy town- 
ship, by ^vhora lie has a daughter, Martha K., and his present wife, 
Fannie M., is a daughter of A. M. Cornell, of Columbia township. Mr. 
Porter is a member of the Universal ist Church, the F. & A. M. and 
R. A. M. Politicallv he is a Democrat. 

HON". JOSEPH POAYELL, Towanda. The good brethren of the 
Moravian Church were among the earliest pioneers to settle along this 
branch of the Susquehanna river. These people came as early as 1742, 
in chartered ships, under the supervision of Count Zinzerdorf and 
Brother Spangbrother, and every ship-load would organize church soci- 
eties; hence they were known for a long time as " Die See Gemeinen," 
or " Sea Congregations." One of these ships so laden was the " Cath- 
erine," that sailed from Holstein to London, where they were joined by 
seven families, of whom were Samuel Powell and wife, Martha, and 
Joseph Powell and wife, Martha, who were from Shropshire, England, 
on the border of Wales. The Powells first preached at New Haven. 
They visited Yale school, and went on foot from Greenwich to New 
York, where the v joined their ship's company, and proceeded to Phila- 
delphia, and finailv to Bethlehem, the Chief Moravian settlement. Of 
these two men, Joseph Powell was the great-grandfather of the gen- 
tlemen whose name opens this sketch. At Bethlehem the great-grand- 
mother died. He was sent by his church to Wechquadnach, Conn., 
and died in Sharon, Litchfield county. In 1859 the Moravians erected 
a suitable monument over his grave. ^ His son, Stephen Powell, was a 
soldier of the Revolution, and in 1798 he removed from Dutchess 
county, N. Y., to Bradford county, settling in Ulster, bringing with 
him his young son, Joseph C. Powell, the father of Joseph Powell. 
Joseph C. Powell became one of the leading men of Bradford county, 
and was very prominent as an organizer in the political movements 
of that day. He was a farmer and merchant, was elected to the Legis- 
lature and filled several county offices, such as sheriff and prothono- 
tary, and died at Towanda, in'' 1854, leaving a large and eminently 
respectable family. His wife was Selina Phillips, whose father was a 
native of York and mother of Vermont. 

Hon. Joseph Powell was born in Towanda, this county, June 23, 
1828, was reared on a farm and attended the common schools, also the 
academy at Athens. At the age of eighteen he became a clerk in a 
generarstore, and had learned the trade well enough, in 1852, to engage 
in it on his own account, soon becoming one of the leading business 
men of the county. He was an extensive farmer and merchant, deal- 
ing heavily in coal and timber lands, whereby he aided greatly in 
developing the resources of his native county. He was one of the 
organizers of the coal company, of which he was treasurer for many 
years, and he contributed to the building of a large tannery to con- 
sume the bark from the timber manufactured in the mills. As a busi- 
ness man he was broad and genei'ous, ever alert in promoting the pub- 



1100 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lie weal, and iielpful toward not only friends, but all whose claims or 
wants appealed to his charitabie and kind nature. lie was one of the 
original stockholders in the First National Bank of Towanda, in 1863, 
and in 1870 he became its president, in which position he served nearly 
twent}' years. He was interested in establishing the Towanda Agri- 
cultural Implement Factory, and was a director of the Towanda Bridge 
Company, besides being associated in manv other important enter- 
prises. In all these varied industries and pursuits he was eminently 
conservative and successful. While he was first in enterprise and in 
public spirit, when war came, although he was from cause exempt 
from service, yet he claimed the privilege of sending a substitute to 
the front, while he, at home, was one of the most liberal contributors to 
the cause, giving both time and means thereto, and his contributions 
to the different commissions in aul of the soldiers and their families 
were man^^ and always liberal. 

When the war was over he took issue with the Ilepublican ])arty 
on its reconstruction measures, and in 1874, abnost without his knowl- 
edge, he was made the Democratic nominee for Congress, and in the 
face of a heavy adverse majority was triumphantly elected. He 
served his term with wisdom and fidelity, and every measure of econ- 
omy presented found in him a heart}' supporter. He was re-nomi- 
nated in 1876, but being a Presidential year the opposition was ena- 
bled to hold enough of their party in check to defeat him. In 1883 he 
was nominated, in the face of his earnest protest, by the Democratic 
State Convention, for State treasurer, and he yiekled to the wish 
of his friends all over the Commonwealth only when he became con- 
vinced it was his duty. In 1885 he was ap])ointed, under President 
Cleveland, deputy collector of the Port of Pliiladelphia, and served a 
full term in that high and responsible office. In that great city of 
rich Ilepublican merchants he discharged everx' personal and official 
duty sans 2)eur etscuis reproche; and, on resigning his office, in 1889, he 
carried with him the un(jualified respect and approbation of all. In 
1890 he was named by the Democratic County Convention for sheriff, 
and, in the face of a Republican majority, at the preceding election, 
of 4,200, he was elected by the unprecedented majority of 1890 — 
exactly one vote for each year of the Christian era, to the date of this 
exti-aordinary political triumph ; in this particular case, not so much a 
political triumph as a tribute by his old neighbors and friends to his 
personal worth. This simi>le stateinent of iiis private and public 
record clearly indicates tiuit no man in Bradford county ever gained a 
more sincere and cordial respect of all the people than has lie. He 
had buillt up a great private fortune, and when a series of the most 
untoward circumstances swept away that fortune, while holding in 
his hands many pi-ivate trusts, yet so clean, honorable and clear was 
his every move that his personal ])opularit\' among all men was only 
added to, when it had already seemed to have i-eached the extreme 
high tide. He was married, February 2, 1859, to Miss Hannah Noble, 
step-daughter of Hon. H. W. Tracy, a member of Congress, in 1862, 
and by this union there are four (hiughters and one son, as follows : 
Henrietta Page, Frances Theresa, Joseph, Hannah and Mary. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1101 

PATRICK POWERS, blacksmith, P. O. East Smithfield, was born 
in Athens, January 29, 1850, a son of Thomas and Ahce (Bollon) 
Powers, natives of County Waterford, Ireland, who came to this county 
when young, and settled at Athens, about forty five years ago. Mr. 
Powers, who is the youngest of eight children, commenced to learn his 
trade at fourteen years of age, and wlien eighteen started in the busi- 
ness for himself at Athens, which he has continued since. He married, 
November 6, 1875, Catherine, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Farr) 
Buck, natives of Ireland, who came to this country in early life (she 
was the third in a family of twelve children, and was born in Kidge- 
bury, this county. May 28, 1854). Mr. and Mrs. Powers have had 
born to them two children: Thomas F., born August 6, 1876, and 
Isabell, born June 22. 1878. Mr. Powers has been a successful business 
man, and has accumulated a nice property; he is a Democrat in politics. 
The familv are members of the Roman Catholic Church. 

DAVID S. PRATT, M. D., Towanda, one of the leading and 
eminent physicians of Bradford count\% is a native of the State, born 
in Susquehanna county, December 10*^ 1826, and is a son of Russell 
and Olive Towner Pratt, His paternal grandfather removed from 
Connecticut to Middleton in 1799, and purchased a quarter section of 
land, and died tiiere. Dr. Pratt's father, who was a farmer, merchant and 
manufacturer, removed to Towanda in 1848, and resided there until his 
death. His children were nine in number, as follows: Matilda (Mrs. 
Lyman E. DeWolf), Leonard, Calvin, Mary (Mrs. A. J. Easterbrook), 
David S , Angeline (Mrs. H. A. Burbank), Julia (Mrs. Rev. Timothy 
Olmsted), Sophronia (Mrs. S. W. Rogers) and Joseph T. Dr. Pratt 
was reared in his native town, and educated in the common schools 
and at Susquehanna Academy. Lie read meJicine with his brother. 
Dr. Leonard Pratt, now of San Jose, Cal., was graduated from the 
Homeopathic Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1851, and immediately 
located in Towanda, where he has since been in active practice. His 
youngest brother, Joseph T., who died twelve years ago, when but 
thirty-eight years of age, had, by his own unaided exertions, attained 
the honorable position of judge of the court of common pleas, at 
Philadelphia. In 1849 Dr. Pratt married Catherine, daughter of 
Daniel and Mary (Allen) Abell, of Warren township, this county, and 
niece of A. S. Abell, of Baltimore. He has four children: Ella (Mrs. W. 
G.Gordon), Dr D. Leonard, Isabella (Mrs. Simon Randall), and Dr. C. 
Manville. The Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and the F. & A. M., and in politics he is a Republican. 
The practice of homeopathy, at the time of his opening an office 
here, was somewhat new to"^the people, but his remarkable success is 
the best evidence that it did not long thereafter remain so. Profession- 
ally, socially and financially Dr. Pratt has long been easily recognized as 
one of our foremost citizens, and has reared his family eminent in all 
the social qualities that are the make-up of this favored community. 
Lie has passed the three-score mile-stone on life's highway, but is 
strong, active, and as busy, professionally, as in his younger and 
probably more combative days, and with his extensive practice has 
accumulated a handsome com])etency. 



1102 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

D. LEONARD PRATT, a well-known physician and surgeon of 
Towanda, was born in Towanda, this county, December G, 1853, and 
is a son of Dr. David S. and Catherine (Abell) Rratt. He was reared 
in his native town, and received an academical education at Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda, and AVaverly Academy, Waverly, 
N. Y., where he passed the regent's examination, which admitted him 
to anv university in the State, when but iifteen years of age. He then 
studied medicine with his father, and graduated from Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, in March, 1875, and in 1878, graduated from the 
Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, Chicago, 111. Dr. Pratt began 
the practice of his profession in Towanda, in 1878, removed to Minnea- 
polis, Minn., in 1886, and while there was elected presiding officer and 
medical examiner in the Knights of Honor of that city: was four years 
Medical Director of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and also 
State examiner for the Knights of Pythias. He returned to Towanda 
in 1888, where he has since been in active practice, giving his especial 
attention to surgery. On May 12, 1875, the Doctor married Mary, 
daughter of Sherman M. and Helen (Myer) Aspinwall, of Townnda, 
and by her he has three children : Catherine H., Joseph G. and Sue M. 
The Doctor is a member of the Western Academy of Medicine, the 
Minnesota State Medical Society of Homeopathy, and also belongs to 
the K. of H. and K. of P.; in politics he is a Republican. 

C. MAK VILLE PRATT, M. D., Towanda, is a native of l^radford 
county, a son of the well-known Dr. D. S. Pratt, his mother being 
Cathe'rine (Abell) Pratt, The ancestors of this gentleman were 
among the early pioneers of Bradford county, and the family are 
remotely of Eng'lish descent. In Dr. D. S. Pratt's family were four 
children — two sons and two daughters. The subject of this sketch was 
born in Towanda, October 26, 1859, ])asse(l the rooms of the public 
schools and then became a student in the Susquehanna Collegiate 
Institute, where he was graduated in 1875, and was then in attend- 
ance at Princeton University, three years, entering sophomore year, 
and was graduated in 1879. He then became a medical student in 
the Pennsylvania University, and received the degree of M. D. in 
1882, and in 1885 he was graduated in the Homeopathic School of 
^Medicine, at Chicago, and ])racticed one year in his fathers office, in 
Towanda, since when he has been alone; and, while not one of the 
oldest in the profession, he has a practice that is as extensive as many 
who have long outranked him in years in the borough. AVhile his 
practice is in physic and surgery, yet it is probably in the line of sur- 
gerv that he excels, as to this branch of his profession he is earnestly 
devoted, and has performed some noted and difficult operations. The 
doctor was united in marriage, in 1885, with Louise, daughter of Ster- 
ling Woodford, who was of English descent. The children born to 
Dr?and :\lrs. Pratt are : David S., Sterling Woodford and Jiussell 
]>oyd. Mrs. Pratt is a member of the Episcopal Church ; Dr. C. Man- 
ville Pratt is a member of the IMetliodist Episcopal Church, and in 
j)olitics is a Re])ublican. 

SOPH HON US S. PRATT, farmer. Pike township, P. O. Brushville, 
was born in Prattville, Bradford Co., Pa., April 4, 1836, a son of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 1103 

James W. and Ruth (Canfield) Pratt, natives of Connecticut, in whose 
family there were eleven children, of whom Sophronus is the sixtli. 
He purchased his present home of seventy-two acres in 1861, and has 
since given his undivided attention to farming. Mr. Pratt was married, 
January 2, 1859, to Lucy, eldest daughter of Giles N. and Emeline 
DeWolf, natives of Pennsylvania and of French origin. This happy 
union has been blessed with four children, as follows: Leslie M., born 
June 2, 1860, died June 23, 1863; Sylvia May, born November 27, 1862, 
was married, September 16, 1883, to Irad Doan (they have one child: 
Ella C, born November 2, 1885); Arthur V., born November 17, 1865, 
was married September 1, 1885, to Lottie Wyley (they have one 
child, George S., born November 20, 1887) and' Clara V!, born June 
12, 1868, died October 13, 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics he is a Republican. 

EBEN L. PRESTON, genei-al blacksmith, P. O. Columbia Cross 
Roads, was born in Troy township, this county, April 24, 1818, a son 
of Jabez and Elvira (Ayres) Preston. His paternal grandfather, Eben 
Preston, formerly of Vermont, was one of the pioneers of Troy town- 
ship, and cleared and improved the farm now owned by P>enjamin 
Webber and the Levi Preston estate; he married Lucy Baldwin, by 
whom he had three children : Jabez, Nancy (Mrs. Andrew Decker) and 
Levi, who married Susan Webber. The father of our subject was born 
in Troy township, always followed farming as an occupation, and died, 
in 1865, at the age of forty-six years. His wife was a daughter of 
Lorenzo and Abigail (Smith) Ayres, of Columbia township, by whom 
he had four children : Eben L., Luc}'^ (Mrs. Julius Adams), Lewis and 
Emma (Mrs. George Ross). Eben L. \vas reared and educated in Troy 
township, and followed farming until 1885. For several winters he 
worked at the blacksmith's trade, and in 1886 located at Columbia Cross 
Roads, and embarked in the general blacksmith business, in which he 
has since successfully continued. In July, 1868, he married Phebe M., 
daughter of Myron and Phebe (Rundell) Luther, of Burlington town- 
ship, and has four children living: Elmer, Bertie, Elsie and Lucy. He 
is a member of the I. O. O. F.; politically he is a Republican, 

L. D. PRINCE, mechanic, Rome, was born in Orwell township, this 
county, December 1, 1830, and is a son of M, B. and Harriet (Russell) 
Prince, the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter of Orwell 
township, a daughter of Dan Russell, one of the early pioneers of 
that township. Their family consisted of ten children, three of whom 
died in infancy, and one was killed by a rolling log; but four of the 
family survive, viz.: Polly, wife of Merritt Cole; Marthy, wife of 
Kirby Smith ; David, a wagon-maker, and L. D, The boyhood of our 
subject was spent on a farm; he attended the common schools until 
eighteen, acquiring a fair knowledge of the common branches. He 
began as a farmer on the old homestead at twenty-two ; then learned 
the trade of mason, and has w^orked at the same in connection with 
farming until the present time. He w^as united in wedlock, October 
21, 1855, wnth Elizabeth, daughter of Martin and Polly (McGill) 
Moore ; she w^as born in Towanda township, December S] 1828, the 
eldest in a family of ten children. Mr. and Mrs. Prince have had four 



1104 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

children, as follows: Polly, born September 13, 1856, married to 
L. D. Strope; J. M. Prince, born in Rome township, August 12, 1858, 
educated at Rome Academy, Collegiate Institute, of Towanda, and was 
graduated Doctor of Medicine and Bachelor of Science at National 
Normal University of Lebanon, Ohio, 1890, and is now a student at 
a Polyclinic school at Cincinnati. He taught several years in the 
common and graded schools of this county, and though using the pro- 
fession as a stepping stone to something better, and to wider fields for 
his future career, has made a marked success of teaching ; Levi L., 
musician, born April 7, 1870, educated in the common schools, Rome 
Academy, Monroeton High School, and the National University of 
Lebanon, Ohio ; Lizzie, born September 4, 1867, educated at Rome 
Academy, and has adopted teaching as her profession. The family 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. L. D. Prince tilfs 
the position of trustee, treasurer and superintendent of the Sabbath- 
school ; he is a Republican, and has filled the office of assessor many 
years; is now serving his second term as burgess of Rome borough. 
Mr. Prince has passed his life so far in Rome township, and has 
always commanded the esteem and respect of all his neigiibors. 

MILES PRINCE, farmer, of Warren township, P. O. Cadis, a 
native of Windham township, was born January 1, 1822, a son of Joseph 
and Lucinda (Bates) Prince, natives of New Hampshire and Connecti- 
cut, respectively, who were married in this State, and were farmers. 
The father was a son of Abell Prince, who was a son of Lieut. 
Joseph Prince, of King George's army, and fought the Indians of New 
Hampshire, in early da^^s. Abell Prince died in 1832; he had reared 
a family of ten children, of whom Joseph, who was the fifth, came to 
Bradford county in 1810, with his brother Abell, and improved the 
farm where his son Miles now resides. He was an early pioneer, strong 
and vigorous, and planted a seedling orchard, one of the first in the 
township; he died April 16, 1844, while his widow survived until 
November 12, 1852. They had four children, as follows : Miles, Myron, 
Joel (died March 24, 1859, aged twenty-five), Lucinda A. (Mrs. ICdwin 
Williams), died September 22, 1871, leaving two children, Alice and 
James. Miles, the eldest, was reared and educated at his home in Wind- 
ham and Warren townships, and when a young man taught several 
terms of school in the winter, and farmed in the summer; he has been 
one of our most successful farmers, and owns 150 acres, with ample build- 
ings, and in an excellent state of cultivation. He lias his farm well 
stocked, and his accumulated capital is loaned out. February 20, 1847, 
in Warren township, he married Charlotte, daughter of Manson 
and Elmira (Mackey) Elsbree, natives of Albany county, N. Y., who 
came to this county in 1830, and had three children, of whom Mrs. 
Prince was second. " Mr. and Mrs. Prince have four children as follows : 
Joseph M., a resident of West AVarren ; Emmogene (Mrs. Warren 
Els worth), of Albany, N. Y., who has one child, AVebster H.; Laura E. 
(Mrs. Emerson Taylor), of Nichols, N. Y., and James W., married 
to Grace E. l>erk, of South Creek township, and has a son, Miles G. 
Mr. l*rince is a member of G. T. and the L O. O. F. and is a Free- 
mason of Westbrook Lodge, No. 333, a master of the third degree; 



HISTORY OF BHADFOKL) COUNTY, 1105 

has filled the office of justice of the peace three terms, school director, 
etc., and is a Republican. 

JAMES T. PRITCHAED, foreman in the Lehigh Valley Railroad 
boiler shops, Sayre, is a native of Schenectady, N. Y., born September 
22, 1857, and is a son of Richard and Annie (Tyler) Pritchard, the 
former a native of Middlesex, England, and the latter of Aberdeen, 
Scotland. The father is a boiler-maker and resides in Scranton. 
James T. is the second in a family of nine children, of whom four are 
liviner. At the ag-e of ten he went to work in the boiler shop, in Jersey 
City, and then moved to Scranton, and served an apprenticeship with 
the Dickson Manufacturing Company, where he remained about seven- 
teen years; thence went to Rome, N. Y., where he worked at his trade 
until the fall of 1886, when he came to Sayre, and in April, 1890, he 
was promoted to the position of foreman of the boiler shops. Mr. 
Pritchard was married in Scranton, in 1875, to Miss Mary, daughter of 
Harry and Mary Rodgers, natives of Pennsylvania; she is the third in 
the order of birth in a family of nine children, and was born in Scran- 
ton, in 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard were born eight children, of 
whom seven are living, as follows: James D., Ellen J., Jessie L., 
Mildred E., Alfred L., Ernest E. and Eugene E., the two latter being 
twins. The family worship at the Episcopal Church ; in politics Mr. 
Pritchard is a Republican. 

J. SCOTT PULTZ, conductor on the L. V. R. R., Sayre, is a 
native of Burlington, this county, a son of Henry and Adeline 
(Wheeler) Pultz, the former a native of Owego, and the latter of 
Schoharie county, N. Y. Henry Pultz is a farmer, residing in Bur- 
lington, this county, and is now in his seventy-fifth year. The 
mother is in her seventy-sixth year. The subject of this biographical 
memoir is the youngest in a family of four children, of whom two are 
now living, himself and a sister, Dorleaki, wife of Philander Long, 
residing in Wellsboro, Pa. J. Scott Pultz was reared in Burlington, 
and received his education in the public schools; then worked at the 
carpenters trade, building wooden bridges, until 1877, when he went 
to work on the Northern Central Railroad, but only remained there a 
short time, when he went to work on the L. V. R. R. as brakeman ; 
was promoted to conductor on that line June, 1880, and has held that 
position since. He is a member of the Order of Red Men, the Order of 
Railway Conductors, Southern Tier Division, No. 10 ; Iron Hall and 
Conductors' Aid Association. Politically, he is a Republican. 

LUMAN PUTNAM, retired, Granville Centre, was born in Great 
Barrington, Mass., September 22, 1801, and is a son of John and Lendy 
(Andrus) Putnam, who settled in Granville township, this county, in 
1817, locating on the farm now occu])ied bj' subject, where they started 
a clearing, and died. The father was a soldier of the Revolutionary 
War, serving nearly four years; he was twice married, his first wife 
being Fiche VanDeusen, by whom he had two children : Katie, and 
Lucretia (Mrs. Joseph Bush); by his second wife. Lend}^ (Andrus), he 
had children, as follows: Luman, Henry,, Fiche (Mrs. Stephen Landon), 
Isaac, Lydia (Mrs. Ileman Bruce), Sally (Mrs. Luther F. Clark), Jane 
(Mrs. VanRensalear Champney). Mr. Putnam died in 18-1-1: at the 



1106 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

age of seventy-six years. The subject of this memoir was reared in 
his native town, until nea>'ly sixteen years of age, when he removed 
with his parents to Granville, and, with the exception of three and 
one-half years he lived in Wayne county, N. Y.; has since resided 
there, occupying the old homestead, most of which he cleared and 
improved, lie married twice: his first wife was Jerusha, daughter of 
Scoville and Jerusha (Hale) Bailey, of Granville township, and by her 
he had children, as follows: Lurenda (Mrs. Benjamin S. Smiley), 
Amanda (Mrs. Dr. Charles Drake), Lucretia, Selenda (Mrs. Valentine 
Saxton), Eliza (Mrs. A. S. Rockwell), Luman, Jr., and Harvey. Mr. 
Putnam is a member of the Church of Christ ; he was justice of the 
peace of Granville eighteen years, eight years by appointment of the 
Governor, and ten years by election of the people ; was county auditor 
and commissioner, each one term, and also revenue commissioner of the 
district of Bradford, Susquehanna and Sullivan counties ; was delegate 
to the State Convention, at Ilarrisburg, in 1854, that nominated Will- 
iam Bigler for governor. Since 1856 he has been a Republican. 

PIiIlANDER PUTNAM, farmer, Granville Centre, was born in 
Granville township, January 5, 1831, and is a son of Harry and Mary 
Saxton) Putnam; his paternal grandfather, John Putnam, formerly of 
Massachusetts, settled in Granville township in 1817, clearecl and 
improved a farm and died there; his maternal grandfather, P>enjamin 
Saxton, settled in Granville in 1807. Harry Putnam, father of the 
subject of this sketch, cleared and improved a farm in Granville, on 
which he lived and died; his children were: Erastus, Philander, John, 
Jane, Benjamin and Lura (Mrs. Aaron Waldron). Philander Putnam 
was reared in Granville, began life as a farmer, which he has always 
followed, clearing and improving most of the farm where he now 
resides. In October, 1852, he married Mary, daughter of Ambrose 
Spencer, of Granville township, and has six children, as follows: 
Edward, Leslie P., Merton A., Scott W., Rosalia (Mrs. Irvin Caster- 
line) and Mihan H. Mr. Putnam was in the Civil War, enlisting in 
October. 1862, in Com))any 1), Third Pennsylvania Artillery, and was 
honorablv discharged, after six montlis' service, on account of disability. 
He is an attendant and supjK.rter of the Christian Cliurch ; is a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican. 

EDWARD W. PUTNAM, superintendent of the County Poor 
House, and farmer, P. O. Burlington, was born in Granville, this 
countv. Fobruarv 10, 1854, a son of Philander and Mary (Spencer) 
Putnam, natives' of this countv, and probably direct descendants of 
Gen. Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. i*liilnnder Putnam, who 
is a farmer in Granville township, was in the AVar of the Rebellion, 
three vears, and participated in many of the hard-fought battles. 
Edward W. I'utnam was reared on the farm, and educated in the 
schools of his native town, followed farming until the time of his ap- 
j)()intment as the superintendent of the County Farm, in January, 
1S87, which farm comprises 267 acres of fine land, the buildings being 
l.robablv the finest of :iny similar ones in the State. Mv. Putnam was 
man'iod", September 21», 1885, to Amanda Herda. of Purliiiglon, born 
February 14, 1861, a daughter of Frederick and Soi)hia (Herbst) 



HISTOriY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. 1107 

Ilerda, the former a native of Germany, and the latter of Detroit, 
Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam have had one son, named Walter, born 
January 8, 1887. Mr. Putnam is a Republican in politics, takes an 
active interest in the affairs of the party, and has become deservedly 
popular in the responsible position he now occupies. 

MKS. ELIZABETH QUICK, Wilmot township, was born May 5, 
1842, and is a daughter of George and Margaret (Frutchey) Kintner, 
natives of Pennsylvania and of German lineage. She was married 
July 4, 1865, to Thomas, son of Paul and Mary (Miller) Quick, of 
Wilmot, and who died April 19, 1881. They had five children : Eva, 
born October 1, 1866. died October 31, 1889; Bertha A., born Septem- 
ber 29, 1808; Cora E., born May 13, 1871 ; Pauline, born March 18, 
1873, and Thomas M., born May "28, 1880. Mr. Quick enlisted August 
7, 1862, in Company A, One Hundred and Forty first P. V. I., and 
served his country's cause until May 16, 1865, when he was mustered out 
with his regiment. Mrs. Quick is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

W. CLINTON QUICK, farmer, Wilmot township, was born in 
Wilmot, this county, Januar}^ 2, 1841, and is a son of George and Jane 
(Howey) Quick, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of 
New Jersey, both being of Holland origin. He began life for himself at 
the age of sixteen, working at farm labor, and enlisted at Laceyville, 
October 2, 1861, in Company B, Eighty -fourth P. V. L. and was in 
the following engagements: Bath, Hancock, Winchester, Front Royal, 
Port Republic, Rappahannock Station, Slaughter Mountain, Thorough- 
fare Gap, Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, where he 
received a gunshot-wound in the right forearm, and was also struck 
in the side b}'^ a spent minie-ball, seriously injuring his lungs; he was 
taken prisoner, but was paroled in fourteen days, when he was 
taken to the Little Potomac Creek field hospital, and later to West 
Philadelphia Hospital and was discharged, for physical disabilities 
caused by wounds and exposure, on July 30, 1863. Pie then returned 
to Wilmot townshi]), and in 1884 purchased his present home. Mr. 
Quick was married, Nov. 4, 1867, to Miss Eliza, daughter of 
Daniel Crandell, of Wilmot, and they have four children: Minnie E., 
born August 30, 1868; Alice L., born November 8, 1871; Stanley A., 
born March 17, 1875 ; Florence N., born March 15, 1878. Mr. Quick's 
loyalty to the Union cause on the field of battle is paralleled only by 
his fidelity to the Democratic party. 

PROF. EDWIN E. QUINLAN, A. M., principal of the Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. The biographer notes, always 
with peculiar pleasure, the rise and progress in life of the few men who 
are classed as " self-made." There is something fascinating in the idea 
of the vouth, rough and rugged, starting out in the world, conscious 
only of his high resolution to succeed, and to travel along those higher 
walks of life, that are so inviting to all noble ambitions. Prof. Quin- 
lan is a native of Fallsburg, N. Y., where he was born, January' 5, 1848, 
a son of Bennett and Abbie S. (Knox) Quinlan, respectable farmers in 
their native State, and descendants, in the remote years, of the Scotch- 
Irish antl German. The i)arents were well-to-do people, with well cul- 



IIOS HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

tivated fields, fair education and Christian character. The old gentle- 
man has now retired from the active cares of life, and is at the old New 
York home. In such surroundings, young Edwin grew to a lad of six- 
teen, and from a fair farm hand in summer, and a pupil in the common- 
schools or academy in winter, he became a school teacher. He taught 
his first five months for a total salary of $100, and "boarded around." 
The next year we find him in charge of the schools at Monticello, N. Y., 
the seat of justice of Sullivan county, and his salary is now the compar- 
ativelv princely sum of f^fty dollars a month. At eighteen he became 
one of the instructors at the Monticello Academy, at that time a large 
and flourishing institution, where he taught two years, in a school of 
eight teachers. It was chiefly in this school, by his untiring application to 
pnvate studv, that he prepared himself for college. At the end of his 
two years' teaching he was enabled to enter Cornell University, and 
was a speaker at the first public exercises ever held by the students of 
that institution. While teaching he had earned and saved consider- 




prmcipt 

the Institute. These young men entered upon the work with a zeal 
that soon lifted it into' permanent prominence. After three years Mr. 
Ryan retired to take charge of the Towanda public schools, when Prof. 
Quinlan became sole in charge. The standard of scholarship, under his 
administration, has been raised, and the institution placed on a sure foot- 
ing, and is one of the flourishing and prominent schools of the State. 
There were fourteen graduates in 1889. and in the year of 1890, sixteen. 
In his chosen field of labor in Towanda, Prof. Quinlan has now been 
engaged twenty-one years, and nearly 3,000 pupils have passed through 
his hands as their instructor. In the colleges and universities where 
students have gone from his Institute the certificates of his school are 
received in lieu of an examination. The Professor is a member of the 
Presbvterian Church, teacher of the Bible-class of the Sunday-school, 
and is\in earnest and effective Christian worker in other fieldsof ('hris- 
tian activity. In 1870 he received an honorary degree from Lafavette 
College; he'is esteemed as a highly cultured gentleman, of fine physique, 
and equi})ped for higher work in tiie paths of literature and science; 
broad and liberal as a Christian teacher, who combines, with intense 
love of his profession, the equipments of a practical and efficient finan- 
cier. Politically, he esteems it a privilege and duty to vote fOrthe best 
man, regardless of the name of tlie i)arty to which he may belong. 
Prof. Edwin E. Quinlan and ;Miss Jcnnette A. Snook were joined in 
marriage in Prooklvn. N. Y., August 22, 1870, and there have been born 
three cTiildren: :\rary F., (Charles E. and Alice E. The family worship 
at the Presbyterian'Church, of which he is an elder. Prof. Quinlan 
has large interests in the lumber business, and this is more profitable, 
from a financial point of view, than is his compensation as teacher, yet 
he follows the latter almost wholly from a feeling of devotion to the 
cause. 

He lias published a small work on language teaching, entitled,'' Tin; 
Student's Hand-Book on the English Sentence," several thousand of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1109 

which have already been used in Pennsylvania schools, without being 
pushed by any agent or publishing house. 

JOHN M. KAIIM, roadmaster. Northern Division, Lehigh Valley 
Railroad, Towanda, was born in Wooster, Ohio, September 25, 1830, 
a son of David and Hannah (Davis) Rahm, natives of Middletown and 
Catawissa, Pa., respectively. The paternal grandfather, Melchoir 
Rhani, was a native of Germany, and a pioneer of Wayne county, 
Ohio, where he died. The maternal grandfather was John Davis, of 
German descent, who resided at Catawissa, Pa. The parents of our 
subject settled in Standing Stone, this county, in 1855, and in 1867 
removed to Towanda, where they resided until their death. David 
Rahm was superintendent of the North Branch Canal from 1855 until 
it was abandoned, in 1872, and was afterward in the emphjy of the 
Pennsylvania & New York Canal Railroad Company until his death 
in 1882. His children were five in number: John M., Joseph R., 
Sarah E., Isaac M. and Susie E. John M. Rham was reared in Penn- 
sylvania, where he received a common-school education, and when 
sixteen years of age he entered the employ of the State, as foreman of 
a canal division, and served live years. The property being jiurchased 
by the North Branch Canal Company, he continued Avith them in the 
same capacity, three years, when he was appointed supervisor of a 
division of thirty miles, which he held until January, 1866, when the 
property came into the control of the Pennsylvania & New York Canal 
& Railroad Company, and he continued with them in same position 
until December. 1867, when he was appointed roadmaster of the divi- 
sion between Towanda and Waverly, of Avhich he had charge two 
years. Then in the same capacity he took charge of the road between 
Waverly and Pittston, which position he still fills, and since 1869 in 
the interest of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and now has 
chaige of 356 miles of track. Mr. Rahm was married, January 2, 1866, 
to Amelia, daughter of Alexander and Eleanor (Stevens) Ennis, grand- 
daughter, on the paternal side, of Levi Ennis, and, on the maternal 
side, of Asa Stevens, son of Jonathan, a son of Asa Stevens, who settled 
in the Wyoming Valley in 1772. He was a lieutenant in Wilkes-Barre 
county and was active in the battle at Wyoming, where he was among 
the slain. Both grandfathers, as well as the great-grandfather of 
Mrs. Rahm (Jonathan Stevens), were pioneers of Standing Stone, this 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Rahm liave one daughter, Millie L. (Mrs. 
Edward L. Smith), who has one son, David R. Mrs. Rahm and daughter 
are members of the Universalist Church. Mr. Rahm is a member of 
the F. & A. M.,and is sei'ving his second term as member of Towanda 
council ; politicallv he is a Democrat. 

OLIVER B. RAKE, stone-cutter, Wilmot township, P. O. Lacey- 
ville, Wyoming count}', was born in Wyalusing, July 15, 1859, and is a 
son of William and Lydia (Brown) Rake, natives of Pennsylvania, the 
former of German and the latter of Irish descent. Our subject began 
life for himself at fourteen, as an apjirentice to the stone-cutter's trade 
in Black Walnut, Pa., and in two years was recommended as a jour- 
nexnuan. He then went to Myersburg, and worked one year, during 
which time he did all the fine stone-cutting for the building of the 

65 



1110 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

" Ward House" and tlie '' Seeley House," at Towanda. In 1878 he was a 
partner in operating the Conklin quarry at Myersburg, and then sold out 
and went to Windsor, N. Y., where he was engaged in bridge building, 
and remained nearly a year, when he was foreman at Lanesboroiigh, 
Pa., where he remamed until 1881. He tlien went to Meshop})en, but 
after a short time removed to Towanda, Pa., where he had charge of 
the Fox quarry, for the Wyoming Valley Blue Stone Company, three 
years. lie then removed to Tioga county, Pa., and was there as fore- 
man until he located in Laceyville, and was then foreman in the 
Kockey Poorest quarry, in AVilmot, where he is now. Mr. Rake was 
married, March 26, 1881, to Miss Anna E., daughter of Charles Turner, 
of Stroudsburg, Monroe Co., Pa., and thev have two children: Nina 
D., born March 29, 1882, and Maggie E.,^ born August 5, 1883. Mr. 
Rake is a very skillful mechanic, and is regarded as master of his art; 
his political sympathies are with the Ilepublican party. 

L. D. RANDALL, of the firm of Randall & Son, millers. Canton 
township, P. O. Canton, is a native of Armenia township, this county, 
born June 20, 1849, and is a son of Daniel and Charlotte (Mcintosh) 
Randall, natives of Delaware and Schoharie counties, N. Y., respect- 
ively. Daniel Randall is a farmer, and resided on the farm near which 
the mill property is located, about one mile east of Canton. He 
served one term as township commissioner; Mrs. Randall died in 1881, 
in her fifty-fourth year. The subject of these lines is the eldest in a 
family of three children. They removed from Armenia townsliip to 
Tiog;i county. Pa., when he was ten years of age, where he renuxmed 
about six years, working on the farm, and then removed to Troy, 
where he learned the miller's trade, which he followed six years, and 
then came to Canton, and has since been connected with the gristmill. 
Mr. Randall was married in Union township, Tioga Co., Pa., in 1875, 
to Miss Electa, daughter of Samuel and Maria (Spencer) Morgan, 
natives of Wayne and Tioga counties. Pa. Mr. Morgan is a farmer, 
and resides in Tioga county. Mrs. Randall is the second in order of 
birth in a family of nine children, and was born in Tioga county, Pa., 
in Julv, 1849; politicailv Mr. Randall is a Democrat. 

MILES E. RANSOM, farmer, Ulster, born in Tioga county, N. Y., 
a son of Ira Ransom, who was the first male child born in the town. 
His grandfather, Eorman, was a scout in Washington's army, and was 
sherilf (jf Tioga county many years. Ilis great-grandfather. Ransom, 
was a captain in the Revolutionary AVar, and was massacred at Wyom- 
ing. Mr. Ransom came to this town about fifty years ago, and was 
married, August 20, 1840, to Adelaide D., daugh'ter of ]\Iathias and 
Susan (Minier) Lent; there have been born to them six children, five 
of whom are living, as follows: Alice, born April 30, 1848; William, 
horn March 9, 1850, married to Marion McCauly ; Jessie IL, liorn 
E(!bi-uai-y 25, 1856, married to Rol)ert N. Nichol ; George Palm(;r. born 
June 12, 1865; and Anna 11., born June 6, 1S7<>. Mi's. Ransom traces 
her ancestry i)ack to the Dutch, who first settled on Manhaltan Island, 
N. Y.; her parents were pi<^neers of Wysox, who settled there about 
ninety years ago. Mr. Ransom's UKjther, Sarah Forma n, was of the 
same family as Miles Standish, the captain of the famous "Mayflower." 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1111 

The Forraans were Puritans. Mr. Ransom has been a successful man, 
and prospered in all of his enterprises ; has been largely engaged in rais- 
ing tine iiorses, cattle and siieep, and has sold some of the finest horses in 
the county ; he is a Democrat, and has been county commissioner and 
auditor. II is daughters, Alice, Anna H. and Mrs. Nichol, are mem- 
bers of the Roman Catholic Church. 

W. R. RAYMOND, freight conductor, Athens township, P. O. 
Sayre, a native of Athens township, this county, was born October 
8, 1854. His parents were John R. and E. C. (Crans) Raymond, the 
former a native of Tioga county, N. Y., and the latter of Athens county. 
The father was a farmer and lumberman, and died in Athens township in 
1856, and the mother, after his death, married Andrew J. Lyon, and 
they are now residents of Waverly ; she is a descendant of Adam 
Crans, a pioneer settler of this county, and a sister of the late R. G. 
Crans, a merchant of Waverly. Our subject, who is the younger of 
two children, resided in Athens township until he was eight years of 
aii'e, when the family removed to Fact(>rvville, where thev remained 
about four years, and then came to Waverly. Here our subject 
received an academic education, and afterward clerked in a dry-goods 
and grocery store, and then was in the employ of Westfall iSz Bonnell, 
flour and feed dealers. He then made a trip West, returned, and was 
engaged in the trade on his own account a short time. In 1870 he 
again went West, traveling through Michigan, Illinois, Montana and Can- 
ada, and returned home in 1872. In 1876 he went on theL. V. R. R. as 
brakeman, was promoted to conductor in 1880, and has held that 
]iosition since. Mr. Raymond was married in Waverly, in 1878, to 
Miss Henrietta, daughter of Alfred and Lucinda (Rosencrantz) Good- 
die, natives of Wyoming county (she is an only child and was born in 
Tunkhannock, in September, 1857). To Mr. and Mrs. Raymond was 
born one daughter, Loui. Mrs. Raymond is a member of the Episco- 
pal Church; he is a member of the Order of Railway Conductors, 
Waverly Division. No. 10. and is a Democrat in })olitics. 

CHARLES REED, physician and surgeon, Wysox, was born in 
Wysox, this county. September 3, 1857, and is a son of J. Myer and 
Stella L. (Goodrich) Reed, the former a native of Amenia, N. Y., and of 
English and German origin ; the latter a native of Towanda, and a 
granddaugiiter of John Fox, one of the first settlers in Bradford 
county. Charles Reed, who is the third of five living children, was 
rearetl on the farm, educated in the common school at Myersburg, the 
Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and, after one yearspent in studying 
medicine with Dr. T. F. Madill, of Wysox, entered Jefferson Medical 
College, where he was graduated in 1880, taking the third honor in a 
class of 213. He then entered into partnership with Dr. Madill in the 
practice of medicine, which Avas continued two years, when he opened 
an office of his own at Wysox, where he has since practiced. In 1891, 
he went to Europe to further pursue the study of medicine, and 
specialize diseases of the heart and lungs, and s])ent two months at 
Berlin, attending lectures and studying Dr. Koch's treatment foj' con- 
sumption. Before departing for Eur-ope, he was commissioned, by 
Gov. Pattison, a medical representative of Pennsylvania at Berlin. 



1112 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

After leaving that place, he spent some time in traveling through 
Itah', Austria, France and England, visiting many interesting places, 
galleries, hospitals, etc., and returned to America, April 3, 1891. Since 
his return, Dr. Keed's practice, which was already very large, has 
increased so that he can scarcely attend to it; he has cases in the 
neighboring counties, from Elmira to Wilkes-Barre, where he has suc- 
cessfully used Dr. Koch's world-renowned ''Lymph." The Doctor was 
married, May 8, 18S3, to Miss Nellie W., daughter of Urbane and 
Lvdia (AVeber) Dillev, of Wilkes-Barre, and they have two children: 
Edward U.. born May 1, 1884, and Charles B., born June 4, 1887. Dr. 
and Mrs. Reed are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he 
is elder and trustee. He is a member of the Bradford County Medical 
Society, and of the American Medical Association. Politically he is a 
pronounced Democrat. 

WILLIAM RELYEA, farmer, of Wells township, P. O. Gillett, was 
born in Middletown, Delaware Co., K Y., September T, 1829, a son of 
Daniel and Eliza (Murdock) Relyea, the former born in Ulster, the 
latter in Delaware county, N. Y. Daniel removed to this county in 1835, 
locating in South Creek township, where he took up a farm of 150 
acres, in what was then a wilderness. He, like all old pioneers, had to 
contend with the hardships incident to pioneer life; he built a log 
house, wielding his ax in felling the timber that circumscribed his prog- 
ress, and at times the rod and gun were called into requisition. He 
cleared up his farm, and made improvements in other respects, besides 
adding more to what he already had. He died in 1890, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-six. having lived in this county over fifty-tive 
years. He reared nine children, eight of whom grew to maturity, and 
live of whom are now living. The subject of this sketch inherited the 
same enterprising spirit that his father had, and was reared and edu- 
cated in South Creek at the common school, tie entered into business 
for himself, at the age of twenty-one, having, before that age, pur- 
chased his present home, upon which he has lived all his days, except 
ten years he spent in Columbia township, though, while there, he 
retained his farm in Wells. He is a practical farmer, and made his 
money out of the soil on which he lives, bv hard work, perseverance 
and economy. At the age of about twenty Mr. Relyea nuirried. for his 
first wife. Miss Jane, dau<:hter of John and Jerusha Ann J\IcMullen, 
October 4, 1849, at Rutland, Tioga, Co., Pa., and there were born to 
them four children : Lydia R., Emma, William II. and Martha, all of 
whom are married and pros])erous. For his second wife he married 
Miss Margaret, daughter of John and Mary Wilson, March 1, 1866, at 
Columl)ia, this county; by this nuirriage he had five children, three of 
whom are living: Wilson, Nellie and Minta, and they are at home 
and unmarried.' Mr. Relyea is a general farmer, but pays especial 
attention to dairying. His premises are well watered, as he keej)S a 
wind-mill continually in motion; his fish pond is spacious, containing 
the palatable carp in abundance. Mr. Relyea is now serving his sec- 
ond term as town commissioner, an office he fills to the satisfaction of 
all ; he is a member of the I. O. O. F, and the Grange. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1113 

EZRA E, REYNOLDS, Windham township, fanner and stock- 
grower, P. O. North Orwell, was born in Delaware county, N. Y., 
December 18, 183G, and is a son of John and Yioletta (Bates) Rey- 
nolds, of Connecticut, of English origin, a people who have been 
tillers of the soil for generations. The family, came to Bradford 
county in 1846, and settled in Windham township, and madetlws their 
permanent home, and the father died in 1870; the mother still sur- 
vives. Their family consisted of eight children, of whom Ezra was 
the second, and grew to manhood in Windham township, and com- 
menced life a farmer, and has, with his own hands, made his way to a 
competency, and his highly improved and valuable farm consists of 
186 acres of rich land, lie married, in 1860, Lncinda, daughter of 
Robert and Elizabeth (Wilsey) Wilson, also natives of New York, 
and of English origin. To them were born tw^o children, Mary E,, 
wife of riatt Osborn, of Windham, and Martin, a merchant of New 
York Citv. The family worship, usually, at the Methodist Church, 
though Mrs. Reynolds is a member of the Episcopal Church. In 1864 
Mr. Reynolds enlisted in Company B, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cav- 
alry, and was under Gen. Sheridan ; was in the battle of Winchester 
as his first fight, and was at Snicker's Gap and Maryland Heights. 
After arriving at Washington he was taken sick, and was sent to the 
hospital, and when convalescent beame a nurse in the small-pox ward. 
He never fully recovered from his camp sickness, and is a pensioner. 
He is a member of the G. A. R., Stevens Post, No. 69, Rome, and has 
held the office of treasurer; in politics he votes the Republican ticket. 

GEORGE F. REYNOLDS, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. Myers- 
burg, was born in Wysox, this county, October 25, 1827, and is a son 
of Samuel and Sarah (Bennett) Reynolds, natives of Pennsylvania, the 
former of whom was a mill-wright. They reared a family of four 
children, of whom George F. is the eldest and the only survivor. Our 
subject was reared on the farm, educated in the common school, and 
assisted liis father on the farm and at his trade until he was twenty- 
four; then purchased his present home of his father. On August 10, 
1862, he enlisted at Towanda,and was mustered out January 6, 1863. on 
surgeon's certificate of disability; his wife was obhged to go to Washing- 
ton to bring him home. He has since given his attention chiefly to farm- 
ing, and has made a success. G. F. Reynolds' grandfather, Wdbur Ben- 
nett, and his brother, Robert, traded a farm in Wilkes-Barre for a tract 
of land extending from Myersburgto Gillett's bridge, called Plum Yale 
Tract, where they settled about 1804. The farm owned by G. F. Reynolds 
and son, William, is part of that tract of land. Robert afterward sold his 
claim, but Wilbur remained and cleared a large farm ; he reared a 
famil^y of three children : Asa, Benjamin and Sarah. G. F. Reynolds 
was married, November 17, 1853, to Miss Malinda Porter, who was 
born October 4, 1834. This happy union has been blessed with five 
children : Ellen J., born September 10, 1856 (married to George Fox, 
of Durell, and died April 21, 1886); Addie M., born July 2, 1858 
(married to Samuel Chamberlain, a farmer of Wysox township) ; 
Georgia, born August 8, 1860 (married to Frank Frisbie, a blacksmith, 
of Durell); William S., born March 11, 1866, a farmer, of Wysox 



1114 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

township; Mary C, born March 24, 1874. Mrs. Reynolds is a member 
of tlie Methodist Episcopal Churcii at Myersburg. Mi'. Iveynoids is a 
lle})ublican in his political preferments. 

WILLIAM S. REYNOLDS, farmer, of Wysox township, P. O. 
Myersburg, was born, March 11, 1806, in Wysox, this county, a son of 
George F. and Malinda (Porter) Reynolds. He was reared on the 
farm, educated in the common school at Myersbui'g, and at Eastman's 
Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He is now engaged in farming 
on a poi'tion of the old homestead. Mr. Reynolds was nuirried. Octo- 
ber 17, 1888, to Miss Ilattie M., daughter of Charles and Harriet (Strope) 
Brown, of Rome, and the}'^ have two children : Yivian Beatrice, boi"n 
September 24, 1889, and Winton Llewellyn, born March 21, 1891. Mr. 
ReVnolds is a supporter of every worthy public enterprise. In politics 
lie is a Republican. 

AVILLIAM RICE, druggist, and physician and surgeon, Rome, was 
born in what is now Rome borough, this county, April 1(5, 1S40, a son 
of Hiram and Amanda (Guernsey) Rice, the former of whom was a 
native of this county, born in Smitlifield townsiiip, in 1809; the latter 
a native of Chenango county, N, Y. The father was first a printer, at 
Towanda, and edited the Northern Banner, the second newspaper 
ever published in Bradford county. This he abandoned, while yet a 
voung man, and commenced to read medicine in the office of Samuel 
Huston, M. D.,of Towanda; afterward attended a New York school of 
medicine, from wliich he graduated. After his graduation, he came 
directly to Rome, in 1837, and began the practice of medicine, which 
he followed here up to his death, which occurred in 1870, when he w;is 
aged sixty-seven years. Lie had a family of four children, viz.: Wil- 
liam, Lizzie, Amanda and Charles; their mother died in 1888, aged 
eightv years. The early life of William was spent in Rome, where he 
attended the public schools, and, afterward, the academy at Towanda, 
and, having read the necessary time with his father, he entered Jeffer- 
son College, at Philadelphia, and was graduated in 1802. Returning 
at once to Rome, he was associated with his father in the practice of 
medicine for a few years. In 1804, he received the appointment of as- 
sistant-surgeon in the Union Army, and was acting surgeon of the Ninth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Gen. AY. T. Sherman, until the close of 
the war; he was with the Army of the West, when it made its famous 
march from Atlanta to the sea. During his service, he had charge of 
the Brigade Hospital, at Lexington, N. C, also the hospital at Durham, 
same State. At the close of the war, he returned home, and resumed 
the ])ractice of medicine, which he has continued to the present day. 
In 1880, he opened a drug store, and he now carries a full line of drugs 
and medicines. The Doctor was married, May 1, 1802, to Emily V. 
Whitnev, of Wvsox township, and thev have six children, viz.: Fred- 
erick W., Nellie M., Rol)ert G., Mary W., Willie and David. Of these, 
Nellie married U. G. Russell, and Robert married ]\Iai'garuite Kilmer. 

Dr. Frederick W. Rice, who has adopted his father's profession, as 
well as studying and graduating in dentistry, was born in Rome, 
December 20^ 1804, and received his education in the pul)lic schools 
of Rome borough. During his leisure hours, he clerked in his father's 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1115 

drug store, where he studied pharmacy, and he became a registei-ed 
pharmacist in 1887; then read medicine with his father, and, after a 
sufficient course of reading, entered Jefferson Medical College, of Phil- 
adelphia, and was graduated April 4, 1889. He commenced the study 
of dentistry, and entered the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, 
of Philadelphia, was graduated, and received the degree of D. D. S., in 
1891. He is also a registered pharmacist, and clerks in his father's 
store. He was united in marriage, June 11, 1888, with Clara E. Forbes, 
of Rome. AVilliam Rice is a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R.; 
also a member of the Masonic Fraternity, at Rome, Lodge No. 418, and 
has taken the degree of A. Y. M. Politically the family were formerly 
Democratic, but have been stanch Republicans since the organization 
of that partv. 

J. W. PJCHARDS, dispatcher, Northern Division, L. Y. R. R., 
Sayre, is a native of Factory ville, Luzerne Co., Pa., and was born May 
14, 1852, a son of Edward 'and Harriet (Allen) Richards, natives of 
Orange county, N. Y. His father, who was a farmer, died in Scranton, 
in 1872, in his fifty-ninth year; his mother died in 1869, in her forty- 
ninth year. At the age of thirteen J. W. started out in life for himself, 
and at the age of sixteen began an apprenticeship at the boiler-maker's 
trade, m Scranton, where he worked until 1880, when he came to Sayre, 
and in 1881 was made foreman in the boiler shops, and held that position 
until x\pril, 1890, when he was promoted to his present position. He 
was married, in Scranton, in 1873, to Miss Anna, daughter of Joab 
and Sarah Haywood, natives of England, and, of their family of seven 
children, she is the youngest in order of birth, and was born in Water- 
town, N. Y., in August, 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have one 
daughter, Alice. Mrs. Richards is a member of the Baptist Church ; 
Mr. Richards is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity, No. 70, 
Chapter No. 161, of the Northern Commandery, No. 16, and of the 
Royal Arcanum and Iron Hall; in politics he is a Republican. 

ROBERT RICHARDS, farmer and stock-grower, Windham town- 
ship, P. O. Windham Summit, is a native of Ithaca, N. Y., born June 
13, 1814, and is a son of Athinal and Hannah (Smith) Richards, the 
former born in Wyoming county. Pa., the latter in New Jer■se^^ 
When a small boy in his father's Wj^oming home, Athinal Richards 
gave unusual indications of being a natural musician, and in after life 
was pronounced the best violinist in the State of New York. The 
young man, with his fiddle, the big end of his patrimony, came to- 
Bradford county, and located in Durell township in 1813, but after a 
stay of one year removed to Tompkins, N. Y., where he remained 
until his death in 1846; by his side was laid his widow in 1850. The 
parents of this musician were of English stock, the mother being 
Rachel (Davenport), and they were married in Wyoming county. 
The father was severely wounded in the battle of Wyoming, in 1763, 
and died two mouths thereafter; the widow afterward, in the year 
1790, removed to Standing Stone, in this county, where she died in 
1856. Athinal Richards had nine children, of whom Robert, the sub- 
ject of this notice, is the fifth. He became, like his ancestors, a 
farmer, and in 1847 came to Bradford county, where he purcliased a 



IIIG HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

farm in Rome township, where he remained seven years; then sold 
and went to Orwell, and was on his farm in that place eleven years. 
In 18G6 he again sold, and located in Windham, giving to his son, W. 
N. Richards, his elegant farm of 100 acres. He was twice married, 
first to Elizabeth Roe, daughter of Samuel J. and Sarah (McCann) 
Roe, of Ithaca, X. Y., and by her had two children : W. N., now in 
Owego, N. Y., very wealthy, and Mary E., wife of Daniel Vanloane. 
Mrs. Richards died July 29, 1847, and he was afterward married in 
Standing Stone, March 8, 1848, to Rebecca, daughter of John V. and 
Polly Morris, natives of Peekskill, N. Y., by which marriage there 
were three children : Lou, who died October 25, 1881. aged thirty -one 
years; Benjamin F., who is postmaster at Windham Summit, and 
George A., a civil engineer on the St. Paul, Chicago & Milwaukee 
Railroad. In the family is an adopted son, Frank M. This wife was 
twice married, first to Nehemia Yought, by whom there were two chil- 
dren : Isaac, a farmer in Orwell, and Charles M., who died at the age 
of ten. Robert Richards enlisted in the army, October 15, 1862, in 
the Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company D, and was 
mustered in October 17 at Camp Curtin. From severe exposure on 
camp duty in the frosty and rainy winter, he was stricken down with 
sickness, and contracted chronic rheumatism ; was furloughed sixty 
days, and while still sick was carried off, as a deserter, to Camp Distri- 
bution, Ya., and from there was sent to his own camp, and placed on 
a dismounted cannon near Washington, where he was again examined 
by surgeons and honorably discharged. From that day to this 
he has been a constant sufferer from disease contracted on duty, 
and is now wholly disabled. He was the oldest soldier in his regi- 
ment, and now is the oldest ex-soldier in the county ; Is a member of 
the G. A. R. Post, at Nichols, N. Y., and in politics he is Republican. 
He voted the first Abolition ticket ever put in the ballot box at Rome. 
The complete explanation of the chai'ge of desertion is in the fact that, 
when his furlough expired, he was unable to report, and was arrested; 
but full proofs were made, and he was honorably acquitted, and no 
man to-day stands higher in the ranks of the old soldiers. He is now 
drawing a pension. He was one of the first settlers in Greenwood, 
Steuben Co., N. Y. 

SAMUEL Y. RICHARDS, photographer, Towanda, is a native of 
the bright little county of Montour, Pa., where he was born August 81, 
183G, a son of John and Rebecca (Clark) Richards, of Welsh and Scotch- 
Irish stock, and natives of Pennsylvania. They were a family of 
farmers, and of that heroic mold that braved the forests and carved 
out new farms of the wild wood-land. His parents removed to the 
outer borders of Lycoming county, wlien he was little more than a 
young infant, and there, on his farm, his father spent the remainder of 
his da3's, and reared his Camily of seven children, and died in 1862. 
Samuel, the youngest of tiie famdy, whose childhood was spent in the 
deep woods, miles away from the nearest school-house, and, instead of 
books, he learned, at an early age, to chop and plow and do general 
farm labor, and there are few seci'ets connected with clearing a farm but 
that he well remembers from experience just how people go about it; 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1117 

and when he was a young man grown he was innocent of knowing the 
names or faces of the alphabet. Wl\en he was about twenty-live years 
old, he very wisely found his partner in life; married, and now has not 
onl}^ the best of wives, but his school teacher; for, commencing with 
"A B C," she carried him along to a very respectable p]nglish educa- 
tion. While the good wUe was helping him with his books, he was 
heli)ing himself, and from chopping wood, he became an expert shingle- 
maker, and by slow gradations, eventually, a carpenter and builder. 

From day to day and year to year he labored on, adding both to 
his material and mental resources, and after fourteen years of carpen- 
tering he removed, in 185S, to Danville (the county-seat of his native 
county), where he was married (as above related), and continued the 
carpentering trade until 1SG7, wdien a fortunate acquaintance with 
a photographer of that place finally led him to learn the art and 
mysteries of the trade of photography. His good reputation enabled 
him to borrow the money to start himself in this business, and his close 
attention and skill in the art enabled him to repay the loan in a short 
time, and to finally come to Towanda and build up one of the most 
extensive and finest studios in northern Pennsylvania; and so rapidly 
has his fame extended and his work accumulated, that now he owns 
two branch offices. He came to Towanda in 1883, and here has his 
head studio, and his excellent work has spread his fame abroad. Mr. 
Kichards was married m Danville, in 1861, to Matilda, daughter of 
David Keim, and widow of John Young, and w^ho had a daughter, 
Ella (Mrs. Charles Colburn, of Wilkes-Barre). They have had three 
children, born as follows: Hattie (died, aged nineteen), Elizabeth (an 
artist, the wife of Walter Smith) and Mary Alice (wife of George O. 
Englebreckt). Mr. and Mrs. Kichards are prominent members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Republican, a member of the 
I. O. O. F. In connection with his gallery he has a stock of artists' goods. 

LEWIS RINEBOLD, a leading farmer of Overton township, P. O. 
Overton, one of the surviving wounded veterans of the Civil War, is a 
native of Lehigh county. Pa., born April 19, 1831, and is a son of 
Lewis and Sallie (Slatterteigh) Rinebold, natives of Pennsylvania and 
of German extraction. The father, who followed the trade of shoe- 
maker, came to Bradford county in 1834, and made Overton his home 
until he died in 1850; the mother died in 1863. Lewis Rinebold, who is 
the tenth in a family of eleven children, grew to manhood in the 
family home, and when of sufficient age was put to learning the 
cabinet-maker's trade, which he followed for twenty years; he then pur- 
chased a sawmill, which he operated the next twenty-two years, when 
he engaged in farming, his present occupation, on his farm of lifty- 
seven acres in Overton Valley, which is highly improved, and makes a 
most comfortable old homestead. On January 31, 1870, Mr. Pinebold 
was joined in wedlock with Mira, daughter of Alfred and Hannah 
(Mudge) Leonard, Pennsylvanians of English origin, who came to 
Bradford county in 1835, and settled in Troy, where they passed the 
remainder of their days. The Rinebolds are members of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee, steward and class- 
leader, superintendent of the Sunday-school, and Bible-class teacher, in 



1118 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the latter of which Mrs. Rinebold is also a teacher. He votes the Pro- 
hibition ticket, and has held the office of school director. He enlisted 
in the army, September 7, 1862, in the One Hundred and Forty-first 
P. V. I., Company C, and was wounded by a musket ball, in the hip, 
at the battle of Chancellorsville; he participated in the battles of Fred- 
ericksburg and Chancellorsville; and was honorably discharged, Sep- 
tember 7, 1863. 

REUBEN PJNEBOLD, Overton township, P. O. Overton, a lead- 
ing and influential farmer of his township, a native of Lehigh county, 
Pa., born March 20, 1820, is a son of Ludwig and Sallie (Slothy) 
Rinebold, Pennsylvanians of remote German descent. His father, 
who was a shoemaker and farmer, came to Overton in 1835, where he 
died January 7, 1856, and his widow, March 12, 1864. Their children 
were eleven in number, of whom Reuben is the fourth in order of 
birth. He remained in the famih^ home, and when he attained his 
majority commenced life on his own account, and carved out his own 
fortune ; he is now retired from active labor, having sold his fifty-acre 
farm to his son Adison. Mr. Rinebold was married, in Overton, 
January 5, 1843, to Catherine, daughter of Daniel and Magdaline 
(Wilt) Heverly, of the early pioneer family of Overton, and to this 
union there were eleven children, of whom Adison L., is the fifth in 
the order of birth, born in Overton where he grew to manhood and 
engaged in sawmill and lumbering eleven years, and then purchased 
his fathers farm, which he still occupies. Adison L. Rinebold and 
Effie Allen were joined in matrimony, December 25, 1879, and have a 
famiW of four children, as follows; Grace, George E., Francis R. and 
Murra3\ Reuben is "Prohibition" in politics, while Adison is Repub- 
lican. The former is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and has filled the offices of class-leader, steward and trustee; 
has also held the offices of school director, road commissioner, treasurer 
and assessor. 

JOHN RING, farmer and stockman, P. O. Cadis, was born in 
County Cork, Ireland, December 16, 1838, to Daniel and Johanna 
(Mahnes) Ring, natives of the same place, and farmers. The family 
migrated to America in 1839, and pushed at once their way to the 
])resent abode in Warren township, this county, one of the early pio- 
neers to this part of the county, and a hearty, bold young man he was, 
who, with ax in hand, measured his strength of bod}^ against the dark 
old primeval forests that clung upon the hillsides and shadowed so 
deeply the rich valleys. No man in his time, jierhaps, cleared for cul- 
tivation more acres of these rich lands than he. He died March 25, 
1878, and his good wife and helpmeet departed this life February 24, 
1884. To them had been born ten children — five sons and five daugh- 
ters — of whom John, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest; Mary, a 
resident of Omaha ; Ellen (Mrs. Thomas Dunlovey), of Warren town- 
ship, the mother of eleven children ; Catherine (Mrs. Luke Cheghem- 
essy), of Owego, N. Y., has eight children ; Richard, died July 3. 1888, 
aged forty-one, at Wilkes-Barre ; Jerry, married Anna Ryan, of Kings- 
ton, N. Y., they have one child, aged seven, died in 1866 ; Johanna 
(Mrs. Michael Pingrose) of Windham, her husband died October 6, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1119 

1888; Margaret (Mrs. Edward B. IJrosnan, who has five children). 
John Rino- was reared on his father's farm in Warren township, and 
in early life learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade, which he fol- 
lowed eighteen years, and then turned his attention to farming. He 
has 145 acres well improved and stocked, with ample and good build- 
ings, with one of the finest farm residences in this part of the county. 
Mr. Ring was married in Warren township, March 31, 18G1, to Johanna, 
daughter of Patrick and Mary (Spaid) Shelton, natives of County 
Clare, Ireland, who came to this country in their early married life ; 
the father died in 1S7Y, and the mother in 1875. They had children, 
as follows : James, married to Maggie Murray (they iiave one child, 
John, and reside in Williamsport) ; Mary, of Elkland, Pa.; Daniel ; 
Henry, a blacksmith, of Altoona ; John, died in 1871, aged three years. 
Mr. Ring was married, the second time, in 1871, to Julia daughter of 
Daniel and Julia Delhouty, of Tipperary, Ireland, and to this marriage 
were born four children : Joseph, a blacksmith, of Altoona; Julia and 
Hannah, school teachers, and Kit at school. The family are prominent 
and exemplary members of the Catholic Church, and in politics he is a 
Democrat. 

ORIN G. ROBBINS, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born on the farm where he now resides, April 10, 18G5, 
and is a son of Isaac and Emily (Arnot) Robbins. The ancestors of 
Isaac Robbins had lived in Pennsylvania several generations, and his 
VI fe is a descendant of Selah and Prudence (Knight) Arnot, who came 
to Monroe in 1816; the former of German and the latter of Holland 
origin. They were accompanied by their children : George E., 
Joshua, Samuel, Mahala, Susan, Hannah, Cidney and Jane, and set- 
tled on the farm adjoining where Orin G. Robbins now resides. The 
first school at Liberty Corners was kept in a log-barn on this place, 
and was soon changed into a hewn-log building, which had been built 
for a shingle shop. In Isaac's family there were two children : George 
E., born June 9, 1856, a hair dresser in Oswego, N. Y., and Orin G., 
who was reared on the farm, educated in the common school, and after 
following various occupations for brief intervals, engaged in farming 
on the old homestead, where he has since resided. Mr. Robbins was 
married, March 24, 1888, to Miss May, daughter of George and Char- 
lotte (McGill) Edsall, of South Branch, and they have two children : 
Nema Belle, born January 8, 1889, and Edna May, born Januar}^ 7, 
1891. Mr. and Mrs. Robbins are members of the Patrons of Industry, 
and he is a Republican in politics. 

J. W. ROBERTSON, farmer, P. O. Orwell, was born in Fairdale, 
Susquehanna Co., Pa., July 11, 1822, and is a son of John and Hannah 
(Sherer) Robertson, the former of whom was a native of New Hamp- 
shire, removed to Susquehanna, in 1816, and passed the greater por- 
tion of his life there, passing much of his last years with his son, J. W. 
Robertson, and died in 1877; the mother died in 1875; they were 
agriculturists, but the father worked at the shoemaker's trade several 
3^ears. He reared a family of ten children, viz.: David S., Hannah 
(married to William J. Arnold, both deceased), Mary (married to David 
Patterson, both deceased), William, J. W., Samuel (deceased), James 



1120 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

M., Khoda (deceased), Helen (married to Dr. Augustus Bissell, of Maha- 
noy Cit}') and Samuel. J. W. Robertson passed his boyhood in Susque- 
hanna county, receiving a fair common-school education, and on 
reaching his majority farmed on his own account, and resided on the old 
homestead until 1866, when he bought his present farm, on which he has 
made the improvements. During the past twenty -five years Mr. Rob- 
ertson has suffered from rlieumatism to such an extent that he has been 
disabled from farm labor, which he has trusted to his son, Frank C. 
He was united in wedlock, June 1, 1848, with Laura L., a daughter of 
Richard and Lydia (Robinson) Jillson, natives of Connecticut ; her 
father, who was a farmer, came to Bradford in 1825, and reared a fam- 
ily of nine children, of whom Mrs. Robertson is the second. Mr. and 
Mrs. Robertson have had three children : Franklin, born September 30, 
1849, died September 6, 1851; Amos, born November 30, 1850, married 
Dellie Gould, and is now operating a butter and milk store in New 
York City ; Frank C, born May 29, 1854, in Susquehanna county, was 
reared on a farm and received a common-school education. After 
reaching his majority he engaged in farming on his own account; he 
was married, January 3, 1884, to Josie M. Green, who was born in 
Iowa, a daughter of -John H. and Deborah (Bailey) Green ; the farm 
they now ow^n contains 145 acres, highly improved and well stocked. 
Mr. and Mrs. Robertson have had two children: Ethel A., born Feb- 
ruary 21,1885 ; and Jennie L., born September 11, 1889, and died when 
about three months old ; the family worship at the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and since becoming members they have been earnest 
Avorkers. Mrs. Frank Robertson is a member of the Free-Baptist, of 
which denomination her father was a minister. Mr. J. W. Robertson 
is an uncompromising Republican ; Frank is a member of the Prohibi- 
tion party. 

ALPHONSO L. ROBINSON, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. 
South Hill, was born in Orwell township, this county, April 18, 1848, 
a son of Lmus and Clarissa (Norton) Robinson. His father was born 
in Orwell township, September 15, 1826, on the farm he now occupies. 
The grandfather was one of the first settlers in Orwell township, in 
1810, and was a noted hunter; in his family there were nine children, as 
follows: Curtis, Daniel, Wesley, Linus, Whitmore (who was killed when 
a young man), Betsy (married to John Johnson), Sallie (married to 
Morris Woodruff), Polly (married to Francis Chubbuck) and Louisa 
(married to Simon Kinney). Linus assisted in clearing the old home- 
stead, where he had alwayslived; his family were six in number: Emily, 
a widow (married to Fred Jones), Alphonso, Elmer (married to Sarah 
Vanness), Edmund (married to Hattie House), Berton (married to Eva 
Chaffee) and Mertie (married to Ernest Barnes). Alphonso L. Robin- 
son married November 14. 1870, Rosa A., (hiughter of Nelson and Eliza- 
beth (Knapp) Barnes; in her father's family there were two sons and 
two daughters, viz, : Loton, who died, aged four years; Emeline, married 
to Dr. C. II. Warner; Hiram, who entered the army at sixteen, in the One 
Hundred and Forty -first Regiment, Company D, and was in all the work 
of that regiment until the battle of Gettysburg, where he was killed, and 
Rosa A. (Mrs. Alphonso L. Robinson). Mr. Barnes was a son of Jesse 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



1121 



Barnes, Avho was one of the very earliest settlers of Orwell township. In 
1856 he built the house on the farm now occupied by Alphonso L. Robin- 
son, in which he resided until his death, which occurred July 18, 1881, 
when he was aged sixty-three years. Alphonso L. Robinson spent his 
boyhood on his father's farm, and attended the district schools and Orwell 
Hill Academy until his twentieth year. He began life for himself as 
a farmer, and bought his first land, known as the "Billy Warfle" farm, 
in 1870, and owned it until 1879, when he traded it for the "Boyd" 
farm, adjoining his present home; same year he removed into his pres- 
ent residence. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have had two sons and five 
dauo-hters, viz.: Clara, born September 21. 1872; Effie, born September 
17, 1874, and died April 1, 1879; Arthur, born May 7, 1880; Clarence, 
born March 20, 1881; Mabel, born September 17, 1884; Ethel, born Sep- 
tember 3, 1886, died January 9, 1887; and Bessie, born May 24, 1888. 
Mr. Robinson owns a farm of 185 acres, has a sugar orchard of about 
500 trees, and also raises a great many young cattle, sheep and hogs; 
he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a Prohibi- 
tionist in his political preferments. 

C. B. ROBINSON, blacksmith, P. O. Wyalusing, was born m Wil- 
mot township, Bradford Co., Pa., July 23, 1853, and is a son of Chandler 
and Harriet (Adams) Robinson, natives of Wyoming county, Pa. The 
father was a farmer, and spent the greater portion of his life in Brad- 
ford county ; in 1859 he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he died in 
1862, aged forty -four years; the mother is now living at Forkston, 
Wyoming county. They were the parents of five children : Berkley, 
a farmer'' of Mehoopany; Mary A., married to Joseph Calligan, an 
employe of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and residing in 
Wyaliising; Dora, residing in Cleveland, Ohio; Janette, married to Mr. 
Ilarkell. a°miller, of New York, and our subject, who passed his boyhood, 
from six to twelve years of age, in Ohio, attending the public schools 
of Cleveland ; then returned to Mehoopany and attended school there, 
after which he engaged in farming until 1877, when he began to learn 
his trade, blacksmithing, at which he worked four and one-half years ; 
then went to Mehoopany, and from there to Sugar Run, where he 
owned a shop of his own, and was there two and a half years; from 
there he returned to Mehoopany and had a shop, and stayed in that 
town two years, thence went to Loveton and was there one year ; from 
there he moved to Forkston, where he remained until 1891, when he 
came to Taylorsville, and opened the old Swage stand, and does a gen- 
eral blacksmith business. Mr. Robinson married, January 21, 1874, 
Maxalina, daughter of A. L. Bates, a wagon-maker of Wilmot town- 
ship(her mother was Catherine E. Douglass, deceased). To them were 
born five children: Cassie E., Georgie A., Bessie M., Willie L. and 
Clarence B. Mr. Robinson's political views are Democratic. 

JOEL H. ROBINSON, farmer, Warren township, P. O. Aurora, 
is a native of Rome township, this county, born August 25, 1839, a son 
of Owen and Elvira (Towner) Robinson, natives of Vermont and Penn- 
sylvania, respectively. Owen Rolnnson was the son of Joel and Celia 
(Whitaker) Robinson, of Vermont, who came to Bradford county in 
1820, settled in Warren township, and were among the pioneers and 



v/ 



1122 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

earlv prominent settlers. After residing here some years Mr. Robin- 
son 'removed to Candor, N. Y., where he died in 1873; his first wife 
had died in 1863, and he married, for his second, Mrs. Polly Stewart, 
Avho died in 1884, There were eight children by the first wife, of 
whom Owen, the second in order of birth, was born in Vermont, came 
to this county with his father's family, and went with them to New 
York, thence removed to this State and county in 1835, locating in 
Eome township; he was a farmer and mechanic, and died in 1881; his 
widow survives and resides in Owego; their family of children were five 
in number, of whom Joel II., the subject of the sketch, is the third. 
He grew to manhood in Candor (whither he had gone with his family 
when nine years of age), and commenced life for himself, lumbering, 
following this twenty years. He was married in Candor, in 1863, to 
Nancv J., daughter of William and Elizabeth (Terwilager) Eichen- 
burg,"^natives of Orange county, N. Y.; her father was a tailor, and 
died July 11, 1849; her mother died March 19, 1888; they had nine 
children^! of whom Mrs. Robinson is the seventh. To Mr. and Mrs, 
Joel H, Robinson were born five children, as follows: Willis, mar- 
ried to Flora Chapman, and has one child, Joel C; George O., of Ilor- 
nellsville, K Y.; Alonzo, of same place; Frank and Ernest. The fam- 
ily woi'ship at the Methodist Church ; in politics Mr. Robinson is a 
Republican. 

ROl^ERT ROCKEFELLER, Windham Centre, one of the dis- 
abled retired veterans of the Civil War, and a leading farmer of Wind- 
ham township, was born in Albany county. N. Y., May 24, 1824, a son 
of John and Ruth (Jacobs) Rockefeller, ""the former of whom was a 
blacksmith, who came to Warren township in the year 1841, and, after 
several years, returned to Xew York and came again to Warren; went 
from Warren to Rome, where he resided until his death, in 1858; his 
widow died in 1877. Their children were ten in number, of whom Rob- 
ert, the second in order of birth, remained in Albany county until his 
seventeenth year, when he learned the harness-makers trade, which he 
followed ten vears, and then became a blacksmith, working at his 
fatiier's forge twelve years. In i841,along with a brother, he came to 
this county, farming and blacksmithing. In October, 1862, he enlisted 
in the Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company D, and went 
direct to tiie front with the' Army of the Potomac, under Gen. J^ieas- 
anton, and afterward under Gen. Sheridan; was in the battle of the 
Rappahannock, and on the Rapidan River, and Shenandoah, when he 
was detailed Ijlacksmith to the army transportation department, thus 
continuing until the war closed. He was severely sick soon after enter- 
ing tiie service, and was in the Alexandria hospital three months; had 
an attack of varioloid, and was sent to Camp Distribution, where he 
remained four weeks, and was discharged in August, 1865; he now 
draws a pension; is a member of the G. A. P.. Stevens Post, No. 69, 
Rome; he is Republican in politics, and has been school director, and 
he was postmastei- many years at Wiiulham Summit. Mr. Uockefeller 
was married twice: first to Priscilla P.ullock, who bore him two chil- 
dren: Nathaniel P>., of Ruinmcrtield, and Martin II., of Camptown; the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1123 

second marriage was with Emeline Demorest (daughter of John Kuy- 
kentlall), who had two cliildren : John R. and Opheha B. 

ALBERT N. ROCKWELL, farmer and stock-raiser, Ulster town- 
ship, P. O. Ulster, was born in Ulster, this county, March 30, 1853, and 
is a son of Chauncy and Wealthy (Gordon) Rockwell. [See sketch of 
AV. II. Rockwell.] His early life was spent on the farm, attending ' 
school at Ulster, where he received a good English education ; then he 
engaged in farming, and resides on the old homestead, which he and 
his brother cultivate. He was married, April 14, 1880, to Ella, 
daughter of Alexander and Janette (Rodgers) Murdoch, natives of 
Ayrshire, Scotland. They have one child, a son, Guy Edward, born 
May 30, 1888. Mr. Rockwell was formerly a member of the I. O. O. F.; 
he is a stanch Republican in politics. 

HON.DELOS ROCKWELL, a prominent member of the Bradford 
County Bar, was born in Troy, Bradford Co., Pa., August 28, 1837, a 
son of Luther M. and Johanna M. (Marvin) Rockwell. His paternal 
grandfather. Samuel Rockwell, was a native of Berkshire county, Mass., 
and with his family moved to Canton, this county, in 1804. He died 
at the advanced age of eighty-eight years ; his wife was Llannah Las- 
selle, by whom he had ten children, viz.: Johanna (Mrs. Eli Parsons), 
Elias, Samuel, James, J. Calvin and Luther M. (twins), Laban, Rufus M., 
Myron and Hiram. Of these, Luther M., the father of subject, was a 
native of Burlington, Vt., who came to Canton with his parents, in 
1804, but afterward moved to Troy. In 1816, he married Johanna, a 
daughter of Jesse Marvin, of Monroe county, N. Y. He was 
the father of ten children, namelv: Bingham L., Jesse M., Alvord P., 
Martin L., Elvira (Mrs. D. W. C. Herrick), J. Calvin. Orlando W., 
Hiram L., Azor S., and Delos, the subject of this sketch, who was 
reared in Troy, educated at Madison University, Llamilton, 'N. Y.,and 
studied law with D. W. C. Bates, of Cherry 'Valley, N. Y., and fin- 
ished his studies with the late Hon. Paul D. Morrow, of Towanda, and 
was admitted to the bar in February, 1862. He opened an office in 
Troy, the same year, and has since been in the active practice of his 
profession. He married, in June, 1864. Eliza B., daughter of Francis 
and Laura (Spalding) Smith, of Troy. Mr. Rockwell was in the Civil 
War, having enlisted, in June, 1863, in Company B. Twenty -sixth 
P. V. I., but, after six weeks' service, was honorably discharged. In 
1874, he was elected State Senator from the Twenty-third District of 
Pennsylvania, and was a delegate to the National Democratic Conven- 
tion, at St. Louis, in 1888, which nominated Grover Cleveland for a 
second term. Mr. Rockwell has been one of the foremost men in all 
school matters; he was for twenty-five years a prominent school 
officer of the borough and vicinit}^ Something of the estimate of this 
gentleman by his neighbors and many friends is found in the fact that, 
while he has always been a fearless and outspoken Democrat, yet he was 
elected to the State Senate, in the face of an adverse majority of 3,500 
votes. He is esteemed for his many excellent qualities of head and 
heart, as well as for an integrity that has never even been a subject of 
discussion. He is a wortliy repr'esentative of the famih' of one of the 
early pioneers to this part of Bradford county. It is now nearly a 



1124 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

century since his paternal orand father came to western Bradford, and 
made his permanent home, and here is where the name of Kockwell is 
best known and best appreciated. His brothers are all living in west- 
ern Bradford, except J. M. Rockwell, who died in 1S89. Azor S. lives 
on the old homestead, in Troy townshij), where his father moved at 
the time of his marriage, and "where he lived until his death, in 1856, 
and on which farm his brothers and sisters were born. 

EDAVAKD ROCKWELL, farmer and stock-grower, Ulster, was 
born April 19, 1849, at Cincinnatus, Cortland Co., K Y., and is a son 
of Chauncy and Wealthy (Gordon) Rockwell. [See sketch of W. H. 
Rockwell.] He was born and reared on a farm, and his education — a 
good one for his day — was received in the schools of Ulster; he resides 
on the old homestead farm with his mother. His father's house was 
one of the first buildings erected in Ulster, and was pulled down, in 
1868, to make room for the house in whicii he now resides ; the old 
homestead farm consists of 165 acres, and is one of the iinest in the 
valley, comprising both river and hill land, and under a magnificent 
state\)f cultivation. He and his brother, Albert, manage it in partner- 
ship, using improved farm implements, and are careful in the manner of 
changing their crops, making the soil richer every year. Tliey raise 
from six to eight acres of tobacco yearly, besides the other crops. His 
father's family consisted of nine children, seven of \vhom are living, 
six in this county ; George is in Buffalo, N. Y. Edward Rockwell, who 
is the seventh child, resides with his mother, who was born at Standing 
Stone in 1814; he is unmarried, is a Republican in ]H)litics and is a good 
neighbor and citizen. 

ELMER A. ROCKWELL, physician and farmer, Stevensville, was 
born near his present home, October 2, 1845, a son of Natiian and 
Delia (White) Rockwell, the former of whom was born, of New Eng- 
land origin, on the farm where Elmer A. now lives, the latter being a 
native of Windham, N. Y., born of New England and German lineage: 
the grandfather was a Shaker. In Nathan Rockwell's family there 
were five children, of whom Elmer A., the second in order of birch, 
was reared on a farm and educated in the common school. On July 
23, 1863, he enlisted at Baltimore, Md., in Company C, Third Mary- 
land Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, being mustered 
out August 14, 1865, at Baltimore. He then began the study of medi- 
cine, with Dr. C. H. Warner, continuing three years, at the same time 
takin<r the course at Michigan University, where he was graduated in 
ls68r He practiced successively at Edenville (Mich.), Stevensville, 
(iladwin (Mich.), where he was register of deeds one term, and then 
came to Stevensville, but has practiced but little since, owing to ill 
health. Dr. Rockwell married Harriet E., daughter of John and 
Louisa (Reilson) Hicks, natives of New York, and of German and 
American descent. He is a member of the G. A. R., Post No. 86, at 
Camptown, and in politics he is a Republican. 

GAMAGE ROCKWELL, fai-mcr, B. O. Bui-lington, was boi-n Sep- 
tember 13, 1863, on tlu^ farm where he now resides in West P.urling- 
ton township, a son of Orlando W. and Mary ((iamage) Rockwell, of 
English origin and natives of this county; the former was boi-n in 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1125 

Troy, and the latter in West Burlington to\vnshi|), this county. The 
grandfather, Rockwell, who was a pioneer of the township, a far-mer 
and a man of influence, reared a family of ten children, the father of 
our subject being the sixth in order of birth, and eight of the sons are 
still living. Hon. Delos Rockwell, of Troy, is a member of the family, 
and uncle to damage. The father is a farmer and lives in West Jkir- 
lington. The grea"t-grandfather Gamage is the first of the paternal 
ancestors of whom the family have any knowledge, and was a pioneer 
of West Burlington township. Gamage Rockwell, who is the third of 
five children, was brought upon the farm, and now owns his father's 
old homestead, one of the finest farms in the township, comprising 
about one hundred acres; he has a good dairy, and also raises sheep 
and cattle. Mr. Rockwell was married, September 10, 1886, to Frankie 
Mead, who was born November 25, 18(57, daughter of Francis C. and 
Helen (Calkins) Mead. Fler father, who was a native of Ohio, and by 
trade a shoemaker, was a soldier in the Civil War and saw a great deal 
of service, was taken ])i'isioner at Bull Run, and died from exposure 
soon after he was discharged ; his father was a jMoneer m the county. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell have been born tw^o children: Helen, born 
April 3, 1887, and Martha, born February 22, 1881). The family are 
consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

HIRAM L. ROCKWELL, farmer, of Troy township, P. O. Troy, 
was born in Troy township, this county, December 13, 1831, and is a 
son of Luther M. and Johanna (Marvin) Rockwell. His paternal grand- 
parents, Samuel and Hannah (Lassell) Rockwell, of Berkshire county, 
Mass., settled in Canton township in 1804. Luther M., a native of 
Ijurlington, Vt., and a farmer, came to Bradford county with his 
parents in 1804, and spent most of his life in Troy townshi]), clearing 
and improving the farm now owned by his son Azor S., and died there ; 
his wife was a daughter of Jesse Marvin, a pioneer of Troy township, 
and later of Rochester, N. Y. [See sketch of Hon. Delos Rockwell.] 
Luther M. Rockwell reared a family of nine sons and one daughter, of 
whom our subject is. the eighth child and seventh son. Hiram L. Rock- 
well was reared on the old homestead, a part of which he now owns; 
this he cleared of stones and stumps, making all the improvements in 
buildings, etc.; it comprises about 135 acres. Mr. Rockw^ell married 
twice: his first wife was Juliet, daughter of Jehel and Maryette 
(Norman) McKean, of Burlington township, and by her he had one 
daughter, Metta (Mrs. Samuel Bennett), who has one son, Hira ; his 
second wife was Mary McKean, sister of his first wife. Mr. Rockwell 
is a prominent farmer; has field various townshijiofflces ; is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and in politics is a Republican. 

HORACE W. ROCKWELL, proprietor of foundry, Monroeton, was 
born April 3(», 1834, in what is novvTroy borough, this county, and is a 
son of Myron and Rfary Ann (Lillybridge) Rockwell. He was reared in 
Sullivan "township, Tioga Co., Pa., from six years of age,and was educated 
at Troy Academy. In 1851 he went to Monroeton, for three years 
serving an apprenticeship at the molder's trade, after which he worked 
as a journeyman in Towanda, Athens and Troy, and in 18(!4 purchased 
the foundry at Monroeton, where he had learned his trade, which he 

6G 



1126 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

has since successfully conducted. In 1877 he was burned out, but 
immediately rebuilt on a larger scale, and is now giving employment 
to tifteen hands in tlie manufacture of agricultural im])lements and 
repairing. He married, in 1865, Hattie Emily, daughter of J. B. M. 
and Frances M. (Dudley) Hinman, of Monroeton, and by her had the 
following children: Frances L. (Mrs. Coly J. Beach), Mary E., Harry 
H., Verne L. and Inez M. Mr. Rockwell was a member of the Thir- 
teenth Pennsylvania Militia, known as the " emergencx' men," during 
the Civil War, served one montli, and was then discharged. He is a 
member of Presbyterian Church, the F. & A. M. and G. A. R. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

JOHN ROCKWELL, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Franklin- 
dale, Pa., a son of Hiram and Dolly (Green) Rockwell, the former a 
native of Massachusetts, born in 1814, the latter of Delaware county, 
N. Y., born in 1816. They removed to this county early in life, where 
Mr. Rockwell followed lumber'ing, after which he turned his attention 
to farming; his family consisted of eleven children, nine of whom 
grew to maturity, as follows: Orator, John, G. K., A. C, Hiram, 
Cirena, Polly, Louisa and Amelia, and eight of these are now living. 
Our subject is the second in the family, and was reared and educated 
in LeRoy; in early life he helped his father in the lumber mill, and at 
the age of eiofhteen he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and 
Fortv-first P. Y. I., and served his country all through the war. He 
was twice wounded, at Chancellorsville and at Spottsylvania. Sep- 
tember 9, 1865, he married Myrtie, daughter of Harr\' and Mar}^ Kel- 
logg, of LeRoy, the former of whom was a native of Connecticut and 
a noted river man, generally known by the name of " Capt. Kellogg." 
To them were born eight children, seven of whom ai'e living, viz.: C. 
L. (married to INIinnie San ford). Flora, Delia, Robert R., Pearl, Marion, 
Daisy and Harry. During seven years of Mr. Rockwell's life, he 
devoted his time to mercantile business at LeRo}' Centre, in which he 
was quite successful ; aftei'ward he became engaged in general farm- 
ing. He has held various offices of public trust; he is a meniber of 
the G. A. R., I. O. O. F., and Patriotic Order Sons of America; polit- 
ically lie is a Republican. 

JOSEPH L. ROCKWELL, millerand farmer, P. O.West Burlington, 
was born April 9, 1843. in Ti'oy township, this county, a son of Bing- 
liam and Abby (Pierce) Rockwell, natives of Yermont, who removed 
to Bradford county with their parents when chikh'en ; both families 
are of English origin. The grandfather, Luther Rockwell, was one of 
the pioneers of Troy, and was a miller, farmer and lumberman ; lie built 
the mill at West Purlington which Joseph L. now owns. Bingham 
Rockwell is a farmei- living in West Burlington, at the age of seventy- 
three years, aiul is a l)r()ther of Hon. I)elos Rockwell, of Troy. Joseph 
L. was twice married: iiis lirst wife was Emma Ross (deceased); his 
second wife was Julia Sti-ange, of Tioga county. Pa., and they wei'e 
married May 27, 1885. Mr. Rockwell's milling business is one of the 
largest in the county ; he has recently added to the j)ropertv in rejxiirs 
and improvements the sum of of )i>4.000; the mill has both steam and 
water power. He also owns a fine farm of about 300 acres on which 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1127 

dairying is carried on quite extensively ; he also raises some fine-bred 
trotting horses, and cattle. Politically he is a Democrat, but o-ives 
his attention entirely to his business affairs; he is a member of the 
Freemasons, and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Cliurch, and he is superintendent of the Sunday-school; he 
is one of the thorough-going and substantial business men of the county. 

OSCAR II. ROCKWELL, M. I)., Monroeton, is a native of Sulli- 
van township, Tioga Co., Pa., born November 23, 1841, and is a son of 
Myron and Mary A. (Lillybridge) Rockwell. His grandparents, Sam- 
uel and Hannah (LaSelle) Rockwell, came, in 1802, from Vermont to 
this county, where they settled. Myron Rockwell, father of the sub- 
ject of this memoir, was a native of Canton, this county, having been 
born there September 20, 1804. He was reared and educated in iiis 
native town, and about the year 1810 he located in SulHvan town- 
ship, Tioga county. In 1839 he had been licensed to preach the Gospel 
in the East Sullivan Baptist Church, of which he had been a member 
since fifteen years of age; served as pastor for the Baptist Churches in 
Tioga and Lycoming counties. Throughout his active life he was pre- 
eminent in pietv and Christian zeal, and he practiced what he ])reached. 
He passed froni earth at Roseville, Tioga county, at the patriarchal age 
of eighty years nine months and two days. His wife was a daughter of 
Warren Lillybridge, of Providence, R.' I., and by her he became the 
father of eight children, viz.: Nancy J. (Mrs. Joel Webster), Myron 
A., Warren A. (deceased), Horace W., Marv E. (Mrs. Ira Bement), 
Emma P. (Mrs. Frank L. Miller), Oscar H. and Ella E. (Mrs. Marchael 
Lefler). 

Oscar H. Rockwell, whose name opens this sketch, was reared in 
Tioga county, educated in the common schools, Mansfield Seminary 
and Troy Academy. In 1868 he came to Monroeton, this county, and 
in 1870 began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. 
D. N. Newton. In the fall of 1871 he entered the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, and grad- 
uated therefrom in the"^ spring of 1873, since which time he lias been 
in the active practice of his chosen ]irofession at Monroeton. The 
Doctor was married, December 19, 1870, to Catharine M., daugliter of 
John and Celestia R. (Hinman) Hanson, of Monroeton, and to them 
has been born one daughter, Mary C. The family are members of 
the Presbyterian Church, and in politics the Doctor is a Republican. 
He is a member of Bradford County Medical Society, of which he 
was president one year. He is a member of the F. & A. M., is past 
master and secretary of the Lodge at Monroeton; is also a member of 
the I. O. O. F., and is past orand in the same. 

SAMUEL A. ROCKWELL (8), farmer, P. O. Granville Centre, Pa., 
was l)orn in Trov borough, this county, August 22, 1825, and is a son 
of John C. and Harriet (Andrus) Rockwell (7). His paternal grand- 
parents were Samuel and Hannah (Laselle) Rockwell (0), formerly of 
Lamsboro, Mass., w^ho located in Canton township, this county, in 1804, 
but later removed to Troy, and afterward returned to Canton, and 
resided there until their death. Samuel was a son of John (5), son of 
John (4), son of Jonathan (3), son of John (2), a son of John Rock- 



]^128 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

well (1), and the first ancestor in America, who sailed from Dorchester, 
England, in 1641, settling in Stamford, Conn. John C. Rockwell, 
father of subject, born in Cornwall, Vt., came to Canton with his 
parents in 1804. He was a shoemaker b}^ trade, and his life was spent 
in Canton, Troy, LeRoy and Granville townships; he cleared and 
improved the farm occupied bv subject, and died there. His children 
were Sylvia (Mrs. Orator Holcomb), Emily (Mrs. John P. Bush), 
SamuefA., James B., Eliza B., (Mrs. Hiram Stone). Samuel A. Pvock- 
well was reared in Troy and LeRoy townships and, in 1846, came to 
Granville with his father, where he has since resided : he lives now on 
the old homestead, where his father and mother both died. He married, 
October 11, 1849, Hannah, thiughter of Eli and Harriet (Bailey) 
Holcomb, of LeRov township, and has five children, as follows : Lavinia 
(Mrs. T. H. Bailey), Ella E. (Mrs. Franklin Saxton), E. Adelle (Mrs. 
Isaac Biish); J. C. (his onlv son, married to Josie Morse, of LeRoy) 
and rhtt'be (Mrs. Frank AVilcox). Mr. Rockwell is among the repre- 
sentative farmers of Granville township, and aside from farming, sum- 
mers, he taught school, eighteen winters, when between the age of 
eighteen and forty. He is a member of the Church of Christ at Gran- 
ville Centre. In politics he is a Republican, and served one term as 
mercantile appraiser for Bradford county. 

WILLIAM A. ROCKWELL, farmer, Tuscarora township, P. O. 
Springfield, was born in Pike, May 22, 1826, and is the eldest of four 
children of William and Sallv (Andrus) Rockwell, the former a native 
of CV)nnecticnt. the latter of A'erinont, both being of New England 
parentage. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in the com- 
mon school, and at the age of twenty-one began life for himself, 
working at the carpenter's and joiner's trade, with Wright cfe Green- 
ough, in Granville township. On April 15, 1853, he moved to Tusca- 
rora, where he worked at his trade, until he purchased his present 
home of 100 acres, and has since been chiefly engaged in farm- 
ing, occasionally working at his trade. Mr. Rockwell was married, 
Februarv 11, 1851, to Miss Mary E., daughter of Thomas and Hannah 
(Montgomery) Tavlor, of Rocksbury, Delaware Co., N. Y.; they have 
seven children, viz.: Ella C, born February 26, 1853, married to Aden 
Lvon, farmer, Tuscarora; Eliza I., born April 11, 1856, died June 16, 
1875; Herbert V., born October 12,1860; Angie IL, born June 11, 
1863, and died March 11,1864; Fred A., born September 12,1865; 
]}ertha M.. born November 11, 1867, married to (iilbert Sumner. Tus- 
carora, and Blennie ().. born July 26, 1872. Mr. Ilockwell is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Spring Hill, and in politics he 
has always been honorably identified with the Republican party. 

W. II. ROCKAVELLI farmer and stock-raiser, Ulster, son of 
Chauncy and AVeaithv (Gordon) Rockwell, was born in Cortland 
county ,^N. Y.. Marcli 4, 1S40. His father was a native of New York, 
and his mother was l)orn and reared at Standing Stone, this county. 
His grandfather was one of the eai-ly pioiuHTs of Cortland county, 
moving to that county from Massachusetts in the year 1778: iill that 
is known of the early history of tiie Rockwells is tha,t two brothers 
by the name of Rockwell came to Massachusetts from England m the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. * 1120 

earlv Colonical times, and to these two brothers the present generation 
of ilockwells trace their descent, llis father's family consisted of 
eight children, viz.: Charles (deceased), Henry, George, Emmet, 
Edward, iVlbert, Emma and Ella, of whom seven are living, six of them 
being residents of this county; his father removed from Cortland 
coun°ty, N. Y., to Ulster in the*^ year 1850, and lived there until his 
death", in the spring of 1862; his mother survives, is in her seventy- 
sixth year, and makes her home with her son Edward. Me received 
his early education at the public schools of Ulster, as a farmer's boy of 
his day, which was, of course, limited, lie is one of the largest 
tobacco growers of the county, having supplied his farm with all the 
improved apparatus and machinery for raising that crop. On Decem- 
ber 12, 1872, he has united in marriage with Lavilla W., daughter of 
Lorenzaand Matilda Watkins ; they have no children. In religious views 
the family are independent, and have never been associated with any 
religious "^organization ; in politics Mr. Rockwell is a Republican ; he 
has°held numerous township offices; owns a fine farm, well improved, 
consisting mostly of river land, well watered by springs; besides culti- 
vating a large tobacco crop, he devotes considerable attention to sheep- 
raising, and keeps a small dairy; he has always been successful in his 
business, and owes his present"^prosperous condition largely to his own 
exertions. 

WILLIS N. ROCKWELL, farmer, P. O. West Burlington, was 
born April 13, 1853, in West Burlington, this county, a son of Alvord P. 
and Achsa (Harrison) Rockwell, the former of whom was born in Troy 
township, this county, of English extraction, is a farmer in Burlington 
township, is now aged seventy years, and is a brother of the Hon. 
Delos Rockwell, of Troy. The mother of Willis N., whose family were 
from New England, and of English origin, died at the age of thirty 
years. There were only two sons, Willis N., and another who is a 
farmer in West Burlington township. The grandfather, Luther Rock- 
well, was one of the pioneers of the township. The subject of these 
lines was reared on the farm, and educated in the schools of the town 
and at Troy. He engaged in farming, which occupation he has fol- 
lowed, and is now the owner of a fine farm of 130 acres, one of the 
finest locations in the township, and his principal interests are dairying 
and sheep-raising. He was married, February 27, 1878, to Emma ,1. 
Phillips, of Burlington township, who was born February 27, 1852, in 
Charleston, S. C, a daughter of John M. and Sarah (Petsch) Phillips. 
Mr, Phillips was a planter in Charleston, S. C, after the Civil War, 
during which period he was in the employ of the United States Govern- 
ment, in Buffalo, in the transportation of arms from the JSTorth. At 
one time he was owner of a fine farm in West Burlington township, 
this county; he was born in New York State, of English i:)arents, and 
died at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Phillips was a native of South 
Carolina, and her mother was also a native of South Carolina, of English 
origin. Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell have two children : Achsa, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1883, and Jennie, born November 19, 1887. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics, and has held the offices of assessor, constable and 
collector, also other positions of public trust in the township. He is 



1130 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

one of the rising young men of the communit3^ Mrs. Rockwell is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

MRS. BETSEY J. RODGEKS, Litchfield township, P. O. Litchfield, 
widow of Johnson Rodgers, who was a farmer, was born in Orange 
county, N. Y., May 19, 1S18, a daughter of Samuel and Betsey Ball, 
natives of Orange county, whosettledin Litchfield in 1825, and engaged 
in farming. Their family consisted of ten children, all of whom grew to 
matiiritv.'^Betsey J. was the eighth in the family, and w^as reared and edu- 
cated in* Litchfield atthecominon school. On December 28,18-i0,she mar- 
ried Johnson Rodgers, and to them were born the following children: 
Hudson, born June 17, 1841; Mary, born March 12, 1843, married to 
Joshua Teerk ; John, born January 15, 1845 ; Taylor, born November 7, 
1848, married to ()ri)hie Ellis; Johnson, Jr., born March 15, 1850, married 
to Julia Maston ; Allen M., born July 1, 1853, married to Jane Goodsell ; 
Martha, born August 8, 1858, married Wells Horton ; Samuel, born 
December 1, 18C0; Sarah A., born March 31, 18(53, and Ann, married 
to Edward Maynard. Johnson Rodgers was a mill-wright of vast ex- 
perience in his day. and also a competent pilot on the Susquehanna 
river; he was a soldier in the Civil War, and served three years in the 
Army of the Potomac, Company D, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry ; 
he held the office of lieutenant and was honorably discharged. Mrs. 
Rodgers is now drawing a pension of fifteen dollars a month, and lives 
on a farm of 2C0 acres. 

RITRU ROGERS, painter, Sugar Run, was born in Wyoming county. 
Pa., October 11, 1850, and is a son of William and Olive (Crawford), 
Rogers, the former a native of Steuben county, N. Y., born of Irish 
lineage; the latter a native of Pennsylvania, born of New England 
origin. Burr Rogers began life for himself at the age of twenty, 
farming, and two years later learned the cooper's trade, which he 
followed six vears ; then worked at paintino- two years, after which he 
commenced clerking, which business he has since followed. Mr. Rogers 
was married, November 19, 1870, to Miss Gertmde, daughter of 
Sterling and Sallie (Williams) Quick, of Wilmot, and this union has 
resulted in the birth of five children : George F., born October 2G, 
1871 ; David M., born October 20, 1876; Jacob J., born May 5, 1879; 
Ilenrv A., born June 5, 1881, and Anna L., born March 5, 1884. Mr. 
Rogers is a firm adherent to the principles of the Republican party. 

CHARLES S. ROGERS, D.'D. S., Towanda, a native of Forks- 
ville, Sullivan Co., Pa., was born P'ebruary 5, 1864, a son of Moses A. 
and Abigail (Potter) Rogers, and of English descent. His nuiternal 
grandfather, George W. Potter, was a native of Cooperstown, N. Y., 
and was a pioneer foundryman of Towanda; in later life he removed to 
Sullivan county. Pa., and died there. Charles S., the subject of this 
memoir, was reared in Sullivan county, and received an academical 
education at Vineland, N.J. In 1881 he began the study of den- 
tistry, with Dr. Pe])])ei-, of Forksville, Pa., and graduated from the 
Philadelphia Dental C<Jlege, in the s])ring of 1884. He immediately 
began the i)ractice of his chosen ])rofession at LeRaysville, this county, 
and in December, 1885, removed to Towanda, whei-e he has been very 
successful, and built up an extensive practice. He married, September 



HISTORY OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 1131 

24-, 1884, Mary, danglitor of William C. and Elizabeth (Wliitlev) Mars- 
den, of Towanda, and has two children: Charles 8., Jr., and Marsden 
A. Dr. liogers is a member of the Susquehanna Dental Association, 
and the Alumni of Philadelphia Dental College; is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., and in politics is a Republican. 

JAMES C. ROGERS, Litchfield township, P. O. Athens, was 
born December 25, 1824, in Sheshequin township, this county, on the 
farm now owned by James Newman; he is a son of John S. and Maria 
(Campbell) Rogers.' John S. Rogers was a native of Sheshequin town- 
ship, born October 17, 1795 ; his father removed to this county imme- 
diately after the Revolutionary War, and lived most of his life in Sheshe- 
quin township ; he was a soldier for a time in the Revolutionary War, but 
the records were destroyed. In his father's family there were five 
children (three of whom are yet living): Almira and Almera (twins, 
the latter of whom survives Jind resides on Babb's creek, Tioga county); 
James C, the subject of this sketch; Eliza M. was married to 
W. S. Park, and now resides in Colorado ; Orlando S. died in 1875, at 
Athens. James C. Rogers, the subject of the sketch, was reared on 
his father's farm in Sheshequin township, and received a common- 
school education. He finished school when seventeen years of age, 
and moved from Sheshequin to Litchfield, April 18, 1840, and resided 
on the farm now owned by Chas. Green, seven years, then purchased 
a farm, which was then a wilderness, which he cleared and improved. 
His first business was lumbering, which he followed twelve years. 
He now owns seventy-five acres, about sixty-five of which are culti- 
vated ; he keeps a dairy for family use, and has accumulated the prop- 
erty by his own exei'tions. His parents moved with him and resided 
there until their death. He was married, February 15, 1800, to Jane 
A., daughter of Benjamin F. and Sarah (Depue) Watkins; she died 
August 31, 1890. To them was born one child, O. S., now twenty- 
eight years of age, who resides at home with his father. Mr. Rogers 
is a member of the I. O. O. F., Valley Lodge, No. 440 ; in politics he 
affiliates with the Democratic party ; he has held the offices of 
assessor, road commissioner, auditor, and judge of election. 

JOHN A. ROGERS, farmer, Wilmot township, P. O. Elwell, was 
born December 26, 1827, at Pillar Point, N. Y., and is a son of Hugh 
and Caroline (Sage) Rogers, the former a native of New York, and of 
Irish descent, the latter a native of Massachusetts, and of New England 
parentage. His paternal ancestor in this country (Rogers) was a pas- 
senger onthe "Mayflower." John A.Rogers was educated in the common 
school and Wyoming Seminary, and began life for himself at the age 
of twenty-six,'^lumbering in Wyoming county. Pa., where he remained 
five years; then removed to his ])resent home, and has since given his 
attention to farming chietl}", occasionally to lumbering. Mr. Rogers 
was married, December 15,'^1857, to Miss Phebe L., daughter of John 
and Louisa (Stannard) Brizse, of Chenango county, N. Y., and they 
have one son, John B., born August 5, 1859, and married to Mary I., 
daughter of A. Porter and Sarah (Crandall) Oliver, of Wyoming county, 
Pa.; he is engaged with his father on the farm. John A. Rogers 



1132 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wilmot Centre, and 
in politics is a Republican. 

HENRY C. ROLISON, proprietor of Farmers' Mills, Troy, was 
born in Alba, this count3% March 18, 1853, and is a son of Nathan 
and Arminda (Riggs) Rolison, natives of Sussex county, N. J., 
who settled in Canton township, this county, about 1835, and 
cleared and improved a farm, on which they lived until the death of 
Mrs. Rolison, in 1864, when Mr. Rolison returned to New Jersey , 
he came back to this county and died here in 1888 ; he had eleven 
children vvho grew to maturity : Martha (Mrs. G. H. Nelson), John, 
Lewis, Ruth (Mrs. J. S. Wilcox), Squire and Uriah (twins), Cornelius, 
Jane (Mrs. A. J. Hume), Alanson, Henry C. and Perry. Henry C. 
Rolison, the subject of the sketch, was reared in Canton, educated in 
the common schools, and, at the age of fourteen, was apprenticed to 
the miller's trade, which occupation he has followed to the present 
time, and, since 1883, has been the proprietor of the Farmers' Mills, at 
Trov. He was twice married : first time to Emma J., daughter of 
Asa and Mary (Harding) Pratt, of Canton, by whom he had two chil- 
dren : Florence A. and Herbert H.; she died January 1, 1888, and Mr. 
Rolison afterward married Nell E., daughter of Rev. A. M. and 
Julia (Pardee) Weston, of Indiana, and by her has one daughter, 
Grace I. Mr. Rolison is a member of the Disciple Church ; in politics 
he is a Republican. 

JOSEPH L. ROOF, farmer, Frankhn township, P. O. Franklindale, 
\vas born in Franklin, this county, February 11, 1847, a son of James 
and Emeline (Lantz) Roof, the former of whom was born in Newton, 
Sussex Co., N. J., and the latter in Franklin. The father was a son of 
Jacob and Mary (Struble) Roof, natives of Germany, who came to this 
country about 1785, locating in Sussex county, N. J., near the banks 
of the "Paulius Kill," where he (Jacob) died about 1860; his family 
consisted of nine children, of whom James, the fifth in order of birth, 
removed to this county in 1830, and in 1843 married Miss Emeline 
Lantz, which union resulted in the birth of three daughters and one 
son, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Roof, the mother of Joseph L., 
died February 15, 1889. James Roof and his wife lived on their 
present place nearly fifty years, where she died. Our subject was 
reared and educated at Franklin, excepting one term at the State 
Normal School, Mansfield, Tioga Co., Pa., and one term at the Sustjue- 
luinna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. On March 24, 1S71, hemarrietl. 
at Franklindale, Miss Ella, daughter of Stern and Wilmina McKee, and 
to this union were born two children: J. Raymond, born Octobers, 
1875, and Mina Emeline, born December 23", 1878. Mrs. Roof is a 
trreat-granddauiihter of Leonard McKee, one of the first settlers. Mr. 
lioof is a thrifty farmer and is successful in his enterprises; he has 
owned some very fine-blooded horses; he lives on a farm of 106 acres, 
and has a peach orchard of 5()(i trees; he is a Democrat in politics. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON ROOF, farmer. Standing Stone town- 
ship, P. O. Rummerfield, was born in Wysox township, this county, 
July 11, 1835, son of Charles Roof, who was born in Sussex county, 
N. J., February 12, 1809, and was a son of Jacob Roof, also a native 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1133 

of New Jersey, who married Hannah Struble. Mi", and Mrs. Jacob Hoof 
had a large family: the eldest son, (Jharles. married Maria, (hiughter of 
Peter Lantz, another native of New Jersey, and they had three children: 
Sophie Elizabeth, who was twice married, her iirst husband being Joel 
Huflf, andthe second, Jonathan Stevens; Thomas Jefferson and Hender- 
son. When Charles Roof first came to this county he lived in Wysox three 
years, then removed to Frenchtown, where he lived until 1842, and then 
purchased a farm in this township from H. W. Tracy, of about one hun- 
dred and fifty-four acres, and in 1857 added thereto 186 acres ; he was a 
very successful farmer, and a member of the liaptist Church. Thomas J., 
the'subject of this sketch, attended the district school until his twenty- 
first year, then worked at home until 1860, when he began for him- 
self, on a portion of his father's farm, 186 acres, which was willed to 
him at his father's death. He purchased, in 1869, of William Hager- 
dorn, sixty-four acres, and in 1881, of Miles Hied, sixty-two acres, and 
in 1888, of Joseph Powell, fifty-four acres. He has been very success- 
ful in all his undertakings, has been school director twelve years, also 
road commissioner twelve years, and, as his name indicates, is a Demo- 
crat. He married, March 18, 1860, Elizabeth Koe, daughter of David 
and Saphire Dennis Roe (she is the eldest of seven children, natives of 
New Jersey), and of this marriage there are nine children, as follows: 
Emma, Ella, Chauncey, Mary, Samuel, Frederick, Sarah, Denton and 
Susie. 

ALBERT S. ROSS, merchant, W\yalusing, was born at Rockey 
Forest, Wyoming county, January 25,'l848, and is a son of George G. 
and Melissa (Myers) Ross, the former a native of Connecticut, and the 
latter of Pennsylvania. His motlier was of German origin, and her 
grandfather was a soldier in the Hessian Army, during the War of the 
Revolution; he deserted, and to avoid cajiture concealed himself in the 
woods, where provisions were carried to him by the maiden who after- 
ward became his wife. After their marriage tliey settled in Wyoming 
county, about eighteen miles back from Laceyville. Albert's ancestors, 
on his father's side, were Scotch, and his great-grandmother was a 
Duball, sister of the author of Duball's Arithmetic. George G. Ross 
was a blacksmith, and worked at various ])oints in Bradford and 
Wyoming counties, and in Wyalusing, over thirty-five years ago; he 
died in Wyoming county, February 7, 1890, aged seventy-three, his 
wife having died about two years previously. They had three children, 
of whom the eldest died in infancy. Anise"^ was married to a Mr. Lee, 
and died in the West. Albert's, is the youngest and only living 
member of the family; he passed his boyhood in different localities in 
Bradford and Wyoming counties, and was educated in the common 
schools. When only sixteen years old, March 8, 1864, he enlisted in 
Company G, Fiftieth P. V. Vl I. He was discharged, with his regi- 
ment, July 5, 1865, having participated in the following engagements: 
Weldon Pailroad, Hatcher's Run, Peebles Farm, Petersburg and the 
Siege of Petersburg; then was sent to Broad's Crossing, on the South 
Side Railroad, where he remained until after the surrender of Lee, 
when he started for the front. Upon enlisting, through some mistake, 
he was sent to join the Army of the West, at Nashville; was stricken 



1134 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

with the measles, and sent to hospital, and was shortly after transferred 
to Louisville, Ky., and then to iSew All)an\% Ind. After his i-ecovery he 
again started to the front, and joined Sherman's army, at Atlanta, and 
from there he was sent to his regiment at Horse Siioe, close to Peters- 
burg. After his return home he worked with his father in the shop, 
and learned the blacksmith's trade, and worked at it until his failing 
healtli compelled him to abandon this labor, and for about six years he 
followed huckstering and teaching, after which he resumed his trade, 
and followed it about two years; then gave it up, as his health was 
undermined by his militaiy^ hardshi|)S, and would not permit his fol- 
lowing manual labor. After working at various places in Wyoming 
and Bradford counties, in 18S7, he came to Wyalusing, and entered the 
grocery business, where he has since been, and has a complete line of 
groceries and provisions, cigars, tobacco, smokers' supplies, lamps and 
fixtures. He was united in marriage, January 1, 1875, with Helen 
Gory, and they have one child, Jessie L., born November 13, 1881. 
Mr. Iloss is a member of the Republican party, but does not take an 
active interest in politics. 

CHARLES H. ROSS, farmer, Ulster township, P. O. Ulster, was 
born in Burlington, this county, August 11, 1864, and is the son of 
Benjamin and Ennico (Swain) Ross, farmers. Charles H. Ross was 
reared on a farm, educated in the common schools and the Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda; he then taught school six 
months, and engaged as traveling salesman for the Eureka Mower 
Company, three months, then began farming. He was married, April 
8, 1886, to Mable, daughter of Isaac and Adaline (Myers) Carpenter, 
and the fruits of this marriage are : Winnie, born February 20, 1887, 
and Madge, born July 6, 1891. Mr. Ross is a member of the Iron 
Hall, No. 886, and fills the chair of accountant ; is also a member of 
the Golden Cycle, and fills the chair of chaplain. The family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he holds the 
office of steward, and he is a Republican in politics. 

HENRY A. ROSS, merchant, Pike township, was born in Pike 
township, this county, September 22, 1835, a son of Nelson and Eliza 
W. (Bosworth) Ross, the former of whom was a native of Connecticut, 
of New England origin. In their family there were five children, of 
whom Henry A. is the second. Our subject was reared on a farm, 
educated in the common school, LeRaysville graded school, and Hol- 
land Patent Academy. He began life for himself at the age of twenty- 
five, and for six years was occupied in farming; in 1867 he engaged 
with E. B. Stone in the mercantile and milling business, and in 1870 
he built his present store. He was in business alone, six years, then 
with R. Stevens, four years, afterward Avith Lacy Stevens, seven years, 
and in 1887 the firm of Ross, Stevens ^*<: Jones was organized. ]\[r. 
Ross was married October 8, 1861, to Sai'ah \ ., daughter of ]\[yron 
and Susan (Bosworth) Stevens, and they had two children : George 
II., born March 11, 1863, died August "24, 1864; Nellie, born June 26, 
1866, married Charles F. Jones. Mrs. Sarah V. Ross died Julv 5, 
1885, and Mr. Ross was married June 6, 1888, to Miss Maggie J., 
daughter of John and Nancy (Irwin) Haney, natives of Ireland, Mr. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1135 

and Mrs. Ross are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he 
is elder and trustee; he is a Republican, and has held the offices of con- 
stable and collector; was appointed postmaster in 1871, released in 
1885, reappointed in 1889, and is now in possession of that office. 

WILLIAM F. ROSS, farmer, SmithHeld township, P. O. Burling- 
ton, was born, April 21, 1821, in Burlington, this county, a son of 
John and Hannah (Head) Ross, natives of Pennsylvania, of Irish and 
Dutch ancestry. The father was a blacksmith in Burlington borough 
many years, and died in Granville, at the age of ninety -three; the 
mother died in Ulster, at about the same age. The grandfather, David 
Ross, was a pioneer of Burlington, settling, in the early part of this 
century, about one and one-half miles east of the borough, wdiere he 
cleared a large farm ; he died in Granville at the age of sixty-four 
years. William F. Ross learned the blacksmith's trade with his father, 
which he has continued most of his life; recently he purchased a farm 
in the south part of Smithfield, where he now resides. On February 
15, 1842, he married Clarissa, daughter of Thomas and Betse}' (Law) 
Smith, natives of Newburg, and of Welsh and Irish origin (she was 
born in Newburg, N. Y., February 23, 1820; her parents came to 
Bradford county, in 1825, settling in Burlington, and on a claim at 
Mountain Lake,' and cleared the farm now owned by David S. Lenox, 
where the father died at the age of eighty-one years, and the mother 
aged eighty-two). Mr. and Mrs. Ross have had six children, as follows : 
Marion, Wilmot (deceased), Devellum, Edith, Isabell and Arthur. 
Wilmot was a soldier in the Civil War, and lost his life there, and the 
mother now draws a pension on his account. Mr. Ross is a Republican. 
The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

DEVELLUM ROSS, farmer, P. O. Burlington, was born in Colum- 
bia township, this county, July 29, 1849, a son of William F. and 
Clarissa L. (Smith) Ross, the former of English and Irish extraction, a 
native of Burlington, and the latter of Welsh origin, a native of New- 
burg, N, Y., both of whom are living. The father had been a black- 
smith a great many years, mostly at Burlington, but is now a farmer 
in SmithHeld ; his parents were John and Hannah (Head) Ross, the 
fatlier a native of Pennsylvania, The paternal great-great-grandfather 
of our subject was David Ross, one of the pioneers of Burlington, 
and experienced all of the privations of the early settlei's ; he settled 
on a claim about one-half mile east of the village, and was a farmer 
all of his life. Our subject was reared on a farm, and when he 
reached his majorit}^ was engaged in farming on his ow^n account. He 
is now the owner of a fine farm in a beautiful location on a high 
elevation in the north part of the township; he is mostly engaged in 
raising horses, with a general farming business. He was twice mar- 
ried ; his first wife was Elizabeth Fletcher, of Smithfield, born in 
1851, died August 6, 1887, and on May 27, 1888, he married Mrs. 
Nellie (Camp) Gustin, of Burlington (she was born in Herrick town- 
ship, April 21, 1856, a daughter of Hiram and Margaret (Lum) Camp, 
old settlers of that township). Mrs. Ross has one daughter by her 
former husband, Florence M., born July 16, 18 — . Mr. Ross is a 
Republican in politics, but takes no great interest in the affairs of the 



1136 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

party. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and he is one of the substantial business men of the community. 

JOHN II. ROWE, farmer, Smithtield township, P. O. Ulster, born 
in Smithtield, this county, February 7, 1844, a son of William L. and 
Rhoda A. (Williams) Rowe, the former a native of New Jersey and 
the latter of Connecticut. The father came to this count}^ in 1825, 
and was a journeyman shoemaker and a great traveler. The Will- 
iamses were among the first settlers in Smithfield. Mr. Rowe, who 
is the fifth in a family of ten children, was reared on his father's farm, 
and educated in the schools of the township. When he was seventeen 
vears of age he enlisted in Company H, Fifty -seventh P. Y. I., and 
was in the service over three years, in twentN^-five hard-fought battles 
and numerous minor engagements. He was wounded twice, and Avas 
a prisoner four months in Belle Isle and Libby Prison; he is a pen- 
sioner and a member of the G. A. R. On May 10, 1868, Mr. Rowe 
married Ann Elizabeth Smith, of Smithfield, who was born September 
1, 1818. They have had one child, Arthur M., born November 21, 
187-4. Mr. Rowe has been a successful man, and is now the owner of a 
fine, well-improved farm; he is a Republican in politics, and takes an 
active interest in the affairs of the party. 

WILLIAM S. ROWE, mechanic, Orwell, was born in South Danby, 
N. Y,, August 4, 1838, and is a son of John and Rebecca (Struble) 
Rowe, the former of whom was a native of New Haven, Conn., and the 
latter of Ithaca, N. Y., both of English origin. His father was born in 
1794, a son of Robert Rowe, also a native of Connecticut ; of his grand- 
father's family, he has remembrance of four boys and two girls, of 
whom Ira and Henry lived their lives out in Connecticut, John (the 
fathei'), came to Bradford and located in Rome, and Truman also 
came to Bradford, locating in Sprmgfield township; of the girls, Jane 
remained in Connecticut, while Larinda came to Bradford, married 
Mr. Olmstead and located in Sayre. John Rowe, father of subject, 
was a farmer, and came here in 1840, buying the tract of land now 
owned by Frank VanLoon, but sohl and removed to Sheshequin, where 
he died July 6, 1870. He was three times married, the first time to 
Rebecca Struble, by whom he had the following children : Ira and 
James, deceased ; AVealthy Ann, married to Daniel Eiklor ; Larinda. 
married to P^zra Chandler; Elizabeth, married to Hiram Morris, both 
deceased; Sarah, married to Austin Russell; William S.; Rebecca, 
deceased. His second wife wasLucinda Fletcher, by whom he had the 
following children: James F.; Catherine, married to Jesse Denmark. 
His third wife was Mrs. Abigail Jane Lines, widow of Harry Lines, of 
Connecticut, daughter of Jolin and Margaret (Strope) Parks ; by her 
first marriage she had the following children: Elizabeth M., Mrs. 
Rowe; Mary A., married to Albert Conklin, whom she survives; 
John M.; Elmira R., married to Dillis Bennett; Morris H. By her 
second marriage she had the following : twin daughters, Ada and Ida, 
married to List Chilson and James Lockabee, respectively; Elashu AV. 
and Frank Henry. The mother died when W. S. Rowe was four years 
old, and when thirteen he left his father's home and went to Peter 
Allen's; then to Harry Clark's, where he made his home until he 



HISTORY OF HKADFOKI) COUNTY. 1137 

reached his majority. He received a common-school education, and 
worked on the farm. He began working at his trade of mason after 
reacliino- his majority, and soon became an expert at it, and has been 
doing extensive contract work on bridges, etc., during the past twelve 
years. Mr. Eowe was united in wedlock, November 8, 1855, with 
Elizabeth M. Lines, and has had a family of eight children, as 
follows : Mary A., born September 25, 1856, married to Landon Jackson, 
of Warren, Pa.; Leslie O., born July 12, 1858, died, aged seven ; Lottie 
J., born January 29, 1860, married to Charles W. Lines, of Connecticut ; 
Walter Y., borii December 15, 1862, married to Lizzie Middaugh, and 
resides in Orwell ; Lla E., born November 19, 1864, died in infancy ; 
Leslie E., born March 27, 1866, and died at the age of four years ; 
Charles E., born February 16, 1868, died in his second year; Francis 
W., born December 25, 1874, and is residing with his parents. The 
familv worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a Repub- 
lican.' Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have lived in their present residence since 
1859, where they enjoy the society of a large circle of friends and 
neighbors. 

WALTER Y. ROWE, mechanic, Orwell, was born in Orwell town- 
ship, this county, December 15, 1862, spent his boyhood there and 
attended the common schools, and the academy at Orwell Hill. When 
nineteen years of age he found employment in a music store atOw^ego, 
WMth John Thompson, and was there three years; then went to work 
with his father to learn the trade of a stone-mason, and lias followed 
that occupation six years. The pi'incipal part of his work has been done 
on this side of the river, working mostly with his father, and assisting 
him on the public works in this county, but he sometimes takes work 
on his own account. On November 1, 1886, he married Lizzie, second 
child of William and Mary (Yetter) Middaugh, and to this union have 
been born three children ;' Lottie, born August 26, 1887; Charles, born 
November 6, 1888, and Ethel, born August 26, 1890. Mr. Rowe has 
been for some time engaged in buying and shipping hay and buck- 
wheat. He is recognized as one of the thrifty and intlustrious men of 
the countv; politically he is a Republican. 

PROF. LINCOLN E. ROWLEY, princi|)al of schools. Athens, is 
a native of Schoharie county, N. Y., a son of Alfred W. and Susan 
(Defandorf) Rowley, natives of New York State, the former of whom 
was a farmer and died in Schoharie county, N. Y., in February, 1887, 
m his sixty -sixth year; Susan Rowley died in 1867, in her forty-fifth 
year. Lincoln E.' Rowley, wdio is the youngest in a family of six chil- 
dren, w^as graduated at Cazenovia Seminary, Madison county, N. Y., in 
the spring of 1884, and attended the Syracuse University two years. 
He was elected princii)al of the public and high schools of Sidney, 
N. Y.. in the fall of 1886; he was elected principal of the Athens schools 
in 1889, and re-elected in 1890 and 1891. Prof. Rowley was united in 
marriage at Sidney, N. Y., with Miss Martha Butler, a daughter of 
William and Catherine (Chawogo) Butler, natives of N. Y., and is the 
eldest in a family of three children. Prof, and Mrs. Rowley are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Ejiiscopal Church; politically he is a Republican. 



1138 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

A. RUFF, superintendent for E. B. Stone & Company, WA^alusing, 
was born in Stroudsburo;, Monroe Co., Pa., a son of Godfrey and Cath- 
erine (Posinger) Ruff. His father was born in Veternburg, Germany, 
and his mother in this State, her parents being natives of Germany; his 
parents reside in Wyalusing. Godfrey Ruff was a soldier in the 
Civil War, and is a pensioner. Their daughter, Clara, married Henry 
Smith, a hardware merchant of Wyalusing, and is deceased; Frank, 
the eldest of the family, died in 1891, at Wyalusing; Steward, brake- 
man on the Lehigh A^alley Railroad, resides at Wyalusing. A. Ruff, 
the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood in the vicinity of Strouds- 
burg, and until sixteen attended the schools of that city, then followed 
farming until 1880, when he came to Wyalusing, and shortly afterward 
entered the employ of Bosworth, Stone & Company, where he has, by 
close application to business, and careful watch over his employer's 
interest, climbed steadily toward the top, until he now fills the posi- 
tion of general superintendent. He was united in marriage, October 
17, 1883, with Minnie R. Gaylord, daughter of Joseph and Lorinda 
H. (Jayne) Gaylord. This union has been blessed with four children : 
Cliarles S., born February 25, 1885; Anna L., born March 12, 1886; 
Joseph G., born January 8, 1888, and Emma, born JN"ovember 25, 
1889. Mr. Ruff is identified with the Democratic part}'; has held the 
various town and borough offices, and is now auditor. He has made 
his way without assistance, and has been very successful. He owns a 
beautiful home at the corner of Senate and Second streets, which he 
built in 1885. 

DAVID M. RUNDELL, farmer, P. O. West Burlington, was born 
in Burlington, this county, October 21, 1851, a son of Lorenzo M. and 
Susan (Lane) Rundell, natives of Bradford county, the former of French 
origin, the latter of Irish. The father, who was a Methodist preacher 
many years, spent the latter part of his life on the farm, and died in 

1880, at the age of sixty -three years; the mother, now aged sixty-six 
years, is living with her son. The grandfathers were both pioneers 
and preachers in the Methodist Ciiurch ; the maternal grandfather 
died about 1831, at the age of sixty N^ears. Mr. Rundell was married 
October 21, 1879, to Lettie McKean, of West Burlington, who was 
born October 21, 1857, a daughter of Jesse B. and Marv (Van Dyke) 
Mclvean, farmers and natives of this county, of Scotch-Irish origin, 
the former of whom died January 10, 1891, at the age of seventy-four 
years ; the mother is living with her daughter attheageof seventy years. 
Grandfather Van Dyke was one of the pioneers of Towanda township. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Rundell have been born two children : Clare, born in 

1881, and Bertha, born in 1885. The family reside on the old McKean 
homestead, a fine farm of 145 acres, which Mr. Rundell owns as well 
as two other farms of sixty-five and eighty-tiiree acres, respectively, 
also in Burlington township; dairying, sheep-raising and tobacco- 
growing are here carried on quite extensively; tiie eighty-three-acre 
farm lies on the shore of tlie famous Mountain Lake on which Mr. 
Rundell contemplates opening a fine summer resort. He is a Re))ub- 
lican, and has been assessor and held other offices of public trust. TIk; 
family are consistent and faithful members of the Methodist Episco})al 



HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1139 

Church, of which he is a steward, and they are workers in the Sunday- 
school. 

WILLIAM S. RUNDELL, farmer, P. O. Towanda, was born in 
Burlington township, this county, May 10, 1824, and is a son of David 
and Polly (Ensign) Ptundell. David Rundell came to this State from 
France when a young man, and was a pioneer Protestant Methodist 
preacher, and was one of the founders of that church in America. 
He rode on horseback many thousands of miles over the mountains of 
Pennsvlvania, and made the trip a great many times between his home 
and Philadelphia. He was at one time the owner of the Minnequa 
Springs farm, and at the time of his death had improved it and given 
it sonfe of its reputation as a health resort. William S. Pundell is the 
youngest in a family of nine children ; he ^vas married November 17, 
1843 °to Nancv, the eldest of the five children of Joshua and Polly 
(Gregg) Bailey, of French ancestry, born February 26, 1825, in the 
township in which she now resides.' They have had ten children, four 
of whom are now living, as follow^s : Milton L.. born April 15, 1846; 
Lorenzo B., born July 3, 1848; William A., born May 11, 1857; and 
Nancy A., born May' 19, 1865, all of whom are married and prosperous. 
Mr. Rundell settled on his present farm forty-one years ago, and has 
since lived here, an honorable and honored citizen, and a ])rosperous 
tiller of the soil. His farm is under a fine state of cultivation, while 
with his general farming he has combined that of tobacco and stock- 
raising. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., a Republican in politics, 
but iiiclependent in his voting, and has been a school director for seven- 
teen vears. 

ASA PtUSSELL, farmer, P. O. Orwell, was born in Orwell town- 
ship, this county, December 25, 1853, and is a son of Burton and Sailie 
(Elsworth) Paissell. His father was a son of Dan Russell, the first 
settler of Orwell township, who came from Vermont and settled on 
Wvsox creek, in 1796. Burton Russell was born in Orwell township, 
September 8, 1806, and was married March 16, 1831. His family con- 
sisted of the following children: Mary A., born November 12, 1833, 
married to William Harrington; Helen M.. born June 7, 1836, married 
to Amos Jillson; Dan E., born December 29, 1839, married to Matilda 
Maston; Sophronia L., born May 21, 1842, died March 2, 1845; Mer- 
cur J., born November 8, 1844, married to Anna Statia Russell, 
November 9, 1S69; Ralph L., born February 8, 1847, married to Mary 
Kennedy; Samuel C, born Mav 6, 1851, died July 26, 1868, and Asa. 
The father died in 1877, and the mother July 6, 1870. Burton Russell 
was reared on the old Russell homestead, which is now occupied by 
Stephen Russell, and, after reaching his majority, removed to the 
neighborhood where Asa now lives, and settled on a tract of the wil- 
derness, which he at once commenced to improve, and built the first 
frame house in that neighborhood, and owmed about six hundred acres 
of land, and some of the buildings he erected are yet standing. He 
had to make a journey to Harrisburg on foot, to complete his title. 
He followed lumbering extensivelv. and made numerous trips on rafts 
down the Susquehanna river. Two of his sons, Ralph and Dan, served 
in the Union arm v. Asa passed his boyhood on the farm, and received 



1140 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

his education in the common school and at Orwell llill Academy; when 
eighteen years old he commenced teaching, and taught three 'winters 
in Montour county, and two in Luzerne, then came home and has fol- 
lowed farming since. He now owns 110 acres of fine farm land, which 
he hasimpi'oved by erecting comfortable and commodious farm build- 
ings, and has his farm well stocked. He was united in wedlock, July 
4, lS7r>, with Sarah Hendershot, of Orwell, and to them have been 
born three children: Hari-y L., born November 15, 1883; Gertie, born 
July 26, 188T, and Mabel, born January 21, 1889. 

Mercur J. Russell Avas born and reared on a farm, has successfully 
followed farming, and now owns eighty acres of highly improved land. 
He has a family of three children: Cora, Burton and John M. Both 
brothers are members of the K. of II., and are stanch Republicans in 
their j)olitics. 

CHARLES P. RUSSELL, farmer and stock-grower, of AVindham 
township, F. O. Lix, is a native of Rome township, this county, born May 
22, 1834, and is a son of Reuben and Sarah (Eiklor) Russell, of Pennsyl- 
vania and Xew York, resj>ectively, and of remote Irish and German 
extraction. The father, who was a carpenter and a well-esteemed and 
good citizen, died in 1876; the mother survives. In their familv were 
ten children, of whom Charles P. is the sixth. He was reared in the 
place of his nativity, and had access to the schools of the vicinity m a 
moderate way, but sufficient for a fair education in the rudiments of 
learning, and during his minority he learned the carpenter's trade in 
his father's shop. These were his only aids in starting in life for him- 
self. On August 5, 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty- 
first Regiment, P. V. I., Company I. To name the command he was 
in tells the terrible story of war for all its members, a regiment that 
stands pre-eminent in the annals of that struggle. At the battle of 
Fredericksburg the first and second fingers of his right hand were 
taken off by a gunshot, and he had to go three days before he could 
secure a surgeon's attention ; in the meantime lockjaw and death 
impended. Afterward he Avas attacked with typhoid fever, and also 
small-pox. and finally was discharged from the hospital and service and 
returned home. Mr. Russell was married in Sheshequin, tolNIrs. Clotilda 
Chandler, daughter of Nathaniel and Catherine Courad, natives of 
New York, she being the second in a family of nine children. Her 
first husband was Allen Chandler, who died in the army, a soldier in 
Company D, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and when his regi- 
ment was captured on the Potomac he escaped, but from exposure he 
contracted a fatal sickness. He left one child, Linda J., wife of George 
Strope. Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Russell have one child, Allen, who is 
a farmer. Ou»' sul)j('ct and wife live on the fai'in owned by the latter. 

JUDGE C. S. RUSSELL is the leadei- in the insurance and real 
estate businesses in Towanda. He is a native of the county, having 
been born in Windham township, May 13, 1824, His ])arents, Julius 
and Eliza (Seymour) Russell, came fi-om Connecticut, and were of the 
distinguished slock which has faced and subdued all obstacles and 
hardships in making the countiy what it now is. The grandfather, 
John Russell, following the westward current of his day, removed 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1141 

West, in the year 1800, and settled in the town of Owego, Tioga Co., 
N. Y., but on account of continued sickness in liis family returned to 
Connecticut in 180-1. In 1814 he again turned his steps westward, 
and this time became a citizen of this county by purchasing a farm, 
and settled in Orwell township, bringing with him Julius (the sixth of 
seven sons), who was born in 1796, and was eighteen years of age 
when the family came to this county. The young man remained 
with his parents (to whom eight daughters were also born) until he 
w^as tw^enty-one, wdien he returned to the old home in Connecticut, 
where he learned a trade, and in 1823 was married to Eliza Seymour, 
who came with him to Bradford county, and to the small dwelling 
prepared for them in AVindham township. They w^ere diligent in 
work, as they had chosen it, careful in the management of the farm, 
and solicitous for the welfare of the children who came to brighten 
their home and assist tlieir labors. The respect which they com 
manded at home widened in its circle of influence, and in 1842, by an 
almost spontaneous movement, the people elected Julius Russell to the 
office of register and recorder of the county, lie had not long been 
installed in office when circumstances determined him to bring his son 
Cliauncey, then eighteen years old, to Towanda, to make him clerk 
and, if competent, his deputy in office. The proposal was to the 
young man like thunder from the clear sky. His horizon of work had 
been bounded by the labors and duties of the farm, and any reason- 
able ambition might well be satisfied in the grand work of developing 
the new country. But the father had command of the situation, and 
with reluctance the young man left his first home and entered the 
register and recorder's office at the county seat. This was the first 
turning point of his life, for from that day he has been a citizen of 
Towanda. His father continued for a quarter of a century to watch 
the son's progress, and died in 1868, at the old farm home, full of 
years, and the respect of all who knew him, followed to his grave by 
a wide circle of friends. 

The son progressed rapidly as deputy in his father's office, fully 
mastering the business, and by his suavity, promptness and diligence 
making himself acceptable to all. When his father's term of office had 
passed, he was tendered the place of deputy prothonotary, and was in 
this position from 1845 to 1848, when he was appointed clerk to the 
commissioners of the county, and continued in that office until 1851. 
He then left the court-house and engaged in the hardware trade in 
Towanda, with D. C. Hall as a partner, and soon had built an exten 
sive trade. Closing out this establishment in 1858, he accepted the 
employ of the Farmers' Union Insurance Compan3% of Athens, and 
was its secretary and ti-aveling agent two years. In 1860, in company 
with John A. Codding, he returned to the hardware business and. 
resummg at the old stand, and so remained until 1876. In 1873 he was 
nominated by the Democracy for the office of associate judge, and in 
the face of and adverse majority of 4,000 he was elected, the only 
Democrat on the ticket who did not suffer defeat. He was the last 
associate judge of Bradford county, and it will remain a part of the 
history of the county that his influence was manifest far more during 



1142 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

his term than had ever been the case with any other associate judge in 
this portion of tlie State. He honestly beheved that saloon licenses 
were not a public necessity, and, having the courage of his convictions, 
it is onlv necessary to say that the last two years of his incumbency of 
the judgeship Bradford'^ was a " dry county," so far as saloons were 
concerned. Since 1876 he has been" engaged in insurance and real 
estate, and conducts an extensive business. He filled the responsible 
position of burgess of To^vanda eight successive years. As a business 
man. farmer, official both in county and borough, he has ever main- 
tained a high position of respectability and public confidence, possess- 
ing a moral courage that has never been questioned, and his honor as 
a man and official has never even been discussed. 

Judge Tiussell was married in Wysox township, September 20, 
1853, to Miss Mary P., daughter of Robert and Aurelia (Satterlee) 
Spalding, a great-granddaughter of Gen. Spalding of Revolutionary ' 
fame, and, on her mother's side of the line of Elisha Satterlee, one of 
the distinguished early pioneers. Judge and Mrs. Russell are mem- 
bers of the Universalist Church, of which he is secretary and trustee. 
He is a prominent Mason of the thirty-second degree, and is one of 
the oldest members of the fraternity in the county. He has likewise 
for many years filled official and foremost places in the Order of Odd 
Fellowship. He is a man of such broad and generous public spirit 
that he sacrificed a fortune of no small proportions trying to develop 
the manufacturing interests of the county, and then commenced again 
at the bott-om of the ladder to toil and climl) toward the top, and suc- 
cess crowned his efforts. 

DANIEL E. RUSSELL, postmaster, Windham Centre, one of the 
prominent citizens of Windham township, was born in Orwell township, 
this county, December 29, 1839, a son of Burton and Sally (Ellsworth) 
Russell, natives of Bradford county. The Russells have always been 
agricultural people. The father died on his farm in 1877. having been 
preceded to the grave by his companion and helpmeet in 1872. Their 
family consisted of six children, of whom Daniel E. is the third in the 
order of birth. He spent his young life and grew to manliood on his 
father's farm in Orwell, was educated in the public schools, and com- 
menced life on his own account a farmer, and in time became the pos- 
sessor of 110 acres of farm land and a pleasant home, which, owing to 
wounds received in the army, he was compelled to sell on account of 
phvsical inability to attend to the same, lie was married in Litchfield 
township to Nancy ^f., dauohter of James R. and Thedotia (Merrill) 
Mastin, of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. He enlisted in 
the army in 1804: inCoini)any E, One Hundred and Seventy -ninth Reg- 
iment New York Infantry. He was in the Army of the Potomac in 
front of Petersburg. O^ctober 12, 1864, while assisting to mount a 
large cannon at Fort Welch, a shot from the enemy struck the fort, 
and the shock and fall that he received caused i)araiysis, from which 
he has l)ut i)arlially recovered. He was sent to the hospital at City 
Point, then to Alexandria, wheio he was discharged Mairh 7, 18*;."). 
Cyrus Cook, an uncle, was obliged to take him liome, and even when 
he bought his farm he had to be carried on a bed to see it. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1143 

JOSEPH P. RUSSELL, farmer and stock-grower, Windham 
township, P. O. North Orwell, is a native of Windham township, this 
county, born May 9, 1844, a son of Austin and Annes (Bates) Russell, 
natives of Pennsvlvania and Connecticut, respectively, and of English 
stock, a family that followed agriculture. The father died in 1853; 
the mother is'now living, at the age of seventy-eight. Their family 
consisted of eight children, of whom Joseph is the fourth. He grew 
to his majority in his native place, and worked on the farm in summer, 
attending school in winter. On June 20, 1862, he enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Ninth N. Y. V. L, Company K, and was sent at once 
to the Army of the Potomac ; was in the battles of the Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna. Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, 
wdiere'he was taken prisoner, July 30, 1864, and was sent to Danville 
prison; here he remained seven months, when he was taken out, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1865, and had the luxury of reposing one night in Libby 
Prison. He barely tipped the scales at sixty pounds, after being two 
weeks at home, prior to which he would probably have required apoth- 
ecarv scales; he was unable to walk when he came home, so crawled 
on liis hands and knees into the house. When before Petersburg, he 
was standing with Edwin Wilber before a porthole, reading a paper, 
when a ball entered, grazing his scalp and killing Wilber instantly. On 
making a charge on the breastwork at Petersburg, twenty-nine of his 
companv were killed, but three escaped, of whom he was one. Mr. 
Russeir describes the dead on the ground after the battle as thick- 
enough to walk on ; and, in looking them over, he found his old and 
dearlriend, Alexander Atherton. In the battle of the Wilderness, Mr. 
Russell's clothes were riddled by bullets; there were four holes shot in 
his hat, and' his haversack was shot off, in consequence of which it cost 
him fiftv cents to get water to cook his suj^per. His prison life., like 
that of many others of the poor fellows, he says, was " worse than any 
nightmare! '' He saw an unfortunate German shot dead for daring to 
look out of a window. The prisoners had a daily allowance of one- 
pound rations, of the rankest quality, and more than one contrived to 
catch rats and mice, and eat them! 'Mr. Russell was united in marriage 
with Emelia Tanner, daughter of Henry D. and Olive E. Tanner, 
natives of New York, and of this marriage there are five children : 
Austin IT., Elec, Lottie B., Ilattie C. and Olive E. Henry D. Tanner, 
father of Mrs. Russell, was a native of Schoharie county, N. Y., born 
August 10, 1826, a son of George and Elizabeth (Ditchridge) Tanner; 
the familv immigrated to this country immediately after the Revolu- 
tion ; the father died in 1868, and a few months thereafter the mother 
passed away in the Stateof Wisconsin ; in their family were six children, 
of whom Henry D. was next the youngest. He was reared in Susque- 
hanna and Bradford counties, and became a carpenter and joiner; 
came to Bradford in 1832, and married Olive E. Towner, daughter of 
Joseph andEmilv (Pratt) Towner; they had three children: Emelia 
(Mrs. Russell), O'lin C. (married to Isabella Rickey), Hattie (died in 
1879, aged twenty-four years; had married Stanley Pete, a dentist). 
Mr. Tanner was aworthy soldier in the State's emergency call to repel 



1144 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

invasion. Joseph P. Russell is a member of the G. A. E., Stevens Post, 
at Rome. 

L. F. RUSSELL, farmer and stock-grower. P. O. Rome, was born 
on the farm he now occupies in Rome township, June 26, 1844, a son 
of Dan and Debora Ann (Forbes) Russell. Bis grandfather, Dan 
Russell, came from Connecticut and was among the early pioneers to 
locate in Orwell township, where the father of L. F. was born in 1808 ; 
his grandfather, Hezekiah, was also a resident of Orwell township at 
time of his death, a farmer in Orwell and Rome townships, and at the 
time of death owned one hundred and fourteen acres well-improved 
land. The father of L. F. had a family of nine children, four of whom 
are yet living: Ellen, married to Harvey Johnston, a farmer of Litch- 
tiekl township, this county ; Simon, a farmer of Rome township; L. F. 
(the seventh of the family) and Phoebe, married to Jacob Struble, 
who is working in the Bridge Works at Athens, Pa. The boyhood of 
our subject was spent on his father's farm, and he attended the com- 
mon schools of Rome until seventeen years old, securing a good com- 
mon-school education. He commenced farming, and followed it up to 
1872, when he ])urchased and commenced to operate a sawmill; after 
which he sold and returned to the farm, where he has since remained. 
On Februarv 20, 1865, he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-fourth Xew 
York Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. He now owns 
two hundred^icres, and the house, built in 1886, is an elegant modern 
farm dwellmg of ten rooms; farm is well stocked with young cattle, 
and he keeps about ten cows for his dairy. Mr. Russell was united in 
wedlock January 31, 1866, with Eunice, daughter of M. V. B. Towner, 
a farmer, and the fruits of this mari-iage are six children, as follows: 
Alice v., born November 3, 1866 ; Lina E., born July 31, '1871 ; Farn- 
ham JI., born December 31, 1876, died August 1, 1882; Edith D., born 
October 13, 1884; Gertie, born January 18, 1887; Stanley, born Decem- 
ber 26,1889. Mr. Russell is a mem ber of F. <fc A. M., Roman Lodge, No. 
418, Rome; he has taken the degree of Master Mason and has been a mem- 
ber for about twenty-two years. He is a member of the Farmers' 
Alliance; is a Republican in i)olitics, and has fi-equently been called by 
his friends and neighbors to fill offices of trust of his township, such as 
treasurer, constable and collector and commissioner. Among the 
prominent farmers of liradford county Mr. Russell raidvs high. 

STEPHEN C. RUSSELL, farmer and stock-grower, Orwell town- 
ship, P. O. L'x, was born in Rome township, this county, June 9, 1846, 
and is a son of Reul)en M. and Sarah (Eiklor) Russell, natives of 
Pennsvlvania. Reuben M. Russell was a carpenter, and died in 1876; 
his widow survives. They reared a family of ten children, of whom 
Stephen is the youngest ; "lie was reared at his father's home, attended 
the public schools of Rome township, where he received the rudiments 
of a fair education, and when he reached his majority commenced 
farming on his own account, and with no other aids than his own 
industiw lias become the owner of a valuable Ijirm of fifty-one ncres. 
He was married in Rome, to Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel and Cath- 
erine ((Jourad) Chandler, natives of Pennsylvania. ]\Ir. and Mrs. 
Russell have live children, as follows: Willie N. (married to Orpha 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1145 

Janes, resides in Athens), Fred M., Minor J., Elmer II. and Frank S. 
In 1865 Mr. Russell enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Regiment ^'ew York 
Cavalrv, Company C, and went directly to the front with the Army 
of the Potomac ; he was in the battle of Horse Shoe, where he was 
severely injured by being thrown from his horse, and was sent to the 
Virginia Hospitaf; was in time honorably discharged and Ccime home. 
He draws a pension. Mr. Russell is a member of G. A. R., Stevens 
Post, No. 69, Rome, and is a Republican in politics. 

FRANK G. SAIRS, foreman of the riveting department. Union 
Bridge Works, Athens, is a native of Ithaca, N. Y., and was born Jan- 
uary°29, 1854. His parents are Leonard B. and Malinda (Munson) 
Sairs, natives of New York, and now residents of Athens; his grand- 
father Munson was a soldier in the War of 1812. The subject of this 
sketch is the fifth in the order of birth in a family of nine children, of 
whom seven are living. When he was two years old the family 
moved to Halsey Valley, N. Y., and when he was aged seven years 
they immigrated to Potter county. Pa., whence, after remaining there 
a short time, they removed to Owego, N. Y. While there Mr. Sairs 
went to work at the Buffalo Bridge Works, continuing thereat nearly 
two years. On March 2, 187-1, he came to Athens, where he found, 
the day after his arrival, employment in the Bridge Works, and 
has since been with that company, except from February, 1881, to 
February, 1882, during which period he was employed at the Youngs- 
town Bridge Works, Youngstown, Ohio. In April, 1882, he was pro- 
moted to his present position. Mr. Sairs was married in Owego, N. Y., 
in 187'1, to Miss Isabel P. Wright, who was born in Owego, N. Y., 
November 22, 1853, daughter of II. N. and Jane (Courtright) Wright, 
natives of Nichols and Weltonville, N. Y., respectively. Mr. Wright, 
who was a pattern-maker by trade, died in Owego in June, 1887; his 
widow resides with her daughter, who is the only surviving one of a 
family of three children. To Mr. and Mrs. Sairs have been born two 
children, Harley W. and Leslie M. Mr. Sairs is a member of the 
Masonic Fraternity, Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70; also of the Sons of 
Veterans; Captain "of John Griffin Camp, No. 30; is president of the 
Third Ward Fire Company, and secretary of the school board. Polit- 
ically he is a Republican. 

JOHN F. SANDERSON, attorney at law. No. 118 Diamond street, 
Pittsburgh, Pa., was born in New Brunswick, N. J., April 21, 1853, 
and is a son of Henry and Mary S. (Myer) Sanderson, the former of 
Scotch-Irish and the latter of Dutch and Irish origin. His father, an 
artist by profession, had, by a former wife, three children, one of 
whom, Annie, wife of Albert L. Sweet, of Chicago, survives, and by 
the second wife he had two children : Kate (now deceased), who mar- 
ried Dr. Edu^ard J. Abell, of Coal City, Ills.; and John F. The subject 
of this sketch was brought to Athens township, this county, by his 
mother, in 1854, after which time to 1869 they made their home with 
his grandmother. He was educated in the common schools of Brad- 
ford county, and in a grammer school at Newark, N. J. In 1869 he 
secured a position as clerk in the First National Bank at Towanda, 
where he remained until October, 1873 ; he read law with William 



1]4G HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Foyle and James Wood, and was admitted to the Bradford County Bar 
in J\[ay, 1874. where lie practiced law until January 1, 1891, when he 
formed a partnership with United States District Attorney Walter 
Lvon and Charles II. McKee, of Pittsburgh. In 1876 he was admitted 
to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and in 1885 to the 
Bar of the United States Supreme Court; he is also a member of the 
Bar of United States Courts of the Eastern and Western Districts of 
Pennsylvania. Mr. Sanderson was married November 26, 1872, to 
Miss Celinda M., daughter of William and Elizabeth (Stone) Grilfis, 
of Towanda, and they bave had six children : William G., born 
August 20, 1873; Evangeline, born May 12, 1875, died in Harrisburg, 
Janiiary 2, 1889; Katharine, born May 17, 1877; Elizabeth, born 
March 3, 1879; Jonathan, born January" 23, 1883; Beulah, born July 
11, 1886. Mr. Sanderson is an ardent adherent of the Republican 
party; in March, 1887, he was appointed, by Governor Beaver, Deputy 
Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, which position he held until Janu- 
ary 20, 1801, the end of GoVernor Beaver's administration. 

C. II. SATTERLEE, book-keeper for Fitch & Kinney's hardware 
store, Athens, is a native of Sheshequin township, this county, born 
February 15, 1849; a son of Elisha and Emily (Briggs) Satterlee. 
Elisha Satterlee, who was a merchant and farmer, removed, in 1865. to 
Lock Haven, Pa., and engaged in the lumber business; he died in 
Savre, this county, March 9, 1881, in his seventy-first year; his \vidow 
died December 10, 1890. Great-grandfather Col. Elisha Satterlee 
was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and was one of the pioneer 
settlers of Athens township, this county. Uncle John F. Satterlee 
was in the Government service. jO. H. Satterlee is the fifth in order 
of birth in a family of seven children, of whom five are now living. 
He was reared in Athens from the time he was four years old, and 
received an academic education in the old historic academy of the 
place; he went with his parents to Lock Haven in 1865, and was 
engaged in the lumber business there until 1869, when he went to 
Di?lu°h, Minn., where he was engaged in merchandising about two 
vears; from therq he went to Annapolis, Md., and had charge of D. 
W. Smith's lumber yard about two years; thence moved to Washington, 
D. C, and followed the same business about one and one-half years ; then 
returned to Lock Haven, and was in the lumber trade some time; then 
came to Sayre and worked for the L. V. II. U. Co. four years, and in 
April, 1883^ came to Athens, where he accepted the i)ositi(m he now 
holds with Fitch & Kinney. Mr. Satterlee was married in Mansfield, 
Pa., February 6, 1873, to Miss Nettie, daughter of Albinas and 
Harriet (Seelev) Hunt, natives of Pennsylvania. Albinas Hunt was a 
merchant and died in Mansfield in 1876. Mrs. Hunt survives him and 
resides with her daughter ]\Irs. Satterlee, who is the eldest in a family 
of two ciiildren, l)orn in Mansfield July 3, 1849. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Satterlee were born three children, of whom W. F. is tiie only one 
living. Mr. and Mrs. Satterlee are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, of which he is trustee and secretary and treasurer. He is a 
member of the F. & A. M., Annapolis Lodge, No. 89. He is a liepub- 
lican, and has served one term as councilman in Athens borough. 



HISTORY OF 15 RADFORD COUNTY. 114T 

JOHN FRANKLIN SiVTTERLEE. This g-entleman is a repre- 
sentative of tlie Satterlee family, which holds a prominent place, not 
only in the pioneer history of Bradford county, but in the dawn of 
American history. The Satterlee family was a conspicuous one in 
Sussex county, England, where the Satterlee Church and Manor House 
still stand, as mute monuments of their venerable founders and pro- 
prietors. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, two Satterlee 
brothers came to this country and settled in Connecticut. Benedict 
Satterlee, a lineal descendant of one of these brothers, was one of the 
forty original settlers in the Wyoming A'alley. He had a family of 
six children: one daughter, the Vife of Col. Elisha Mathewson, and 
five sons, the eldest of whom was Elisha, who was with Washington 
at Yalley Forge, in the memorable winter of 1777-78, and, in 1779, 
as a soldier in the company of Capt. Simon Spalding, participated in 
the expedition of Gen. John Sullivan, through the Wyoming Yalley 
into New York State, against the hostile Indians. The other sons 
were Elias, Benedict, Nathaniel and Samuel. Elisha came to '' Tioga 
Point," or Athens, as early as 1787, in company with Col. Elisha Math- 
ewson, and, about two years later, brought the remaining members of 
the family to the new settlement. 

Elias afterward practiced medicine at Elmira. Benedict was a 
school teacher at Athens as early as 1791, subsequently removing to 
Mount Morris, N. Y. Nathaniel and Samuel settled in Smithfield. 
Elisha, together with Col. John Franklin, assisted in laying out the 
toAvnship of Athens, and was actively identified with the early history 
of the county. He married Cynthia Stevens, by whom he had three 
children : John Franklin Satterlee, Sr., who was eleven months old 
when the new settlement was established ; Lemira, who married Harry 
S. Spalding; Aurelia, who married Robert Spalding. 

John Franklin, Sr., was for years a prominent and influential citi- 
zen of Athens, actively engaged in the material progress of the county 
and town in which he lived until his death, February 11, 1856. He 
was a merchant from 1812 to 1817, and subsequently kept the old hotel 
at Athens. During most of his business life he tlealt quite extensively 
in lumber, which he rafted to the markets of the lower Susquehanna 
and Baltimore. He established and maintained the first ferry across 
the Susquehanna, at Athens, which was abandoiisd when the bridge 
was built, about 1840. For several years, during the latter part of his 
life, he was a justice of the peace, and engaged in farming, on the old 
settlement on the east bank of the river. He, early (about 1808), 
became associated with the Masonic Fraternity, was a charter member 
of Rural Amity Lodge, F. & A. M., and for several years was the 
Master, never ceasing to take great interest in tiie Order until his death. 
While he never held, nor sought, political office, he was an active 
worker, and in the campaign of 1844 stumped the county for Henry 
Clay. John Franklin Satterlee, Sr., married, December 25, 1808, Julia 
Prentice, by whom he had five children: Orin D.; Elisha; Anna P., 
who married Horace Kinney ; Cynthia L., who married Edward Oven- 
shire ; and Julia P., who married George Stevens. His second wife 
was Elizabeth Marshall, by whom he had five children : Sarah, who 



1148 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

married James Lemon, of Waverly, N. Y.; John Franklin, Jr.; Eliza- 
beth, who married Dr. John A. Thomson, of Wrightsviiie, Pa.; Lucy, 
who died at sixteen ; Marion B., who married William 11. Schuyler, 
who has been acting deputy collector of the Port of Philadelphia for 
several years. 

John Franklin Satterlee, Jr., born April 14, 1829, spent his boyhood 
on his father's farm, and was educated in x\thens High School. He 
engaged in business I'oi' himself wlien he was eighteen years old; at 
twenty-four he began farming on the old Satterlee place, where he 
remained until 1868, when he removed his famil}^ to Waverly. He 
then engaged in contracting in Brooklin, and, in 1869, removing to 
Monroeton, commenced lumbering on the mountains to the south and 
west of the town. In 1889 he was appointed special agent in the 
General Land Office of the Interior Department, in which capacity he 
has been stationed in various States west of the Mississippi, in Kew 
Mexico and Florida, and at present is on duty at Gainesville, Florida,, 
He was married, October 18, 1858, to Lucy E., daughter of Horace 
and Minerva (Atkins) Booth. Three children are the result of this 
union : Charles Booth, born March 26, 1855 ; Mar\^ Eloise, born August 
5, 1857, married Robert B. Drake, for many years associated with the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad (they have one child, Lucie Satterlee Drake, 
born February S, 1891); and the youngest of the Sattei-lee family, Rob- 
ert Harris, born June 12, 1859, is now engaged in the clothing business 
in Minneapolis, and also interested in the St. Paul Knittino- Works. 

Charles Booth Satterlee was educated in Athens High School, 
Waverly Institute, and Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, at Towanda. 
In 1872, he was appointed a cadet at the United States Military Acad- 
emy, at West Point, N. Y., where he graduated in 1876, and was com- 
missioned as second lieutenant, Third Artillery, U. S. x\.rmy. Since 
entering the army, he has been on duty in various parts of the United 
States: in 1876, in South Carolina, during the then political excite- 
ment; in Pennsylvania, in 1878, during the labor riots; from 1878 to 
1880, he was on cluty at the United States Artillery School, where he 
graduated ; in 1881, he was with the Light Battery of his regiment on 
its march from New York to Yorktown and return, a distance of 9Ul 
miles; in 1882, in Arkansas, un<ler s[)ecial instructions of the Secretary 
of War, making estimates of the destitution incident to the overflow of 
the Mississippi river, and, again, in 1884, in Louisiana, distributing 
Government rations to destitutes. He was promoted iirst lieutenant 
in 1883, which rank he still holds in the service. From 1882 to 1883, 
he was professor of military science at the Orchard Lake Military 
Academv, Michigan. He served at the headquarters of his regiment, 
at AVaslnngton, D. C, from 1885 to 1891. In 1887, Lieut. Satterlee 
was appointed the regimental quartermaster, and, later, the adjutant 
of the Third Artillery, serving as such until 1891, when, by direction 
of the War Department, he was oi'dered to Georgia for duty in connec- 
tion with the militia, and was designated by the Governor to act as 
assistant adjutant and inspector general of the State. 

ALBERT W. SAVAGE, blacksmith, Wyalusing, was born in 
Somersetshire, England, May 14, 1845, a son of Joseph and Rhoda 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1149 

(White) Savage, natives of Enoland His father was a gardener, fol- 
lowing that occupation and mining after coming to the United States, 
where, in 1846 or 184T, he located at Scranton, where he died March 
24, 1885 ; his family consisted of six children born in England, viz.: 
Rube and Rubin, wiio died there; Robert P., a blacksmith, of Dun- 
more; Fannv, married to James Powell, of Dunraore ; Lucy, married 
to John Cordy, now of England, and Albert W. A. W. Savage, the 
subject of these lines, was educated in the common schools of Scranton, 
and when sixteen years old was apprenticed to a blacksmith of Prov- 
idence, Pa.; he served four years and then set up as a journeyman at 
Scranton. He came to Wyalusing September 25, 1865, and worked 
two and one-half years, rented a shop and ran it one year; then left 
Wvalusing and \vorked for different parties, returning in 1869, pur- 
chased tiie shop and residence, and followed iiis trade there until 
January 10, 1891, when he sold. He has been eminently successful in 
business, and accumulated his ])roperty by his own exertions ; he is a 
Republican in politics, and has held various township offices. 

LEWIS SAXE. farmer, Wilmot township, P. O. Wilmot, was born 
in Wilmot, this county, February 14, 1845, a son of John and Lucre- 
tia (Leaphfrum) Saxe^ natives ot"^ Germany. Our subject was reared 
on a farm, educated in the common schools, and at the age of twenty- 
one commenced life for himself, lumbering and farming, which he 
carried on until 1874, when he gave up the lumbering business and has 
since nuide farming his only occupation. He was married January 6, 
1870, to Lizzie, daughter of John Piddle, of Wilmot, who died July 8, 
1874, and April 25, 1876, Mr. Saxe married Hannah Suber, who was 
born in Sullivan county. Pa., April 19, 1852, a daughter of Benjamin and 
Caroline (Hoffa) SubeV, of Sullivan county. Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Saxe 
have had born to them four children, viz.: Lulu May, born April 5, 
1877; John Leonard, born October 30, 1879, and died July 30, 1880; 
Benjamin Thaddeus, born June 23, 1881, and Edith Lucretia, born April 
13, i888. Mr. Saxe is a Roman Catholic, and is an enthusiastic follower 
of the Democratic jiartv. 

ADOLPHUS SAXTON, farmer, P. O. Granville Centre, was born 
September 22, 1834, in Granville township, this county, on the farm 
where he now resides, and is a son of Henry and Julia (Bailey) Saxton. 
His paternal grandparents, Benjamin and Susie (Corbin) Saxton, came 
from the New England States in 1807, and lived and died there; the 
maternal grandfather, Ezra Bailey, was also a pioneer of Granville town- 
ship. The father of subject, who was born in Bradford county in 
1808, cleared and improved the farm occupied by subject, and died 
there. His children were Matilda (Mrs. Alfred Putnam), Adolphus, 
Sophia (Mrs. Loren M. Leonard), Burton, Myra, Solomon (died while 
a prisoner in the Civil War) and Franklin. Adolphus Saxton was 
reared on the old homestead where he has always resided. He mar- 
ried, September 19, 1858, Jeanette, daughter of George and Catherine 
(Davis) Catlin, of Granville township, and has two children: Kate 
(Mrs. Dr. Pratt J. Smith) and Belle. Mr. Saxton is a well-known and 
prominent farmer of Granville township; is a member of the Church 
of Christ, and in politics he is a Republican. 



1150 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

CHARLES H. S AXTON, farmer, of Granville township, P. O. Gran- 
ville Summit, was born in Granville township, this county, July 5, 1S50, 
and is a son of Benjamin and Delight (llolcomb) Saxton. lie was reared 
in Granville, where, with the exception of three years, durin^i: which 
he lived in New York, he has always resided. He was educated in the 
common schools, and served an apprenticeship of two and one-half 
years at the carpenter's trade, but most of his life has been spent in 
farming. On December 25, 1873, he married Emma, daughter of 
Samuel and Mary (McNaught) Merritt, of Granville. Mr. Saxton is 
one of the enterprising farmers of Granville, is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., and in politics is a Ite})ublican. 

FRANKLIN SAXTON, farmer, Granville township, P. O. Gran- 
ville Centre, was born in Granville, this county, September 20, 1845, 
and is a son of Henry and Julia (Bailey) Saxton. His paternal grand- 
parents were Benjamin and Susie (Corbin) Saxton, who settled in Bur- 
lino-ton township, this county, in 1804, and his maternal grandfather, 
Ezra Bailey, was also a j)ioneer of Granville. The subject of these 
lines was reared in Granville, where he has always resided, and has 
occupied the farm where he now i-esides since 1873. He married, Septem- 
ber 11, 1872, Ella, daughter of Samuel A. and Hannah (Holcomb) Rock- 
well, of Granville, and they have five children, as follows: Henry, 
George, Clara, Ruby and Wilhs. Mr. Saxton was in the Civil War, 
having enlisted January 4, 1864, in Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania 
Cavalry, participated in nearly all the battles of the regiment while 
in the service, and was honorably discharged August 13, 1865. He is 
a member of the Church of Christ, of the G. A. R. and I. O. O. F., 
and in ])olitics he is a Republican. 

OSCAR SAXTON, a prominent farmer of Granville township, 
P. O. Granville Centre, was born in Granville township, this county, 
July 11, 1832, and is a son of Benjamin and Delight (Holcomb) Saxton. 
His paternal grandparents were Benjamin and Susie (Corbin) Saxton, 
natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut, respectively, who came to 
Bradford county in 1804, and in 1807 settled in Granville township. 
His maternal grandfather was Truman Holcomb, a pioneer of Ulster 
township. The subject of this memoir was reared in Granville town- 
ship, and educated in the common school. He served an apprentice- 
ship at the mason's trade, which he followed fifteen years, and has 
since been engaged in farming. He was in the Civil "War, enlisting 
August 30, 1864, in Company I, Fifteenth New York Engineers, and 
wa" h<morably discharged from the service July 2, 1865. In 1856 he 
married Persis, daughter of Sullivan and Phebe(Bailey)Morse, of LeRoy 
township, and they have three children: Dayton L., Ada L. (Mrs. Licher 
Ross) arid Robert A. Mr. Saxton is a member of the Disciple Church. 
In politics he is a Re))ublican. 

SOLON J. SAXTON, farmer, Granville township, P. O. Granville 
Centre, was born in Canton township, thisconnty, September 11, 1834, 
and is a son of Benjamin and Delight (Holcomb) Saxton. His pater- 
nal grandparents, lienjamin and Susie (Corbin) Saxton, natives of New 
England, came to Bradford county in 1804, and settled in Granville 
township in 1807. His maternal grandfather, Truman Holcomb, was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1151 

a pioneer of Ulster township, this county. Benjamin Saxton, the 
father of our subject, was born April 4, 1800, and reared in Granville 
township from sev^en years of a^e ; was a fai'mer b}' occupation and 
cleared and improved the farm occupied by our subject, and there died. 
His children were: Valentine, Lucy (Mrs. Hiram Kittle), Oscar, Solon 
J,, Edward, Mahlon, Samantha, Susannah (Mrs. Charles Kenyon), 
Benjamin and Charles H. The subject of these lines was reared on 
the old homestead where he has always resided. He was in the Civil 
War, enlisting in February, 1864, in Company F, Eleventh Pennsyl- 
vania Cavalry, and participated in Wilson's Raid, and the battle of 
Petersburg, as well as other minor engagements, and was honorablv 
discharged after eighteen months' service. He married Harriet, daugh- 
ter of Charles and Rebecca (Becker) Martin, of Granville township, and 
has two children: Nellie (Mrs. Raymond Selleck),and Charles M. Mr. 
Saxton is a representative citizen of Granville; he is a member of the 
I. O. O. F. and G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican. 

VALENTINE SAXTON, deputy United States revenue collector, 
and farmer, P. O. Troy, was born in Rose, Wayne Co., N. Y,, Novem- 
ber 30, 1827, and is a son of Benjamin and Delight (Holcomb) Saxton. 
His paternal grandfather, Benjamin Saxton, was a native of Massa- 
chusetts and settled in Burlington township, this county, in ISO-i, but 
soon after moved to Granville, where he followed the blacksmith trade 
up to his death, which occurred m 1840, when he was aged sixty -eight ; 
his wife was Susie Coburn, a native of Connecticut, who died at the 
age of ninety-thi-ee ; by her he had eight children : Lucy (Mrs. Chauncey 
Hill, who died at the age of ninety-four), Susan (Mrs.Elam Parkhurst), 
Benjamin, Charles, Mary (Mrs. Henry Putnam), Henry, Sarah A. 
(Mrs. Albert Watkins) and Lewis D. Of these Benjamin, father of 
our subject, cleared a farm of 200 acres in Granville township, on 
which he resided until his death; his wife was a daughter of Truman 
Holcomb, of Ulster township, and by her he had ten children: Valen- 
tine, Lucy (Mrs. Hiram Kittle), Oscar, Solon J., Edward, Mahlon, 
Samantha, Susie (Mrs. C. R. Kenyon), Benjamin and Charles H. 
Valentine Saxton was reared in Granville township, received a limited 
education in the log school-house of his day, and on attaining his 
majority engaged in fa-rming and butchering, in which he has since 
continued. In 1860 he married Polly, daughter of Darius R. and Ann 
(Merwin) Manley, of Troy township, and has two children : Fred and 
John. Mr. Saxton is a member of the Disciple Church, of the F. & 
A, M. and I. O. O. F.;. politically he is a Republican, and was appointed 
deputv U. S. revenue collector in the Revenue District of Pennsylvania, 
in 1890. 

CHARLES G. SAYLES, carpenter and joiner and farmer, P. O. 
Granville Centre, was born in New Haven, Huron Co., Ohio, January 
7, 1843, and is a son of Cornelius and Margaret (Townsend) Sayles, 
natives of the State of New York. The father, who is a wagon-maker 
by trade, settled in Granville township, this county, in 1853, and is still 
living; his children were as follows: Charles G. and William C, of 
whom Charles G. was reared in Granville from ten years of age. He 
was in the Civil War, enlisting August 24, 1861, in Company F, 



1152 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry ; was never on the sick-list nor lost a 
day (luring his term of service," except while iionie on veteran furlough 
of thirty days. He participated in the princi[)al battles of his. regi- 
ment, and was honorably discharged after four years' service. Since 
the war he has been engaged at his trade and farming in Granville. 
Mr. Sayles married, November 19, 1873, Olivia A., daughter of Adam 
and Helen (McNeil) Innes, of Granville, and has two children : 
Clarence and Ethel. He is a Sir Knio-ht Templar, and a member of 
the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R. In politics he is a Kepublican. 

REUBEN L. SCHEUFLER, proprietor of marble works, Towanda, 
was born nearTamaqua, Schuylkill Co., Pa., Decembers, 1854, and is a 
son of Albright and Abigail (Lenhart) Scheufier, natives of Wurtemberg, 
Germany, and Berks county, Pa., respectively. He was reared in Berks 
county, learned the marble cutter's trade at Hamburg, Pa., and worked as 
a journeyman from 1870 to 1886, when helocated in Towanda,and formed 
a partnership with W. N. Lacey, under the firm name of Lacey & 
Scheufier, which partnership existed two years, when Mr. Lacey sold 
his interests to J. C. McCarty, and the business has since been conducted 
under the firm name of Scheufier & McCarty. Mr. Scheufier married, 
in 1874, Mary C, daughter of Jacob and Annie (Hance) Creveling, of 
Hunterdon county, N. J., and has one son, Albert C. Mrs. Scheufier 
is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Scheufier has been a 
resident of Towanda since 1881; in politics he is a Republican. 

J. II. SCHOONOVER, farmer, P. O. Asylum, was born (January 
24, 1842), reared and educated in Terry township, this county. He is 
a son of Chester and Adela (Horton) Schoonover, natives of Chenango 
county, N. Y., and Wilmot, Bradford Co., Pa., respectively. Chester 
is the son of Joseph, who was also a native of Chenango county, 
descended from the early Dutch settlers; he removed to this county, in 
about 1831, when fifteen years of age, prospecting, but returned to 
New York and shortly afterward moved to this county with his father's 
family, who for a short time located in Terry township, near Rienzi. 
Joseph Schoonover had a family of eight children, who helped him in 
the new country, for it was then a wilderness; they dei)ended a good 
deal on fishing, hunting and other resources for a living while their 
crops were maturing; Joseph soon removed to Terry town, where he 
died. In about 1840 Chester purchased a farm of 175 acres on what 
is known as "Yaill Hill," where he removed, and by j)atience, industry 
and economy he cleared a valuable farm, erected substantial and 
commodious buildings, which stand to-day as a monument to his patient 
toil. He was a member of and preached for the Old-School Baptists 
about thirty-five years; he died in September, 1884, at the age of sixty- 
nine years ; he ha\l been twice married and had six children, J. H. 
being the second by the first marriage. Besides the niind training at 
the common schoof. our sul)ject had the advantage of sitting under the 
accomplished and learned Rev. David Craft, and, soon becoming 
competent to teach, he taught in several of the district schools during 
the winter months, the summers being devoted to farming. On 
November 30, 1864, he married Miss Emily C, daughter of J. L. and 
Sarah P. Jones, of New Era, and there were born to them seven children, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1153 

live of whom are living : Earl C, James A., George 11., Lorenzo J. and 
Earnest L.; of these Earl C. is married, resides in Towanda, and has 
two children. In 1863, when his coimtr}^ through Governor Curtin, 
called for troops, Mr. Schoonover gladly shouldered his musket as a 
member of Company A, Thirty -fifth Pennsylvania Emergency Troops, 
served his time and Vas honorably discharged; he is now drawing a 
State pension by special act of the Legislature of session of 1891. He 
is a prosperous general farmer, and enjoys the full confidence of his 
fellow-citizens who have elected him to the office of town clerk for the 
term of ten years ; school director, twelve years, also treasurer and 
auditor ; durmg all which time he was secretary of the school board; 
Avas also appointed census enumerator of the eleventh census for the 
township of Terry. Politically he is a Republican. 

.J. M. SCHKADER, farmer, in Franklin township, P. O. Franklin- 
dale, was born in Towanda township, this county, December S-i, 1837, 
a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Rose) Schrader, both of whom were 
born in this county, spending most of their lives in Towanda township. 
Samuel Schrader's family numbered nine — five sons and four daugh- 
ters — all of whom grew to maturity, and several of them are now 
living. J, M. Schrader, the subject of the sketch, and the fifth in tli« 
family, was reared and educated in Towanda and Franklin townships, 
and always worked on the farm. In 1862 he married, at Granville, 
Miss Sallie, daughter of Russell and Jane Lindley,of LeRoy, and seven 
children — three sons and four daughters — were iDorn to them : Libby, 
married to Frank Crane, a farmer; Estella, married to Frank IVLuligan, 
a farmer; Katie, married to John McMullen, a mechanic; Edward; 
Glenn; Clyde and Lottie. Mr. Schrader is an enterprising farmer, and 
lives on the old Schrader homestead of seventy-five acres of fertile 
land; he served nine months in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty- 
second P. V. I., in the Civil War, for which he now draws a pension; 
he is a member of the G. A. R. and of the Patrons of Industry; polit- 
ically he is a Rejjublican. 

L(3UIS J. SCIIRIER, of the firm of Schrier Brothers, confectioners 
and cigar manufacturers, Athens, is a native of New York City, born 
October 19, 1856, and is a son of Louis (a cigar maker) and Elizabeth 
(Amrhein) Schrier, natives of Germany, who came to New" York in 
1S54. The family came to Athens in 1883. Louis J., wdiois the eldest 
in a family of nine children, of whom six are living, received his educa- 
tion in the public and private schools, and learned the cigar trade early 
in life. In August, 1872, he went from New York to Owego, where 
lie worked at his trade five years, and then toElmira, oneyear ; thence 
to Big Flats, and, returning to New York in 1883, he came to Athens 
and began manufacturing cigars, under the firm name of Schrier Bros., 
for the wholesale and retail trade. In July, 1890, Mr. Schrier bought 
the confectionery store of J. C. Minier, where he handles fruits, veget- 
ables, confectionery, cigars and tobacco. He was married, in 1880, to 
Miss Josie, daughter of Richard and Harriet (Hubbard) Peck, the 
foi-mer a native of Orange county, N. Y., coming to Athens in 1838, 
and the latter of Cooperstown, N. Y., coming to this county in 1827. 
Richard Peck died February 10, 1881, in his seventy -ninth year ; 



1154 HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUNTY. 

Mrs. Peck died August 11, 1890, in her seventieth year. Mrs. Schrier 
is the onh^ child, and was born in Athens January 9, 1860. To Mr. 
and Mrs."^ Schrier was born one daughter, Annie. The}^ are mem- 
bers of the Episcopal Church ; he is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
No. 165, and also of the Iron Hall, and is a Eepublican. 

MICHAEL F. SCIIUMAN, furniture contractor, Towanda, was 
born in Rush, Monroe Co., N. Y., October 13, 1849, a son of Michael 
J. and Elizabeth (Hane) Schuman, natives of Bavaria and Baden, Ger- 
many, respectively. Ilis father came to America in 1841 and located 
in Pennsylvania, where he worked at the shoemaker's trade two years ; 
he then removed to Hush, N. Y., where he married, and in 1864 settled 
in Rochester, N. Y., where he still resides. Michael was reared and 
educated in Monroe county, N. Y., learned the cabinet-maker's trade m 
Rochester, at which he worked as a journeyman ten years. In 1879 
he came to Towanda, where he has since been in business as a contrac- 
tor in the furniture factory of J. O. Frost Sons. lie married, April 6, 
1874, Mary A., daughter "^of Herman and Anna (Leible) Langknecht, 
of Rochester, N. Y.,^and formerly of Bavaria, Germany. The issue 
of this union is nine children, v'iz.: George, Annie, Anthony, Isabel, 
Mary, Fred, Frank, Albert and Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. Schuman are 
members of the Catholic Church ; in politics he is a Democrat. 

CHARLES SCOTT, farmer in .Monroe township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born in Towanda township, this county, January 31, 
1839, and is a son of John and Catherine (Harris) Scott, the former a 
native of Trenton, N. J., and of English origin, the latter of Berwick, 
Pa., and of Dutch lineage. The father worked on canals and other 
public works near Pliiladelphia and Hazelton as a mechanic, and came 
to Bradford count v about 1833, where he lived seven years, where 
E. W. Hale now resides; then removed to Sullivan county, where he 
remained three vears, at which time he returned to Bradford county 
and settled on the farm which his son Charles now occupies, where he 
followed carpentering and farming until his death in 1882, at the age 
of seventv-eight vears; he reared a family of six children, of whom 
Charles is the second. Sul)ject was reared "^on the farm, educated in 
the common school, and lias always been engaged in farming whei-e he 
now resides. He enlisted at Monroe, August 7, 1862, in Company C, 
One Hundred and Forty-First P. V. I., and was with the regiment 
until the battle of Gettysburg, where he received a gunshot wound in 
the right shoulder, which disabled him two months; at the end of this 
time rejoined his regiment and remained with it until the battle of Peters- 
burg, where he was wounded in the right hip. Including a furlough 
of lortv-tive davs (during which time he was married), he remained in 
the Philadelphia IIos])ital until January 20, 1865, when he was dis- 
charged as lirst lieutenant on surgeon's certificate of disability. He 
was married November 15, 1864, to Miss Mary J., daughter of Charles 
and Sallie (P,lauvelt) Hollon, and they had two children : Walter F., 
born January 6, 1866, married to Mary II. Kram, daughter of AVilL 
iain Kram. and lives on a portion of his father's farm ; and Dora E., 
boi-n A]^Y\\ 6, 1878. The fau'.ily are meml)ers of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, of which he has i>een trustee and steward, also superin- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1155 

tendent of the Sunday-scliool. He is a Republican, and has held 
the following offices of public trust : Town clerk, school director, com- 
missioner and assessor, and is now assistant assessor. 

FRANK H. SCOTT, farmer, Smithfield townsliip, P. O. East Smith- 
field, was born in Springfield, this county, April 20, 1847, a son of 
Orrin and Martha A. (Brown) Scott, the former a native of Vermont, 
and latter of Connecticut. They came to this county in 1843, and 
settled in Springfield township. One son, A. O., was in the Civil War. 
Frank II. is the youngest m a family of three children. The father 
was a blacksmith," as well as a farmer, and Frank H. was reared on the 
farm, educated in the schools of the town, and ado])ted farming as his 
business. He was united in marriage, December 1, 1869, with Pleiades, 
daughter of Merit and Abigail (Kingsley) Wood; she is a sister of 
Francis Wood. Her great-grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, 
and thev trace their family genealogy back many generations. Mrs. 
Scott was born October 9, 1849, the third in a family of five children, 
and the only daughter. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Scott 
two children : Ella L., born April 1, 1874, and Bessie M., born February 
4, 1881. Mr. Scott is the owner of a fine farm, and is a part owner of 
other lands — 400 acres in all. His principal interest thereon is dairying. 
He is a genial and pleasant gentleman, and has a wide circle of friends. 

WINFIELD SCOTT, farmer, Monroe township, P.O. Monroeton, 
was born m Monroe, this county. May 2, 1814, and is a son of John H. 
and Catherine E. (Harris) Scott; in his father's family there were six 
children, of whom Winfield is the fourth. He was reared on the farm, 
educated in the common school, purchased the farm where Harvey Cum- 
mings now resides, lived there from 1868 to 1874, when he removed to his 
present home, and he has since given his attention and energy chiefly to 
the cultivation of the soil. Mr. Scott was married, October 1, 1867, to 
Miss Mary E., daughter of William V., and Julia (Griggs) Stevens, of 
Monroe, and they have three children: Stella M., born September 6, 
1869; Franklin L., born April 3, 1876, and John W., born February 
15, 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Scott and their daughter are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been trustee fifteen 
years, and is also steward ; he is a Republican in politics, and has been 
town treasurer ten years. 

HARRY SCOVELL, retired farmer, P. O. To wand a, was born 
February 13, 1803, on the farm where he now resides, and is a son of 
Silas and Abigail (Harris) Scovell. His paternal grandfather, Elisha 
Scovell, moved with his family from Connecticut to Exeter, Luzerne 
Co., Pa., in an early day, and from there the father of our subject 
came to Towanda in 1788, and soon after his marriage, in 1790, he 
removed to the farm now occupied by Harry Scovell. a part of which 
he cleared and improved, and where he resided until his death in 1824. 
His children were Phebe (Mrs. Nathan Stevens), Peter H., Harry, 
Celesta, Caroline (Mrs. H. S. Frazier), Silas J., Joseph J. and Abigail 
(Mrs. E. Reuben Deleng). On the death of his father, he succeeded 
to the homestead, where he was born and reared and has always 
resided. He cleared and improved a large part of the farm, which he 
has divided between his sons, John H. and Silas M. He was twice 



115G HISTORY OF BHADFORl) COUNTY. 

married ; his tirst wife was Sarah Court \vrio:ht, by whom he had four 
children: John H., James, Amanda (Mrs. Francis Barnes) and Silas 
M. Harry Scovell resides with his youngest son, Silas M., who was 
born March 25, 1848, and married, in 1871, to Eva, daughter of David 
and Eliza (Smith) AValborn, of Sheshequin township, this county, and 
has two children : Jennie and Jesse. 

SAMUEL M. SEAFUSE, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born 
in Si)ringtield township, this county, June 21:, 1869, a son of Horace 
and Sarali (Palmer) Seafuse, natives of Monroe and Tioga counties, 
respectivelv. Horace was a son of Solomon Seafuse, who removed 
from Monroe county, Pa., to this county in 1855, locating in South 
Creek township, on what is known as " East Hill; " this was in the 
early settlement of the town, when its inhabitants did not number 
half as many as they do now. Solomon Seafuse learned the carpenters' 
trade, at which he worked in connection with his farm; his family 
consisted of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity. Horace, 
the father of Samuel M., was a farmer, and worked as such until his 
death, which occurred March 2, 1874, when aged but twenty-eight 
years. There were four children born to him, all of whom are living. 
Samuel M. Seafuse, who is the eldest in the family, was reared and 
educated at the common school, and so proficient did he become that 
he fitted himself for a teacher, and has taught four terms in South 
Creek and Ridgeburv townships; has been studving medicine under 
Dr. Charles N. Hammond, of Bentley Creek, for the past two years, 
and is now a student of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of 
Baltimore, Md. He is a bright, intelligent young man, and bids fair 
to make his mark in life. On July 4, 1887, he married, in South 
Creek township, Jennie, daughter of Walter and Maria ]\[ason, and 
there have been born to them two children: Glen and Mary. In con- 
junction with his studies, l\[r. Seafuse is working on his farm with his 
grandfather, Solomon Seafuse. He is a member of the International 
Fraternal Alliance. 

^y. C. SECIIIUST, attorney at law. Canton, is a native of Tioga 
county. Pa., and was born January 27, 1858, a son of John and 
Harriet (Miller) Sechrist, natives of Tioga county, Pa., and Germany, 
respectively. His father was a farmer in early life, and is now in the 
employ of the F;ill Brook Kailroad Company, a position he has iield 
for some time. Mrs. Sechrist died in 1881. W. C. Sechrist is the 
second in order of l)irth in a family of five sons and five daughters; he 
was reared in Tioga county until seventeen years of age, when he came 
to Canton and completed his education in the graded schools; read 
law with Capt. J. II. Sha.v, was admitted to the bar in January, 1881, 
and has been ))r;icticing his profession thei'e since. He was man-icd 
in Canton, in 18S2, to Ella, daughter of J. W. and Lucy (Spalding) 
(irilfin, natives of this county. J. W. Gritfin was a blacksmith by 
trade, but retired from his trade when about forty years of age, and 
was until his death extensively engaged in real estate transactions; he 
died in 187<», in his sixty-third year; Mrs. Gritfin yet survives; she is a 
descendant of Ezra Spalding, who was one of the four first settlers in 
the township. Mrs. Sechrist, who is the youngest in a family of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1157 

four children, was born in Canton, in January, 1S52, and is a member 
of the Disciple Church. Mr. Sechrist is serving his seventh year on 
the borough school board; politically, he is a Republican. 

H. C. SEELEY, conductor on the L. V. R. R., Sayre, is a native of 
Ridgebury township, this county, and was born November 12, 1848. 
Ilis^parents were John F. and Sally M. (Thompson) Seeley, natives of 
Orange county, N. Y., the former of whom was a farmer, and died in 
Ridgeburv, this county, July 2, 1888, in his eightieth year. 11. C. See- 
ley is the'eighth in a family of nine children— six girls and three boys. 
Two brothers served in the Civil War, one of whom died of Typhoid 
fever, near Cape Ilatteras, and the other died several years after the 
close of the war from the effects of a shell wound. Our subject 
was reared in Ridgebury, and received his education in the common 
schools. When he became of age he farmed two years, and then went 
on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in 1872, as brakeman ; was ])romoted 
to coal train conductor in 1877, and to freight train conductor in the 
spring of 1881. He was njarried, in Athens, in April, 1870. to Miss 
Mary E., daughter of Solomon and Sally (Taylor) Bosworth, the for- 
mer '^a native of Athens, and the latter of Windsor county, Vt. Her 
father was a farmer and died in Athens township, this county, in 
March, 1861, in his fifty-second year; her mother resides in Sayre. 
Mrs, Bosworth's uncles, Samuel and Benjamin, were soldiers in the 
War of 1812. Mrs. Seeley is the youngest in a family of eleven 
children, and was born in Athens township, T^ovembcr 13, 1853. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Seeley was born a son, Clair D. Seeley. Mrs. Seeley is 
a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Seeley is a member of the 
Order of Railway Conductors, Southern Tier Divison, No. 10, Waverly, 
N. Y., and is also a member of the Iron Hall. In politics he is a 
Republican. 

I. R. SELLARD, farmer and dairyman, of Canton township, P. O. 
Grover, is a native of Canton township, this county, and was born 
Julv 2, 1849. His parents were Ichabod and Harriet (King) Sellard, 
natives of Canton township and Tioga county, Pa., respectively. 
Our subject's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all died in the 
house where Charles J. McKee now resides, about two and one-half 
miles south of Canton; it is probably the oldest house in the town- 
ship, and was built in 1818. The great-grandfather, James Sellard, 
was a native of Connecticut and removed to Lycoming county. Pa., 
from there to Tioga county, and settled in Canton township in about 
1812, on the old Sellard homestead. The grandfather. Stephen D. Sel- 
lard, served in the War of 1812, and died in May, 1852, in his sixty- 
fourth year. Ichabod Sellard was born March 24, 1821, and died 
October'^ 21, 1877. Mrs. Sellard died January 22, 1888, in her sixty- 
first year. Our subject is the third in order of birth in a family of 
live children ; he received his education in the common schools and 
attended the State Normal School at Mansfield, Pa., one year, and 
taught one term of school ; he owns a well-iin])roved farm containing 
132 acres; also a part of the old Sellard homestead. He married, in 
Canton, in 1872, Louise, daughter of Samuel and Malissa (Bates) Fitz- 
water, natives of Bradford county. Mrs. Sellard is third in a family 



1158 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of ten children, and was born in Canton township, in January, 1854. 
To them were born a family of five children, as follows: JMinnie, 
Belle, Helen, Daisy and Mildred. Mrs. Sellard is a member of the 
Disciple Church. ^ Mr. Sellard is a member of Grover Grange ; 
politically is a Kepublican, and has served two terms as township 
treasurer. 

M. P. SEWAKD, of the firm of Seward & Company, proprietors 
of planing-mill, Sayre, is a native of Broome county, N. Y., and was 
born October 24, 1847, a son of William and Tamar (Hewitt) Seward, 
natives of New York, the former of whom was a mechanic and died 
in Binghamton, N. Y., the latter surviving and now residing in Earls- 
ville, Delaware Co., Iowa. M. P. Sewai^d, who is the second in order 
of birth in a family of five children, received his education in the com- 
mon schools, and served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade in 
his native county, where he worked until 1875, when he came to 
Savre and followed his trade until 1881, when he became a member of 
the firm of Seward & Company, since when he has devoted his time 
to the success of that establishment. He was married in Bingham- 
ton, N. Y., in 1872, to Miss Rachel Mallinson, whose parents were 
natives of England. (She was the eighth in a family of twelve chil- 
dren, and was born in Rockland county, X. Y.. in 1845, and died Aug- 
ust 6, 1889, a consistent member of the ]\rethodist Episcopal Church, 
and an estimable lady). In the family is an adopted daughter, Elsie 
Seward. Mr. Seward is a member of the Iron Hall, and is a Ilepub- 
lican in politics. 

GEORGE W. SEXTON, a farmer of Franklin township, P. O. 
Powell, was born in Orwell townsliip, this county, March 1, 1889, and 
is a son of Jabez E. and Jeanett (Jilson) Sexton, both of whom were 
natives of Connecticut. His father was a son of AVilliam Sexton, who 
removed from the East to this county in 1813, at which time Jabez was 
six years of age. He located on a farm of sixty-five acres in Orwell, 
on which he remained all of his life. Jabez lived on the same old 
homestead seventy-two years, having been born in 1807, and reared a 
family of nine chddren-^two sons and seven daughters — six of whom 
grew to maturity, and five are now living. Our subject was reared and 
educated in Orwell at the common school, and has always followed 
farming as an occupation. At the age of twenty -three he attached 
himself to Company D, One Hundrfnl and Forty-First P. V. I., for the 
term of three years. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellors- 
ville, and lost his right arm, for which disability he now draws a pension 
of ^45.00 per month. Mr. Sexton is located on a beautiful farm on 
Towanda Creek, near the Monroe line ; he is a general farmer, and, hke 
others along that rich lowland, pays attention to raising tobacco; is a 
member of the G. A. R., and is a Re|)ub!ican in politics. 

AI)EL15FRT SHAW, engineer, P. O. Ulster, was born in Ulster, 
this county. July 9, 1887. and is a son of Norman and Mary Ann 
(Marshall) 'Shaw^ and a grandson of Ebenezer Shaw. Norman Shaw 
was a fai-mer, and our subject was born and reared on a farm ; he 
attended the common schools of Ulster and received a good English 
education. He worked on his father's farm until eighteen years of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1159 

age, and then was employed on a boat on the North I'ranch Canal 
for eight years. He enlisted, in 1862, in the Twenty-fourth Indejien- 
dent Battery, and served until ISG-t, when he was discharged. He 
married Anna E., daughter of Martin and Nancy (Brigg) Thor]), and 
three children were born to them : Rosa, married to Charles Watkins ; 
Charles, married to Kate Crawley, and May, married to Robert J. 
Wood. Mr. Shaw is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the 
G. A. R. 

URIAH SHx4."W, farmer and carpenter, Ulster, was born in She- 
shequm township, this county, May 13, 1806, a son of Ebenezer Shaw, 
a native of Little Compton, Newport Co., R. I., who was born Sep- 
tember 5, 1Y71, and died at Sheshequin, December 17, 1871, at the 
extremely advanced age of one hundred years and three months; he 
was the oldest Freemason in the State at the time of his death, and 
was buried by the Fraternity. Uriah Shaw, his grandfather, reached 
the age of eighty-four, and his grandmother Shaw (before marriage, 
Campbell), reached sixty-four years of age, while his grandfather 
Holcomb reached eighty -one, and his grandmother Holcomb reached 
eio-hty-three years of age. His mother, Cynthia (Holcomb) Shaw, 
was born in JBarkhamsted, Litchfield Co., Conn., March 17, 1783, and 
died at Sheshequin, April 10, 1868, aged eighty-five; his father came 
to Sheshequin in 1786, when fourteen years old; his mother came to 
Ulster in 1794, being then eleven years old. His parents were 
married February 26, 1801, among the earliest marriages of this 
county, and their family consisted of the following children: Laura, 
Harry, Uriah, Norman, Hiram, Matilda antl Ebenezer P. He and 
one sister, Mrs. Matilda Gore, are the only survivors. He received 
his early education at the Sheshequin scliool, and the school-house 
stood just across the road, and while attending school he would s]>end 
his noon recesses threshing wheat with a flail, in his fathers barn. 
He acquired a good education, for those days, and upon leaving school 
engaged in teaching, in Rome township, three months, then for two 
winters next in succession taught school in Sheshequin in tlie house 
near his father's barn, but abandoned that after a few months, as his 
salary was but $9 a month and board, "boarding round," and that 
was then considered ample pay. He next engaged as a member of a 
surveying corps, and assisted in making many surveys in this and 
adjoining counties, then turned his attention to farming and carpen- 
tering, which he followed more or less nntil June 30, 1868, when he 
was appointed mail messenger on the route between Ulster and Horn- 
brook; continued at this until May 29, 1872. when, in connection with 
his sons, Henry and Hiram, he opened the "canal grocery" in Ulster; 
for some time past he has been carrying the mail to and from the rail- 
road station and postofRce. He was married, January 19, 1832, to 
Patience Lenity Segar, and to them were born eight children, viz.: B.F., 
Ralph, Henry, Samuel, Anna, Cynthia, Hiram F.,and Anna (deceased). 
When a young man he purchased the first lot laid out in Ulster; 
caught luml)er and logs in the drift of the river, built him a plank 
house, 40x18 feet, two stories, and as soon as it was partially com- 
pleted moved in; this was the fifth house built in ITlster, and the 



IKJO HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

building in which the second tavern in the township was opened. In 
reHgious behef he is a Universahst, and a Republican in politics. 

HENRY SHAW, station agent, Ulster, was born December 31, 
1836, at Ulster, Bradford Co., Pa., son of Uriaii and Patience Lenity 
(Segar) Shaw. He secured a business education, engaged in the mer- 
cantile trade, and in connection with his brother, B. F. Shaw, opened 
a confectionery and bakery in Towanda, in 1860. In 1861 he pur- 
chased his brother's interest, and was alone for a time, when he sold 
out and purchased a canal boat, which he ran from Buffalo to New 
York, returning via Elmira, and from there to Baltimore. He was 
thus engaged two years, and then with his father and brother, Iliram, 
built and stocked the grocery store on the canal at Ulster, known as 
the "canal grocery." The firm was U. Shaw & Sons; he continued 
in the grocery until their business was ruined by the abandonment of 
the canal, in 1871, and then secured the appointment for agent of the 
Lehigh Yalley Railroad, and has held that position to the present 
time. He has a beautiful home in Ulster, and has saved a fair com- 
]>etence from his gains in business. On Christmas Day. 1863, he was 
united in marriage with M. E. Smith, daughter of I. AY. and Selestia 
A. (Arnold) Smith, a lady of English descent. To them were born 
four children, of whom Hattie died in infancy, and Minnie, the wife of 
W. Ethel Shoemaker, also died ; Lulu and Fred Harper live with 
their parents. The family are Universalists; in politics, Mr. Shaw is 
Republican. In the possession of Mr. Shaw is one of the first two 
clocks brought to Bradford county, which was brought by his grand- 
father, Ebenezer Shaw, about the year 1816; it is over seven feet 
high, and a sight of it carries us back to the old New^ England kitchen, 
where it occupied the post of honor and chimed out its music to the 
pitcher of cider and rosy-cheeked apples. 

SHEPARD. Among the most prominent families of western Brad- 
ford were two sons of John Shepard, namely, Silas E. Shepard, D. D. 
(deceased), and Samuel W. Shepard, M. D., of Troy, representatives of 
the Shepard and Bonesteel families. John Shejiard married Elizabeth 
Bonesteel; he was the son of John and Aljigail (Eaton), the son of 
Daniel and Jane (Ilosmer), the son of Daniel and Mary (Smedley), the 
son of John and Sarah, the son of Ralph and Thanks, Ralj^h came 
from England in 1635; died September 11, 161»3, aged ninety years. 
John Milton Shepard, son of Silas E. Shepard, died June 1, 1853. He 
married, December 29, 18-16, Matilda Willey Benton, who was born 
August 14-, 1824. Allen Bentcm, her father,' was born June 9, 1792, 
married July 22, 1819; his wife. Deborah (AYilley), was born February 
1, 1797. Allen Benton died September 12, 1879; Deborah (Willey) 
Benton died August 23, 1867. Milton left one daughter, who mar- 
ried Rev. I). W. Hart, now of Wilton, Conn. John Shepard, who mar- 
ried Elizabeth Bonesteel, was born December 26, 1780, died l\Iarch 8, 
1833. Eliziibeth Bonesteel was born Noveml)or 2^1 1781, died May 1, 
1832. Their children were: Pnul, born M:irch 25, 1799, man-led Mercy 
Osborne, born May 13, 1800, died October 7, 1876. Silas Eaton, born 
February 2, 1801, died in Troy, Pa., November 12, 1877; he married 
Nancy Lake in 1821; had three children: Catherine, John Milton and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1101 

Alma Wright. Luke, born March 19, 1803, died April 20, 1837, mar- 
ried Jeriisha Boynton; his children were Manly and Jackson. John, 
born March 28, 1805, died in 1826. Millicent, born September 5, 1807, 
died in 1826. Stephen A., born October 4, 1809, died in 1888. Betsy 
Shepard, born in 1812, died in Bay City in 1876. Lysander Curtis, 
born April 6, 1814. Daniel Bonesteel, born April 19, 1816, died in Bay 
City in 1875. Samuel W., born September 24, 1818, Rosina, born 
November 7, 1821, died in 1886. 

Following 'is the genealogy of the Bonesteel family on the maternal 
side of the house: Nicholas Bonesteel, born in Germany about 1695, 
emigrated to Dutchess county, N. Y., United States of America, about 
1720, died near Troy, N. Y., about 1788; was a farmer nearRhinebeck, 
]Sr. Y.; had live sons — Jacob, Philip, Nicholas, Jeremiah and David — 
and several daughters; he had only one brother, David. 

David, brother of Nicholas, came from Germany, and the descend- 
ants of the two brothers are a great race, on both sides of the Hudson 
river, from New York City to Troy from 1700, now numerous in Ontario, 
Cattaraugus and Niagara counties, N. Y., and in Northern Penn- 
sylvania. 

Philip Bonesteel, born in Dutchess county, N. Y., 1753, thence 
removed, about 1755, to Florida, Montgomery Co., N. Y., had eleven 
children, and died September 17, 1848, aged ninety-four years ; was with 
the Shakers at West Pittslield, Mass.; he was forty-three years a Shaker, 
and was known as " Father Philip." He married, in 1775, Elizabeth 
Ray, born in Dutchess countv, N. Y., 1754, married in her native 
county, died in Benton, Yates Co., N. Y,, 1814, aged about sixty years. 
She had brothers, Mathias and Christian; sisters, Margaret (Stirzees), 
Mary (Pettit), Catherine (Roland). Their father, Christian Ray, born 
in Germany before 1700, immigrated to America about 1720 in a sail- 
ing v^sel, the trip from land to land occupying eleven months, and 
buried one child at sea; settled in Dutchess count}', N. Y.; kept hotel 
on main thoroughfare, and often entertained General Washington. Him- 
self and wife died just after Revolutionary War. Wife unknown. The 
sons and daughters of Philip Bonesteel and Elizabeth Ray were Philip, 

second, married Roland, had a few sons and daughters, removed 

to Wisconsin. Elizabeth married John Shepard, children: Paul, Silas, 
Luke, John, Betsey, Lysander, Samuel and Rosina, Stephen. John 
married three times, had twenty-two children; first family in Cattarau- 
gus county, N. Y.; second family, in Pennsylvania; third family, in 
Niagara, N. Y. Sarah married John Gay, descendants at or near 
Albion, Mich. Luke married; very small famil\% in West. Amos mar- 
ried; verv small family, Wisconsin. Mary married Benjamin Wood, 
eleven children. Anna married Samuel Carley and then George L. 
Carley; large family, Oswego county, N. Y. Nicholas married Miss 
Squire, then married Miss Fosdick; large family, Cattaraugus county, 
N. Y. Asenath, married Ebenezer Pettit; three daughters and one son, 
all dead, Livingston county, N. Y. 

The children of Benjamin Wood and Mary Bonesteel : Elmira 
married John S. Bristol, both dead ; one daughter and two sons. Mary 
Ann married Ezra Cornell (deceased), of whom Cornell College took 



1162 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

its name; nine children, three sons and two daughters now living, at 
Ithaca, N. Y. Lydia died unmarried. Orrin Squire married Mary 1. 
Mitchell ; married Julia Forbes; married Mrs. Anna Dodd ; two daugh- 
ters and one son, at Staten Island, N. Y. Merritt L. married Caroline 
B. Sage; no children; Micanopy, Florida. Emily married Jonathan 
Dunham; two daughters and onVson,at Valley Springs, South Dakota. 
Harriet (deceased) married Jonathan Dunham. Caroline died unmar- 
ried. Norman B. married Anna Spencer; two daughters living. Otis 
Eddy married Olive A. Houtz; two sons living, Ithaca, N. Y. Cor- 
delia M. married Alonzo Chase; three daughters, Redfield, South 
Dakota. 

DE. SILAS EATON SHEPARD, son of John and Elizabeth 
Shepard, was a native of Utica, Oneida Co., N". Y., born of Puritan 
blood, and from the public schools was a student at the academy in 
Norwich, N. Y., and while at this school turned from the Congrega- 
tional to the Baptist Church. He came to Shamokin, this State, as a 
teacher when eighteen, and the same year became a preacher and 
entered upon the long work of fifty -eight years that marked his course 
in hfe. He married in 1821, at Washington ville. Pa., Nancy Lake; 
visited Canton in 1825, located there in 1827, and purchased a farm in 
Armenia; was regularly preaching at the church in Canton. At this 
time Dr. Alexander Campbell became known to the world, and Rev. 
Dr. Shepard accepted CarapbelFs theological views, antl began that 
thorough course of studying Latin, Greek and Hebrew that soon made 
him a famous scholar. In 1828 he began preaching in Smithfield and 
other places in western Bradford. In 1831: he moved to Auburn, N.Y., 
editing, the next four years, the Primitive Christian. While here 
he attacked the prison"^ system ant] effected a revolution therein; 
returned to Troy in 1839, and practiced medicine four years as a homeo- 
path. In 1843 he went to Cincinnati, and was present at Campbell's 
and Rice's discussion; then returned to Troy and in conjunction with 
his son Milton preached in Canton, Granville and Smithfield, In 1850 
he was called to the pastorate of the Church of the Disciples on Sev- 
enteenth street. New York, and was here eight years; while here he 
became a member of the American Bible Union for translating the 
Scriptures, and his translations rank unexcelled. The death of his son 
Milton recalled him to Troy June 1, 1853; there he built the house 
now Hon. Delos Rockwell's. In 1858 he made the tour of Europe, 
Egypt and the Holy Land. On his return he spent 1861-62 as pastor 
of the Central Christian Church, of Cincinnati, when he returned to 
Troy and now divided his time between this place and New York, at 
work at the Bible Union, and lecturing. In 1861: he was candidate for 
State Senator on the People's ticket, and with his ])arty was defeated. 
In 1865 he went to Indianapolis, and was pastor of a church in that 
place, and in 1867 he took charge of the new Iliram College of Ohio — 
a self-educated man at the head of a great institution of learning ! 
He was now called to Troy by the illness of his wife, and again took 
up his abode and the work of preaching, and his pen was busy writing 
those strong and vigorous articles tliat marked the columns of the 
Christian Standard and the Christian Quarterly of which he was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1163 

one of the founders, editing- the latter many years; and of the good 
man gone it was well said : " Know ye not that tliere is a prince and 
a great man fallen this dav in Israel T' 

DR. SAMUEL W. SHEPARD was born in New Berlin, CJhenango 
(then Broome) Co., N. Y. When one year old his parents moved 
to Pittstield, Mass., where he attended school from five until ten years 
of age; thence went to Yirgil, Cortland Co., N. Y., remaining one 
winter; thence to Bradford county, attending school in Canton and 
Granville townships until Hfteen years of age ; thence traveled through 
Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Yirginia, and 
returned in January, 1838, after nearly four years spent in the then "far 
West." He married Amanda, daugiiter of Scovil Bailey, of Granville, 
and settled on a farm; having studied medicine several years in various 
ways as Regular, Thomsonian or Eclectic, he commenced the practice 
in a small neighborhood, and, in 1846, studied Homeopathy under his 
brother, Silas E. Shepard, M. D., who was in practice in Troy. His 
brother removing to New York City, Dr. Samuel took his practice in 
western Bradford, and has continued with wonderful success until the 
present time; but now, being in his seventy-third year, he cares not 
to be burdened with the sick. In politics, always a Democrat. He 
has held all of the township offices, from school director to justice of 
the ))eace, and was three years county auditor; in 1855 he was the 
Democratic nominee for Representative, receiving every vote in Troy 
township and borough, but a coalition of the Free-Soilers and Whigs 
defeated the Democrats. In religion he is a Disciple. Dr. S. W. 
Shepard and Amanda Bailey were joined in wedlock, September 2, 
1838. She was a daughter of Scovil and Jerusha (Hail) Bailey, of Gran- 
ville township, formerly of Connecticut, and of this marriage were four 
children ; the eldest, Jerusha E., born October 27, 1841, married May 7, 
1872, William J. Hillis, M. D., of Ilerrick, who died in 1888. She has 
three children — two daughters and one son. Lovina, born September 25, 
1844, married H. M. Spalding, son of Andrew Spalding, of Canton ; 
they have four children — one daughter and three sons. O'Meara, born 
in 1847, of Granville Centre, a farmer, has three sons. Earnest, Samuel 
and George,of Granville Centre, and Philena, married to A.M.Wooster, 
of Granville ; the_y are now living in Troy. Mrs. Wooster has three sons, 
making thirteen grandchildren, all healthy and understanding the 
principles of homeopathy. The Doctor has but one brother now living, 
out of eleven children — eight sons and three daughters. The brother, 
Lysander Curtis Shepard, Esq., was born in April, 1814, and never 
remembers of being confined to the house one day by sickness. He 
has lived at Fallbrook, Tioga Co., Pa., about thirty-live years, except six 
years in Raleigh, N. C. When at Fallbrook he held the office of 
justice of the peace the entire time while there. He has three sons 
and one daughter living, having lost two daughters. The Doctor's 
relatives are very numerous on the maternal and paternal sides, living 
in everv State of the Union. 

MORRIS SHEPARD, ex-sheriflf, Towanda, and one of the most 
prominent farmers of Bradford county, has been county commissioner 
and recently turned over the office of sheriff to his successor. He was 



1104 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

born April 18, 1838, in Wells township, where is his fine farm, a son of 
Nathan and Jane (Case) Shepard, natives of New Jersey and of English 
and Scotch descent, respect ivel}'. Ilis parents were agriculturists who 
came to Bradford county in 1836, and located in Wells township on 
their farm, where the father died in 18G2, and reared a family of six 
children, all of whom grew to their majority. Our subject, who is the 
third in the order of birth, and was on the old homestead working as a 
farmer's boy, and attending the scliools in about their average way and 
manner, commenced life for himself with no other hope or ambition 
than that of being a good farmer. But his neighbors found him out 
in time, and by their suffrage made him county commissioner, serving 
a term with distinguished credit, and returned to his farm and private 
life; but in 1887 they again called on him to stand for sheriff, and he 
was elected. His farm is 186 acres of choice land in a high state of 
cultivation, the whole the proud product of his own energy and patient 
toil. He was married in Wells township. May 10, 1862, to Mary 
Jewell, daughter of Kev. Joel Jewell, minister of the Presbyterian 
Church, and to this marriage have been born children as follows : 
Charles N., Perry (died aged three years) and Orj)ha May. The family 
worship at the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Shepard is a member of 
Trojan Lodge, No. 306, F. and A. M., Troy, Pa., and is a stanch 
Republican. 

0'MP:ARA shepard, farmer, P. O. Granville Centre, was born 
in Granville township, this county, March 30, 1847, a son of Dr. 
Samuel W. and Amanda (Bailey) Shepard. His maternal grandparents, 
Scovil and Jerusha (Hale) l>ailey. natives of Connecticut, were pioneers 
of Granville, where they settled^ in 1801. The subject of this memoir 
was reared in Granville, received a public-school education and learned 
the carpenter's trade, which he followed ten years. In 1878 he located 
in LeRoy township, where he was engaged in farming five years, and has 
occupied his present farm in Granville township since 1883. He 
mari'ied, November 24, 1869, Jennie, daughter of William and Rosella 
]\[. (FitzGerald) Bunyan, of (Tranville. Mrs. Shepard's father, who 
was a native of Melrose, Scotland, a carpenter by trade, settled in 
Granville about 1838, and cleared the farm on what is known as 
Bunyan Hill, now occupied by his sons, Andrew and George, and 
died" there. His wife was a native of New York, and by her he had 
eleven children: Marv (Mrs. John Jackson); xVnn (Mrs. S. C. Wright); 
William; Silas (killed at the battle of Fort Johnson, July 3, 1863; 
he was in Comi)any E, Fifty-second Itegiment P. V. I.); Andrew; Frank ; 
Margaret (Mrs. Newton' Landon); Jeanette (wife of the subject); 
Eflfie (Mrs. J. W. Duart); George L. and Alice (Mrs. Dayton Saxton). 
Mr. and Mrs. She])ard have three sons: Ernest N., Samuel W. and 
George B. Mr. Shepard is a highly respected citizen. 

ROBERT E. SHElilDAN, fouiidryman, Athens, is a native of the 
city of Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland, where he was born in 
October, 1840. and is a son of Robert and llanora (Shanahan) Sheri- 
dan, natives of h^eland. His father was* a mechanic, and worked in 
the dock yards, and died in 1840, in his forty-second year, and his 
widow is now a resident of Towanda. When the son was nine years 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 11G5 

old his parents came to Port Jervis, N. Y., where lie had relatives. 
He served an apprenticeshij) at the molder's trade in Port Jervis and 
Middletown, N. Y., and in 18G2 came to Athens, where he remained 
about four years, during which time he worked about one year in 
Williamsport, and from Athens went to Wilkes-Parre, and was there 
two years. He returned to Athens, and in 1869 removed to Owego, 
N. Y*^., and worked at his trade until 1890, and then worked a short 
time in Williamsport. In the spring of 1890 he erected a building, 
30x68, for his foundry, where he makes castings for plows, stove 
trimmings, hitching posts, chimney tops, window weights, and all 
kinds of castings in the rough. lie was married in Athens, in April, 

1863, to Miss Marv, daughter of John and Mary (Buck) Doran, natives 
of Ireland; she is the fifth in a family of six children, and was born 
in Athens in 1842. To them were "^born two daughters, Mary and 
Hanora. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church, 
and the father is a Republican, politically. 

JAMES W. SEINER, harness manufacturer and dealer in hides 
and wool, Towanda, was born in Towanda, this county, August 4, 

1864, and is a son of Andrew and (Wilcox) Shiner. His paternal 

grandfather, Stephen Shiner, came from New Jersey to Bradford 
county in 1836, settling in Towanda township, where he engaged m 
farming, and died. His wife was Sally A. Pearson, by whom he had 
nine children, as follow^s : Silas, Andrew, Stephen, Jacob, Mary A. 
(Mrs. Wells Goflf), Susan (Mrs. John Annis), Phebe J., Lydia E. and 
Eliza Shiner. His maternal grandfather was James V. Wilcox, a resi- 
dent of Towanda, where he still resides. Andrew^ Shiner is a farmer 
of Towanda township, where he was reared from six year-sof age. His 
children were four in number, viz.: Fannie (Mrs. Dr. F. W. Brockway), 
James W., Charles S. and Fred. James W. Shiner, the subject of the 
sketch, was reared in Towanda township, received a common-school 
education, and learned the harness-makers trade with his grandfather, 
J. V. Wilcox, of Towanda, serving an apprenticeship of three years. 
In 1887 he engaged in business for himself, and has built up a success- 
ful trade. He was married in November, 1886, to Mary E., daughter 
of Stephen and Caroline (Holmes) Strickland, of Wysox, Pa., and has 
one daughter, C. Eugenia. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, 
and in politics he is a Republican. 

ABRAM F. SHOEMAKER, farmer, Granville township, P. O. 
Granville Summit, was born in Granville, this county. May 31, 1833, 
and is the son of Malachi and Susan (Shafer) Shoemaker, formerly of 
Luzerne county. Pa., who settled in Granville in 1826, cleared and 
improved the farm now owned by T. F. Porter, and died there. Their 
children were : Payne, Catherine (Mrs. Alex. Lane), William, Susan 
(Mrs. Alva Mitchell), Malachi T., Martha A. (Mrs. Peter Groom), 
Elizabeth (Mrs. John Fenton), Mary A. (Mrs. James Davis), Sarah 
(Mrs. Lewis Spalding) and Abram F., the latter of whom was reared 
in Granville, and settled on the farm he now occupies, in 1858, where 
he has since resided. He married, October 10, 1858, Sophia, daughter 
of David and Sallv (Downs) Coe, of Granville, and has four children : 
Frances E., Hattie (Mrs. O. Hawthorn). L. D. and Harry. Mr. Shoe- 



1166 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

maker enlisted, September 27, 1864, in the Civil War, and served in 
the Fifteenth New York Engineers, and after nine months' service 
was honorably discharged ; he is a member of the G. A. 11. and P. of 
H.; politicallv he is a Democrat. 

MAHLON W. SHORES, teacher, Sheshequin township, P. O. 
Sheshequin, was born in Sheshequin, this county, April 3, 18G3, and is 
the only son of Meramon and Mary (Shores) Shores, natives of She- 
shequin, and of English origin. lie is a descendant of the Shores 
family, who occupy so important a place in English history, as well as 
in the history of Bradford county. Our subject was reared on a farm, 
educated in the common school, Towanda graded school, Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute, and AVarner's Commercial College, Elmira, from 
which he was graduated in 1884. He has taught nine terms of school 
in Bradford county, and has been salesman in various capacities and 
in different lines."^ He is in strong sympathy with the Republican 
partv, but votes purelv on principle and for the best man. 

HENRY W. SHORTELLE, shoemaker, LeRaysville, was born 
June 23, 1853, a son of Robert P. and Mary (Finn) Shortelle, the latter 
of whom, who is still living with her son H. W., was born in Carrick- 
on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland, the third in the family of six 
children of Stephen and Margaret (Briscon) Finn. She was married, 
in 1833, to Robert P. Shortelle, also a native of Ireland, and they came 
to America in 1836, settling at LeRaysville, where the father was 
employed as superintendent of a boot and shoe department, and after- 
ward had a shop of his own ; he was for several years overseer of a 
boot and shoe factory in Elmira, N. Y.; he died November 8, 1859. 
Thev had the following children : Patrick, born March 17, 1834, died 
February, 1836; Robert, born 1835, died in infancy; Robert, Jr., born in 
1837, died in infancy; Margaret, born 1840, married Perley Coburn, w^ho 
has been principal of the Elmira Grammer School twenty -six years; 
Robert (third), born March 30, 1843 (enlisted as clerk in Company I, 
Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, in 1861. rose to adjutant's clerk, and his 
commission of lieutenant arrived the day after his death; he partici- 
pated in fifteen battles, and was killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, by 
a grape shot; he was a graduate of Binghamton Commercial School) ; 
Stephen, born in 1845, died 1850; James E., born in 1847 (was gradu- 
ated from the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda, appointed 
cadet at West Point, on recommendation of Judge Mercur, was gradu- 
ated in very good standing m his class, June 12, 1871, and died at 
Elmira, on his way home, August 5, same year. Once, when home on 
a vacation, a young man by the name of Davis, wlio had been in the 
army, recjuested James to go through the West Point drill to see if it 
was'the same as in the army ; he did so with an old musket that had 
lain untouched many years; when the order was given to ''fire" his 
hand seemed to tremble on the trigger and he refused, but young 
Davis, who was acting as drill-mastei', stamped his foot, repeating the 
command; James then fired and killed Davis instantly; as these two 
young men were the greatest of friends, the incident is sad to relate, 
and, as it has been often remarked, "the shot killed them both"') .The 
youngest child is Henry W., born June 23, 1853, a shoemaker by trade, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1167 

Avho had a shop for some time in Leilaysville. and has been in the 
employ of Carl & Pierce several years. The Shortelle family are 
members of the Roman Catholic Church, and in politics are Republi- 
cans. Mrs. Shortelle was married, January 25, 1868, to Azariah 
Champion, a farmer in Pike township; he died December 18, 1884. 
Mrs. Champion, who is now seventy-four years of age, still takes 
much interest in all kinds of literature; she is a great reader and an 
excellent conversationalist, fully up with the times; she is one of those 
types of true and upright womanhood one always feels better by 
having met. 

JOHN ANDERSON SHUMAN, blacksmith. Sugar Run, was born 
at Tamaqua, Schuylkill Co., Pa., and is the fourth in the family of 
eight children of George and Mary (McCancey) Shuman, the former a 
native of Pennsylvania, born of German lineage, and the latter a 
native of Ireland. He began life for himself at the age of fifteen, 
blacksmithing with Joseph Geiger, of Mainsville, and after serving an 
apprenticeship of four years went to Lock Haven, and worked at his 
trade about three years; then went to Georgia on the Altamaha river, 
Baird's Bluff, where he remained until 1859, working at his trade; he 
then returned to Mainsville, where he was engaged at clerking for a 
time, but resumed blacksmithing, and finally went into the hotel 
business, in w^hich he remained about a year, when he sold out and 
moved to Wilkes-Barre, where he continued in the hotel business two 
years ; then came to this county, and was employed with Kirkendall 
& Troxel, lumbering two years ; tlience went to Panther's Lick, where 
he o])erated a sawmill for Sciiurchill ; then went to Foot of Plain, 
where he superintended the Schrader Land Co's sawmill at that place, 
until 1874, when he removed to Sugar Run and resumed his trade. 
In 1887 he went to Wyalusing, Avhere he worked at his trade until the 
spring of 1891, when he returned to Sugar Run. Mr. Shuman married 
Amanda Gitling, of Columbia county, who died, leaving one child, 
Kate M., married to H. G. Gouvier, a produce dealer at Hazleton. Mr. 
Shuman married, for his second wife, Deborah, daughter of Daniel 
Wilson, of Wilmot. The subject of these lines is a member of the 
I. O. O. F. at Sugar Run, the Masonic Lodge at Laceyville, and the 
Knights of Pythias at Barclay, and in politics he is a stanch Democrat. 

WILLIAM SHUMWAY, one of the prominent citizens of Spring- 
Hill, was born, January 17, 1841, on the farm where he now resides. 
He is a son of Cyrus and grandson of Reuben Shuraway, who came 
from Steuben county, N. Y., in 1803, and settled near the present vil- 
lage of Wyalusing. The grandfather spoken of was an old Revolution- 
ary soldier. When the commander of the Continental forces needed 
the most trustworthy of his men to guard Maj. Andre, he was the one 
selected. At another time, when it was deemed necessary that he 
should perform picket duty at a place where several preceding him 
had been shot, he said to the officer in charge : " You will hear my 
gun before morning." That night an Indian, covered with a hog-skin, 
cautiously approached the sentry, and became a corpse. In every 
respect a thorough pioneer, he built for himself fourteen log houses, 
and, as some one has said, '' moved into all the empty ones he could find." 



1168 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

He located, in 1805, where William now resides, and took from the 
land office a Government land warrant for 436 acres, a considerable 
share of which is still owned by the subject of this sketch, the same 
having never passed out of the possession of the family. 

Cvrus Shumway was a man of great physical and mental force. 
His ambition did not allow him to reach middle age, before he had 
wrested from the wilderness a valuable home for himself and for those 
who might succeed him. A large part of this, together w4th much of 
his native energy, he transmitted to his son. But he gave him a still 
better inheritance in training him, by both precept and example, to a 
life of integritv and usefulness. 

The settlement of Reuben Shumway is believed to have been the 
first one made in the township of Tuscarora. The descendant occupy- 
ing these ancestral acres is a man of a thoughtful caste of mind, and 
of pure truthfulness and honor. Only the generosity of his character 
has prevented him from being the possessor of large means. Though 
never an aspirant for public recognition, he has held such positions as 
are within the gift of his friends and neighbors. In 1874 he materi- 
ally aided in organizing a Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, which 
now, among the citizens of eastern Bradford, has risks in force to 
nearly $3,000,000. This enterprise has been so conducted as to save 
its members many thousand dollars. At that time he was given a 
place at the head of the company as president, a position which he has 
ever since continued to fill. In 1863, he married Addie, daughter of 
Ferris Ackley, by whom he has two surviving children, the elder one, 
Daisy, being a graduate of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, in 
the class of '91. His wife dyino- in 1877, in 1884 he was re-married, 
this time the partner of his choice being Minnie, daughter of George 
Sumner. Their union has been blessed with three children. In poli- 
tics, by daring to act "upon the courage of his convictions," Mr. Shum- 
way has become a leading "Independent" Republican, and is recog- 
nized, also, wiierevei- known, as one of Bradford county's most 
pi^ogressive farmers. The family are of French extraction, the original 
ancestors in this country having been Huguenots, who, on account of 
religious persecution, came to America in about 1695. It should be 
added, that in every war waged for the creation or preservation of our 
institutions, its blood has been rejiresented. 

HENRY R. SIBLE, railroad watchman, Wysox township, P. O. 
AV^vsox, was born in Rome township, Bradford Co., Pa., July 16, 1862, 
and IS the youngest of the four children of Isaac and Alma (Lent) 
Sil)le, natives of Pennsylvania. He was reared on a farm, educated 
in the common school aiid in the Towanda graded schools, and began 
life at the age of sixteen at farming, but at twenty began braking on 
the Lehigh Valley Railroad. While coupling cars at Sugar Run, 
November 14, 1885, he received an injury by which he lost the two first 
lingers of his right hand, and on December 14, 1886, his left arm was 
badlv crushed while working in the yard at Towanda. As soon as he 
was sufficiently recovered, he was einployed as watchman by the rail- 
road companv, and is now stationed at' the East Towanda crossing. 
Mr. Sible was^ married June 27, 1883, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Isaac 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 11B9 

and Elizabeth (Walker) Schoonover, of Standing Stone, this county, 
natives of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sible have had born to them two children : Jidna L., born January 19, 
1888, and Pearl M., born July 29, 1890. Mr. Sible has always been 
identified with the Kepubhcan party. 

A. J. SILVARA. merchant, Silvara, was born in Tuscarora town- 
ship, this county, August 18, 1828, a son of Manuel and Janette 
(Marsh) Silvara, the former of whom was born in Portugal, and, when 
about seventeen years of age, came to America, and worked for a 
man by the name of Nichols, learning the mason's trade, which he 
continued about three years, and then removed to the then wilderness 
of Bradford and located on what is now Spring Hill; there he cleared 
up a farm, which after a few years' residence he exchanged for wild 
land around where the hamlet of Silvara now stand. Here he resided 
nearly fifty years, and was largely instrumental in clearing up and 
settling the country about him ; he has always been a farmer and lum- 
berman, and built two of the first sawmills of the section ; by the time 
of his death he had accumulated a considerable fortune in money besides 
a large tract of land containing over 800 acres. His family consisted of 
the following children: Joseph, a doctor (now deceased); B.M., a merchant 
and banker of Dushore, Pa.; Eliza Ann", married to Robert Cooley 
(deceased); Theodore,a retired farmer, of Tuscarora township; A.J.; John, 
w^ho was accidentally drowned in Muncy creek, Pa.; Emily, married to 
Charles Davidson (deceased); L. B.,a traveling salesman, residing in Sil- 
vara; E. L., speculator and broker, of Perry, Mich. A. J. Silvara passed 
his boyhood on a farm, and received a limited common-school educa- 
tion ; at his majority he began business for himself, adopting farming 
as an occupation. After fifteen years he entered mercantile business 
in the hamlet of Silvara, opening' a store in a building where he con- 
tinued about five years, and then built the room he now occupies, where 
he has continued in business to the present time, conducting a general 
store. I]esides his mercantile business he owns about 230 acres of 
valuable land and various building lots, etc. Mr. Silvara was united 
in marriage, October 31, 1855, with Margaret E., daughter of Thomas 
Taylor, a prominent farmer of Tuscarora, and has a family of five 
children : Cora Edna, married to B. P. Raub, a steam sawmill owner, 
of Emporium, Pa.; M. T., married ta Francis Bunnell, a farmer, of 
Wyoming county; T. A., married to Ethna Bennett, a farmer, of 
Silvara ; Lillie E. and Ilinkley S. Politically Mr. Silvara is a Republi- 
can, and has filled the various town offices ; in 1870 he was appointed 
postmaster at Silvara, and with the exception of four years under 
Cleveland's administration has filled the office since. Mr. Silvara 
ranks well toward the front among the successful men of the county. 
WILLIAM R. SIMS, farmer, P. O. Troy, was born in Troy town- 
ship, this county, November 26. 1842, and is a son of John and Char- 
lotte (Case) Sims, the former of whom, a farmer by occupation, was 
born in Wells township, but spent most of his life in Troy townshi]i, 
where he died at the age of sixty years; his wife was a daughter of 
Reuben and Statira (Hugg) Case', and granddaughter of Reui^en 
and Ex]:>erience (Nichols) Case, who settled in Troy township in 



1170 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1798; her father was the first white male child born in Tro}' township. 
To this union were born seven children: William R., Jerusha (Mrs. 
James Worden), Laura (Mrs. B. Frank Newberry), James, Jane (Mrs. 
John Mershon), Mary (Mrs. John Soper) and Charles. William R. 
Sims was reared in Bradford county, and educated in the common 
schools. In the Civil War he enlisted, October 14, 1861, in Company C, 
Seventh Fenns3dvania Cavalry; he participated in all the experiences 
of the regiment, with the exception of six months he was on detached 
duty; he was promoted to corporal, then to sergeant, and was honorably 
discharged as second lieutenant at Macon, Ga., August 27, 1865, and 
mustered out at Harrisburg, Pa., September 14, 1865. He then 
returned to Tro}^ where he was engaged in farming until 1884. He 
was then appointed superintendent of the insane department of the 
County Poor House, which ])osition he filled acceptably six and one- 
half years. On March 1, 1891, he located in Columbia township, on 
the farm he now occupies. He married, September 26, 1867, Phebe 
A., daughter of William and Lucy (Barber) Brewer, of Wells town- 
ship, and has one son, Frank E. Mr. Sims is a member of the F. & 
A. M., I. O. O. F., G. A. R. and the Patrons of Husbandry; politically 
he is a Republican. 

CHARLES J. SLEEPER, farmer and stockman, Warren township, 
P. O. Warren Centre, one of the prominent citizens of the county, 
was born September 9, 1827, a son of John and Abigail (Lathrop) 
Sleeper, natives of Vermont and Connecticut, respectively, farmers. 
John Sleeper came to this count}^ in 1820, and located in Warren 
township, where he married Abigail Lathrop in 1826; he died, August 
25, 1865 ; his widow died January 9, 1889 ; their family of children 
were three in number, viz.: Charles J., John F. (married to Susan 
Stevens, has two children and resides in the township) and Caroline 
(Mrs. James A. Nichols), of Warren township. Charles J. Sleeper 
grew to strong manhood in the old family home, learning more of 
w(^rk than books, and early commenced farming on his own account; 
he has prospered well and now owns 100 acres of highly-improved and 
well-cultivated land, fineh^ equipped with good and substantial build- 
ings. He was married in Susquehanna county. December 23, 1855, to 
Jane E., daughter of Robert and Parmela (Baily) Sleeper, natives of 
Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively, and of English extraction ; 
they had only one child, Jane E. The famil}' came to this countv in 
1865 ; the father died May 20, 1865, the mother on July 4, 1882. ' To 
Mr. and ISfrs. Charles J. Sleeper were born three children, viz.: Vielda 
(Mrs. Alfred Day), of Susquehanna county, Silas and Fred. Mr. 
Sleeper is a Democrat, and during President Cleveland's term he was 
postmaster at AVarren Centre. The Sleeper family have an ancient 
and honoi'able record, dating back to the early and prominent people 
of Bradford county. Mr. Sleeper's father, John, was the son of 
Robert and Catherine (Fox) Slee])er, natives of Vermont, who both 
died in 1850; their family of children were ten in number, of whom John 
was the fifth, in the order of birth. 

GEORGE B. SLEEI'ER, farmer, Warren (Centre, is a native of 
Warren township, this county, born April 28, 1844, and is a son of 



HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1171 

Joseplmsand Maria (Bowen) Sleeper. His father was a native of Ver- 
mont, and his mother of Warren township, a daughter of George 
Bowen. The father, who was a farmer, came to this county in 1818, 
when it Avas still a wilderness, and heaved away the dark woods to 
make his farm on which he lived ; he died January 8, 1889 ; the 
mother died September 5, 1860. Their family consisted of eight chil- 
dren, viz.: Catherine, Olive, George B., Thomas J., David A., Laura, 
Robert F. and James D. Their father was twice married, his second 
wife being Mary E. Bowen, a sister of the first wife, and by her there 
were two children: AVillie and Mabel. The subject of this sketch, 
who is the third child in the family by the first wife, grew to manhood 
in his family, was educated in Warren Centre, engaged in farming and 
has followed same with eminent success, cleanng his own way to 
fortune, and is the possessor of I-IO acres of well-tilled and improved 
land, one of the finest farms m the county ; has also a fine residence in 
the Centre, where he now lives. He was married here to Mary L., 
daughter of Caleb and Rebecca (Gofi") Abell, natives of Rhode Island 
and Massachusetts, respectively ; they had five children, as follows : 
Nancy B., Sarah A., Caleb T., Mary L. and Lois R. To Mr. and Mrs. 
George B. Sleeper were born three sons, viz.: Merton A. (a clerk in 
jSTew York), G. Milton and R03' A. Mr. Sleeper is a Republican , has 
been elected a justice of the peace for two terms, and has been assessor 
twice. This is one of the much esteemed families of Bradford county, 
well known for integrity and industry. 

JOHN JAY SLOCUM, farmer, Pike township, P. O. LeRaysville, 
was born in Herrick, this county, September 16, 1848, a son of Micajah 
and Mary E. (Fairchild) Siocum ; the father was a shoe-maker and 
farmer, native of Connecticut and of New England origin ; the mother 
a native of Pennsylvania and of New England lineage. In Micajah's 
family there were six children, of whom John Ja\^ is the third. He 
was reared on the farm, educated in the common school, and began 
life for himself at the age of twenty-one, retailing milk in Bingham- 
ton, N. Y., w4iere he remained six months ; then worked for P. J. 
McCauley six months, and worked on the farm with his father, who 
died September 21, 1877. at the age of eighty -one. Our subject pur- 
chased the homestead consisting of 165 acres of well-improved land, 
known as the " Perley Buck farm ; " and has since built two large barns 
and a dwelling-house. Mr. Siocum was married, February 26. 1875, 
to Helen A., daughter of Joel and Celinda (Ada) Chilson, of Durell. 
Her parents and grandparents were early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. 
Siocum have one child, Hattie A., born January 8, 1877. Mr. Siocum 
is a brother of Oscar B. Siocum, baggage master for the Lehigh Yalley 
Railroad at Wilkes-Barre. In politics he is a Republican. 

WINFIELD S. SLUYTER, farmer, P. O. Towanda, was born 
February 24, 1855, a son of William A. and Polly (Bennett) Sluyter; 
his father was a native of Allegany county, N. Y., and his mother 
of this county, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlei-s, and of 
German and Irish extraction. Winfield S. was born in this county, 
and reared on his father's farm, the one on which he now lives. He was 
married, August 25, 1880, to Mary J., daughter of John and Emma L. 



1172 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

(Adams) McQueen, who were of Scotcli and English ancestry. Mr. 
Sluyter is the seventh in a family of ten children, two of whom, Sylvester 
and Alonzo, were in the Civil War, where they both died. Mrs. 
Sluyter is third in a family of ten children, four of whom are living. 
There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sluyter five children, as follows : 
Anna (died in childhood), Edwin 11. (born June 5, 1882), Frank M. 
(born July 15, 1883), John B. (born December 14. 1884), Bertha M. 
(born October 19, 1886).' Mr. Sluyter is a Republican, and takes an 
active interest in public affairs. He has a fine farm, under a good 
state of cultivation, and has combined with general farming that of 
market gardening and the raising of tobacco. The famiW are widely 
esteemed and prominent in the social affairs of the county. 

DAVID SMILEY, farmer, P. O. West Franklin, was' born in Can- 
ton, Pa., September 7, 1822, the son of John and Susannah (Stone) 
Smiley, of whom the former was bom near Lewisburg, Pa., and the 
latter in this county. John Smile}'^ was the son of Thomas Smiley, 
one of the early settlers in West Franklin ;. John had a family of 
eight children, all of whom grew to maturity, and six of them are now 
living. David is the eighth in the family, and was reared and edu- 
cated in Canton and Franklin ; he always lived and worked on a farm ; 
he commenced with nothing and now has a farm of 120 acres of fer- 
tile land. On September 23, 1846, he married, in Towanda, Miss 
Phebe Ann, daughter of Alpheus and Hannah (Kingsbury) Ilolcomb, 
natives of Connecticut, and who belong to the old class of settlers 
of LeRoy. To Mr. and Mrs. Smiley have been born four sons and two 
daughters : Oscar, married to Hattie Newell ; Flora, married to B. M, 
Walters; Augusta, married to M. R. Foster; O. L., married to Lizzie 
Taylor; O'Mera, and Jay, married to Blanche Andress. Mr. Smiley 
entered the army in 1864, and served during the remainder of the con- 
flict, attached to Company L. T\velfth N. Y. C; Col. Savage com- 
manding, and now in his old age draws a pension. He has retired 
from business in favor of his sons, O'Mera and Jay. His son O. L. 
has been honored with the office of deputy register and recorder, while 
he himself holds some imj^ortant town offices; he is a member of the 
G. A. R., in faith a Baptist, and a Republican in politics. 
- ALVAH C. SMITH, of Smith Brothers & Turner, furniture deal- 
ers and undertakers, Towanda, was born in Wysox township, this 
count}'. January 19, 1845, and is a son of John B. and Lucinda (Mor- 
ton) Smith. lie was educated in the common schools and Susque- 
hanna Collegiate Institute at Towanda, and since attaining his 
majorit}' has l)een engaged in farming and dairying. In 1886 he 
l)ecame a meml)er of the firm of Smith Brothers <Sz Turner, leading 
furniture dealers of Towanda, and has been a resident of the i)()rougli 
since 1887. Mr. Smith has been twice married; his first wife was 
Louisa Sanders, and his second wife was Isabel, daughter of Darius R. 
and Anna S. (Merwin) Manley, of Monroe county, Pa., and by her has 
one son, Randolph A. Mr. Smith is a member of the Methodist 
Cliurcli and of the I\. of P. In ])olitics he is a Ro])ublican. and he 
held several oHices while a resident of North Towanda. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1173 

CADY SMITH, physician and snrgeon, Alba, is a native of Ames, 
Montgomery Co., N. Yf, born July 11, 1849, a son of Charles and Ellen 
(Bowman) Smith, natives of Herkimer and Flat Bush, N. Y., respect- 
ively. Charles Smith was a millwright by trade, and died in Schuyler 
county, N. Y., October 28, 1890, in his seventy-fourth year. Mrs. 
Smith still survives him, and resides in Schuyler county, N. Y. The 
subject of this memoir is the youngest in order of birth in a family of 
four children, viz.: Dr. O. W.Smith, of Union Springs, N. Y.; Mary A. 
Wellar and Elsie Wilier, of Monterey, N". Y., and Cady. He was reared 
in Schuyler county, N. Y., from the time he was five years of age ; 
received a public-school education, read medicine for three years, and 
was graduated from the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, at 
Philadelphia, in 1879; also attended the Medico-Chiriirgical College, 
of Philadelphia, during the winters of 1887 and 1888.^ The Doctor 
began the practice of his profession m West Burlington, where he 
remained three months; then removed to Schuyler county, N. Y., and 
was there until February, 1881, when he came to Alba, and has since 
been practicing his profession in that place. Dr. Smith was married, 
July 5, 1869, to Julia E., daughter of R. H. and Eliza D. (Croddard) 
AVard, natives of Troy and AVest Burlington townships, respectively. 
R. H. Ward was a blacksmith by trade, and died in West Burlington, 
June Y, 1888, in his seventy-fifth year. Mrs. Ward still survives him, 
and resides in West Burlington.^ " Mrs. Smith is the third in order of 
birth in a family of six children, and was born in Burlington, August 
15, 1819. The family are members of the Disciple Church. The 
Doctor and wife are members of the Equitable Aid Union ; he is also 
a member of the Schuyler County Medical Association ; is justice of 
the peace, also school director, a position he has filled seven years, and 
has been secretary of the board during that time ; politically he is a 
Republican. He is liberal in religion, medicine and politics. 

C. C. SMITH, merchant, Camptown, was born at Skinners Eddy, 
Wyoming Co., Pa., June 30, 1855. a son of Leon and Mary (Bryant) 
Smith. His father was born in New Hampshire, and learned the trade 
of a blacksmith, in the shop of his father; he followed that business 
until forced from active life on account of failing health, and removed 
with his parents to Wyoming county, in 1828, and still resides there, 
being now in his sixty-eight year; was a soldier of the Rebellion, and 
served his countrv faithfully throughout the war. He had a family 
of five children, viz.: C. C.;'^ Lillie C, married to Arthur L. Vander- 
voort, of Skinner's Eddv; Prescott A.; Leonie, married to G. P. Staf- 
ford, agent for the L. V. R. R., at Laceyville; and Edward E. Our 
subject passed his boyhood at Skinner's Eddy, and received a good 
common-school education; when twenty years of age he entered the 
oifice of the L. V. R. R., at Skinner's Eddy, and learned telegraphy; 
when twenty-one was appointed night operator at Tunkhannock, 
and. remaining there three months, was then appointed day operator 
at Wyalusing. where he remained from 1875 to 1881; then spent a 
short time in Colorado, l)ut returned to Bradford county, and in cori- 
nection with his brother, P. A. Smith, purchased the mercantile busi- 
ness of C. S. Lafferty, of Camptown, where they have since continued 

09 



1174 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

as the firm of Smith Brothers. Tliey have one of the most commodi- 
ous stores in the county, and have it stocked witli general merchan- 
dise, hardware, stoves and tinware, drugs, etc. They carry the greatest 
variety of goods of any firm in the county, and besitles their mercan- 
tile interests have invested largely in real estate in California and Col- 
orado, the investments being made under the direct supervision of Mr. 
C. C. Smith, who spent some time in those localities, in 1889. Mr. 
Smith has also made numerous inventions, among which we may men- 
tion a revolving baggage check, patented both in the United States 
and England (in the former, April 20, 1884, and in the latter, March 
15, 1884), which check is now in use on the Queen 6c Crescent route; 
also a spring for buggies and platform w^agoris, patented in 1884; a 
sure cure for sick headache, which remedy was a discoverv of Dr. P. 
11. Sumnee, but Mr. Smith owns a one-half interest in the patent; a 
ribbon clasp,patented in 1891, and "Crownet,"a game to be pla3^ed with 
disks and board, and one of the most interesting games ever invented, 
patented in 1889. He has pushed most of these articles to a successful 
issue. He was united in wedlock, October 23, 1885, with Mary E. 
Avery, daughter of Major Avery, of Camptown, and this union has 
been blessed with two children, Raymond, born September 25. 1886, 
and Bryant E., born December 29, 1889. Mr. Smith is a member of 
the Baptist Church, of Camptown; of the I O. O. F. Lodge, No. 503, 
and is past grand ; politically, he is identified with the Prohibition 
party; is one of the successful business men of the county, and has 
made a record of which he may be justly proud. 

CLARK H. SMITH, superintendent of the Sayre Steam Forge and 
L'on A¥orks, Sayre, is a native of Paterson, N. J., born January 20, 
1852, and is a son of Henry and Lucinda (Babcock) Smith, natives of 
Xew Jersey. ILs father was a farmer, and died in his native place, in 
1865, in his fortieth year, while his motlier died in 1885, in her fiftieth 
3'ear. His great-grandfather, Babcock, was a soldier in the Revolution- 
ary War. Clark 11. Smith is the second in a family of four children; 
he received a common-school education, and learned the iron-worker's 
trade in Paterson, N. J., with the Paterson Forge and Iron Works, and 
worked there until 1873, when he went to woi-k for William S. Si/.er, 
in Buffalo, N. Y. He worked there about eight years, and the last three 
years was superintendent of the mill. When he left tliere he went to 
Boston, in the employ of Fisher & Son, Locomotive Foi-ge Works, and 
was there about three months when he returned to Buffalo and was 
superintendent for the Henry Childs Buffalo Steam Forge Company 
for about fourteen months. He then gave up the forge business, about 
two years, on account of his health, and went to Pittsburgh. He 
worked in the Locomotive Woi'ks about a year, then returned to Buf- 
falo, and was suj)erintendent f(M- the Buffalo Steam Forge ComjKiny 
about fifteen months; thence went to Kingston, Canada, and worked in 
the Locomotive Works there, about two years, after which he leturned 
to the Pittsbur-gh Ijocomotive Works, then came to Sayre, and accei>ted 
the |)osition he now has. He married, in Paterson, N. .1., April 13, 
1873, Miss Mai'garet, daughter of James and Margaret (Taylor) Keeney, 
natives of Ireland (she is tlie second in a familv of six children, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1175 

was born in Paterson, N. J., in July, 1851). To them were born seven 
children, viz.: Henry C, Frank E., Joseph (deceased), Charles, Lucy, 
Mable and William."^ Mr. Smith is a member of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and votes the liepublican ticket. 

GEORGE G. SMITH, farmer, of Windham township, P. O. Wind- 
ham Centre. This gentleman has worked his way slowly but surely 
from the very first round in life's ladder, and is surrounded with a 
large and influential family and a sufficient competence of this world's 
goods. He was born in Parry, New York, January 2, 1820, and is a 
son of Robert and Katie (Shaw) Smith, natives of the same State, and 
of remote German origin. The father, who was a farmer, departed this 
life in December, 1826, and the mother in August, 1827; their children 
were three in number, George G. being the second in order of birth. 
He had but limited school advantages up to tlie age of twelve, when 
he came to Windham township, Bradford Co., Pa., where he worked 
on a farm five years, and then went to Athens, where he learned mill- 
ing, and remained two years; then tended mil! in Windham, three 
years; then bought a farm on which he staid two years; when he sold 
and commenced milling again, tending RusselTs Mill two years ; then 
moved to Susquehanna county and tended mdl three years, at the 
end of whicii time he bought the place where he now lives, resumed 
agricultural pursuits, and now is the owner of a fine farm of 1.50 acres, 
having divided his land with his children, givingthem the same amount 
as he retained for himself. Mr. Smith was married in Windham to 
Annie Webster, daughter of Joseph Webster, and she bore him children, 
as follows: Robert, Joseph W., Jasper, Elenor (wife of Abel P)ordman), 
Achsa W. (who married Samuel Harding, died in 1882), George and 
Annie (wife of Edward Jakeway). The mother of these children 
dying, Mr. Smith, married, in 1881, at Rock Creek, 111., Mrs. Ruth E. 
Ellsworth, of whom the following is a brief record : 

Mrs. George Smith (whose maiden name was Miss Ruth 
Crandall) was born February 22, 1821, in the town of Windham. 
Her father, Daniel Crandall, a resident of Greenwich, Washington Co., 
N. Y., removed to Windham in or about the year 1816. He was one 
of the pioneer settlers of the town, and carved out a home from the 
heavily timbered forest of that day. What wus known as the "cold 
summer" came the year following his settlement in Windham. The 
frost continued during the summer, and all the crops were ruined. 
Great suffering followed, and it was with great difficidty that food was 
procured in sufficient quantity to sustain life. Mr. Crandall was a 
successful farmer and cleared a large tract of land. His useful life was 
cut si)ort by a sad accident. Wliile engaged with a large compam^ of 
neighbors in assisting a sick friend, he was killed by the fall of a tree. 
Ruth Crandall was the youngest of eight children, and is the only sur- 
vivor. At the age of twenty years she was married to Mr. Charles 
Ellsworth, of Orwell, Pa., with whom she lived thirty-three years, or 
until his death in 1874. To them were born five children : M. L. 
Ellsworth, a war veteran, at present engaged in business in Wahoo, 
Neb.; P. F. Ellsworth, a farmer, living in Windham Centi-e ; Fronia 
Ellsworth, married to Mr. H. J. Lee, one of the leading business men 



1170 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of Nebraska; J. S. Ellsworth, educated at Lafayette College and 
Union Theological Seminary, and at present pastor of the Congrega- 
tional Church, Newark Valley, N. Y.; Mira Ellsworth, married to 
L, E. Chubbuck, of Orwell, now a successful business man of West 
Point, Neb. The children are all married and settled. Mrs. Smith 
lived a widow eight years, and was re-married at sixty, Mr. Smith 
being sixt3^-one. The family are of the Methodist Ejiiscopal Church. 
Mr. Smith is a Freemason, and has passed all the chairs of his Lodge. 
Politically he votes the Republican ticket, and has held the office of 
road commissioner. 

G. S. SMITH, one of the prominent business men of Towanda, 
was born in Orange county, N. Y., October 12, 1830, and is a son of 
Ira and Sally (Crawford) Smith, \vhose nativity was the same, and who 
were of remote Irish descent, and farmers bv occupation. The father 
died in 1879, and the mother in 1880; they were intelligent and well- 
to-do people, who during life drew about them a wide circle of acquaint- 
ances ami friends, and reared a famih' of ten children that were greatlv 
respected, and of whom our subject is the fourth in order of birth. 
The son was with his parents until aged eighteen, and had been given 
a fair education, when he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, 
which he followed several 3'ears. In 1867, soon after the close of the 
war, he removed to Towanda, and soon thereafter oi'ganized his pres- 
ent bottling works, commencing originally in a most limited way, but 
has built the business to its present enlarged proportions. He was 
married at Patterson, N. Y., October 1, 18.54, to Miss Julia Decker, a 
daughter of Ilalsey Decker, of German descent, and to them were 
born children, as follovvs: Jennie M. (Mrs. I. P. Spalding), and C. 
Irvin, the latter of whom is employed with his father in their factory. 
He was born in Orange county, N. Y., February 14, 18-56, and came to 
this county with his parents when young. He was educated in the 
higher branches in Towanda Collegiate Institute, and for some time 
thereafter acted as traveling salesman. He married Anna E. Smith 
(families entirely distinct), daughter of Stephen W. Smith, of English 
descent. In this case the father and son are Democrats, members of 
the I. O. O. F., and the son is an active member of the Towanda Fire 
Company, and has served as foreman of Hose Comj)any No. 2. The 
entire family are meml^ers of the Methodist Episcopal ('hurch. 

J. II. SMITH, farmer, Wyalusing township, P. O. Wyalusing, 
was born in Sussex county, N. J., January 30, 1835, a son of Fred- 
erick and Catherine (Probasco) Smith. The father was a native of 
Bucks county, Pa., and the mother of Holland ; the father is still liv- 
ing in his ninety-first year, is a farmer and lived many years n(^ar 
Scranton ; the mother died in 1885, -Ai^Gd eighty. ' J. II. Smith, the 
subject of this sketch, was reared on his father's farm, and after 
receiving a common-school education engaged in farming. He 
enlisted, August 15, 1862, in Com])any I>, One Hundred and Forty- 
thii-d P. V, I., and served until June 12, 1805, when he was discharged 
with his regiment; during his military career he partici|)at(M] in the 
following tjngagements: (yliancellorsville, (lettysbnrg, Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania, South Anna. Voe River, Cold Ilaj'bor, Petersburg, AVel- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. ]177 

don Ftuili-oad, Toplar Grove Church and numerous minoi engage- 
ments; was twice in tlie hospital for sickness, caused by exposure and 
fatigue. He came to Wyahising in the fall of 1865, and for a few 
months drove the stage from Wyalusing to Towanda ; then resumed 
farming and followed that many years. He was united in marriage, 
April 15, 1866, with Eliza B.," daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann 
(Overpack) Smith. Her first husband, A. L. Smith, was brother of J. 
H. Smith, and was killed April 9, 1865, while marching to Appomat- 
tox; he was a member of Company B, One Hundred and Ninety- 
ninth P. V. I. ller father, who is a farmer, still resides in Herrick 
townsliip, now aged eighty-two years. By her first marriage there 
was born one child, E. W.,\vho married Esther Conklyn ; he is a loco- 
motive fireman in the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com- 
pany, and resides in Sayre; her second marriage has been blessed with 
four children; Andrew W., Charlie (deceased), Genevieve (deceased), 
and Geojgie May. The family worship at the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Wvalusing; Mr. Smith is a charter member of Jackson 
Post, No. 74 ; G. A. R., and has filled all the offices, except commander ; 
in politics he is identified with the Republican party, but has never 
been an office seeker. 

JOHN M. SMITH, farmer and stock-grower, Sheshequin, a native 
of the county, was born February 22, 1837, a son of Isaac and Permilla 
(Ilorton) Smith. When our subject was but two years old his father 
died, and he made his home with his grandfather, John M. Smith, in 
the vicinity of Hornbrook. After his father's ileath his mother mar- 
ried William Tuttle, is a second time a widow, and resides in Litch- 
field. When twenty-one years old John M. began farming for himself, 
on the farm of his grandfather. He enlisted, September 19, 1862, in 
Company D, Seventeenth Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served 
under "Gallant Phil" during his entire time, and was discharged at 
Point Lookout, May 14, 1865, on account of disability from a wound 
received while on skirmish duty. He partici|)ated in the battles of 
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Manas- 
sas, Winchester, the raid down the Shenandoah Valley, Fair Oaks. etc. 
May 12, 1864, at the skirmish before the battle of Meadow P^ridge, he 
Avas dismounted and fighting as infantry, when he received a severe 
wound from a minie-ball, which struck him in the upper arm close to 
the shoulder, and ranged downward, shattering the bone and lodging 
above the elbow joint, where it was cut out four days after; but as the 
bone was shattered to the shoulder joint amputation was impossible. 
He was in Point Lookout Hospital three months, without hope of recov- 
ery. When his wife learned of his condition, she reached him and 
secured a furlough for him. and by assiduous care rendered his condi- 
tion sucli as to enable her to bring him home, and nursed him through 
long months of suffering. His furlough was renewed nine times before 
he could again join his regiment, which he did in the spring of 1865, 
and served about three months, when he was discharged. The wound 
has never healed, and he now draws a pension, and feels that his life 
is due to the heroic devotion of his wife. He purchased, in 1884, the 
farm he now occupies, which contains twenty-five acres of bottom-land, 



1178 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and is well improved. He was married, January 1, 1861, to Sarah, 
daughter of Benjamin and Christina (Beadle) Shields, natives of New 
York ; she was born in Otsego county, N. Y., and came to this country 
with lier parents about 1860, and located at Hornbrook, where her 
parents died. They iiad a family of ten children, all of whom are 
living:, and of whom she is the eighth. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one 
child, Dellie, who married Isaac Collins, foreman of one of the depart- 
ments of the Athens Bridge Works. They are members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Ciiurch; and Mr. Smith is a member of Perkins Post, 
G. A. R.; also a member of the Union Veteran Legion, Encampment 
No. 28, Athens; politicallv he is a Republican. 

LESTER S. SMITH, 'farmer, of Tuscarora township, P. O. Lacey- 
ville, AVyoming county, was born on his present place, January 20, 
1853, and is a son of George W. and Polly A. (Wood) Smith, natives 
of Pennsylvania, and of New England origin. In his father's family 
were six children: Sheperd (deceased), George (a merchant of Lacev- 
ville), Sarah E. (deceased), Fred E. (deceased), Emma A. (married to 
William Overton, a farmer in Nebraska) and Lester S. The subject 
of these lines began life for himself, farming, at eighteen, on his pres- 
ent place, which contains about 100 acres of the best farming land in 
Bradford county, and upon which he has recently erected the finest 
residence in Tuscarora township. He was married, December 9, 1877, 
to Miss Eva M., daughter of David H. and Anna (Lacey) Rugg, natives 
of Pennsylvania, and residents of Tuscarora township. Mr. and Mrs, 
Smith have two children: Lloyd, born September 28, 1878, and Flor- 
ence, born January 3, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the 
Baptist Church at Lacey ville, of which he is deacon, and in politics he 
is a pronounced Republican. 

P. A. SMITH, merchant, Camptown, is the junior member of the 
firm of Smith Brothers, general merchants, of Camptown. He was 
born at Skinner's Eddy, Wyoming Co., Pa., May 20, 1850, receiving 
the benefits of a common-school education, and at the age of fifteen 
entered the employ of T. B Vosburg as a clerk in a general store at 
Skinner's Eddy, where he remained until 1878, when he removed to 
Camptown, and entered the store of C. S. Lafl'erty, a merchant of that 
place, and remained with him until 1880, when he and his brother, 
C. C. Smith, ])urchased the business of Mr. Lafferty, which they have 
enlarged and increased, and still conduct, as is noted in his brother's 
sketch. He was united in marriage. May 16, 1883, with Lettie J. 
Fuller, and their union has been blessed with three children : Adah 
Lenora (born May 29, 1884); Leon A. (born February 25, 1888), and 
Guy (born January 31, 1889). Mr. Smith is a member of the Baptist 
Church, and fills the positions of deacon, clerk and trustee of the 
same; he is a member of the Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503, I. O. O. F.; 
jiolitically he has cast his lot with the Prohibition party. 

P. J. SMITH, D. D. S., Towanda, one of the prominent profes- 
sional men of the borough, was born July 3, 1851, a son of James 
and Diana (Shores) Smith, Pennsylvanians, and of ancient English 
descent. The father was a carpenlcn* and farmer, spent the most of 
his useful life in Sheshequin township, and reared a respectable family 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 117'J 

of three sons and four daughters, who spent their happy chiklhood on 
their parents' farm. Dr. Smith was a student in tlie Towanchi Col- 
legiate Institute, taking a chissical' course and acquiring a thorough 
knowledge of civil engineering; fi'om his literary school he entered 
the Pennsylvania University, and was graduated in dental surgery in 
1879; in the meantime had taken a two years' course in physic and 
surgery. lie opened his dental office in 1880, and in 1885 removed to 
his present office, where he has had unusual success in building up a 
large and lucrative practice. He was married, in 1885, to Kate, 
daughter of Adolphus and Jennie (Catlin) SaxLon, a family of English 
origin, and to them has been born one child, Miles C. Smith. Mrs. 
Smith is a leading and exemplary member of the Disciple Church. 
Dr. Smith is a Mason and a Republican. The family are much esteemed 
in the social circles of the borough aiul vicinity. 

WILLIAM II. SMITH, senior member of the firm of Smith Bros. 
& Turner, furniture dealers and undertakers, Towanda, was born in 
Leavenworth, Ind., December 30, 1839, and is a son of John B. and 
Lucinda (tlorton) Smith. His paternal grandfather, John M. Smith, 
was a son of Jesse Smith, a native of Connecticut, who was among 
the pioneers of Wysox township, this county, where he cleared and 
improved a farm, 'on which he died. John M. Smith, his paternal 
grandfather, was a life-long resident of Sheshequin township, a farmer 
b}^ occupation, and died there. He reared a family of eleven children, 
of whom John B. was the third child and the third son. John B. 
was born, reared and married in Sheshequin township, and, with the 
exception of two years that he lived in Indiana, his life was spent in 
Bradford county; he died in North Towanda township, in September, 
1882; his wife, Lucinda, was a daughter of Elijah Ilorton, a pioneer 
of Sheshequin township, and by her had six children, viz.: Clark, 
Rachel (Mrs. G. L. Fuller), William II., Melissa (Mrs. George W. Ilor- 
ton), Alvah C. and Orris (Mrs. Leslie Mills). William H. Smith, the 
subject of the sketch, was reared in Bradford county, educated in the 
common schools, and, on reaching his majority, engaged in farming 
in Wysox township, until 1870, when he removed to North Towanda, 
and commenced farming and dairying, in which he is still interested. 
In 1886 he embarked in the furniture and undertaking business, in 
Towanda, with his brother, Alvah C, and John C. Turner, and they 
have built up a successful trade. Mr. Smith married, in April, 1866, 
Eunice L., daughter of Lewis and Jemima (Shores) Gillett, of Sheshe- 
quin township, and has two daughters, Mildred and Myra B. Mr. 
Smith is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the I. O. O. F., 
and State Grange ; he is serving his first term as member of the 
Towanda council, and is a Republican in politics. 

W. A. AND M. D. SMITH, merchants, Wilawana, were born in 
Ridgebury, this county, W. A., October 19, 1861, and M. I). Septem- 
ber 10, 1863. They are the sons of W. H. and Amy J. (Lefter) Smith, 
the former of whom was born in Genesee county, N. Y., the latter in 
Ridgebury, Pa. W. II. Smith is the son of Henry Smith, who 
removed to this county about 181:0, located in Ridgebury, where he 
died in 1881, at the age of seventv-six vears. W. H. has lived near the 



1180 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

old homestead and confined himself to farming in general; his family 
consists of five sons, all living. The subjects of this memoir, who are 
the first and second in order of birth in the family, were reared and 
educated at llidgebury. W. A. attended the High School at Waverly, 
where he graduated with honor ; afterward taught school several 
terms, commencing when he was seventeen years of age. In April, 
1888, the two brothers commenced business in Wilawana under the 
firm name of Smith Brothers, carrying a full line of groceries, provis- 
ions, drugs, farming machinery etc.; they are also commission mer- 
chants, doing a large business in the shipment of butter, grain, hay, 
coal, etc. Last year their trade accumulated to $13,000. W. A. Smith 
married, in Elmira, in March, 1888, Miss Cari-ie, daughter of Edward 
and Elizabeth Cain. M. D. married June 24, 1891, Miss Clara, daugh- 
ter of Charles Thomas, at Wellsburg, N. Y. Mrs. W. A. Smith is 
postmistress, the office being in her husband's store, and this is her 
third year. 

AUGUSTUS E. SNEDEKER, of Snedeker & Mitchell, lumber 
manufacturers, Troy, was born in Canastota, N. Y., November 11, 
1840, and is a son of William H. and Eliza (Gray) Snedeker. The 
father, who was a native of Dutchess count3\ N. Y., settled in 
Columbia township in 1865, where he has since been engaged in an 
extensive lumber business; was for many years engaged in general 
merchandising, and owns a large tract of land ; his children were seven 
in number: Carrie (Mrs. Jerry Ryan), Cora (Mrs. Charles Mitchell), 
Jessie (Mrs. Sam Thompson), William Henry, Freddie, Jennie and 
Augustus E. Our subject, wlio was reared in the State of New York, 
came to Columbia township in 1805 with his parents, and assisted his 
father in business up to 1880, when he formed a partnership with his 
brother-in-law, C. W. Mitchell, in the manufacture of lumber in Troy 
township, in which he has since successfuU}^ continued ; they turn out 
1,500,000 feet of lumber annually, and give employment to twenty 
hands ; besides their mill at Troy they operate portable mills in different 
parts of the county. Mr. Snedeker married, June 6. 1890, Julia, 
daughter- of Mr. and^ Mi's. Patrick Gi-imes, of Troy, and they have one 
son : John Edward. Mr. Snedeker is an enterprising citizen, and his 
business is one of the leading industries of Tro}'^ township. Politically 
he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM SNYDER, farmer and stock-grower, Sheshequin, was 
born November 24, 1820, in the house he occupies, a son of William 
and Hannah (Parks) Snyder, the former of whom was born in New 
Jersey, of Dutch descent, and the latter was a native of Connecticut, of 
English origin. His grandfather, Peter Snyder, came from New 
Jersey and settled in Sheshequin about the year 1789, one of the ear- 
liest settlers of the valley, on a fai'm, and opened a tanyard, and made 
saddles and harness, and had a shoe shop at the same time, also a still; 
he was a well to-do farmer ; the grandson still preserves some of the 
Continental currency he brought with him. Peter Snyder was twice 
married, and he left the following children by his first wife: Maria, 
Jacob and ]\[ary ; by his second marriage: William, Peter, Elizabeth, 
Catherine, Nancy, John and Benjamin P. Of this family William was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1181 

born Januai'V 19, 1T8;>, and at the age of fourteen coninicnccd work in 
his father's shop ami tanyard, learnina' the whole business, and bought 
the yards of his father before he was twenty -one years old. He resided 
alone for several years, keeping " bach," then married and commenced 
housekeeping in the house occupied by him prior to his marriage, and 
continued at that place eight years, and then bought the farm William 
now occupies. It was improved and owned by Harry and William 
Spalding. He moved his business to that farm, opened a hotel, and 
had quife a village around him, but it was destroyed by lire long since ; 
onlv the farm buildings are left. He gave up all of his business (with 
the"^ exception of farming) to his son-in-law, and continued farming up 
to the last year of his life; he died October 12, 1860, aged seventy- 
seven, leaving a family of nine children — three boys and six girls ; 
William is the eighth' child ; John P. enlisted in the army and was 
killed near Orange Grove Court House, A^a., a member of the One 
Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, P. V. I.; P. W. is a farmer in 
Litchfield township: of the girls, Polly married Harry Shaw ; Sally 
married JSTathaniel Moody; Julia married Charles Forbes; Miranda 
married George Northrup"; Emiline married L. D. Tyrrell; Eliza mar- 
ried F. G. YanXorstran. AVilliam Snyder spent his boyhood on his 
father's farm, attending the common school until fifteen years old. 
He has operated largely in lumber, stock and real estate, and has been 
eminently successful as\a business man, and now owns 260 acres of 'finely 
improved land, cultivating it well and breeding graded cattle and 
horses. He was married October 25, 1854, to Laura M., daughter of 
Manson and Elmira (Mackey) Elsbree, and they have two children : 
William M. and Burton E., the former married to Jennie Minier. Mr. 
Snyder is a member of I. O. O. F., Valley Lodge, No. 446, has passed 
alfthe chairs, and holds withdrawal card from the State Encampment, 
Towanda; he has been a stanch Republican since the organization of 
that party, and has held nearly all the township offices; was justice of 
the peace twenty-five vears. 

WILLIAM SNYDER, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Spring Hill, 
who is among the prominent farmers and business men of the county, 
was born in Broomecounty, N. Y., August 14, 1843, a son of N. D. and 
Elizabeth (Richard) Snyder, the former of whom was born in Scho- 
harie county, N. Y., and was a farmei-, afterward a hotel-keeper four 
years ; he was proprietor of the hotel at LeRaysville, also a hotel in 
"Rush, Pa., twenty -eight years, where he died, July 10, 1877, aged 
sixtv-six years ; his family consisted of nine children, viz.: George, 
who resides in Owego, N." Y.; A. Y., Peter, David and Margaret (all 
deceased ; three died the same week of scarlet fever); William; Cathe- 
rine (married to Isaac Hare, of Rush, Pa.); Ellen (married to George 
Hissis, of Rush) and David (a farmer of Middletown, Pa.). The sub- 
ject of these lines received a common-school education, and at the 
age of twenty-two began business for himself, taking up fa,rming 
and purchasing 100 acres of the farm he now owns, to which he 
has since added 100 acres, making in all a tract of 200 acres of well- 
improved and fertile land. About ten years ago he began extensive 
dairy operations, using graded and thorough-bred Jerseys ; he now 



1182 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lias a dairy of thirty cows, and ships the cream and milk from his own 
and several of his neighboi's' dairies to Philadelphia. He was united 
in marriage, August 21, 1864, with FlRebe Angel, a daughter of John B. 
Angel, of New York, and this union has been blessed with a family of 
six children, viz.: N, D., married to Leda Y. Goodell. and resides on 
his father's farm ; Ida (deceased); Georgie E., Cora, M. B. and Alice, 
lie is a member of the P. of I., Spring Hill Association; is a member 
and director of the Tuscarora Insurance Compan\'. Politically he is a 
Democrat and has filled the various town offices. Besides his farming 
and dairy o})erations he has been an extensive dealer in stock, also in 
farm implements and machinerv, and has always been successful. 

COLLINS W. SOBER, farmer, P. O. Rutland, Tioga Co., Pa., was 
born, February 2, 1818, in Columbia township, this county, on the farm 
where he now resides, and is a son of Solomon and Polly (Corey) 
Soper, formerly of Manchester, Yt., who settled in Columbia township 
in 1800, locating on the farm occupied by subject, which the father 
cleared and improved, and there died ; he for some years, in the pioneer 
days, operated a gristmill on the farm ; his wife was a daughter of Jon- 
athan Corey, a soldier of the Revolution, who settled in Rutland town- 
ship, Tioga county, in 1800, and by her he had seven children, as fol- 
lows: Harriet (Mrs. Naham Havens), Ileman (the first white child 
born in Columbia township), Harris C, Thomas, William, Collins W. 
and George. Collins W. Soper was reared on the old homestead, on 
which he has alwavs resided, and was married, in 1840, to Diadama, 
daughter of Alexander and Saloma (Daggett) Harris, by whom he has 
six cliildren : Elwyn, Walter, Ward, Edith (Mrs. Thomas Walker), Edson 
L. and Charles M. Mr. Soper is one of the prominent and representa- 
tive farmers of Columbia township, and, with his sons, owns over eight 
hundred acres of lantl in Columbia and Rutland townships. He gave 
each of his sons a fine farm, and erected substantial houses for all but 
one. In 1878, he had his right arm taken off in his sawmill. Though 
in his seventy- fourth year, he is hale and heart}^ In })olitics he is a 
stanch Democi-at. 

WALTER S. SOPER, farmer, P. O. Rutland, Tioga Co., Pa., was 
born in Columbia township, this county, September 13, 1839, and is a son 
of Collins W. and Diadama (Harris) Soper. His paternal gran(li)arents 
were Solomon and Polly (Corey) Soper, who settled in Columbia town- 
ship in 1800. His maternal grandparents were Alexander and Saloma 
(Daggett) Harris, both pioneers of Rutland township, Tioga Co., Pa. 
The subject of these lines was reared in Columbia township, was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and since attaining his majority has been 
engaged in farming. He resides on the farm in Rutland, formerly 
occu|)ied by an uncle, Thomas Soper, who cleared and improv(Hl it. 
Our subject set out maples and elms for a mile on each side of the 
road, which have now grown large enough to give a splendid shade, as 
well as beautifying the propert}', which is all in the possession of 
members of the So{)er family. Mr. Soper was married April 12, 1876, 
to Fannie, daughter of Christopher and Achsah Walker, the former 
of whom was a native of England, and a pioneer Inmborman of War- 
ren county, Pa. This union was blessed with five children, as follows: 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1183 

Rov, Kexford, Ethel, Metta and Rollin. The family are believers in 
the Baptist faitii. Mr. Soper is a member of the Patrons of IIus- 
bandr}^, and in politics he is a Democrat. 

ISAAC D. SOPER, farmer, in Burlington township, P. O. Burl- 
ington, was born September 3, 1828, in Burlingion, this county, a son 
of'^David and Polly (Luther) Soper, the former of whom was a native 
of Connecticut, of English origin. He was a man of influence, and 
one of the first justices of the peace, in which office he continued 
twenty-five years. The grandfather, Levi Soper, who was an English- 
man, "was in the War of 1812, and one of the first settlers in the town 
of Burlington. Polly So])er was a sister of Enoch Luther, who was 
also one o° the pioneers of Burlington township; both families cleared 
large farms from the dense wilderness, and experienced all the priva- 
tions of a pioneer life. Isaac D. Soper was reared on the farm and 
eno-aoed in agricultural pursuits, at which he has continued, and is 
now the owner of a fine farm of one hundred acres under a good 
state of cultivation. He was married, in 1855, to Charlotte Stuart, of 
Michigan, by whom he has the following named twelve children: 
Roena, Ella,'Clara, Horatio H., Isaac N., Cloe, Nettie, Minnie, Lottie, 
Edith, Dean and Stuart. Mr. Soper was a soldier in the Civil War, in 
Company B,Two Hundred and Seventh P. V. I., and was in the battles 
of Petersburg and Fort Steadman, and in several minor engagements; 
served until the close of the war, being present at the surrender of 
Lee's army; contracted disease from exposure, and is now a pensioner. 
He is a member of the G. A. R. and of the I. O. O. F. In politics he 
is a Republican, and has held several offices of public trust. 

JOHNE. SOPER, blacksmith, Ulster, was born in North Towanda, 
this county, December 0, 1864, and is a son of Edwanl O. and Jane E. 
(Bailey) Soper, natives of this State, of English descent. In his father's 
family there were ten children, he being the fourth in order of birth ; 
six of the ten are living, and are in this county. The father was a 
farmer, and John E. was reared on tlie farm, attending school until 
fifteen years old, and receiving a fair education. He learned his trade 
at Burfington, and commenced for himself there in 1888 ; was there 
two years, when he removed to his present place; he is a skillful 
mechanic and has a large business. He was married, December 24, 1 889, 
to Mary E., daughter of John and Charlotte M. Sims, natives of this 
county ."^ Mr. Soper is a member of the Golden Cycle, and has filled 
the chair of vice-speaker ; in politics he is a Republican. 

CHESTER P. SPALDING, superintendent Towanda Gas Works, 
was born in Athens, this county, October 12, 1818, and is a son of 
Robert and Aurelia (Satterlee) Spalding, and of the eighth generation 
of Edward Spalding, who came from England to America about 1632, 
and settled in Massachusetts. His paternal grandfather was William 
Miter Spalding, who settled in Sheshequin, this county, in 1788, and 
afterward resided in Athens and Sheshequin. He married, August 23, 
1789, Rebecca, daughter of Gen. Simon and Ruth (Shepherd) Spalding, 
who settled in Sheshequin, this county, in 1783 ; the issue of this union 
were ten children, of whom Robert,' father of subject, was the first 
child and eldest son, and was born July 1, 1790, and was a resident of 



1184 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Athens township many years. He enf^uged in farming and lumbering, 
and in 1840 removed to Wysox township, where he continued in the 
same business until liis death, and where, for a short time, he was also 
engaged in general business. He was the father of eleven children, 
viz.: Cynthia A. (Mrs. F. A. Tyler), Alex H., Chester P., Rebecca (Mrs. 
S. P. Gore), Lemira K. (Mrs. M. J. Coolbaugh), Israel P., Aurelia 
(Mrs. Jerry M. Collins), Mary P. (Mrs. C. S. Russell), George, Robert 
M. and Helen M. (Mrs. William El well, Jr.). Chester P., the subject 
of the sketch, was reared in Athens, where he received an academical 
education. He removed to Wysox township with his father in 1840, 
where he assisted for a time, and afterward engaged in farming until 
1851. In the spring of 1852 he located in Rockford, III, and remained 
there until the spring of 1869, when he returned to Bradford county, 
locating in Towanda,- where he superintended the building of the 
Towanda Gas AVorks, and has since been the superintendent of the 
company. On October 20, 1842, he married Mary, daughter of Allen 
and Mary (Kingsbury) Smith, of Bath, N. Y., by whom he had three 
children,' as follows: Florence, Henry K. and Rowena K. He is an 
attendant of the Ilniversalist Church, and politically is a Republican. 

HORACE M. SPALDING, produce, coal and plaster dealer, Troy, 
was born in Canton township, this county, October 7, 1840, a son of 
Andrew E. and Cynthia S. (Holcomb) Spalding, and is a descendant of 
Edward Spalding, who emigrated from England to America, in 1832, 
and settled in Massachusetts. Ilis paternal grandfather, AVilliam P. 
Spalding, a native of New England, was a pioneer of Canton township, 
and cleai-ed and improved the farm now known as the ''John Brown 
Farm," and resided near there until his death in 1877; his wife was 
Eleanor Watts, by whom he had six children : John, Andrew E., Ezra, 
James, Ehzabetli( Mrs. Loren Morse) and Jane (Mrs. Richard Hughes), 
all born in Canton township, Andrew E., in 1811. After reaching 
manhood Andrew E Spalding engaged in the hotel business, in which 
he continued to his death, Sei)tember 12, 1857, when he dropped dead 
in his hotel, the " Canton House,'" at Canton, Pa.; his wife was a 
daughter of Sterling Holcomb, of LeRoy tov,'nship,this county, and by 
her had five children : John M., William S., Horace M., Charles E.and 
Jennie (Mrs. U. J. Manley). Our subject was reared in Canton town- 
ship, and in early life engaged in farming. In 1872 he located in Troy, 
where he engaged in the dray business eight years; became a member, 
in 1879, of the firm of P>eardsley >Sc Spalding, hardware merchants, 
Troy, which style continued until 1884, then from 1884 to 1890 as 
Beardsley, Spalding A: McKean, when he retired, and has since been 
engagetf as a buyer and sliipper of produce, coal and plaster. Mr, 
Spcilditig married. May 19, 1864, Lovina, daughter of Dr. S. W. and 
Aman(hi (I>ailey) Shepard,of Troy, and they have four children : Cora 
A., S. Ilillis, Andrew E. and Fred L. Mr. 'Siialding is a member of 
the Disciple Church and I. O. O. F.; has always taken an active part 
in public affairs, was burgess of Troy one term, and councilman eight 
years; in Dolitics he is a Repui)licaii. 

-MAJO'R ISRAEL P. SPALDING'S lirst ancestor in America was 
Edward Spalding, who came from England about 1630-33, and settled 



HISTORY OF BRAUFORI) COUNTY. 1185 

in Braintree, Mass. Ilis father was Kobert Spaldino-. a native of what 
is now Bradford county, who was born July 1, 1700, and was married, 
July 2, 1814, to Aurelfa Satterlee, by whom he had eleven children; 
he was the S(m of William (Wilter) Spalding, a native of Connecticut, 
who settled in what is now Sheshequin, in 1788, and married, August 
23, 1789, Eebecca, daughter of Gen. Simon Si)alding, of Sheshequin. 
Wilham (Wilter) died in 1845; he was a son of Oliver, son of Ephraim, 
son of Edward, son of Benjamin, son of Edward Spalding, first above 
mentioned. Major Spalding was born in Athens, this county, January 
22, 1825, and was the sixth child and third son of Robert and Aurelia 
(Satterlee) Spalding; he was married, December 21, 1852, to Euth E. 
Cooley, daughter of Alva Cooley, of Myersburg. His life was spent 
on the farm until the breaking out of the Civil War. In 1862 he took 
an active part in enlisting men for the One Hundred and Forty-first 
Regiment, P. V. I., and was elected captain of a company from his 
own neighborhood, and on the organization of the regiment, August 
29, 1862, he was elected major, and served in that capacity until his 
death. He received a slight wound at the battle of Chancellorsville, 
and on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, was twice wounded in the same 
leg, aminie-ball shattering his ankle-joint, and another passing through 
the fleshy part of the thigh; exposure and the complication arising 
caused his death, on July 28, following. Major Spalding was a special 
favorite of his regiment, and his loss was universally mourned ; he 
was buried near his home in Wysox, August 2, 1863; his children were 
three in number, viz.: Ella, Fred and Israel P., Jr. 

JOSEPH E. SPALDING, farmer, P, O. Franklindale, was born 
in Franklin, this county, July 22, 1826, a son of William B. and 
Delight (Spalding) Spalding, the former a native of Sheshequin, the 
latter of Plainfield, Conn. William B. was a son of Jolm Spalding, who 
was one of the first settlers in Sheshequin; John was the son of Simon 
Spalding, a colonel in the Revolutionary Army under Gen. Washington. 
John Spalding and his future wife, Miss Wheatley Gore, were in the 
Wyoming massacre, but escaped by a hasty flight. In after years they 
returned to and settled in the Wyoming Valley, and after the lapse of 
a few years the two families removed to Sheshequin, where John 
Spalding and Miss Wheatley Gore were married. They had fourteen 
children — eleven sons and three daughters — and the son Harry was the 
first male child born in Sheshequin. William Spalding, his son, was 
born August 24, 1786, and about 1810 commenced business in Franklin, 
in partnership with his brother Noah, in the milling and lumber 
business. William was the first who discovered coal in Barclay town- 
ship, in 1812. He married. May 20,1816, Delight Spalding, of Canton, 
and their family consisted of five children: Sarah (deceased), Ezra 
(deceased), Hannah, Joseph E., and Anna. AVilliam, at the time of his 
residence in the county, is reported to have been the oldest male in 
Bradford county; he lived in Franklin until 1846, when he went to 
Texas to visit a*^ brother, where he died, at Corpus Christi, September 
10, 1847. Joseph E. Spalding was reared in Franklin and educated at 
various schools, si)en(ling some time at Mannington, in Susquehanna 
county, and also at Cazenovia, Madison Co.. N.Y.; he finished hiseduca- 



1186 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

tion at Towanda, where he also learned surveying, which he has followed 
from 1847 to the present time. At the age of thirty he married, at 
LeEoy, January 31, 1856, Miss Louisa, daughter of Mr. Kelder, of 
Onondaga county, N. Y., by which marriage there were three children : 
Susie M. (born August 24, 1857, married Martin Kerry), Anna Delight 
(born March 4, 1860, married C. M. Fanning), Wm. S. (born July 22, 
1861, married Mrs. Sarah Curtis), the latter residing in Montana and 
reported to be very wealthy. Mr. Spalding entered the army during 
the Civil War, October 24. 1862, as sergeant of Company C, One 
Hundred and Seventy-first Pennsylvania Drafted Militia, for a term of 
nine months; then re-entered the army, in September, 1864, in Com- 
pany B. Third ISTew York Artillery, to serve one year ; was honorably 
discharged from both commands, and now draws a pension. He has 
retired from active business life, and is at present living with his 
daughter, Mrs. Martin Cary. He is a member of the F. and A. M., 
I. O. O. F. and G. A. K.; is a Kepublican, and has held the oflice of 
county surveyor six years, also other town offices, such as road commis- 
sioner and school director. 

ELIJAH CICERO SPENCER, farmer, of Wysox township, P. O. 
Wvsox, was born in Bridgewater, Susquehanna Co., Pa., January 15, 
1817, a son of Neimiah and Elizabeth (Swan) Spencer, natives of 
Connecticut, and of English lineage. We find in this family some- 
tiiing that few heretofore have known Bradfoi-d county to possess — 
a branch of the famous English Spencer Family. Gen. Joseph Spen- 
cer, of Revolutionary fame, was the grandfather of Elijah C; he was 
also of the wife of Lewis Cass, who was candidate for President in 
1860. Dr. Ichabod Spencer, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Hon. Joshua 
Spencer, of Utica. X. Y., are also branches of this family. The con- 
nection of the different branches of this family in England and Amer- 
ica is shown beyond a doubt in a letter to Jared Sparks by Charles 
Sumner, in which he was assisted by the Earl of Spencer ; and in 
which he also relates the convivial relations that existed between the 
Washingtons and the Spencers. After leaving Connecticut. Neimiah 
resided in many different places, at brief intervals, and in 1810 came 
to Orwell; he subsequently lived in Sheshequin,and finally in Wysox; 
was killed, in 1839, by a horse, which he was riding on Main street, 
Towanda, falling on him. In his family there were eight children, of 
whom our subject is the youngest. Elijah Cicero Spencer began life 
for himself in his early ""teens," working on a farm and in sawmills 
until lie was sixteen; then engaged with Martin Ridgebury, of 
AVvsox, to learn the shoemaker's trade ; he renuiined with him three 
years, and one year with A. A. Bishop. He followed this occupation 
to some extent for thirty years, at the same time clearing and tilling 
a farm of 111 acres, which he purchased in 1842, frecpiently working 
in the field all dav and on the l)ench until midnight. Mr. Spencer was 
married. December 5, 1841. to Mary Jane, daughter of John and Polly 
(Lent) P>ull. natives of Orange county, N. Y., and they have nine 
children, as follows: (leorge P.; L^wy (^. born March 31,1845, a 
farmer, in Wvsox townshij) ; Mary Ellen, l)orn May 3,1848; John 
Clayton, born" January 26, 1850, a miller, of AV^atertown, S. Dak.; 



HISTORY OF BRAUFOKD COUNTY. 1187 

Joseph Cborn October 10, 1852, died June 30,1885; Tliomas A., born 
April 17, 1855, a carpenter in Chicago, 111.; William L., born January 
14, 1858, an employe of James Shalor, Towanda, Pa.; R. Reed, born 
January 30, 1861, an employe of his brother, J. C., at Watertown, S. 
Dak., and Emma I., born May 12, 18(i3. The Spencer family are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pond Hill, of which Mr. 
Spencer has been trustee thirty years and steward twenty-five; he is 
an earnest advocate of the principles of prohibition, and has done 
much for the advancement of education in Bradford county, nearly 
all his children being teachers. 

GEORGE P. SPENCER, farmer, P. O. Wysox, was born, August 
28, 1842, on the farm where his father now resides, a son of Elijah C. 
and Mary Jane (Bull) Spencer. In his father's family there were nine 
children, of whom he is the eldest. He spent his boyhood on the 
farm, and in attending the common school and select schools ; began 
life for himself at the age of twenty-one, teaching, which he has fol- 
lowed to some extent since, having taught, in all, twenty-one terms. 
From 1865 to 1868 he clerked in a tea store and in a gents' furnishing 
goods establishment in Jersey City, and in 1884 he purchased his pres- 
ent home of fourteen acres. On November 27, 1872, Mr. Sjiencer 
married Hannah M., daughter of Edward C. and Lydia (Horton) 
Vought, of Ghent, natives of Pennsylvania, and they have one child, 
Edward C, born March 16, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Myersburg. He is a Prohibi- 
tionist, and has been auditor of Asvlum. 

HORACE SPENCER, farmer m West Burlington township, P. O. 
West Burlington, was born September 1, 1841, at Providence (near 
Scranton), Pa., a son of Horace and Hannah (Denton) Spencer, natives 
of Dutchess county, N. l(i ^"^^ of English origin ; they removed to 
Pennsylvania and experienced all the privations of pioneer life, as 
tillers of the soil ; they reared a family of nine children, seven of whom 
grew to maturity. Horace, who is the fifth in the order of birth, was 
reared on the farm, and hassuccessfully followed agricultural pursuits. 
In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Forty- 
first P. V. I., and served until the close of the war, participating in 
several battles; was finally made a bugler of the regiment, and was 
present at Gen. Lee's surrender, serving in all nearly three years. He 
is a pensioner. Mr. Spencer was married, November 14, 1866, to 
Elvira A. Johnson, of Granville, who was born November 19, 1845, 
only daughter of George A. and Lemira (Ballard) Johnson, who 
were among the pioneers of Granville. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer have 
had born to them four children: George A., Alfred C, Myra and 
Floyd. He is the owner of two farms — the homestead of 100 acres, 
and another near it of LOO acres, on which he carries on a fine dairying 
business, also raises sheep. Mr. Spencer has been well known many 
years as a teacher of singing schools. Politically he is a Republican, 
and has held several offices of public ti'ust. He is much respected by 
the entire communitv^ 

JAMES EDWIN SPENCER, farmer, P. O. West Burlington, was 
born, January 21, 1835, in Dutchess county, N. Y.,a son of Horace and 



1188 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Hannah (Denton) Spencer, natives of that count}', born of Enghsh 
extraction, and farmers by occupation ; they removed to Pennsylvania 
when James E. was a hid of live 3'ears of age, and settled near Scran- 
ton, where they had a farm, and reared a family of nine children, of 
whom our subject is the second in order of birth, and six are still liv- 
ing ; the father died, October 8, 1882, at the age of seven t^y-two years, 
and the mother, August 15, 1891, aged eighty-two years. Mr. Spencer 
was reared a farmer, and removed to Bradford county in 1850, settling 
on his present farm in "West Burlington township in 1860, which was 
then a wilderness. B}'^ strictest economy and great perseverance he 
has accumulated a fine propert}', the farm consisting of 100 acres, on 
which he has built one of the finest residences in the town. Mr. Spencer 
was twice married: first time to Catherine Brown, by whom he had 
three children : Mertie, Hattie and Dewntt; she dying in 1874, he was 
afterward married to Charlotte Whitehead, of Burlington, to whom 
have been born children, as follows : Hezekiah, Jay E. and Benjamin 
H. Mr. Spencer is a Eepublican.but gives his attention more to busi- 
ness than to politics. He is a member of the Patrons of Husbandrv. 

FRANK H. S PONS LOR, proprietor of the " Canton House," Can- 
ton, is a native of Mechanicsburg, Pa., born March 5, 1852. His par- 
rents were David and Susan (Breinizer) Sponslor, also natives of Penn- 
sylvania; the father, who was a stock-dealer and dealt quite extensively 
in horses, died in Mechanicsburg, Pa., in 1868, in his fifty-first year; the 
mother died in Warrensburg, Mo., in 1888, in her sixty sixth year. 
Erank H. Sponslor. who is the fifth in order of birth in a family of six 
chiUlren, was i-eared in Mechanicsburg, and received a public-school edu- 
cation; went to Altoona in 1870 and worked in the Pennsylvania Kail- 
Iload Company's Passenger Car Shops three years; then went to Hazel- 
ton and worked in the sash and door factory about six months, after 
which he engagetl in the glassware and notion business with Erank 
Fullerton, under the firm name of Eullerton and Sponslor, and they 
continued in business a little over a year, when Mr. Sponslor moved to 
St. Louis and traveled for a short time in the West. Returning to 
Ilazelton by way of New York, he embarked in the grocery business 
with his brother-in-law, James Gilmore, which continued two years; he 
successively took charge of hotels at the following places: I);iuj)hin, 
Middleton and Bethlehem; he then removed to Canton in August, 188-1, 
and took charge of the " (Canton House." Mr. Sponslor was married 
in Reading, Pa., October 17, 1881, to Saraii, (hingiiter of Benjamin and 
Annie (Ilockei') Myers, natives of I)auj)hin county. Pa.; her father is a 
farmer and resides in Dauphin county. Mrs. Sponslor is the eldest of 
six children; she is a member of the Presbyterian Cliurch. Mr. Spons- 
lor is a member of the E. & A. M., Canton Lodge, No. 415; Troy 
Chapter, No. 261; and Canton Commandery, No. 64; politically he is a 
Democrat. 

JOHN I). S(^UIRES. retired farmer, was the first chiUI born in 
Herrick township, tliis county, south of the State road. He was born 
January 2, 1821, a son of Charles and Mary (Webb) Squires, natives 
of Connecticut. The father, who was a blacksmith, came to this 
county in 1815, and located in Asylum township; then in 1820 removed 



HISTORY OF BRADFOHI) COUNTY. 1189 

to Ilerrick, when the country was ahnost an unl)roken wilderness; he 
crossed the river on the ice, and had to cut a road through the w^oods 
nearly two miles; his first log-house was 20x30 feet, and contained 
two rooms, with one window in each room, six panes, 8x10, a fire- 
place at each end, and a Dutch oven built in the house ; the first winter 
the chimneys were built onU^ to the joist, and an aperture was left in 
the roof for escape of the smoke; the house was made almost without 
nails, the rafters and sheeting were ash poles split and fastened with 
iron nails made at his forge; the roof was of white split pine boards, 
fastened with poles. The first night after moving into this house the 
whole roof was broken in by snow and lodged on the joist. This was a 
primitive log cabin, gotten up and furnished in the most primitive 
manner; the bedstead was of white pine split from the log and nailed 
together with nails manufactured at his own forge ; he also made all the 
tools used by him at his trade and on the farm, such as axes, hoes and 
rakes. Mr. Squires has in his possession a gricklle over one hundred and 
thirt}^ years old. To plant the firsfe crops in this wilderness they 
cleared'the trees and brush from the land, and with axes and hoes worked 
the dirt loose among the roots and deposited their seed, covering the 
same with what loose earth they could scrape up, and, with exception 
of occasionally pulling the weeds, this was all the cultivation the crop 
received, but "^therti was an abundant yield. There were no school- 
houses in the neighborhood until after his tenth birthday, when his 
father and neighbors, Isaac Camp, Warren C. Granger and William 
Gamble, erected a small log-house, which was used as a school and 
church many years. Hannah Smith was tlie first teacher, and at the 
close of school she married Joseph Camp; the first sermon he remem- 
bers was preached at his father's house by Levi Baldwin, a Baptist 
minister. He was ten years old when he first commenced to attend 
school about two months in the year until he was twenty-one, and 
very early engaged in lumbering, rafting, clearing and farming; he 
has' cleared a large amount of land and fitted it for the plow. In 1844 
he purchased the farm now owned by Mr. Camp, then wild land, and 
sold it in 1864. Mr. Squires was married in 1845 to Eliza, daughter 
of Rev. Levi Baldwin, and to them were born six children, four of 
whom died in infancy ; the survivors are Levi S. and Gideon P., the 
latter of whom married Harriet Whipple, of Standing Stone. 

Levi S. Squires was born in Standing Stone, Pa., September 2'S, 
1846 ; attended the common schools of the county until twenty, farmed 
until 1890, and studied theology during his leisure hours. In 1888 he 
received a, call, and is a prominent Baptist minister, ordained Septem- 
ber 0, 1890, as pastor of the South Au'oui-n Baptist Church, of which 
he is now pastor. He was married October 33, 186Y, to Mary M., the 
youngest in the family of six children of Joseph and Mary (Molyneux) 
Pardoe ; to them has been born one child, Eva J., who was educated 
in the common schools of Bradford county, and at the Keystone Acad- 
emy, Factoryville, finishing at Bucknell University, Lewisburg. Pa.; 
she was lilletl with a desire to become a foreign missionary from her 
fourteenth year, and was educated with that design. On Septem- 
ber 26, 1890, she started, fully equii)ped for her liek] of labor in Burmah, 

70 



1190 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

and she is now there earnestly engaged in her work. Mr. John D, 
S(iaires is a member of the Baptist Church; in politics a Prohibitionist, 
and has held several township offices; his son Levi S. is a Republican. 
PEMBROKE S. SQUIRES, farmer, P. O. Ballibay, was born 
December 23, 1829, on his present farm, which was the home of his 
father, Charles Squires. He attended the common schools until his 
fourteenth year, since which time he has devoted his life to farming, 
lumbering and threshing. In 1853 his father gave him the homestead, 
and he executed to him a bond and mortgage to support and care for 
him the remainder of his life, paying to the other heirs their share in 
the estate, in all 100 acres, to which he has since added eighty-nine, 
and built his present residence in 1863, and the barn in 1869. Mr. 
Squires is the son of Charles and Mary (Webb) Squires, natives of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, respectivel3\ The mother was a 
daughter of Santhare Webb (born August 9, 1790), and she was 
married November 10, 1810, in her native place. Mr. and Mrs. Charles 
Squires came from there to Asylum townsliip, this county, in 1815; in 
1820 moved to Ilerrick township, and improved the family homestead, 
where they spent the remainder of their long, useful and honorable 
lives. Charles Squires was born September 15, 1787, and died Janu- 
ary 29, 1865, aged seventy-seven; liis consort, Mary Squires, died July 
12, 1866, aged seventy-six. They were the parents of thirteen children, 
and left, living, four daughters and five sons, twenty grandchildren 
and two great-grandchildren. 

When Mr. Squires came to the new country he was a skilled black- 
smith, and so worked in connection with his farm many years. The 
family were exemplary members of the Baptist Church."^ Nearly fifty 
years this brave man and his wife lived in the wild wilderness, to the 
reclaiming of which were devoted their strong and brave energies. 
They were in the far front of the little band that hewed the way in 
the primeval forests. He located and cut out the high waythat now runs 
from Cam))town to Smithboro, and he assisted in much of theearly-dav 
surveying in this region about. Their pilgrims through the woods on 
foot or with oxen teams; the encampment by the babbling brooks on 
the mountain side; the first log-house; going long days' journeys to 
mill, and the little onesAvaiting the return for their supper porridge ; 
the long intervals of visits from distant neighbors; tlie dreary silence, 
so often only awakened by the hungry wild beasts' terrifying cries — 
these were some of their experiences. Mr. S(|uires, among other inci- 
dents, would tell of his returning home just after dark, when suddenly 
appeared before him in the patli a panther. The animal would walk 
along-side of him; when Mr. Squires would stop, it would also stop, 
and when he would go on, it would also, and only when almost at his 
cabin did the panther turn off and disappear. Mrs. Squires, going on 
one occasion to the stream to wash, <liscovere(l a ffann- of wolves 
aj)proaching ; she took Ikm- ))osition by the vc^ssel of boiling water, pi'e- 
paring to defend herself as best she could, and tlu^v turned away, only 
frightening her. 

P. S. Squii'es, the subject of the sketch, has been one oi the suc- 
cessful and enterprising farmers of the county, and his friends are 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1191 

let^non. lie was first elected town constable one year, then assessor 
one year (1851), then town auditor one year, school director eight 
years, being president of the board during all the time except one 
year; then was again elected town auditor, and, in 1872, was elected 
town commissioner for a term of three years; in 1885 86, he was town 
assessor, and in 1890 was elected county commissioner, which office 
he now holds. He has never soughtratesnor office, and invariably his 
majorities have been so emphatic that they alone are the highest com- 
pliments his neighbors could bestow. At the last election, in order to 
accommodate some of his fellow-candidates, so little did he care for 
office that he allowed them to sacrifice, to some extent, his interests, 
and yet polling day showed as usual that his was the largest. These 
record facts speak more plainly than any words we can add. Mr. 
Squires is a member of Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503, I. O. O. F., and 
has passed the chairs; he is a member of Wyalusing Baptist Church. 
In 1854 he married Harriet H., a daugiiter of John and Jane (Little) 
Lafferty, natives of New Jersey, but residents of this county at the 
time of marriage. By this marriage there are three children : Judson 
W., Jennie (wife of I). F. Mahoney, of Wilkes-Barre) and Katie (wife 
of R. S. Hillis, of Herrick township, this county). Mrs. P. S. Squires 
died January 24, 1886. Mr. Squires is one of the most prominent men 
of the county, one who makes no loud pretentions, but is sincerely 
esteemed bv all who know him. 

FRANK 11. STALFORD, farmer, Wilmot township, P. O. Sugar 
Run, was born September 23, 1857, and is the eldest of the three 
children of Joseph H. and Mary A. (Dehil) Stalford, natives of Penn- 
sylvania, and of Scotch-Irish descent. He was reared on his father's 
farm in Wilmot, and educated in the common schools of AVilmot town- 
ship. He began life for liimself at twenty-one years of age. farming 
and lumbering, at which he is still engaged. Mr. Stalford married, 
December 8, 1878, Miss Amelia, daughter of Zodak and Amelia (Har- 
ford) Hinev, of Rome, Pa., and they have four children : Lucy B., born 
August 19,^1881 ; Arthur M., born' April 22, 1885 ; Mary L ,"born Sep- 
tember 27, 1889, and Emily, born December 18, 1890. Politically Mr. 
Stalford is a Republican. 

W. H. STALFORD, manufacturer of lumber, Wyalusing, was born 
in Wyalusing township, this county, June 22, 1865, a son of Jesse Stal- 
ford. He passed his boyhood on a farm, and was educated in the 
common schools and Wyalusinir Academy. At the age of eighteen he 
began teaching, which occupation he continued for a short time; then 
folTowpd farming until December. 1878, when he went to Michigan, 
and for three years was engaged in lumbering. At the end of that 
time he returned home and purchased a sawmill, and has since been 
engaged in the manufacture of lumber in Bradford county. He 
owns the Stalford mill on Wyalusing creek, and also owns and o])er- 
ates a portable mill in Wilmot township. He has an elegant residence, 
which he iMiilt in 1888. On December 1, LS86, Mr. Stalford married 
Ameline C, daughter of Hon. E. B. Chase, of Wilkes-Barre, and they 
have one child, V. H., born April 25. 1891. Mr. Stalford is a member 
of White Lilly Lodge, No, 808, I. O. O. F., and has taken all the sub- 



1193 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ordinate degrees ; he is a Republican in politics, and has filled various 
town offices. 

CHARLES W. STEELE, of the firm of Steele & Jones, liverymen, 
Troy, was born in Granville, this county, October 25, 1860, and is a 
son of Calvin and Achsah (McKeel) Steele, natives of Pennsylvania. 
His father was a farmer by occupation, and resided in Bradford 
county many years, where he reared a family of twelve children: 
Edmond, Emma J. (Mrs. Charles Williams). William A., Emory C, 
Charles W., James C, Andrew W., Warren B., Samuel, Ada and Ida 
(twins, of whom Ada married Arthur Field), and Elizabeth (Mrs, 
Abner Owens). Charles W. Steele was reared in Union township, this 
county, received a common-school education, and located in Troy in 

1884, and for four years was in the emplo}^ of Pomeroy Brothers. In 
1888, with his brother, James C, he embarked in the livery business 
under the firm name of Steele Bros., which partnership existed up to 
September, 1890, when his brother sold his interest, since which tim6 
the firm has been Steele & Jones. Mr. Steele is a popular liveryman, 
and is doing a successful business; politicallv he is a Republican. 

ALONZO R. STEPHENS, physician %and surgeon, of Herrick 
township, P. O. Herrickville, was born in Pike township, June 1, 1835. 
Jonathan Stephens, his father, was born in Connecticut, of English 
descent, a carpenter and joiner; his wife was named Charity, and was 
also a nativ^e of Connecticut. He came to this county in 1842, where 
he followed his trade until his death. He had eleven children, viz.: 
Orlena, Charles and Louis (both died in infancy), Caroline (deceased), 
Harriet (deceased), Almon P. (deceased), Harry (deceased), Eliza 
(deceased), Charles F. (deceased), Emma A., wife of John Champion, 
and Alonzo R., the subject of this sketch. The latter attended the 
district school until his fifteenth year, and then went to Binghamton, 
N. Y., where he continued his studies. At the age of seventeen he 
began the study of medicine under Dr. O. V. Thayer, of Binghamton, 
and, after studying seven years, attended the Albany Medical College, 
where he received his degree of M. D. in 1855, when he returned to 
Jjinghamton, and began ))ractice with Dr. George A. Thayer, and con- 
tinued with him until 1862. when he enlisted in Compan}^ B, One 
Hundred and Forty-ninth N. Y. V. I. He was afterward appointed 
medical cadet, U. S. A., and assigned to temporary duty with the 
Eighty-ninth Regiment, N. Y. V. I.; was commissioned assistant- 
surgeon in 1864, and assigned to the Twentieth Army Corps, Second 
Brigade, Second Division ; he was injured in service, September 14, 
lSfi4, receivin^i: a o:unslu)t wound in his le^-. and in fallino^ received an 
injury in his back, which caused j)araiysis. He was removed to the 
hosj)ital at Louisville, Ky., and was there until the following March ; 
then was transferred to tiie general hospital at Albany, N. Y., where 
he remained until he was discharged. September 4, 1865, on account of 
physical disability. He came to LeRaysville. and from there to Herrick- 
ville, arriving here in 1866, whei'c he engaged in, and has continued to 
practice, his))rofession. The Doctor married Nancy. <laughter of Hiram 
and Malvina (Waterman) Sweet, of Cilen Castle, N. Y., who died in 

1885, They had two children; Hiram H. and George Thayer. On 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1193 

January 20, 1889, Dr. Stephens married Mrs. Mary Park, widow of 
Norman F. Park, and daughter of Clark and Mary (Baldwin) Smitii. 
She was born, September 15, 1850, the fifth in a family of nine chil- 
dren; she had been married, March 10, 1868, to Norman F. Park, mer- 
chant, of Wysox, who died. May 16, 1880, in the thirty-fourth year of 
his age. Dr. Stephens has a farm of fifty-three acres, and a small 
dairy and live horses ; he is a member of Hurst Post, No. 86, (1. A. P., 
and a United States Pension Examiner, having received his appoint- 
ment July 31, 1885, and in politics he is a Democrat. Mrs. Stephens is 
a member of the Presbyterian Church. 

IKA H. STEPHENS, locomotive engineer, Sayre, is a native of 
Towanda, born December 18, 1856, a son of Ira E. and Mary A. 
(Gregg) Stephens, natives of Bradford county. Ira E. Stephens is a 
traveling salesman, and resides in Towanda. Our subject's great- 
grandfather, Ira H. Stephens, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 
and was a charter member of the Masonic Fraternity in Athens, Rural 
Amity Lodge, No. 70, in 1795 ; he built a house at the foot of Spanish 
Hill that is still standing and occupied ; he married Cybil, daughter 
of Capt. Samuel Ransom, who served as an officer in the Continental 
War, and was killed at the Wyoming massacre. The subject of this 
sketch, who is the second in a family of eight children, was reared in 
Towanda, and completed his education in the Collegiate Institute of 
that place. He commenced driving a team when about eleven years 
old, working on the building of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and was 
watchman at the depot awhile, in ToAvanda. In May, 1874, he went 
on the road as brakeman, began firing in 1877, was promoted to engi- 
neer in October, 1881, and has been running on the line since. He has 
not missed a monthly payment since he commenced work. He is a 
lover of a good horse, and owns one of the best-bred young trotters 
in the county. Mr. Stephens was married, in Towanda, February 16, 
1882, to Miss Esteele, daughter of Adam and Harriet (Adamson) 
Wilson, the former of whom is a native of Dumfries, and the latter 
of Easton, Pa. Her father is a carpenter, and works in the Erie Rail- 
road shops, at Elmira, where they reside. She is the fourth in order 
of birth in a family of seven children, and was born in Steuben county, 
N. Y., April 2, 1860. To Mr. and Mrs. Stephens was born one son, 
Louis Wilson. Mr. Stephens is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural 
Amity Lodge, No. 70, Union Chapter, No. 161, and Northern Com- 
mandery, No. 16. 

SAMUEL STETHERS, a farmer of Herrick township, P. O. Bal- 
libay, was born in Herrick township, this county, October 12, 1848. 
His father, Francis Stethers, was born in County Monaghan. Ireland, 
June 29, 1812, and in his thirteenth year he went to Liverpool (sailing 
in "the " Henr}' Bell," the first steamship built to run between Ireland 
and Liverjjool), where he worked through the summer seasons, until 
March 19, 1837, when he married Anna J. Hillis, daughter of James 
and Nancy (McCray) Hillis, and came to this country, settling in Her- 
rick township, this county. He had one sister — Sarah — and three 
brothers — William, John and James— of whom William died in Liv- 
erpool, and John and James in Ireland. Sarah and her husband, John 



1194 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Hurst, came to this country soon after Francis did. When Francis 
Stethers first came here he purchased ninety-live acres, the present 
Stethers homestead, and then bought a house and lot in Camptoun, 
which he sold to Richard Graham. In 1877 he purchased eighty -four 
acres of the David Nesbit homestead, and in 1807 thirty acres of the 
Michael Coleman estate, also, from George and Gershum Barnes, 
thirty-three acres adjoining- the Coleman property, and in 1876 he 
purchased of Richard' Graham sixty-nine acres in Wyalusing township, 
which he sold; then in 1877 bought sixty -seven acres in Wyalusing 
township, making a total of 309 acres. He built his first log-house 
and barn in 1839; in 1850 his present barn, and in 1851 his house 
which in those days was considered quite modern. He raise<l and 
dealt quite extensiVelv in cattle, and was considered a very successful 
man; he died April 23, 1889; Mrs. Stethers died April 5, 1889. They 
had children as follows: James; Sarah, wife of Theodore Chark 
(deceased); Nancv; Samuel and Francis M. Samuel Stethers attended 
the Ballibay school until his thirteenth year, then went to Camptown 
and attended a select school kept by Silas Durand, one term, also a 
select school, kept by Rev. S. F. Brown, three terms, and returned home 
and went three terms to William Thomson, at Herrick. Then he began 
farming, taking full charge of his father's affairs, which he managed 
until hfs father's death, when he received, as his share, the homestead, 
with all the personal property and a half interest in the property 
which his father had ])urchased, consisting of sixty-three acres which 
he now owns, having purchased his brother's share. He married, in 
1877, Vie Haight, daughter of Harry L. and Caroline (Shiner) Ilaight, 
natives of this State; she is the third in a family of seven children, six 
of wiiom are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Stethers have had two children, 
as follows: William L., born January 15, 1882, and Atla D., born 
October 20, 1884. Mr. Stethers is a Democrat, and is highly regarded 
bv all his neighbors. 

ACHATIFS STEVENS, farmer, was born in Standing Stone 
township, this countv, January 10, 1822, and is a son of Asa Stevens, 
who was born in Wilkes-Barre, September 24, 1790, a son of Jonathan 
Stevens, a tailor, who was born in Canterbury, Conn., in 1704. Asa 
Stevens received a common-school education, and worked on a farm 
until liis twentv-fourth year, when he received from his father fifty 
acres of land, adding to \t later; built his first log house in 1815, and 
lived in that until 1844, when he built the present frame house, which 
he enlarged afterward, and followed farming until he died, February 
20, 1879. He had married, in 1814. Fhebe, daughter of Achatius and 
Jane (Oakley) Vought, who died :March 16, 1876, and they had the 
following children : Benjamin, Achatius. Jonathan, Joel, Byron, 
Nelson, Eleanor (wife of Alexander Funis), Annie (wife of William 
Kingsley), Sarah and Lydia (wife of James B. Bush). Achatius Ste- 
vens was educated in the district schools until he was eighteen ; then 
worked on the farm until his thirtieth year, when he purchased his 
present farm of sixty acres; he added thirty acres in 1804, and built 
his house in 1872. He has been town treasurer thirty years, is a 
member of the Grange, No. 354, and of the Universalist Church ; in 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1195 

politics he is a Democrat. He married, in 1852, Sarah, daughter of 
Jabez and Lucy (Thurston) Sumner, and they had tour children: 
James, Asa Sumner, Lucy Eleanor and Jabez liamilton. Tliis is one 
of the highly respected and influential families of Bradford county. 

ASA S. STEVENS, farmer, of Franldin township, P. O. Franklin- 
dale, was born in Standing Stone, this county, December 24, 1854, a 
son of Achatius and Sarah (Sumner) Stevens, the former born in 
Standing Stone, this county, the latter in South Auburn, Susquehanna 
Co., Pa. Achatius is the son of Asa, who was the son of Jonathan, 
the first settler in Standing Stone, and whose father was killed at the 
Wyoming massacre. Nelson Stevens, uncle of our subject, is now living 
on the okl homestead where Jonathan first settled, in Standing Stone. 
Achatius Stevens' family consisted of five children, three of whom grew 
to maturity. Asa S., who is the second in the family, was reared and 
educated at Standing Stone, and attended two terms at the Mansfield 
State Normal School. On December 19, 1878, he married Miss Ella 
M., (laughter of Hiram and Lodoiska Yannest, of Standing Stone, and 
this union resulted in the birth of three daughters: Lucy M., Florence E. 
and S. Lodoiska. Mr. Stevens is an enterprising young farmer, and 
his place is situated on the high land, north of Franklindale ; it com- 
prises 120 acres, and is known as the " Mineral Spring Farm," because 
of a valuable mineral spring on the place, which has not yet been 
analyzed. Mr, Stevens is a general farmer, and owns a fine assortment 
of stock ; also pays some attention to wool-raising. His farm is well 
supplied with a living spring of soft water. He is a Democrat, and has 
held the offices of auditor and inspector of elections. He is a member 
of the Grange. 

CYRUS LEE STEVENS, physician and surgeon, Athens, is a 
native of Pike township, this county, a son of Cyrus and Lydia A. 
(Lacey) Stevens. The father, a farmer, died at Stevensville, this county, 
February 12, 1890, in his eighty-seventh year; his widow survives. 
Dr. Stevens, who is the 3^oungest in a family of eight children, grad- 
uated at Lafayette College in 1876, was tutor of Natural Sciences at 
Parsons College for two years, and in 1878 entered the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, from which he graduated 
in the spring of 1880; he soon thereafter went to Turkey (Asia Minor), 
where he ])racticed his profession three years, when he returned to 
New York City, where he practiced until 1885 ; during which time he 
was medical superintendent of the New Y'ork Post-Graduate Medical 
School and Hospital. In August, 1885, he came to Athens, where he 
has since practiced. He was married at Lacey ville. Pa., in 1880, to 
Nettie J. Keeney. Dr. and Mrs. Stevens are members of the Presby- 
terian Church, of which he is a ruling elder. He is a member of the 
F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70 ; of the I. O. O. F., No. 165; 
of the Royal Arcanum, No. 1153, and of the Order of the Iron Hall, 
No. 146. The Doctor is ex-president of the Bradford County Medical 
Society, a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society and of 
the American Medical Association ; is consulting surgeon of the Robert 
Packer Hospital, at Sayre, Pa., and is a member of the board of health, 
Athens. In politics Dr. Stevens is a Republican. 



1196 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

EBENEZER LACEY STEVENS, merchant, Pike township, P. O. 
Stevensville, was born, April 4, 1843, on the place where he now 
resides, a son of Cyrus and Lydia Ann (Lacey) Stevens, natives of 
Pennsylvania, of New England origin. Tlie paternal grandparents 
were Aeden and Annis (Warner) Stevens, who came from Connecticut 
in 1794 and located on the farm where our subject now lives; they had 
five children, of whom Cyrus was the third in order of birth. To 
Cyrus and Lydia Ann (Lacey) Stevens were born eight children, E. 
Lacey being the fifth. He spent his boyhood on the farm, attending 
the common school, where he completed iiis education; at twentN^-five 
he engaged in farmine:, which he has followed to some extent since; in 
1880 he engaged with H. A. Ross in the mercantile business. TMr. 
Stevens was married, October 8, 1868, to Abbie Birchard, daughter of 
John and Mary (Griswould) Birchard, and this union has been blessed 
with three children: Mary Lucretia, born October 24, 1870, and died 
March 2, 1876; Eva Louise, born November 8, 1874, and Rule May, 
born May 1, 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are members of the Pres- 
byterian Church, of which he is an elder; he is a Republican and has 
been town commissioner, school director and assistant assessor. 

ELMER F. STEVENS, farmer, and manufacturer of lumber, lath 
and shingles, Stevensville, was born at Stevensville, this county, May 
12, 1850, and is a son of Myron and Susan (Bosworth) Stevens, the 
former a son of Nathan Stevens, and the latter a daughter of Reed 
Bosworth. In their father's family there were eight children, of 
whom Elmer F. Stevens is the youngest. He was reared on a farm, 
educated in the common school and LeRaysville Academy, and began 
life for himself at the age of twentv-one, enoao-ino- in farming the next 
fourteen years. He then exchanged a ))ortion of his farm, with AV. C. 
Burrows, for a stock of goods, at Stevensville, where he remained in 
mercantile business three years, and then removed to his present 
home, where he has since lived. In 1883, he engaged with his brother- 
in-law, F. E. Eastal)rook, in the lumber business, of which they have 
made a success. Mr. Stevens was marrie<l, September 11, 1870, to 
Clara !>., daughter of Edward J. and Emaline (Potter) Eastabi'ook, of 
Englisli lineage, and they have the following children: Walter B., 
born February 10, 1873, head sawyer in his father's mill; Fred E., 
born May 21, 1877, and Floyd R., born January 2, 1885. Mr. and 
Mrs. Stevens are members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is a 
Republican in politics. 

GEORGE W. STEVENS, farmer, Pike township, P. O. Stevens- 
ville, was born, April 3. 1867, on the farm where he now resides, the 
only child of Aeden and Lucy (Van Gorden) Stevens, natives of Penn- 
sylvania, and of New England origin. He was reared on a farm, 
educated in the common-scliool, and at Nicholson. Pa. He began life 
for himself at sixteen, on his present farm of seventy-nine acres, 
which he inherited from liis father. Mr. Stevens married. May 11, 
1880, Miss Mary, daughter of Sylvester and Delia (Terry) Powers, 
natives of Pennsylvania, also of New England origin, and her grand- 
parents were among the eai'l}' settlers in Pike township. They have 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1197 

one child, Earl A., born November 2, 1890. Mr. Stevens is a member 
of the Farmers' Association, and is a Kepublican in politics. 

JOEL STEVENS, farmer, P. O. Macedonia, was born Februai'y 7, 
1828, in Standing Stone, this county, a son of Asa and Tha^be ( Vought) 
Stevens, former of whom was born in Luzerne county, Pa., and latter 
in Peekskill, N. Y. Joel Stevens was reared on his father's farm, 
educated in the schools of his native town, learned the carpenter's 
trade, and was a contractor and builder over fifteen years. He was 
married, January 8, 1863, to Sarah, daughter of George and Eebecca 
(Terry) Gordon, whose ancestors were among the pioneers of the 
county, coming here in an early day and settling at Terrytown. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were born children, as follows : George, born 
December 2. ISBi, married to Alice G. Cole; Augusta L., born Septem- 
ber 24, 1866; Mary E., born March 8, 1870; Joseph M., born July 5, 
1872; Thomas E., born December 10, 1874, of whom the first three 
were born in Standing Stone, and the two latter m Asylum. The 
great-grandfather of subject was killed by the Indians a few days 
before the massacre at Wyoming, and Grandfather Stevens, who was 
born in Canterbury, Conn., was a soldier in the Revolutionary Army, 
enlisting when but fourteen years of age. Mr. Stevens is a Democrat, 
and has held many places of public trust; he has been a school director 
twenty ^^ears, and at the present time is town auditor. He is a popu- 
lar man with both political parties, and is respected by a wide circle 
of friends. 

JONATHAN B. STEVENS, farmer. Pike township, was born 
February 18, 1838, the second of three children of Henry L. and 
Martha (Brink) Stevens. He was reared on a farm and educated in the 
common school, beginning life for himself at the age of twenty-one, 
farming, which occupation he has since followed except while in the 
army. He enlisted at Towanda, August 2-4, 1862, in Company B, One 
Hundred and Forty-first Regiment P. V. I., and was mustered out 
April 24, 1863, on surgeon's certificate of disability. Mr. Stevens was 
married. May 27, 1863, to Miss Sarah C, daughter of Nathan and Delia 
M. (White) Rockwell, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the 
latter of New York ; they have one child, Ella M., born October 25, 
1864, married to F. E. Eastabrook. Mr. Stevens is a stanch and life- 
long Republican. 

OLIVER W. STEVENS was born in Stevensville, Pike township, 
this county, January 15, 1831, on the old homestead farm of his grand- 
father, Coi. Aden Stevens, one of the early pioneers of the Wyalusing 
valley, who purchased and settled upon it in the year 1794. and now is 
owned and occupied by E. Lacey Stevens, having been kept continuously 
in the family for three generations, and almost one hundred years. 
Col. Aden Stevens was the son of Peter Stevens, of New Milford, 
Conn., a Revolutionary soldier, who was wounded at the capture of 
Danbury, from which he died August 6, 1779, leaving a large family of 
children, of which five subsequently settled and raised large families in 
Pike township. Two of his sons. Col. Aden and Nathan, came to the 
present site of Stevensville in 1794, and jointly purchased some five 
hundred acres of Capt. Bronson, lying on both sides of the Wyalusing 



1198 HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

creek, under the Connecticut title, paying for the same one hundred 
pounds (money) in g-old. The Pennsylvania title was purchased of 
John B. Wallace and others about 1814. They, after a few years, 
divided tlieir land, and each established for himself a good home and a 
fair competency, besides raising- large families and [)aying for their 
land twice. Col. Aden Stevens was commissioned colonel of the One 
Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia, Second 
Brigade, Ninth Nivision, composed of the counties of Northumberland, 
Lycoming and Luzerne, September 9, 1805. During the War of 1812 
he was ordered to Northumberland, but peace was declared before he 
took part in any engagement. He was a very active, energetic man, 
a deacon of the Presbytei'ian Church, of which he was a member over 
fifty years. A stanch Whig, he held several important positions of 
trust,' and he died at his home July 28, 1858. He married, November 
14, 1796, Anise Warner, and had five children, as follows: Oliver W., 
Hiram, Cyrus, Anne and Sally. Anise (Warner) Stevens died Feb- 
ruary 6, 1814, and February 16, 1815, he married Rebecca P. Somers, 
bv whom he had three children: Philena, Louis (died in infancy) and 
Peter. 

Oliver W. went to Ohio in 1819, was a merchant in Cincinnati for 
some time, and engaged in steamboating on the Ohio, Mississippi and 
Missouri rivers. In or about 1850 he went to California, engaged in 
banking, and died there a few years since. He was a very successful 
business man, and amassed a large fortune. Hiram settled upon a 
farm in Stevensville, was a successful farmer, a devout Christian, and 
died a few years since, beloved and respected by all who knew him. 
Cyrus, the father of Oliver W., remained on the homestead farm. He 
was educated in the common schools, and had the advantage of a 
thorough home training. With a natural taste for letters, he acquired 
a general fund of information and knowledge of the sciences that has 
often put to blush the college graduate. He was a man of modest 
mien, never forcing iiis views or opinions (which were very decided) 
upon others. He held a ca[)tain's commission in the militia, was post- 
master at Stevensville for some twenty years, and held several town 
offices. He was a ready writer, as many of his published articles will 
attest; a Presbyterian by faith and profession; a strong Whig in 
early life, later a stanch liepublican, and after a fairly successful life 
he died February VZ, 1890. Anne married Abel Bolles; Sally married 
Elkanah Bolles; Philena married Elisha Lewis; Peter went West and 
died in Kansas. In 1830 Cyrus Stevens married Lydia Ann, daughter 
of P^benezer and Zeruah (Xorthru])) Lacey, of Laceyville, Wyoming 
county. She was the eldest of ten children, six of whom are now 
living, C^'rus and Lydia Ann Stevens were the parents of eight 
children, as follows: Oliver W.; Lucretia and Maria died young; 
Lvdia Philena was married to Charles Ingham, who died, and she 
afterward married EUicott A. Ingham, and lives in Iowa; E. Lacey 
Stevens remains on the homestead, and is one of the mercantile firm 
of Ross. Stevens & Jones, of Stevensville; Zeruah is the wife of James 
Avery; Louisa was married to Dr. Frank Taylor, and died in her 
thirtieth year; Dr. Cyrus Lee Stevens lives in Athens. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1199 

Oliver W. Stevens, the subject of tliis sketch, attended the common 
school in Stevensville, and the Academy of LeRaysville, also Owego 
Academy, and when about twenty years of age began the practice of 
surveying and civil engineering, teaching school winters for a number of 
years. In 1852 he purchased a farm near LeRaysville and located 
there. In 1859 he sold his farm and purchased the Hill Side farm in 
Herrick, to which he moved and where he has since resided, a few acres 
of the same being the first improvement made in the township. There 
are now thrifty bearing apple-trees thereon, which were set oat pre- 
vious to 1805. ^ The house was built by one Sabins, in 1810, being the 
oldest remaining house in the township. Mr. Stevens was elected 
county surveyor in 1868, and has held various township offices. He is 
a member of "^the Presbyterian Church, of Stevensville, and in politics 
is a Republican. He married, May 22, 1854, Susan E., the youngest 
of eight children of John and Marinda (Stone) Ingham, and born 
November 20, 1832. They had five children : Manning R., born May 15, 
1855, died in infancy; Susan, born May 11, 1857, died young; Lydia 
Marinda, born October 14, 1858; Harvey Ingham, born February 1. 
1861, and Cyrus Aden, born July 21, 1864. Susan E. (Ingham) Stevens 
died July 27, 1875, and Mr. Stevens married. March 8. 1881,lTraniah L., 
the eldest of ten children of Ira L. and Henrietta (Carman) Brown, 
born at Sugar Hill, Wilmot township, April 15, 1855. They have one 
chiUl, Susan Uraniah Stevens, born julv 18, 1883. 

PHILANDER G. STEVENS, retired farmer, Columbia township, 
P. O. Sylvania, was born in Burlington township, this county, January 
1, 1832, a son of Joel and Celestia (Ballard) Stevens; his paternal 
grandfather was formerlv of Massachusetts, and was a pioneer of' 
Troy township, this county, while his maternal grandfather, Nathaniel 
Ballard, was a native of Vermont, and son of John Ballard, both 
of whom were pioneers of Burlington township. Nathaniel, with 
a brother John, made the first clearing in Columbia township in 
1796-97. He returned to Burlmgton township soon after, and in 1833 
again located on the farm now owned by our subject, and resided 
there until his death, which occurred November 1, 1861, when he 
was aged eighty-three years; he was born December 27,1787. The 
father of our subject was a native of Spencer, Tioga Co., N. Y., 
but was reared in Burlington township, this county, and settled in 
Columbia township in 1853, where he cleared a large part of the farm 
now owned by our subject, and died there in 1880. at the age of eighty 
years; his children were: Harriet (Mrs. William G. Bradford), 
Nathaniel, Philander G., Susan (Mrs Alvin Furman), Lydia (Mrs. David 
Wherler) and Myron. Philander G. Stevens was reared in Columbia 
township, where he has always resided. In 1853 he married Achsa, 
daughter of James and Louise (Strait) Parsons, of Columbia township, 
and has one daughter, Harriet (Mrs. Fred D. Bedford). Mr. Stevens 
is a prominent and influential citizen of Columbia, a member of the 
I. O. O. F., and in politics is a Democrat. 

SILAS W. STEVENS, farmer, Pike township, P. O. Stevensville, 
was born April 5, 1830, in Pike township, this county, a son of Nathan 
and Phoebe (Scoville) Stevens, the former a native of Connecticut, 



1200 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and the latter of Pennsylvania. In their family there were nine chil- 
dren, of whom Silas W. is the fifth. He was educated in the common 
school, and began life for himself at tiie age of twent\'-one. After 
one year spent on a farm, he learned the blacksmith's trade, which he 
followed five years; then resumed farming, which he has since fol- 
lowed. His present home of two hundred acres was inherited. Mr. 
Stevens was married, December 15, 1803, to Henrietta A., daughter of 
George N. and Elizabeth (LocUwood) Stevens, and they have two chil- 
dren : Harr\^ S., born Januar}^ 16, 186(), married, December 19, 1888, to 
Emma Harris (and they have one child, Ina M., born October 18, 1889); 
Louie, born July 30, 1877. About 1791, Aden and Nathan, Sr., Ste- 
vens located on the farm now owned by E. Lacey Stevens, and an 
adjoining farm , and soon thereafter their brother Samuel settled 
where H. U. Jones now lives, and a half-brother, Jonathan Stevens, 
where Silas W. now owns. Aden was once tax collector, and went 
to AVilkes-Barre (then the county-seat) with the taxes of Pike town- 
ship, amounting to something less than three dollars. Mr. and Mrs. 
Stevens and their son, Harry S., are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, and in politics are Democratic. Mr. Stevens was postmaster 
four years under Cleveland's administration, and is at present a school 
director, and a member of the Patrons of Industry. Harry S. Stevens 
is also a member of the Patrons of Industrv. 

WILLIAM V. STEVENS was born "in Orange county, N. Y., 
June 28, 1819, and died February 4, 1878. He was the fifth of ten 
children of Jeremiah and Nancy (Smith) Stevens, and he was reared 
by his aunt, Mrs. Isaac Wells, of Southport, N. Y. He came first to 
Bradford count}' in 1846, working as a millwright at Mason's mill ; then 
lived in Elmira until 1859, when he located on his present home, which 
he rented until 1867, when he purchased it, and placed the present 
buildings thereon. Mr. Stevens was married, May 11, 1847, to Miss 
Julia A., daughter of Joseph and Mary (Mason) Griggs, and this union 
was blessed with seven children, viz.: Mary E., born Mav 24, 1848, 
married to Winheld Scott; Eugene W., born November 21, 1849, liv- 
ing at home; Joseph F., born July 16, 1853, married to Emma Ennis, 
of Liberty Corners, by whom he has two children, and resides at 
Gaines, Pa.; Oscar L., born September 17, 1855, em[)loyed in the toy 
factory at Towanda (he married Elizabeth Allen, of Laddsburg, by 
whom he has three children), Emily L., born September 19, 1862, is at 
home; Willis E., born A])ril 19, 1865, is engaged in the toy factor}-^ at 
Monroeton ; and Charles ^^, born March 21, 1873, died December 6, 
1882. The family have always been identified with the Presbyterian 
Church, and are Republicans in politics. 

IlEV. JOHN STEVENS STEWART, D. D., the present pastor of 
the First Presbytei-ian (/hurch of Towanda, began his labors in this 
congregation March 1, 1870, and is therefore in the twenty -second year 
of his service in thischui-ch. Or. Stewart was born at Jenkintown, Pa., 
April 1, 1835, the youngest of a family of nine children. His father, 
Ardemus Stewart, was born in what is now Philadelphia, and came of 
Scotch ancestry. His mother, Eliza (Dillion) Stewart, was born at 
Abington, Pa., of French blood on her paternal, and of German blood 



HISTORY OF 15RADF0IID COUNTY. 1201 

on her maternal, side. The farm on which her father and mother 
began their married life 100 years ago was retained by her until her 
death, in 1887, and is still, in part, held by her children. The early 
life of the subject of this sketch was spent in Jenkintown, but when 
he was fourteen years of age his parents removed to their farm at 
Abington. He was able here to gratify his predominant tastes for 
communion with nature, and for books. His early reading was mainly 
in the line of belles-lettres; and especially did he become acquainted 
with the great English poets. In the two years of his farm life, he 
mingled jiloughing with poetry, and hay-making with essay-writing. 
The religious atmosphere of his early years was surcharged with the 
sober and serious infiuences of old-time Presbyterianism. The follow- 
ing realistic poem, written in later life, gathers up his recollections of 
his youthful environment : 

" O, the Sabbaths that are past! 

How their holy memories last, 
Like the odor of the violets arouud our childhood's door! 

Sure the sky seemed nearer then, 

And a warmer hand had men. 
And a brighter aureole the brows of saintly women wore. 

" Now the quaint old church is gone. 

In its stead a Gothic one; 
And a bell from out the tower calls a younger race to prayer. 

True; 'tis sweet, but then I think 

Of the saints across the brink. 
And I miss the solemn stillness in the brooding Sabbath air. 

" Where the girls who used to be 

In the queer old gallery, 
And sing till all the house was filled with clear and joyous sound; 

All are vanished: now the place 

Knows no more such maiden grace. 
One with heavenly light and gladness has her modest forehead crowned. 

" But the sweetest thoughts of all 

Are the Sabbaths I recall, 
When the banquet-hall was opened and llie banner waved of love. 

Then the elders sang ' Coleshill,' 

And the preacher's eyes did fill. 
And we sat and wept together with the Spirit of above. 

" To the past a pensive sigh! 

Morrow duties call hard by, 
And God's angels walk around us truly as in days of yore. 

Blessed Sabbaths that are past, 

May your memory always last, 
And the languid pulse of duty quicken ever more and more! " 

Out of these sober and stimulating influences at the age of sixteen, 
a shy and dreamy boy passed into the severe discipline and eager com- 
petitions of school-life. For two years he pursued the studies prepara- 
tory to college at the Tennent School, Hartsville, Pa. — named after 
the famous William Tennent, who founded the Log College near by — 
and in August, 1853, entered the Sophomore Chiss in Princeton College, 
and graduated in 1856. He was the first class-day poet in that insti- 
tution : the class-day exercises of that time consisting of merely an 
oration, a poem and a class song, The newly -fledged A. 13. sighed for 



1202 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

some larger and more definite knowledge of the world, before entering 
upon a course of professional study, and so, for two 3"ears, he presided 
over one oi' those family -schools, which were a striking feature of the 
South in the days before the Civil War. It was " simplex " without 
the " munditiis.'- A log cabin formed the school-house, and the fur- 
niture was any thing but spruce or elegant. But the grace and elegance 
wei'e found outside the school-room in the manners and conversation 
of the cultivated men and women who kept up well the old traditions 
of Virginian courtesy and hospitality. In September, 1858, Dr. Stewart 
returned to Princeton and entered the Theological Seminary ; whence, 
after a full course, he was graduated in 1861. During a part of this 
time he served as tutor of rhetoric in Princeton College. During the 
War summer of 1861 Dr. Stewart supplied the Presbyterian Church of 
Silver Spring, Cumberland Co., Pa., and in November of the same year 
was called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church at Greenwich, 
Cumberland Co.. X. J. He was ordained and installed February 11, 
1862, and remained as pastor until he removed to Towanda. 

His entire ministerial life has been spent in these two congregations, 
and has been quiet and uneventful. The church at Greenwich was 
blessed with a powerful revival during his ministry, the fruit of which 
is apparent to this day ; and several revivals of greater or less power 
have marked his labors in Towanda. This church numbered 150 mem- 
bers when he became pastor March 8, 1870, and now it numbers P>92. 
During his ministry of twenty years, about 500 persons have been 
added to the church, and in every way the congregation has prospered 
and grown. In 1875 Hamilton College conferred upon Dr. Stewart 
the honorarv degree of Doctor of Divinity. 

Dr. Stewart was nuirried, May 1, 1862, to Miss Anna M. Ellies, of 
Shippensburg, Pa , who has been his active helper in all good works. 
Their family consists of four children. 

H. A. STILES, dealer in drugs, books, stationery, tobaccos, paints, 
oils, etc., Ulster, is a son of Dr. O. D. and Mary E. (Chubbuck) Stiles, 
who reside in Elraira, K Y., and was born April 21, 1869, at Rome, 
Pa. His father was a native of Michigan, and his mother of Pennsyl- 
vania, both of English descent. His maternal grandjmrents, L. S. and 
Pho'be Chubbuck', reside in North Orwell, this county. His father's 
family consisted of eight children, seven of whom survive. H. A. is 
the only one of the children who resides in this county ; he was reared 
in Elmira, N. Y., and attended the publicschool during school-time,and 
clerked in his father's drug store during vacations. He graduated, 
with honors, from the Elmira schools, June 27, 1884. and, having learned 
the drug business in his father's store, on leaving school, he accepted a 
position in an Elmira drug store, owned by Dr. J. L. Everitt, and was 
here a short time, then worked in Gerity Hrothers' wholesale drug 
store for one and one-half years, after which he returned to his former 
place with Dr. J. L. Everitt, where he remained until August, 1881), 
when he came to Ulster, and purchased the drug store he now owns. 
He was united in marriage with Jennie M., (hiughter of L. J. and 
Maltha J. (Blakeslee) P>allard, of Troy, Pa., Se|)t(Mnl)ei- 26. 1889. The 
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; he is a member 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. I'.i03 

of the Order of Aegis, of which he is secretary, and is one of the leading- 
successful business men of his localitv. 

JAMES STIRTON, farmer, P/O. Bentley Creek, was born April 
4, 1833, on the farm where he now resides, a son of John and Ellison 
(Elder) Stirton, the former born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the latter 
in London, England. The father, who was a baker, and carried on an 
extensive business in London several years, came, in 1828, to America, 
and Avas one of the first settlers in the western part of Ridgebury, 
this county; he was a jirominent member of the Presbyterian Church, 
and his influence was always that of the best of men; he died at the 
age of seventy-nine years, and the mother when aged sixty-eight 
years. There were eight children in their family, seven of w4iom are 
now" living; one son, John, was in the Civil War. Mr. Stirton, the 
subject of these lines, has a fine farm of 130 acres in a beautiful 
location in the township of Kidgebury. He was married, May 25, 
1868, to Mrs. Sarah E. (Brown) Ray nor; she was born in South Creek 
township, July 25, 1837, a daughter of Elijah and Lucetta (Burnham) 
Brown, and to them was born one daughter, who died at the ae-e of 
seven years. Mrs. Stirton has two children by her first husband: Eva, 
M., wife of Frank Swartwood, and Ettie B., wife of John L. Wilcox. 
Mr. Stirton is a Republican in ])olitics, but takes no active part in the 
affairs of the party, and is one of the substantial and highly respected 
citizens of the town; his wife is a consistent member of the Baptist 
Church of Wellsburg. 

CHARLES R. STONE, merchant, Wyalusing, was born in Camp- 
town, this county, August 27, 1849, a son of Philemon and Theresa 
(Homet) Stone, the former of whom was a farmer, and had a family of 
five children, viz.: Charles R.; Thomas B., a farmer on the old home- 
stead ; a daughter that died in infanc}^; Llysses P., a farmer on the 
old homestead, and Lucy. The parents are both living. Charles R. 
Stone was born and r-eared on a farm, and educated at Camptown 
Academy. When eighteen years old he began clerking for C. S. Laf- 
ferty, with whom he remained seven years; then came to Wyalusing 
and entered the employ as clerk for Bosworth, Stone & Co., Avhere he 
remained until August 27, 1889, when he became a member of the firm. 
He is unmarried. Politically he is a, Republican, and has held various 
township offices; w^as assessoi- three terms, and elected first treasurer 
of the borough. 

WESLEY B. STONE, farmer, LeRoy township, P. O. West 
LeRoy, was born in LeRoy township, on the old homestead, Decem- 
ber 17, 1838, a son of Horace and Cynthia (Lindly) Stone, natives of 
Connecticut and Vermont, respectively. They moved to this county 
in 1820, locating in West LeRoy, where he continued farming until 
his death, which occurred May 11, 1861; his wife died March 22,1867.. 
Their family consisted of ten children, nine of whom grew to maturity, 
and six are now living. Our subject, who is the eighth member of the 
family, was reared in his native town and educated at the common 
school, has always followed farming, and is now the owner of eighty- 
five acres of fertile land. He manied, March 11, 1863, Mary R., 
daughter of Rev. E. H. and Permelia (Griggs) Cranmer, the former 



1204 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of whom was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for a 
number of years presiding elder over the old Troy (now the Ehiiira) 
district. To Mr. and Mrs. Stone was born, October 1(5, 1865, one son, 
Horace L., who married Bertha, daughter of Oakly and Anna Lewis; 
he is a young man of promise, now engaged in tlie mercantile busi- 
ness in Lellov. Mr. Stone is a prosperous farmer, raising stock, wool, 
butter and grain. He has been elected to various offices in the town; 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; also a member of the 
Grange, and in politics he is a Repuoiican, 

JONAS F. STORKS, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Delaware 
county, N. Y., a son of Isaac C. and Emily (Owens) Storrs, also natives 
of Delaware county. Isaac C. Storrs, who was a son of Oliver Storrs, 
removed to Liberty, Tioga Co., Pa., where he remained seven years; 
then came to Bradford county, first locating in Canton, afterward in 
Granville, where he remained until his death, which occurred November 
13, 1889. He was an industrious farmer. His family consisted of three 
sons, all of whom grew to maturity. Jonas F., who is the eldest in the 
family, was reared and educated in Granville, this county, and in his 
early life he learned the blacksmith's trade. He was twice married, 
his first wife being Mrs. Eleanor Gifford, the widow of Stephen Gilford, 
and a daughter of John and Sallie Coon; his second wife was Alice M., 
daughter of Dr. ^Y. H. and Polly (Bullock) Holcomb, of LeRoy; by this 
marriage there was one child, lona B., born June 4, 1879. Dr. Hol- 
comb, the father of Mrs. Storrs, was born in LeRoy, and is the son of 
Eli Holcomb, one of the early settlers of LeRoy township, this county. 
He was a successful physician and had a large practice; he died at the 
age of sixty-one years; his widow and eight children still survive him. 
Mr. Storrs was one of the first volunteers to answer to his country's 
call, enlistmg April 22, 1861, and serving his first term. He was hon- 
orably discharged and again enlisted, this time July 22, 1861, in Com- 
pany G, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, for a term of three years; after 
a service of nine months he was honorably dischai'ged on account of 
disability, and is now drawing a pension. He engaged in general farm- 
ing, ])aymg some attention to blooded horses; he is living with Mrs. Dr. 
Holcomb, whose farm he works in connection with his own in Gran- 
ville; he is a member of the G. A. R., the Patrons of Husbandry and 
politically he is a Repul)]ican. 

ALYIN STRAUSS, foreman, L. V. R. R. repair siiops, Sayre, is a 
native of Lehigh county. Pa., and was born August 15, 1834, a son of 
ReuV}en and Sarah (Edelman) Strauss, natives of Lehigh county, the 
former of whom was a contractor. Grandfather John Strauss was a 
soldier in the War of 1812. Alvin, who is the second in a family of 
seven children, received a common-school education, and when a young 
m;m served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's ti'ade. at which he 
worked in his native county until 1862, when he went to Mauch Chunk, 
in the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and after 
about three years moved to Wilkes-Barre and was in the employ of 
the company untd October, 1869, when he went to Waverly, where he 
i-emained until the siiops were removed to Sayre, where he has been 
in the employ of the company since. He enlisted in the State Militia 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1205 

on the Sunday preceding the battle of Gettysburg, but was mustered 
out after being out six weeks. Mr. Strauss was married in AUentown, 
Pa., in 1S61, to Miss Mary (Shelley) Thomas, the eldest of two chil- 
dren, and born in Bucks county, Pa., October 12, 1836. To the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Strauss were born six children, as follows: 
Charles, Carrie, William T., Gertie, John and Eva E. The family 
are members of the Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Strauss holds the 
office of councilman; he is a member of the A. O. U. W., the Knights 
of Hdnor and the Empire Order Mutual Aid. In politics he is a 
Democrat, and is ti'easurer of Say re borough. 

FRANK I. STREBY, carriage manufacturer, Overton, is a native 
in Sullivan county. Pa., born April 5, 1860, and is a son of Thomas 
and Caroline (Bleiler) Streby, natives of Pennsylvania and of German 
extraction. The ancestors who came to America were Isaac Streby 
and Betsey Ann Ruth, the former of whom died in Overton in 1880, 
and the latter in 1886; these were grandparents of the subject of this 
brief sketcii. In the father's family were John, Fyann and Edward, 
of whom F^'ann died in 1865. Thomas Streby removed to Sullivan 
county, Avhere he reared a family of live children, of whom Frank I. 
is the third. Our subject grew to manhood in his native place, and 
came to Overton in 1881. He had learned the carriage-maker's trade, 
and engaged at same in his new home, and he now owns and operates 
an extensive factory, turning out carriages, wagons and sleighs, and in 
all his work he has his own blacksmith shop, lie was married, April 
30, 188-1, to Ellen, daughter of John and Hannah Ileverly Molyneux, 
Pennsylvanians, of English and German extraction. Of this union 
there are three children, as follows : Herman C.,and Thomas R. and 
Carrie E. (twins). Mr. Streby has a taste for fine horses, and has 
raised and handled many in his time, and has done mucli for the 
improvement of the horse in this county. In his barn at this time is 
the thoroughbred French imported coach stallion, ''Rattler, Jr.," born 
at La Prairie, Canada, June 12, 1884, and which he imported at great 
expense. The Streby family worship at the German Reformed Church. 
He is a Democrat, has been school director, and is constable. 

CHARLES B. STRICKLAND, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. 
Towanda, was born in Wysox, this county, January 6, 1864, and is a 
son of Stephen and Caroline (Holmes) Strickland, who are descendants 
of pioneer families in Bradford countv. The father was born Oclobei" 
5, 1822, and died February 20, 1888;" the mother was born May 30, 
1830, and is now living with him on the old homestead. The grand- 
parents were Stephen Strickland (born January 1, 1791, died April 12, 
1874) and Mary Dewitt (born December 16, 1793, died February 27, 
1860). The great grand jiarents were Stephen Strickland (born in 1763, 
died in 1800, and Nancy Wilcox, born 1768, died in 1841). In the 
father's family there were four children : Frances FT., born December 
15, 1859, died December 28, 1862; Mary E., born October 20,1861, 
married- to James W. Shiner, Charles Bradford, the subject of this 
sketch, married January 9, 1889, to Miss Ethel Elizabeth, daughter of 
Hiram S. and Lydia M. (Graves), of Towanda (they have one child, 
Stephen, born April 23, 1890). The youngest child in Stephen 



120G HISTORY OF URAUFORU COUNTY. 

Strickland's family is Ella Lucile, born October 2-J, 1S65. Mr. and 
Mrs. Charles B. Strickland are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Towanda, and in politics he is a Republican. 

DANIEL STROISICt, farmer, proprietor of feed, cider and saw- 
mills, P. O. Wells, was born in Wells township, this county, Januar}^ 
19, 1861 ; his parents were Daniel and Lucretia (Sherman) Strong, 
natives of Otsego county, N. Y., where the former was a tanner and 
lumberman, and died in 1861. Mrs. Strong still survives him, and 
resides on the farm with her son. Daniel was reared on the farm 
and educated in the common schools; his father erected the sawmill 
in which he placed new machinery; he added the cider-mill in 1883, 
and erected the feed-mill in 1884; he owns a farm containing 152 
acres, which is in a good state of cultivation. He married, in Troy, in 
1S87, Nettie, daughter of James and Mary (Salsberry) Sawyer, 
James Salsberry is a farmer, and resides in Troy township, and Mrs. 
Strong, who was born in Troy township, in August, 1866, is the sec- 
ond in order of birth in his family of three children. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Strong were born two children : Harry and Claude. Mr. Strong 
is a member of AVells Grange, No. 528; politically he is a Democrat, 
and is serving his second vear as a constable and collector. 

JAMES H. STRONG, of the firm of Strong & Gernert, general 
merchants, Columbia Cross Roads, was born in Wells township, this 
county. May 6, 1852, a son of Daniel and Lucretia (Sherman) Strong. 
His paternal grandfather, John Strong, a native of England, was a 
pioneer of Wells township, where he cleared and improved a large 
farm ; was also a carpenter by trade, and resided in Wells township 
until his death; his wife was a Miss Burt, by whom he had eleven 
children, as f(^llows : Clarisa, Cordelia. Elizabeth, John, William, 
George, Belden, Thomas, James P., Daniel, Sarah and ]\Liry A.; of 
these Daniel, a native of Wells township, cleared a farm there, and 
operated a sawmill on his place, in connection, many years; his chil- 
dren were eleven in number: John, Andrew, George, Joseph, James 
IL, Daniel, Clara (Mrs. John Drummond), Mary (Mrs. Asa Wilcox), 
Flora (Mrs. Richard Wickham), Sarah (Mrs. Crippen), and Hannah 
(Mrs. Smith). James H. Strong was reared by liis uncle, James P. 
Strong, of Columbia township, and received a common-school educa- 
tion. For ten years he was o})erator, express and station agent at 
(Columbia Cross Rcjads, and in the hay and grain business, still contin- 
uing: the latter. Since the fall of 1889 he has also been enjj^aijed in 
general merchandising. In 1876 Mv. Strong married Mary Dell, a 
daughter of AYilliam H. and Maria (Howland) Gernert, of Columbia 
township, and they have four sons: Foster, William II., Andrew and 
liobei't. Mr. Sti-ong is a membevof the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
He is a Ue))ul)lican, and has been postmaster of Columbia Cross Roads 
since the sDring of 1889. 

JAMES II. STRIIBLE. farmer, Columbia township, P. O. Columbia 
Cross Roads, was born in AVantago township, Sussex Co.,N. J.. August 
13, 1833, and is a son of Jacob and Phebe (Kilgore) Struble. His 
paternal grandfather, Peter Struble, was of Dutch descent, a native of 
Sussex county, X, J., and is a son of Peter Struble; his maternal 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1207 

grandfather, Robert Kilgore, was a native of Ireland, and a pioneer of 
Columbia township, this county. Our subject was reared in Sussex 
county, N. J., removed to Columbia township, this county, with his 
parents, where they settled and still reside. James II. is the eldest of 
their six children : James II., Peter, John, Theodore, Jacob and Robert. 
In 1801, Mr. Struble purchased a farm in Columbia township, which he 
partially cleared and improved, and still owns, and resided there until 
1885, when he removed to Columbia Cross Roads, where he still resides. 
He was twice married; his first wife was Mrs. Harriet (Furman) Ger- 
nert, and his second wife was Nancy Pennock. Before he married, 
Mr. Struble had worked out several years, and helped to clear 100 
acres of land. lie is a prominent and representative citizen, a mem- 
ber of the Patrons of Husbandry, and in politics he is a Democrat. 

JACOB STRUNK (deceased).— The family from which this gentle- 
man has descended, and which has long filled prominent places in the 
different localities in which they have made their homes, originated in 
Germany. Tradition tells us that William, Powlis and Ilenrj^ three 
brothers, came to this country on the same ship during Colonial times, 
and settled on the Delaware river in the vicinity of Bethlehem. 
Flenry is the one through whom this family descend, and of his numerous 
sons two were Revolutionary soldiers : John, great-uncie of our subject, 
and Henry, his grandfather. John met with many adventures, and 
saw as hard service as befell the lot of many of that patriotic few. He 
was in the battle of Cowpens, Ga.; climbecl the Heights of Abraham 
above Quebec with Montgomery and Arnold with their patriotic armv; 
at another time marched barefooted over frozen ground to Washington's 
winter quarters at Valley Forge, where he was, during that long and 
never-to-be-forgotten winter, for da3's without food, taking the worms 
from an old decaying horse's head and roasting and eating them, and 
declaring at the same time that they were the sweetest morsel he had 
ever tasted ; then he was a prisoner confined on Long Island, and with 
thirteen companions attempted to escape by swimming to the main-land, 
a distance of several miles, and it is a noted fact that he was the onlv 
one that succeeded in bringing off his gun and knapsack safely, as the 
others were compelled to drop theirs in order to save themselves from 
drowning. This old hero was also captive to the Indian alHes of the 
enemy, and carried to his grave the marks of their savage cruelty, in 
the amputation of all the fingers and thumbs at the terminal joint. 
In making his escape, his first food was a small snake which he dis- 
patched and dried on his hat; next he came on the hut of a lone old 
Indian whom he hacked to death with a broken hoe which he found 
outside the hut; then, helpinir himself to the dried venison, he was soon 
among the " pale faces" again. After the close of the Revolutionary 
War he settled in Northumberland county. Pa., where he left many 
descendants. Of their great-grandfather, Henry, not much is known 
except that he served his country faithfully in the ranks of Washing- 
ton's army. Th^ir grandfather, Peter Strunk, was a soldier of 1812; he 
had the following-named children : Polly, Jacob, John, Betsie, Henry, 
Julia Ann, Benjamin and Lucinda. Of these. Jacob was born in 
Northampton county. Pa., January 5, 1802, and while a boy removed 



1>)08 HISTORY OF BHADFORD COUNTY, 

with his parents to Middle Smithfield, Monroe Co., Pa., where he 
attended school and received a o'ood English education; then learned 
the trade of plasterer and weaver, serving five years apprenticeship at 
the latter, which he followed many years ; in after-life he became a 
farmer, which vocation he carried on until his death; prior to coming 
to this county he followed rafting on the Delaware river, and became a 
pilot on the'^ Susquehanna; he was a natural musician, and for years 
was fife-major in the militia, and his shrill fife was heard at all training 
points; he was a man of splendid physique, resolute and amply able to 
take his own part. He came to this^ county May IT, 1824-, and located 
at Frenchtown. He was married, in Monroe county, June 17, 1823, prior 
to coming to this county, to Nellie or Eleanor Biles, daughter of Alexan- 
der P. Biles, and w4io came on before him with her people, but he shortly 
joined her, and they began housekeeping in Frenchtown; then lived on 
different farms in the vicinity of Homet's Ferry, and finally removed to 
the farm (where Dr. B. T. now lives) where he died March 29, 1881 , 
his wife had passed awav Mav 22, 1878. They had the following- 
named children : Marv C., born February 5, 1826, died January 18, 
1851: Koseanna, born" August 18, 1827, died June 16, 1851; Samuel, 
born May 2, 1829, died Nevember 22, 1830; Solomon, born February 
28, a practicing physician i-esiding on the old homestead at Homet's 
Ferrv, together with his brother. Dr. Benjamin T.; Rebecca, born Janu- 
ary 8, 1834, died September 22, 1868; Ziba S., born April 19, 1836 
(married to Louisa Stiles), farmer, and postmaster at Lime Hill; George 
N., born August 12, 1838, married to Sophia Mills, and is a farmer of 
Terry township; Chandler B., born July 20, 1840, married to Sarah 
J. Ricketts, and is a music teacher at Utahville, Pa.; Oscar F., born 
January 9, 1843, and residing at Meshoppen, and Benjamin T. 

Jacob Strunk was an extremely modest man, and had no faculty of 
putting himself ahead in the world ; but it has been said of him that 
he was scrupulously honest and truthful. Although not connected 
with any church, he was a firm believer in the doctrines of the Bap- 
tists (New School), and was a constant reader of the Bil)le, which was 
held bv him, as was the Deity, in the greatest reverence. He was 
hospita'ble, in the fullest sense "^of the vrord, and the best he had was 
none too good for his friends. 

Dr. Benjamin T. Strunk was born January 24, 1846, in Wyalusing 
township, this county, and was educated in the common schools and 
academies of the county. For ten years he followed teaching; in this 
and Clearfield counties, and then liegan the study of medicine, and 
was graduated at tlie Unit(;(l States Medical College, of New York, 
March 6, 1883; since when he has been a practicing physician, located 
in the vicinity of Homet's Ferry. He has a large and extensive ])rac- 
tice, and associated with him is his brother. Dr. Solomon Strunk, a 
phvsician of twenty-seven years' experience, and a fine sp(cialist, 
Ijcing remarkably successfuf in his treatment of all chronic diseases, 
and°thov have "^ met with well-merited success. Politically, the 
family are Ptepublicans. Dr. P. T. Strunk was elected coioner of 
Bradford county in 1887, and was re-elected in 1890. He has a 
farm of seventy acres, which he oversees. The Doctor i& a mem- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 1;209 

ber of Clausin Lodge, No. 920, I. O. O. F., Su^mr Eun ; also of Lime 
Hill Association, No. 3805, P. of I. He is an enthnsiastic Jover of 
music (a characteristic of the family), and for years has led the choir 
in his vicinity, as have also other members of the family. In fact, the 
Strunk family have contributed their full share to tlie musical inter- 
ests of their community. 

Z. S. STIIUNK, farmer, and postmaster at Lime Hill, was born in 
Wyalusing township, this county, April 10, 1836, was reai-ed on a farm 
and received the advantages of a common-school and a musical educa- 
tion. When fifteen years of age he began working at the shoemaker's 
trade, in which he soon became proficient, and which he followed with 
unusual success many years, numbering among his customers many 
from Towanda, Wilkes-Barre, and even points more remote. He 
opened his first shop on his father's farm in Wyalusing township, and 
worked there until 1857; when he removed to Craig's Meadows, same 
State, where he was located eight years ; then moved to Vaughn Hill, 
this county, remaining two years, afterward living in Camptown, until 
1876, when he gave up his trade and removed to his present fine well- 
stocked farm on Lime Hill. During a short period he taught common 
school, and also vocal music most of the time for thirty winters — not 
consecutively, however — commencing at the age of seventeen and 
closing at the age of fifty-three, Mr. Strunk was united in marriage, 
August 12, 1865, with Louisa A., daughter of Moses Stiles, of Monroe 
county, which union has been blessed with a family of three children : 
Grenville C, born May 9, 1866, died August 23, 1891 ; Vesta L., born 
January 29, 1879, and Mabel C, born September 9, 1880. Mr. Strunk 
is a member of the Baptist Church ; also of the I. O. O. F., Asylum 
Lodge, No. -188; is a member of and president of Lime Hill Associa- 
tion, P. of I., No. 3305. Politically, he is a stanch Republican, and was 
appointed postmaster at Lime Hill in 1876, which office he has since 
held. He has always been dependent upon his own resources, and is 
a successful business man as well as farmer. 

ANDREW J. STUART, of the firm of Stuart & Maxwell, drug- 
gists, Troy, was born in Wells township, this county, September 21, 
1851, and is a son of Noble J. and Mary (Roberts) Stuart. His father, 
a native of Connecticut, and a carpenter by trade, settled in Wells 
township about 1850, and followed his trade in connection with farm- 
ing in different parts of the county, up to 1860, Avhen he located in 
Troy, where he has since resided ; he was tax collector of Troy, three 
terms, and is now serving his third term as justice of the peace; his 
wife was a native of the State of New York, and they have had three 
children : Zada J. (Mrs. William Bird), Andrew J. and Jesse E. The 
subject of this memoir was reared in Bradford county, and educated at 
the graded schools and Troy Academy. For seven years he served in 
the capacity of clerk in the dry-goods business; then was four years 
in the drug trade, as a member of the firm of Stuart Bros., at Bloss- 
burg. Pa., where he learned the business. In 1876 they removed to 
Troy and purchased the drug business of R. F. Redington, and contin- 
ued the business eight years, when the firm of Staart & Maxwell was 
formed (J. E. Stuart, of Stuart Bros., retiring from the firm at the 



1210 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

expii'ation of the eight years), in which name the business has since 
successfully continued. Mr. Stuart was married, April 19, 1881, to 
NeUie J., daughter of Robert P. Ilagerman, of Springfield township. 
He is a member of the Episcopal Cimrch, of the I. O. O. F., and in 
politics is a Jiepubllean. 

JOIIX Q. SULLIVAN, farmer, Ulster, was born June 24, 1837, 
in Sussex county, N. J., a son of Charles L. and Mary (Myers) Sullivan, 
the former of whom is a native of Vermont, and the latter of New 
Jerse3\ His father was a blacksmith, emigrating to this county in 
1872, settling at Ulster, and had a family of eight children, four of 
whom are yet alive, John Q. and Mrs. A. A. Kinneur being the onl}^ 
ones residing in this county. Our subject received his education in 
the schools of Sanderson, New Jersey, and acquired a good common 
education; he has always been a farmer, and owns a beautiful home 
in the village of Ulster. He was married, December 2-1:, 1864, to 
Emerette Smith, a daughter of Henry and Abagail Smith, and to 
them were born six children, viz.: Charles IL, in California; Frank K., 
now in Minneapolis; Fred L, in Pittsburgh; Marv Dell, at home; 
Corral Ida died December 10, 1872, and Johnny died April 20, 1881; 
The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mr. 
Sullivan is steward; he is a member of Ulster Lodge, No. 2057, K. of H. 
is a Republican in politics, and holds the office of school director, and 
is a member of the board of education of the township. 

STEPHEN SULLIVAN, foreman section No. 11, Lehigh Valley 
Railroad, Wyalusing, was born in Standing Stone township, this 
count}^ December 20, 18G2, a son of Michael and Kate (Dorsey) Sulli- 
van, both of whom are living in Wj'alusing township, and with whom 
our subject makes his home. His parents were both born in Ireland, 
but his father came to this country wiiile a young man, and has been 
engaged most of his time since as foreman on public works. They had 
a family of four children : Mar\', now in the grocery and confectionery 
business in Wyalusing; Kate; JMaggie, married to M. J. La)'kin, and 
residing in Wyalusing borough, and our subject, who ])asscd his boyhood 
in this county, and attended the common schools. When sixteen years 
of age he began to work on the railroad during the summers, and 
attended school during the Avinter time, for two years ; then took 
charge of a set of men in the Coxeton yards, whei-e lie remained a short 
time; then was made section foreman on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, 
and has tilled that position since. lie is a member of the Roman 
Catholic Church, at Towanda ; politically he is Independent. 

JOAB SUMMERS (deceased) was born in Northumberland county. 
Pa., September 1, 1800, and was of English origin. He was orig- 
inally a weaver l)y trade, but after his marriage he abandoned that 
calling and engaged in farming on the farm where his widow atul 
daughter and son-in-law now live, where he resided until March 1, 
1887, when he went to his eternal rest. Mr. Summers was married, 
June 5, 1831, to Miss Sailie Hollon, who was born JVFarch 29, 1810, a 
daughter of Jeremiah and Betsey (Orcutt) Hollon, of Chemung, N. Y., 
and of New England origin. Tnis happy union was blessed with one 
son and one daughter: Angeline E., born January 3, 1835, married to 



HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1211 

Simeon Becker, of Asylum (they are living- witli Mrs. Summers on the 
old homestead), and John M., born August 12, 1840, residing- in Monroe- 
ton (he is engaged in the mercantile business in Roanoke, Va.). The 
Summers family have been identified with the Methodist Church, and 
in their political views they have been in close sympath}^ with the 
Republican party. 

JOHN H. SUMMERS, merchant, Roanoke, Va., with residence 
in Monroeton, Bradford Co., Pa., was born in Monroe, this county, 
August 12, 18-10, and is a son of Joab and Sallie Summers. lie 
engaged in the mercantile business at Liberty Corners, in 1867, where 
he remained until 1873, during which time he was postmaster; in 1874 
he removed his business to Monroeton, and in 1891 to his present place 
of business. Our subject enlisted in Company B, Seventh Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteer Cavalry, and served with such courage and fidelfty 
that he was brevetted captain at the close of the war. Mr. Summers 
was married, July 1, 1871, to Miss Amelia M., daughter of Edwm and 
Abagal (Sickler) Benjamin, natives and early settlers of Bradford 
county. They have three children, viz.: Carl G., boi-n December 14, 
1872 (is engaged with his father); Genevieve, born February 12, 1877, 
and Moss Egie, born April 23, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Summers are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; he is a member of the 
G. A. R., I. O. O. F., F. & A. M., K. of H., and is a Republican. 

GEORGE SUMNER, retired, P. O. Spring Hill, Tuscarora town- 
ship, was born in Susquehanna county, Pa., September 1, 1811; was 
reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools. He is a son of 
Jabus and Lucy (Thurston) Sumner, the former a native of Massa- 
chusetts, the latter of New York, both of New England parentage. 
Mr. Sumner began life for himself at the age of nineteen ; Avhen twenty- 
two he began farming near Tunkhannock, Pa., remaining there about 
a year, and then went to Wyalusmg, wiiere he follow^ed the same 
occupation, and in 1867 he removed to his present place in Tuscarora 
township, where he has since resided. He was married, March 2, 1835, 
to Miss Lydia, daughter of John and Mary (Place) Bunnell, of Tunk- 
hannock, and the following named children are the fruits of this happv 
union : Archibald B., John B. (born March 25, 1838, now presiding elder 
of the Honesdale District, married Alma L.. daughter of WilliamGardner, 
of Abington Pa.), Benjamin E. (born February 2, 1840; was a member 
of Company A, One Hundred and Forty- first' Regiment P. V. I., and 
was killed at the battle of Chancellorsv'ille), Savana A. (born August 
31, 1842, now Mrs. Harrison Lyon, of Spring Hill), Corington A. 
(born December 8, 1843, died October 10, 1844), Corington James 
(born March 19, 1845, a merchant in New Albany), Marv Lucv (born 
December 25, 1849, now Mrs. Daniel W. Camp, of Lewisville, Pa.), 
Martha Amanda (deceased ; born February 22, 1850, married H. B. 
Gaylord, a merchant of Wyalusing, Pa.), Elnora I. (born December 
29, 1851). Maria Ann (deceased; born November 7, 1853), Armina 
Irene (born March 3, 1855, married to William Shumway), Ida Sarah 
(born February 26, 1857, and died May 10, 1862) and George Gilbert 
(born September 6, 1860, a farmer, "^of Tuscarora township). The 



1212 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

family are all menibei-s of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Spring 
Hill ;in politics Mr. Sumner is a Republican. 

HON. A. B. SUMNEK, farmer, Tuscarora township, is the eldest 
in the family of eight children of George and Lydia (Bunnell) Sum- 
ner, the former a native of Pennsylvania, of New England origin, and 
the latter of German lineage. Our subject was educated in the com- 
mon schools and the Wyoming Seminary, and began life for himself 
at the age of twenty-five, farming; also taught school in Wyoming, 
Luzerne °and Bradford counties; he removed to Tuscarora, and pur- 
chased his present home, in 1861, where he has since been engaged 
chieflv in farming. He has been secretary of the Tuscarora Farmers' 
Mutual Insurance Company since its organization, in 1874, during 
which time the company ha'^s issued over twenty-five hundred policies; 
in 1890, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, at 
Harrisburg, which office he still holds. Mr. Sumner was married, July 
3, 1862, to^Miss Martha, daughter of John and Martha (Arnot) Irvine, 
of Asylum, and thev have two children, viz.: Gertrude, born June 6, 
1863 (now Mrs. Manville Shumway, of Tuscarora), and Florence, born 
August 24, 1878. Hon. A. B. Sumner has held the office of justice 
of tlie peace, and various other offices; is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, at Spring Hill, and is an Independent Republican in 

politics. 

JESSE SUMNER, farmer,?. O. East Smithfield, was born Octo- 
ber 11, 1813, a son of Jegse and Mary (Ilarkness) Sumner, natives of 
Halifax, Vt. l^he father came here in the year 1811, aricTpartly cleared 
a farm, and returned to his native place for his wife in the spring of 
1813, but died before reaching his new home, a few days before his 
only son, Jesse, Avas born. The widow soon after married John Bird, 
and reared a family. Mr. Sumner was reared on the farm with his 
step-father, and has always followed the occupation of a farmer. The 
first time his father came here from Vermont, he drove two yoke of 
oxen all the distance before a sled, and experienced many privations. 
Mr. Sumner married, November 23, 1841, Louise, daughter of Sebaand 
Eliza (Uird) Gerould, who was born in 1820. Her family trace their 
ancestry back to the time of the French Huguenots, at the time of 
tlie revocation of the Edict of Nantes. To Mr. and Mrs. Sumner were 
born three children : Elbertine L., born September, 21, 1842, wife of 
L. A. Bosworth, of LeRavsville ; Orpheus B., born April 8, 1846, mar- 
ried to Helen A. Brigiiani ; and Betsy G., born Se])tember 6, 1848, wife 
of L. A. Blackman, of LeRaysville. Orpheus lives with his father on 
the farm, which he manages"; he has three children, as follows: Louise, 
born August 6, 1878; Jesse, born Auoust 20,1882, and Bert, born July 
24, 1886° Mr. Sumner has a fine farm of 137 acres, which is in a 
good state of cultivation. Politically he is a Republican, and has held 
several offices of public trust, among others that of school director ; 
his son, Orpheus, is also a Republican. :Mrs. Sumner departed this 
life April 21, 1881. mourned by her family and a large circle of friends. 
P. H. SUMNER, phvsician and surgeon, Camptown, was born in 
Wyalnsing townshij), th'is countv. December 30, 1855, a son of Charles 
anil Agnes (Blocher) Sumner. "His father is a prominent fal-mer of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1213 

Wjalusino- township, and has a family of six cliildren, of whom the 
Doctor is the eldest. P. II. Sumner, the subject of this sketch, was 
born and reared on a farm, educated in the common schools of the 
township and State Normal School ; in 1878 he began the study of 
medicine, reading with Dr. M. F. Terry, of Terrytown, this county ; 
after four years si)ent in diligent study, he entered, in 1880, the United 
States Medical College, of New York City, and graduated from tiiere 
in the si)ring of 1882. He located at Windham and began the prac- 
tice of his profession ; remaining there two j^ears, he then removed to 
Bozeman, Mont., remaining two years; then returned to Caraptown, 
where he has since resided. He has an extensive practice, and, as a 
successful physician, his reputation is excelled by no one in thecount3^ 
Dr. Sumner was united in marriage, June 18, i8S2, with Lottie Jatr. 
ger, daughter of Daniel Jagger, a prominent farmer of Wvalusiuf*- 
township, and to them has been born one child, Daniel J., born Julv 
10, 1883. Dr. Sumner is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., Wva- 
lusing Lodge No. 503; at present he fills the chair of conductor; 
politically he is a Republican, and is an active worker for his party's 

LUTHER SWARTWOOD, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was 
born in Monroe county. Pa., December 11, 1850, a son of O. P. and 
Mary (Bunnell) Swartwood, the former of whom was born in Pike 
county, Pa., the latter in Monroe county, same State; in 1860 they 
removed from Monroe county to Chemung county, N. Y., where they 
lived twenty-one years; then came to South Creek township, where 
they now i-eside. O. P. Swartwood has two sons, Luther and Frank, 
both of whom are married; they (the sons) purchased .the propeily on 
which Lutiier now resides, in South Creek township, known as the 
Chamberlain and Spencer farms, the former of which contains fifty- 
eight acres and the latter 114, and this property they have improved 
since they bought it. At the age of twenty-six Luther Swai'twood 
married, in Ridgebury, in 1876, Kate, daughter of John Miller, by 
which marriage there are three children : Ralph, Jay and Anna. 
Mr. Swartwood is an enterprising farmer, raises a general crop, but 
confines himself more especially to butter making, and his stock is of 
fine grade. He is a member of the Grange. 

ALDEN SWAYZE, general merchant, Columbia Cross Roads, was 
born in Wells township, this county, April 3, 1862, and is a son of 
Alden and Caroline (Gifford) Swayze, the former a native of Sussex 
county, N. J., born September 23, 1823, a son of Obadiah and Eliza- 
beth (Beamer) Swayze. Alden Swayze, Sr., was reared in New 
Jersey, and settled in Bradford county in 1840, locating in Wells 
township, where he worked at the cooper's trade until 1874; was also 
engaged in farming there until January 1, 1891, when he removed to 
Columbia township; his wife was a daughter of Jeremiah and Eliza 
(King) Gifi'ord, pioneers of Wysox township, this county, and formerly 
of the State of New York, and by her he had five children : H. 
Franklin, Schuyler, Elvie E. (Mrs. 'Frank Knapp), Hettie M. (Mrs. 
Thomas Taber) and Alden, Jr. Our subject was reared in Wells 
township, and educated in common schools and Oberlin College, and 



1214 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

after attaining his majority engaged in farming until 1888, in Wells 
l(j\vnship. He then located at (-ohimbia Cross Roads, and embarked 
in general merchandising, in wliich he still successfully continues. On 
October 19, 1887, he married Jessie M., daughter of Kichard M. and 
Jane (Gustin) Howland, of Columbia townsiiip, and has two children: 
Bessie C. and Lillian. Mr. Swayze is a popular merchant, a member 
of the Presbyterian Church, of the I. O. O. F., and politically he is a 
Republican. 

DALLAS J. SWEET, a leading citizen of Towanda, was born in 
Monroe township, this county, November 3, 1843, and is a son of Free- 
man and Nancy (Ridgewa}') Sweet. His paternal grandfather was 
Elezar Sweet, a native of Connecticut, who settled in Albany, this 
county, in 1812; later removed to Monroe township, where he cleared 
and improved a farm, on which he resided until his death, which 
occurred in 1866, when he was aged eighty-eight. His wife was Amy 
Wilcox, by whom he had eight children, as follows: Freeman, Lavina 
(Mrs. Ezra Kellogg), Jemima (Mrs. Lemuel Streeter), Rosena (Mrs. — 
Cole), Jane (Mrs. George Irvin), Elizabeth (Mrs. Lyman Hollam), 
Hiram and Ransom. Of these. Freeman, father of Dallas J., was a 
farmer and lumberman for many years, and is now living a retired 
life in Monroeton. He reared a famih"^ of eight children, viz.: Edwin, 
Charles, Hiram, Dallas J., Ulysses, Emma, J. Theron and Ella. Dallas 
J. was reared in Monroe township, received a common-school educa- 
tion, and in his nineteenth 3^ear entered the Union Army, enlisting 
August T, 1862, in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. L 
and participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, 
Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Har- 
bor, Petersburg, Hatcher's Run, Sailor's Creek, and witnessed 
the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. He was honorably discharged, 
Mav 29, 1865. After his return home he eng-aoed in farming for three 
years, and then embarked in mercantile business at Monroeton, in 
which he continued alone until Januarv 1, 1885. Mr. B. F. Myerthen 
became associated with him for one \'ear, and in 1886 his brother 
Theron purchased Mr. M\^er's interest, since which time the business 
has been under the firm name of Sweet & Co. In 1884 Mr. Sweet 
was elected sheriff of Bradford county, for a term of three years. He 
has l)een a resident of Towanda since January 1, 1885, and in 1888 
embarked in the lumber business, in which he still engages. He was 
married, August 18, 1870, to Ella, daughter of Ilenr}'- and Sarah 
(Young) Myer, of Monroeton, and has one daughter living, Lucy. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sweet are members of the Presbyterian Church; he is a 
memljer of the G. A. R., and in politics is a stanch Republican. 

JAMES THERON SWEET, merchant, Monroeton, was born in 
Monroe township, this county. May 23, 1854, and is a son of Freeman 
and Nancy J. (Ridgeway) Sweet, natives of New York and Pennsyl- 
vania, respectively, and of English origin. In his father's family there 
were eight children, of whom our subject is the seventh. He went West 
and started in life for himself at twenty-one years of age, and worked at 
various occupations five years; then took charge of his father's farm 
on the South branch for four years, after wiiich lie engaged in mer- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1215 

cantile business with his brother, D. J., in his present place of busi- 
ness. He handles a general line of goods, and has built up a large and 
lucrative trade. Mr. Sweet married, May 2, 1884, Miss Isadore, 
(lauohter of Iliram and Lavina (Manlev) Linley, of Canton; he is a 
menU)er of the P. O. S. of A., and is a Republican; he is serving his 
second term as burgess; and has also been in the council. 

FRED TAYLOR, lumberman, P. O. Granville Centre, was born in 
Granville township, this county, January 13, 1859, and is a son of Levi 
and Sarah (Campbell) Tavlor. His paternal grandparents were Jere- 
miah and Martha (Bailey) Taylor, natives of Connecticut, who came to 
Granville township in 1800, and were the first settlers of same. Levi 
Taylor, father of subject, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., September 
19, 1797, and in 1800 came to Granville with his parents, where he 
was reared ; he cleared several farms and resided in the township until 
his death, April 27, 1890, at the age of ninety-three. He was three 
times married : first time, to Louise (daughter of Sterling and Betsey 
(Stone) Holcomb, of LeRov township), by whom he had four children : 
Alvira (Mrs. S. Denton PeVrv), Betsey (Mrs. Hiram Reynolds), Yolney 
and Sterling; his second wife was Mary Landon, and his third was 
Sarah Campbell (daughter of James and Kesiah (Patrick) Campbell, of 
Tioga county. Pa.), by whom he had three children : Milan, Ilollisand 
Fred. The subject of these lines was reared in Granville, educated at 
Troy High School, and after attaining his majority engaged in farm- 
ino-' until 1890, since when he has given his time and attention to 
lumbering. He married, May 27, 1880, Ida, daughter of Hiram and 
Lucv (Saxton) Kittle, of Granville township, and has three children, 
viz.r Bayard, Irene and Elise. He is a member of the F. & A. M., 
Trojan Lodge, and is District Deputy Grand Master of the I. O. O. F. 
Politically he is a Republican. 

GEORGE F. TAYLOR, a prominent farmer of Troy township, 
P. O. Troy, was born in Columbia township, this county, August 12, 
1842, a son of Howard and Betsey (Porter) Taylor. His paternal 
grandfather, Charles Taylor, was a son of Moses Taylor, and both 
were prominent farmers and pioneers of Columbia township. Charles 
Taylor cleared and improved a farm on which he lived and died ; his 
wife was Marinda Canfield, by whom he had the following children: 
Seba C, Dr. Charles Allen, Howard, Alanson, Lucy J. (Mrs. Charles 
Ballard) and Juliette (Mrs. William Bradford). Of these, Howard 
occupies the old homestead in Columbia township, where he was born 
and reared, and is one of the representative farmers of the town- 
ship; his wife was a daughter of John and Martha (Fruman) Porter, 
of Trov tow^nship, bv whom he had one son, George F., our subject, 
who wvas reared in 'his native township, educated in the common 
schools and Troy Academy, and has spent most of his life in farming; 
he has resided on his present farm in Troy township since 1869. In 
1866 he married Annie C, daughter of Archibald and Clarissa (Greeno) 
Mavnard, and granddaughter of Shubel Maynard, formerly of Ver- 
mont, and a pioneer of Troy township. By this union there are two 
children, Clara B. and Maynard. Mr. Taylor is a Republican. 



121G HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

IIAERIS BROWNING TAYLOR, manufacturer of lumber, cigars 
and proprietary medicines. Pike township, was born in East Herrick, 
this count}', January 29, 18il, a son of Benjamin P. and Lucy Ann 
(Browning) Taylor, the former of whom, a native of Connecticut and 
of New England origin, came with his father, Eben St. John Taylor, 
to Pike township in the year 1816; the mother is a native of Orwell, 
Pa., of English lineage. In their family- there were three children, of 
whom the subject of these lines is the eldest. He w^as reared on a farm, 
educated in the common school and at Mansfield State Normal School, 
and began life for himself at eighteen, teaching writing school, winters, 
and working a farm, summers. On April 23, 1861, he enlisted at 
Towanda in Company A, which was the tirst company organized in the 
county ; he was the first one enlisted from his township for the Civil 
War, and was mustered into the Fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania 
Reserves, at Ilarrisburg, Ma}' 15, of the same 3'ear. He participated 
in the following engagements : Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mills, Charles 
City Cross Roads, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, and some minor 
engagements. He was wounded in the shoulder at Gaines' Mills, and 
was in the hospital from September 1, 1862, to January 5, 1863, where 
he was discharged on surgeon's certificate of disability; then returned 
to Pike, purchased his present home, and lived there until 1867, when 
he went to Mansfield, Pa., as steward and professor of penmanship in 
the State Normal School, at that place, which position he filled for two 
years ; then returned to his present home, where he has since lived. In 
1870 he began to manufacture a liniment known as " Ta3^1or's Oil," 
which he now handles very extensively ; it has a great record as an 
annihilatorof rheumatism and neuralgia, and as a healing agent in sores 
and wounds in man or beast ; he also manufactures several other medi- 
cines; and the rapid and steady increase of his business for the past 
twenty-one years stands as unrebutted evidence of the true merit of 
his goods, Mr. Taylor was married, February 24-, 1864, to Sarah E., 
daughter of David and Phebe (Buffington) Iline ; they have no chil- 
dren. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, having served suc- 
cessively as junior and senior warden, and master of LeRoy Lodge, 
No. -1:71; and is also a Royal Arch Mason, being a member of the 
Chapter at Towanda. He is also a member of Spalding Post, No. 33, 
G, A, R., at LeRaysville, Pa., and has always been a straight Repub- 
lican. He has been, physically, helpless since May 16, 1890, from the 
disabilities he received in the army, but still continues the medicine 
business through his various agents. 

II. H. TAYLOR, proprietoi- of planing mill. Canton, is a native of 
Granville ('entie, this county, born January 20, 1848, a son of Levi 
and Sarah (Campbell) Tayloi-, natives of J>erkshire, Mass., and Tioga 
county, respectively. Tiie father, who was a farmer and himberman, 
came with his parents to Sugar Creek, Burlington township, this 
county, when two years of age. He taught school in Canton town- 
ship when there was just (me house where the borough now stands. 
By his third marriage he had three children, of wiiom II. II. is the 
second; Ik; died in Granville Centre, April 25, 1890. in his ninety-third 
year. The mother died in 1883, in her sixty -ninth year. H. II. Taylor 



HISTORY OF RRADFORI) COUNTY. 1217 

was reared in Granville, and received a public-school education. He 
Avorked on the farm and at the lumber business with his father until 
he was about twenty-five years of age ; then engaged in the lumber 
business for himself.^ He moved, in 1885, from Granville Centre to 
Canton, where he engaged in building and contracting. He was 
married, in Canton township, in 1871, to Madana, who was born in 
Canton towmship, July 20, 1848, and is the youngest in order of birth 
in the family of eight children of Kemington and Maria (Bakeman) 
Lewis, natives of New York State. To Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were born 
two children: Milan L. and Floyd D. Mrs. Taylor is a member of the 
Disciple Church. Mr. Taylor is a member of the F. & A. M., Canton 
Lodge, No. 415, Troy Chajiter, No. 216 and Canton Commandery, 
No. 64; he is Past Grand in the L O. O. F., Granville Centre, No. 687, 
and of the Canton Encauipment; has passed the chairs in the Order. 
Political! V he is a Republican, and is a member of the borough council. 

HIRAM P. TAYLOR, farmer and stockman, P. O. West Warren, 
is a native of Susquehanna county, Pa., born May 17, 1818, and is a 
son of Israel and Theresa (Plumb)^ Taylor, natives of New York, and 
of English descent. His father w^as a farmer; he removed to this 
county in 1820, and located in Windham township, and commenced 
the heroic work of clearing and preparing for a farm 100 acres of the 
heavy growth then everywhere; he died July 13, 1863, and his 
widow followed him October 17, 1879. Their family consisted of nine 
chiklren, of whom Hiram was the third in the order of birth. He was 
less than two years old when his father brought his family to this 
county, and grew up, a fine specimen of a pioneer's boy, in wild and 
rugged pioneer times, and, when grown, commenced life for himself at 
the very bottom round of the ladder, but has labored, w^aited and pros- 
pered well, and owns a fine farm of 160 acres, in an excellent state of 
cultivation, with elegant and commodious buildings. He married, 
in 1840, Polly, daughter of William Rodgers. a native of New York. 
William Rodgers' family consisted of six children, of whom Polly was 
the fifth, born, reared and educated in Windham township. To this 
union were born seven children, as follows: Francis E., married to Flor- 
ence Lathrop, resides at Humboldt, Iowa, and has seven children; 
Miles, married to Ann Bowmen, and has five children ; Theresa (Mrs. 
Horace Whitman), of Newark Valley, N. Y.; Emerson H., married to 
Laura Prince, is proprietor, with his brother, William, of a hotel in 
Nichols, N. Y.; Charles A., born August 8, 1854, died June 20, 1864; 
Melissa, married to Frederick Hotchkiss, and had three children (she 
died October 13, 1886) ; and William M., married to Mary Madden, and 
resides at Nichols. Our subject's family are all members of the Con- 
nrregational Church. 'He has alwavs voted the Democratic ticlvet, and 
lived an honest, industrious and exemplary life: was twelve years 
commissioner, eight years school director, and a full term postmaster. 

J. H. TAYLOR, mechanic, Wyalusing, was born in Tuscarora 
township, this county, September 25', 1840, a son of Walter and Sallie 
C. (Montgomery) Taylor, natives of Delaware county, N. Y. The 
father, who was a farmer, came to Bradford county January 1, 1840, 
and located on a farm in Tuscarora township, where be resided until 



1218 HISTORT OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

his dealh, August 30, 1873, in his sixty-second year; his widow died, 
January 15, 1887, aged sixty-four; they had three children, viz.: 
Andrew, on the old homestead in Tuscarora township; Oily A., mar- 
ried to C. H. Xewman, a farmer in Tuscarora township, and J. H. 
Our subject was born and reared on a farm, and educated in the 
common schools. He followed farming until March 30, 1864, when he 
enlisted in Company G, Fiftieth P. V. V. I.; he was in the battles of 
the Wilderness and Petersburg. On May 6, 1864, during the battle 
of the Wilderness, he received a gun-shot wound in the left thigh, the 
ball ranging downwards and backwards, lodging close to the knee, 
where it was cut out; he was in the hospital until Christmas, 1864, 
when he rejoined his regiment before Petersburg. He served with 
his regiment until July 30, 1865, when he was mustered out. For two 
years after his return home he followed farming, and then worked at 
Uie blacksmith trade about a year; then began working at the car- 
penter's trade, which he followed fifteen successive years. He pur- 
chased a farm in Tuscarora township, and opei-ated it about seven 
years, when he sold his farm and opened a store in Wyalusing, 
October 28, 1890. Mr. Taylor was united in marriage, April 12, 1861, 
with Nancy J. Hitchcock," daughter of Marshall Hitchcock, of Her- 
rick township, and they have been blessed with four children: James 
E., married to Clarissa Brown, and residing in Wyalusing; Laura, mar- 
ried to Jacob Neskey,also residing in Wyalusing; D. L. and Dora May. 
Mr. Taylor is a member of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R., is a llepub- 
lican, and has held various township offices during his residence in 
Tuscarora. 

JOHN M. TAYLOR, farmer, Tuscarora township, P. O. Spring 
Hill, was born October 7, 1827, on his present place in Tuscarora 
township, was reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools. 
He is a son of Aholiab and Mary A. (Ackley) Taylor, the former a 
native of Wyalusing, a son of John Taylor who was a daring pioneer 
of Bradford county, and among the early settlers of AYyalusing; he 
was also captain of a company in the War of 1812, and his brother 
James is numbered among the Revolutionary heroes who sacrificed 
their lives for their country's glory and independence. Capt, Buck, 
who was one of the victims of the merciless AVyoming massacre, was 
the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Mr. Taylor's 
father settled in Tuscarora in 1821, and was one of the three first set- 
tlers of the township. Our subject began life for himself at his 
father's death, April 24, 1849, farmincj on the old homestead, and was 
married, December 28, 1854, to Harriet A., daughter of James and 
Amandii (Lake) Coburn, of Tuscarora. and they have seven children, 
as follows: Charles E., born Sei)tember 18, 1855, now engaged in the 
iiotel business at Manchester, Conn.: Addie L., born April 27, 1857, 
died July 22, 1858: Hiram E., born May 4, 1858. died February 6, 
1865; Jennie R., born October 7,1861, married to M. G. Barton, a 
manufacturer, of Chicago, 111.; James A., born July 2, 1864, engaged 
in farming with his father in Tuscarora; Vida E., born January 14, 
1866, and Ruth A., born .June 4. 1860, a teacher. In |)olitics Mr. 
Taylor is a pronounced Republican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1219 

J. R. TAYLOR, farmer and stock-grower, of Wyalusing township, 
r. O. AVyalusing, was born in Moravia, N. Y., April 10, 1832, a son 
of George and Abigail (Baldwin) Taylor, the former of whom was a 
native of Wyalusing, and the latter of Bloomfield, N. J. The grand- 
father was Maj. John Taylor, prominent in the early history of this 
county. The Major's parents were from Scotland, but he was born 
in Dauphin county. Pa., and was among the few hardy settlers found 
in the Wyalusing Valley in 1792. The great grandmother, Mrs. Aho- 
liab Buck, was one of the few to escape from the Indians at AYyoming, 
and she carried the grandmother of our subject (then an infant) 
through to Connecticut on horseback. The father of our subject was 
born November 19, 1797, and died June 30, 1842; he was married, 
October IS, 1826, and was licensed as a Presbyterian minister, April 
28, 1824, and ordained February 15, 1825; during his early life he was 
a farmer, but afterward began the study of theology. After gradu- 
ating from Princeton College he entered the ministry, wiiere he 
remained until his death; he was a hard student, an eloquent speaker 
and earnest worker in his chosen profession. By his first marriage he 
became the father of three children, viz.: Sarah L., married to Jesse 
R. Smith, a farmer of Monroe county; Mary E., married to Washing- 
ton Ingham, of Sugar Run, and J. R. George Taylor, the father, mar- 
ried, for his second wife, Caroline Ward, and they had two children : 
John W., cashier of the First National Bank, Kalamazoo, Mich., and 
George W., merchant of the same place. The subject of these lines 
passed his boyhood until eight or nine years old at Moravia, N. Y'.; 
his father dying about that time, he made his home with his grand- 
father, John Taylor, in Wyalusing, and was educated in the Wyalusing 
schools. After reaching his majoi'ity he took up farming, and in 1853 
he purchased his first farm (where I. M. AUis now lives), which he 
owned until 1860, when he purchased his present farm containing 105 
acres; it was a wilderness when he obtained possession, not an acre 
cleared, but he has since cleared it and fitted it for the plow, built 
handsome and substantial farm buildings, and he now has one of the 
prettiest farms in his section. Mr. Taylor was united in marriage, June 
25, 1861, with Abigail Vaughn, daughter of John and Jane (Overton) 
Vaughn, and this union has been blessed with two children : George 
v., born August 27, 1869, and James I., born September 27, 1874, died 
September 5, 1875. Politically Mr. Taylor is a Republican, and he 
has filled various township offices. 

J. W. TAYLOR, proprietor of the " Packard House," Canton, is a 
native of Burlington, this county, born July 30, 1836, a son of John M. 
and Ruth Ann (Albro) Taylor, natives of Luzerne county. Pa.; the 
father, who was a farmer, died in Athens in April, 1890, in his seventy- 
sixth year; the mother died in Monroeton, in February, 1879, in her 
sixty-fourth year. Great-grandfather Major Taylor served seven years 
in the Revolutionary War, and was mustered out in Washington's own 
handwriting. The subject of this memoir, who is the eldest in a fam- 
ily of nine children— six daughter's and thi'ee sons — was reared in Bur- 
lington and Fr'ajdvlin townships, r'eceiving a public-school education ; 
then went to Franklindale in the fall of I860, and was engaged in the 



1230 HISTORY OF BKADFORI) COUNTY. 

hotel business there two years. In 1863 he removed to Covinoton, 
Tioga Co., Pa., where he^ kept the " Covington House "until 1864. 
lie enlisteil, August 26, 1804, in Battery B, Third New York Light 
Artillery, and was in active service until the close of the war ; was 
mustered out at Syracuse, N, Y., July 13, 1865, and returned to Frank- 
lindale, where he was engaged in the hotel business a short time, after 
which he was engaged in the lumber business. In 1881 he removed to 
Fall Brook, Tioga Co., Pa,, and was there foreman for the Fall Brook 
Coal Company five years; then, in 1886, came to Canton, and took 
charge of tiie "Packard House." Mr. Taylor Avas married, in Bur- 
lington, in 1859, to Jane, daughter of John and Katy (Hoover) Kirk- 
entlall, natives of Berwick, Columbia Co., and Bradford county. Pa. 
She is the sixth in a family of seven living children, and was born in 
Towanda in 1839. To Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were born four children, 
of whom two are living: Lillie Blanche, wife of E. D. Rosa, residing 
in Elldand. Tioga Co., Pa.; and Fred K. Mrs. Taylor is a member of 
the Evangelical Church. Mr. Taylor is a member of the G. A. P., 
Ingham Post, No. 91, and Knights of Honor, Fall Brook, Xo. 2506. 
Politically he is a Republican. 

HON. L. D. TAYLOR, dealer in general merchandise, Granville 
Centre, was born in Granville, this county, November 28, 1820, a son 
of Jeremiah and Mary (White) Taylor. The paternal grandfather was 
Jeremiali Taylor, formerly of Berkshire county, Mass., who settled in 
Granville in 1800, cleared and improved a farm and died there; his 
wife was Martha Bailey, by whom he had four children: Jeremiah, 
Levi, Sylvester and Abigail (Mrs. Isaac Putnam). Of these, Jeremiah, 
the eldest son, cleared a part of the old homestead, and in connection 
Avith his farming interests conducted a grist and sawmill, also a chair 
and rake factorv, and did an extensive business; his chairs are now 
looked upon as heirlooms in many of the families of Granville; his 
wife was a daughter of David and Mary (Ferris) White, pioneers of 
Troy township, and by her he had four children; Benjamin F.. 
Lunian D., Lemira (Mrs. Dennis Perry) and Malvina (Mrs. Ileman 
Bush). The subject of this sketch was reared in Granville, where he 
has always resided. In early life he taught school, winters, and assisted 
his father in business affairs. In December, 1847, he married Matilda, 
daughter of Sterling and l)etsey (Stone) Holcomb, of LeRoy township, 
and has one cliihl, Ella (Mrs. S! M. Manley). In the same'month and 
year he embarked in general merchandising at Granville Centre, in 
which he has since continued successfully, and also cleared and 
improved a large farm in the township. He is a member of the 
Church of Christ, and was su))erintendentof the Sabbath-school fifteen 
years. Politically he has always been a Repul)lican, and was post- 
master at Granville Centre nearly thirty years; in 1881 he was elected 
a member of the State Legislature, serving one term. 

ORLANDO TAYLOIl, farmer, P. O. Granville Centre, was born 
in (iranville township, this county, April 13, 1832, and is the only 
child of Sylvester and Susannah" (DeWitt) Taylor. His paternjil 
grandparents, Jei-emiah and Martha (l)ailey) Taylor, natives of Con- 
necticut, located in Granville township in ISOO, and were the tirst set- 



HISTORY OP^ BRADFORD COUNTY. 1221 

tiers of the same. Sylvester, father of subject, and who was the first 
white child born in Granville (the date of his birth being- October 9, 
1803), resided in the township until his death, in January, 1881. He 
was a farmer by occupation, cleared some land, was a man of consider- 
able literary taste, and spent some time in leathering material for a 
history of Bradford county, the manuscript of which is in the posses- 
sion of his son, Orlando. For many years he was a frequent contrib- 
utor to the Press, both religious and secular, and his contributions were 
characterized by the forcible and vigorous expression of his ideas. In 
1810 he was deputy marshal, and took the census of the western half 
of Bradford county ; he was postmaster at Granville Centre twenty- 
four years in succession. His wife was a daughter of Paul and Eliza- 
beth (Slve) DeWitt, of German descent, natives of Northumberland 
county, Pa., and among the first settlers of West P)urlington township. 
Orlando Taylor was reared in Granville township, where he has always 
resided and'^ been engaged in farming. He married, April 17, 1853, 
Esther M., daughter of Lewis I), and Minerva (Sabins) Fowler, who, 
in 1845, settled on a farm now occupied by subject, wliich they cleared 
and improved, and they resided there until 1881, when they removed 
to LeRoy township. Mr. and Mrs. Orlando Taylor have two children : 
Melda (Mrs. Charles F. Gray) and Encell (who married Euphemia 
Shedden). Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Church of Christ ; 
he is a member of the F, & A". M., Trojan Lodge, and of the P. of H.; 
in politics he is a Republican. 

VOLNEY TAYLOR, farmer, of Granville township, P. O. Granville 
Centre, was born in Granville towmship, Br'adford Co., Pa., February 
l-t, 1829, and is a son of Levi and Louise (Ilolcomb) Taylor. His 
paternal grandparents, Jeremiah and Martlia (Bailey) Taylor, settled 
in Granville township, this county, in 1800 ; his maternal grandparents. 
Sterling and Betsey (Stone) Holcomb, were pioneers of LeRoy town- 
ship, same county, and the great-grandfather, Eli Holcomb, was a 
pioneer of Ulster township. Levi Taylor was reared in Granville 
township from three years of age, was a farmer by occupation and 
cleared and improved the farm now owned by Charles G. Sayles, where 
he died April 27, 1890, in his ninety-third year. He was thrice married : 
first time to Louisa, daughter of Sterling and Betsey (Stone) Holcoml), 
of LeRoy township, and by her he had four children : Alvira (Mrs. S. 
D. Perry), Sterling, Betsey (Mrs. Hiram Reynold) and Volney ; his 
second wife was Mary Landon, and his third, Sarah Campbell, by whom 
he had three children: Milan, Hollis and Fred. Our subject was 
reared in Granville, where he has always resided engaged in farming, 
and has lived on his present farm since 1809. He has been twice mar- 
ried : first time to Laura Jennings, of Tro}^ Pa., and afterward to 
Francina Babb, of Granville. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Church 
of Christ, and in politics is a Republican. 

LEWIS H. TEARS, Troy, was born in Troy township, this county, 
May 6, 1832, the eldest son of Benjamin S. and Mattie (LamI)) Tears. 
His paternal grandfather, Isaac Tears, a native of Orange county, 
N. Y., settled in Troy township about 1820, cleared and improved a 
farm and resided in the township till his death. He was twice married, 

73 



Vi'i'i HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

his first wife being Mary Tidd, and his second wife, Betsey Hammond. 
He reared a large family and was one of the founders of the Presby- 
terian Church in Troy. Benjamin S. Tears, who was the eldest child 
by the second marriage, in early life followed farming and teaching, 
and was for some years engaged in the mercantile business in LeRoy, 
was a deacon in the Baptist Church, and died in Troy in 1886, ao-ecl 
seventy -six years. His first wife, Mattie, was a daughter, of James and 
Sarah (Oaks) Lamb (natives of Scotland and New England, respect- 
ively), who settled in Troy township in 1808 ; by her he had four chil- 
dren : Lewis II., David (3. (killed in the Civil War), Truman H. and 
Mary R. (Mrs. James A. Hickok). His second wife was Elizabeth 
Coburn, of Susquehanna county, and by her he had three children : 
Miles. Isaac F. and Mary. Lewis H. Tears was reared in this county, 
educated in the common school and Troy Academ}^ and followed 
farming until twenty-five years of age. He then became a traveling- 
salesman, which business he followed continuouslv for twenty years. 
Since 1886 he has been general agent, for New York and Pennsylvania, 
for the Sanford Whip Company, of Westfield, Mass. In lS56'he mar- 
ried Laui'a S., tlaughter of Walker and Laura (Strait) Pierce, of Troy 
township, and has by her two children : Alice E. (Mrs. George G. 
Beardsley) and Carrie M. (Mrs. E. B. Calkins). 

W. I. TEED, dealer in groceries and notions, Sayre, is a native of 
Delaware county, and was born October 8, 1847, a son of David and 
Eunavilda (Brown) Teed, the former a native of Tompkins county, 
jST. Y., and the latter of near Mt. Ilolyoke, Mass.; she is a descendant 
of one of the three Brown brothers who came from England to this 
country in an early day. David Teed is a farmer and resides in 
Delaware county, N. Y. W. I. Teed, who is the sixth in a family of 
seven children, received an academic education in his native place, and 
was graduated at Eastman's Commercial College; then he taught 
three terms, and clerked in a store about one year ; then bought the 
business out after entering into a partnership with another gentleman, 
remaining there in business for nearly litteen years; the business con- 
sisted of general di-y goods and groceries; then came to Sayre, in March, 
1884, and engaged in the grocery and notion trade, and has continued 
in same since. He was married in Delaware count}^, N. Y,, in 1867, to 
Miss Alice, daughter of Philip and Harriet (Pratt) ITtley, natives of 
Cooperstown, N. Y.; she is the youngest in a family of eight children, 
and was born near (Jooperstown, X. Y., in July. 1847. To this union 
were born four children, as follows: Edwin W., Utiey, Leon and 
Luvern. Mr. Teed is a member (;f the Fraternal Alliance and Fra- 
ternal (Tuardians, and is a Rejiublican. 

HUGH TEMPLETON, farmer, Smithfield township, P.O.Ulster, 
was born in the parish of Dunlap, Ayrshire, Scotland, December 19, 
1814, near the birthplace of Robei't i>urns, and is a son of Robi>rt and 
Jane (Smith) Teni))l(;ton, and his father was a manufacturer of linen 
lint from the raw Ma.v. IMr. T(;m|)leton was the tenth in a family of 
eleven children, and came to this country in 1841, wlum iwenty-six 
years of age. On the same ship was Marion Ritchie, whom he married 
in November, 1843. She was born in Mauchline Parish (which is also 



HISTORY OF RRADFORD COUNTY. 1223 

in Ayrshire, Scotland), in 1812, one of a family of six. Mr. and Mrs. 
Templeton have had six children, of whom the following are living: Ella, 
born July 18, IS^G, married to Huston McKinney; Mary Jane, born 
July 20,'^1848, married to E. P. Lenox; Robert,*^born May 18, 1850, 
married to Deliah Rosengrant; Marion, born April 8, 1852, married to 
Alonzo Rose. Robert, the only son, lives on the farm with his father, 
and has one son, Herbert P., born August 8, 1882. The family are 
Democratic in politics; they are successful farmers, having come here 
when the country was new, and have experienced all the privations of 
the pioneer. Mr. Templeton is a pleasant and honorable neighbor, 
and is respected by the whole community. 

JAMES TERRY, justice of the peace, Evergreen, was born in 
Standing Stone township, this county, December 2, 1838, a son of John 
and Catherine (Betts) Terry, the former of whom, a mason by trade 
and a farmer, was born near Leeds, England, and came to America 
when about thirty years of age, settling in Bradford county about 
1835 ; the mother was a native of Greene, Chenango Co., N. Y. (her 
father, Erastus Betts, was a soldier of the War of 1812, and a pen- 
sioner). Our subject and two brothers were in the Civil War ; he 
(James) enlisted in the first compan}- that left the county in April, 
1861, at the first call for troops ; re-enlisted March 8, 18G2, in Com- 
pany D, Eighth United States Infantry, in which he remained one year 
and four months, and again re-enlisted in March, 1864, in Battery C, 
Second Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, in which he was a sereeant ; 
was discharged in January, 1866, and assigned to the Freedman's 
Bureau, his appointment being in the detective service in Surrey and 
Sussex counties, Va. At the close of the services he settled at Ever- 
green, in Albany township, where he has since been continually in 
political office ; was a scliool director and a constable; then assessor, 
eleven terms ; is a Republican and has served the people faithfully ; is 
now justice of the peace, which position he has held four terms, and 
has also an extensive law practice; in the fall of 1890 he was a can- 
didate for the Legislature ; is a member of the G. A. R. and of the 
F. & A.M. Mr. Terry was married, December 15, 1858, to Roxanna 
Carter, of Susquehanna count3\ Pa., and there have been born to them 
three children, as follows: Addie L., Alfred H. and Draper T. Mr. 
Terrv is a man of activitv, respected bv a large circle of friends. 

A. H. THOMAS, farmer, P. O. Troy, w^as born September 9, 1829, 
in Troy township, this county, on the farm where he now resides, and 
is a son of Alvin W. and Amy (Harding) Thomas. His paternal 
grandparents were Jacob and Susannah (Rowley) Thomas, natives of 
New Hampshire and Vermont, respectively, who settled in Troy town- 
ship in 1808, locating on the farm occupied by subject, where they 
made an improvement, and about 1820 removed to the farm now 
owned by AV. A. Thomas, and there died : tliey had a family of eight 
children who grew to maturity ; Zeruah (Mrs. Samuel Case). Alvin W., 
Samuel, Hiram, Chester. Allen, Lucy M. (Mrs. Dummer Lilley) and 
William A. Of these, Alvin W. was a native of Vermont, and chiefly 
cleared and improved the farm now owned and occupied by subject, 
and died there ; his wife was a daughter of Samuel and Love (Mayhew) 



1:>'>4 HtSTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Harding, of Sullivan, Tioga Co., Pa., and by her he had nine children: 
J.orenzo, Alex H., Charles B. (killed at battle of Fredericksburg in the 
Civil War), Lucy M. (Mrs. E. D. Thomas), Susan (Mrs. Edwin M. Slade), 
Julia (Mrs. Newton McClelland), Alvin W., Jr. (a soldier in Civil War, 
and died at Camp Hamilton), Emma (Mrs. John Lilley) and Jacob. 
A. H. Thomas was reared in Troy township, has spent his life in farm- 
ing in that and Canton township, and has permanently resided on the 
old homestead since 1870. In 1850 he married Elizabeth, daughter of 
John S. and Hannah (Kiff) Becker, of Armenia township, and has six 
children: Adolphus E., Bolivar P., Henr}^ Eugenia (Mrs. Milton A. 
Case), Alvin and Meade, Mr. Thomas is a representative farmer of 
Troy township; is one of the charter members of the Troy Farmers' 
Club, was its first president after charter was obtained, and served in 
that capacity fourteen vears; politicallv he is a Democrat. 

HIRAM' W. THOMAS, farmer, Troy township, P. O. Granville 
Summit, was born in Troy township, this county, January 28, 1838, a 
son of Samuel and Lydia P. (Wright) Thomas; his paternal grand- 
parents were Jacob and Susannah (Rowley) Thomas, natives of New 
Hampshire and Vermont, respectively, who settled in Troy township 
in 1808, locating on the farm now occupied by A. H. Thomas, and, 
about 1820, on the farm now owned bv William A. Thomas, and died 
there. Samuel Thomas, father of the subject of the sketch, is one of 
the oldest residents of Troy township, and cleared and improved the 
farm where he now resides ; his wife was a daughter of Jerome Wright, 
of Canton township, bv Avhom he had nine children, as follows: John 
C, Marv J. (Mrs. William Vanderlip); Lvdia S. (Mrs. John C. Mav); 
Hiram W., C. Ellen (Mrs. Ephiram M. Clark), Fidelia A. (Mrs. Burton 
A. Porter), AVilliam H. H. (who died a prisoner at Andei'sonville dur- 
ing the Civil War), David AV. and Martha A. (Mrs. Thomas M. Scott). 
Hiram W. Thomas was reared in Troy township, where he has nearly 
always resided, and cleared and improved the farm he now occupies. 
He married, June 1, 1862, Mar}'^ J., daughter of David II. and Sarah 
(Place) Duart, Avho settled in Canton township in 1841 ; the issue of 
this union is one daughter, Sarah A. (Mrs. Russell H. Coe). Mr. 
Thomas was in the Civil War, having enlisted September 3. 1S6-1, in 
Company K, Fifteenth Xew York Engineer Volunteers, 'and was hon- 
oral)ly discharged, June 13, 1865; both he and his wife are members 
of the Free-Will Baptist Church, and in politics he is a Republican. 

JOHN W. THOMAS, farmer, of Athens township. P. O. Wilawana, 
was born in Barton, Tioga Co., N. Y., August 10, 1823, a son of Isaac 
and Drucilla (Morris) Thomas, the former born in New Jersey, the 
latter in Albanv, N. Y. Isaac Thomas, who was a soldier in the War 
of 1812, removed to Albany about 1821, but soon after went to Tioga 
county, where he remained eight years; then moved to Athens town- 
ship and resided there seven years; returning to Tioga county, N. Y.. 
he here made his home until his death, which occurred while he was 
on a visit to New Jersey ; his childi'en were five in number — two sons 
and three dauj^hters — four of whom are now livini;, and are now all 
settled in sight of one another. John W., who is the eldest in tlu^ 
family, was reared and educated in Athens townshi}), and always 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1225 

followed farming. On March 8, 1851, he married Jane, daughter of 
Abraham and Eilenor Mills, and by this marriage there were two 

children: John (deceased) and Killa, married to Wilson, a 

farmer. Mr. Thomas purchased his farm in 1847, adding acre after 
acre, until he now owns 125 acres of well-improved and fertile land, 
lying on the northwest corner of Athens township, all of which he 
accumulated b}^ industry and economy. He is a general farmer, and 
raises some tobacco along the Chemung. He is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and votes the Democratic ticket. 

MORGAN THOMAS, carpenter and joiner, F. O. Neath, was 
born July 4, 1844, in Susquehanna county. Pa., and is a son of David 
and Ann (Jones) Thomas, natives of South Wales. In his father's 
family there were eight children, of whom Morgan is the sixth. He 
spent his early boyhood on the farm, and in attending district school; at 
twenty-one he began to learn the carpenter's trade, at which he has 
been employed since, except 1873-85, when he was engaged in mercan- 
tile business at Neath. He married Esther, daughter of Newton and 
Catherine (Davis) Humphrey, and they have two children living- 
Jessie C. and (ieorge N. Mr. Thomas is a member of the F. & A. M. 
at LeRaysville, and is a Republican. 

NewVon Humphrey, blacksmith, residing with his son-in-law, 
Morgan Thomas, was born in Pike township, October 22, 1820; he 
has been postmaster at Neath twenty vears, and justice of the peace 
eleven years ; his parents were Dudly Case and Almira (Gorham) Hum- 
phrey, natives of Connecticut, who settled in Pike township as early as 
1S19, on the farm no\v owned by Davis Phillips. 

THOMAS F. THOMAS, farmer and stockman, P. O. Warren 
Centre, was born in New York City, March 24, 1832, a son of Samuel 
and Mary Francis Thomas, natives of Wales. The father, who was a 
mechanic and farmer, came to this countrj^ in 1831, stopping for a time 
in the city of New York, and followmg year removed to Warren 
township, this county, where he improved the farm on which his son 
now resides, and where he died in 1SG3, his good wife folhnving him to 
the grave in 1866; their children were three in number, viz.: Sarah 
(Mrs. Evan W. Davis), of Pike township; Rachel (Mrs. Washington 
Beeman), of same township (she had one child, and died in 1841), and 
Thomas F. The subject of these lines has spent his life in Warren 
township, and now owns 107 acres of finely improved and well culti- 
vated land. He was married in Iowa, May 19, 1865, to Mary Ann 
Canlield, a native of Warren township, daughter of Harvey and Abi- 
gail Estes Canfield, natives of Connecticut and New York, respectively, 
of English stock, farmers, who came to America in 1832, and located 
in Warren township, but in 1865 removed to Iowa, where they died, 
he in 1885, and she in 1866. In their family were nine children, Mrs. 
Thomas being the fourth. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have no children of 
their own, but have an adopted daughter, Abbie L., a daughter of 
Mrs. Thomas' sister, and now Mrs. William A. Beebe, residing in 
Warren township. Mr. Thomas is a Republican in politics. 

REV. THOMAS THOMAS, Presbyterian minister, Stevensville, 
was born in Carmarthen, South Wales, June 16, 1812, a son of David 



1226 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and Hannah (Griffis) Thomas, who with their six children came to 
America, in 1824, and located on a farm where Neath now is, then a 
dense forest. To make the solitude of the New World more gloomy 
than the forest shade could make it, six weeks after their arrival the 
husband and father died of sunstroke. Thomas, who was the fourth 
child, spent his boyhood with the rest of the family in making a home 
in the woods, and in attending the common school. He was graduated 
from Lafayette College in 1843, and spent two years in Princeton 
Theological Seminary. He then returned to Neath, where he preached 
successively at KushVille, Orwell, Friendsville, Orwell, Rushville and, 
in 1863, at Stevensville, wiiere he has since resided, filling at the same 
time other small charges. Mr. Thomas was married, January 1, 1846, 
to Mary, daughter of William and Catharine (Howell) Evans, natives 
of South Wales. This happy union has been blessed with one son and 
four daughters: Harriett A., born August 10, 1847 (was educated in 
the common schools, the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and was 
graduated at the High School of Marietta, Ohio, in 1866 ; she has taught 
and traveled considerably, having spent three years in southern Cali- 
fornia, and made two trips to Europe, to visit her sister, Mrs. F. R. 
Welles ; is at present living with her parents at Stevensville); Sarah C, 
born August 14, 1849 (educated in the common schools, Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute, and Delaware Institute, at P'ranklin, N. Y., took 
French and Botanical lectures; taught several years and was married, 
August 31, 1874, to Dr. Arthur II. Adams, whom she accompanietl 
to Japan in October of the same year as a missionary. Mr. Adams 
was born at Sandusky, Ohio, October 26, 1847, was graduated 
at Yale College in 1867, being the fourth in a class of 110. After 
two years of teaching in the Delaware Literary Institute at Frank- 
lin, iST. Y., he re-entered Yale, where he was graduated in The- 
ology and Medicine. He was located at Osaka, Japan, as missionary 
physician. In 1878 he went to southern California for his wife's 
iiealth, and on returning to Japan died at sea of typhoid fever, and 
was buried at Kobe, Japan, in 1879. Mrs. Adams remained in Cali- 
fornia until 1882, when she returned to Stevensville. In 1888 she 
went to Antwerp, Belgium, and spent two years in Belgium and Italy; 
then returned to Stevensville, wliere she has since resided with her 
parents; she has one living child, Arthur II., born August 8, 1879); 
Welling E. (the only son of Mv. Thomas, was born January 25, 1852, 
educated in the common school, LeRaysville Academy, Delaware 
Literary Institute, and was graduated at Lafayette College in 1875. 
He taught one year, spent one year in the Union Theological Semi- 
nary in New York City, graduating from Princeton in 1879; he then 
preached at Eden and Ashley, Ohio, Jive years, residing at the latter 
]>lace. He has since been located at Marion, Ohio. He married 
Emma W., daughter of Stephen and Mary (Lourie) ]\[attoon, natives 
of New York. The first seven years of her life were spent in Siam, 
her father being one of the first missionaries to that country. They 
have four children); Mary D. (Mr, Thomas' third daughter, was born 
May 11, 1854, was educated in the common school, Madame Corson's 
select school at Ithaca, N. Y., and the Susquehanna Collegiate Insti- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 12:^7 

tute, where she was graduated m 1874; she tlien attencUnl the Elniira 
Female College one year ; she is now living- at Merr3'all, and is the 
wife of Kev. Milton'L. Cook. They have six children) ; the youngest 
daughter of Mr. Thomas is Anna F. (born June 12, 1862, educated at 
the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and was married, December 18, 
1882, to F. R. Welles, superintendent of the European works of the 
Western Electric Company. They are living at Paris, and have four 
children). The Thomas family are Presbyterians, and Mr. Thomas is 
a Prohibitionist. 

BURLEIGH THOMPSON, farmer, P. O. Terrytown, was born 
April 25, 1858, and reared and educated on a farm. He is a son of 
Charles and Elizabeth (Hulbert) Thompson, the former of whom was a 
native of this county, the latter of Wyoming county. In his youth the 
father was a promising lad, and in his advanced years a good citizen. 
He lived with William Terry until he reached his majority. He was 
twice married: first time, March 1, 1842, to Miss Elizabeth Hulbert, by 
whom he had six children, three of whom are now living; his second 
marriage was on January 17, 1864. Mr. Thompson was a prosperous 
farmer, and left behind a mark of his industry in the beautiful home 
and surroundings his son now enjoys; he died February 8, 1891, at the 
age of seventy-three years; his wife was born September 4, 1820, and 
died Januar}^ 18, 1863, aged forty-three years. Mr. Thompson enjoyed 
the full confidence of his friends, who elected him to the offices of 
auditor, collector and treasurer. The subject of this memoir is the 
youngest in the family, and has always confined himself to agricultural 
pursuits. On September 25, 1890, then at the age of thirty-two, he 
married, at Cooper's Plains, IN", Y., Miss Eliza, daughter of Hon. Uriah 
and Louisa Terry. Like his father, Mr. Thompson is a prosperous farmer, 
and promises to make his mark in the world; he is a worthy and active 
member of the Baptist Church, and politically he is a Republican. 

CHARLES C. THOMPSON, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was 
born October 28, 1835, in South Creek township, this county, a son of 
William and Sophia (Houtz) Thompson, the former of whom was boi'n 
in Ireland, and removed to America when sixteen years of age with his 
father, Harry Thompson; first settled in Dry den, Tompkins Co., N.Y.; 
the mother was born in Ilarrisburg, Pa., of German parents; her 
father was a doctor and preacher. William Thompson removed to 
Bradford county in 1832, and settled in South Creek township, where 
he was a farmer; he was a politician, and a strong supporter of the 
Wesleyan Methodist Church ; he died at the age of eighty 3'ears, and 
his wife died aged ninety-two. Charles C. Thompson was reared on a 
farm, and has always followed the occupations of a farmer and car- 
penter. In 1861 he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-third N. Y. Y. I., 
and served two years; was in several battles, among which were 
Antietam, South Mountain, Bull Run (second), and many other 
minor engagements. He was married, June 4, 1863, to Juliette Brown, 
of Ridgebui'v, who was born in Chemung count}', N. Y., October 22, 
1840, a daughter of Elijah M. and Lucetta (Burnham) Brown, both living 
with the daughter, the father now aged eighty-three years, the mother 
being eighty. Mr. Brown is a son of George Brown, a soldier of the 



1228 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Revolutionary War, was four years and ei_i»ht months in the war, and 
was taken a prisoner once. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have had four chil- 
dren, as follows: .Tud S., married to Lettica, daughter of McKay 
Craig, of Bentley Creek; Jennie M., who died aged eight years; Leta 
D. and Vernie 8. Mr. Thompson is a Republican, and an active worker 
in his party ; has been auditor, assessor and constable ; held several 
other offices of public trust; is also a member of the Knights of Honor; 
is the owner of a fine farm, and is one of the most substantial farmers 
of the township. 

CHARLES W. THOMPSON, farmer and stock-grower, Ulster 
township, P. O. Ulster, was born in Smithfield township, this county, 
April T, 1829, the son of Palmer and Abigail (Goddard) Tliompson, of 
whom the former was a native of New York State, and the latter of 
Connecticut; both of the grandfathers lost their lives by accident. The 
fathei" died while the son was yet very young and the mother married 
Mr. AYilliams; she lived to the age of seventy-four years, and died in 
1874. The father's family consisted of four children, Charles W., 
being the eldest; L. E. in Smithfield; E. L. in Tompkins county, N.Y. 
Charles was educated in the public schools, receiving a common-school 
education, and remained on the farm with his step-father until his 
majority; then worked by the month in a sawmill until twenty-nine 
3'ears of age, when lie, bought the farm he now occupies in 1857, and 
now owns 130 acres of beautiful farm land, finely im])roved. Of the 
l^rominent farmers and dairymen of tliis county, Mr. Thompson stands 
well toward the head of the list, and keeps a dairy of about twelve 
cows. He was married, April 7, 1858, to Elmira E. Mallery, daughter 
of Chester and Perline (Shipman) Mallery, residents of Ulster, and the 
fruits of this marriage are two children : Alice (who married William 
Dennis, of Sayre) and Palmer C. Mr. Tliom))son is one of the old 
meml)ers of the National Grange. In political views he is a stanch 
Republican, and now holds the office of townshii) assessor, which he 
has tilled the past three years. He is one of tiie pioneer settlers of 
his neighborhood. 

E. M. THOMPSON, miller, P. O. Waverly,is a native of Cortland 
county, N. Y., and was born October 2, 1843, a son of Samuel L. and 
Adelia (Eldridge) Thompson, natives, respectively, of Columbia and 
Schoharie counties, N. V. The father was a boot and shoe maker, and 
died in Cortland, N. Y., in 1870, in ids sixty -eighth year; the mother 
died in July, 1888, in her seventy-fifth year"! E. M. Thompson, who is 
the eldest in a famdy of three children, was reared in Cortland, receiv- 
ing a common-school education, and at the age of eighteen began to 
learn the miller's trade at Blodgett's Mills, in Cortland county, N. Y., 
where he remained about three years; then moved to Roseville, Tioga 
Co., Pa., and followed his trade about three years; thence went to 
Elmira, and was there about one year, when he proceeded to Ithaca, 
and after about one and one-half 3'ears he went from there to Dryden, 
TomjJcins Co., N. Y., and was there about a year; thence moved to 
Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y., where he remained nine years, and 
tlien went to Owego. but only remained there a few months, when he 
came to Sayre, April 20, 1876, and has had charge of the mill of 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1229 

Phillips & Curtis since about three months after he commenced work 
for the firm. In all of these places he worked at his trade. Mr. 
Thompson was married in Cortland county, N. Y., in 1866, to Miss 
Arvilla, daughter of Zera and Luc^^ (Chapman) Tanner, natives of 
Otseo'o count}'. Pier father, who was a farmer, died in 1862 ; her mother 
surviv^es. Mrs. Thompson is the younoest in the order of birth in a 
family of seven children, and was born in Cortland county, N, Y., 
October 5,1844. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were born three chil- 
dren: Edward W., Ella and Lucy. The family are members of the 
First Methodist Episcopal Church"^ at Sayre. Mr. Thompson is a mem- 
ber of the F. & A. M., Military Lodge, No. 93, Manlius, N. Y., and a 
member of the Knights of Honor, No. 293, Waverly. He is a Demo- 
crat, and served nine years as postmaster in Onondaga count}', N. Y., 
and as school trustee two terms in the same county. 

JOHN B. THOMPSON, foreman of wood shop, locomotive depart- 
ment, Sayre shops, P. O. South Waverly, is a native of Towanda 
township, this county, and was born February 15, 1837, a son of Elias 
and Ilannali (McMicken) Thompson, natives of this county. The 
father was a miller, and died in Sheshequin, in 1857, in his forty- 
seventh year; the mother survives, and resides in South Waverl}-, and 
is in her eighty-second year. Grandfather Thompson was a soldier in 
the War of 1812. John B. Thompson is the only member living in a 
family of four boys. He moved to Sheshequin with his parents \Yhen 
seven years of age, received a common-school education, and attended 
the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, in 185-4; then commenced the 
cai'penter's trade, and also learned the miller's art. with his father. 
On April 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Fifth Pennsylvania 
Reserves, and some of the engagements he was in were withMcClellan 
in the battles of Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Peninsular Campaign, 
and Bethesda Church, and was mustered out at Harrisburg, in June- 
1864, then returned to Sheshequin, and went to work at the carpen, 
ter's trade, and worked until January, 1867, when he moved to South 
Waverly, ^vhere he worked three years in the steam Hour mill, for 
Vanduzer, Hollet & Marsh; then went to work at the carpenter's 
trade for the L. Y. R. R. Co., in 1870, and was promoted to his pres- 
ent position, that of foreman, in 1874. He was married in Waverly, 
November 28, 1867, to Miss Mary, daughter of Peter and Bridget 
(Brown) Flood, natives of Ireland,*^ whose family consisted of ten sons 
and two daughters, of whom she is the tenth, in order of birth, and 
was born at Milan, January 29, 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson had 
two children: Howard J., who died at the age of eight months, and 
May, who died at the age of seven years. Mrs. Thompson is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Thompson is a member of the 
F. & A. M., Waverly Lodge, No. 407; of the G.A. R., Walter C. Hull 
Post, No. 461, and of the Union Yeteran League, No. 28; has served 
as first burgess in South Waverly borough, and is a Republican in 
politics. 

GEORGE H. THOMSON, farmer. South Creek township, P. O. 
Fassett, was born on May 18, 1832, in Catlin, Tompkins Co., N. Y., 
a son of William and Sophia (Hutz) Thomson, the former a native of 



1230 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTT . 

Ireland, the latter of Carlisle, Pa. AVilliam Thomson was a son of 
William Thomson who came to this country when his son was ten 
years of age, locating in Orange county, N. Y., where he lived an 
uneventful life. His son, William, began business in Dryden, Tompkins 
Co., N. Y., purchased a farm of 100 acres, which he cleared, and 
on which he lived several years ; then removed to South Creek town- 
ship, on what is known as " Pigeon Hill." He purchased a farm of 160 
acres, in those days a wilderness, but by hard work, economy and per- 
severance he converted it into a beautiful home. Here he resided 
until his death, which occurred about 1871, when he was aged eighty- 
six years. His family consisted of eleven children, ten of whom grew 
to maturity, eight of them now living, George H. Thomson, who is 
the seventh in the family, was reared and educated in South Creek 
township. In early life he worked at the carpenter's trade, but finally 
took up farming. He married, February 3, 1853, at South Creek, 
EUanora, daughter of Woodard and Rhoda Bermy, and to them were 
born seven chilch-en, all of whom are living, as follows: Demster, 
married to Eugene Dewey; Timothj^; Emma, married to William 
McCracken, a farmer; Edna, married to Albert Wood, a farmer; Zoe, 
married to Charles Star, a farmer; Arthur and Samuel. Mr. Thomson 
works a farm of 113 acres, his attention being specially devoted to 
dairying; his stock is fine and well graded; he owns a farm of 100 acres 
in Lycoming county. Pa. During the Civil War he served four months 
in the Construction Corps; he has held the offices, in the town, of con- 
stable and collector, two terms ; politicallv he is a Republican. 

FRANK THORNTON, farmer and stock-raiser, Ulster township, 
P. O. Ulster, was born at Danby, Tompkins Co , N. Y., March 30, 1836, 
and is the son of Ehakim and Abagail (Converse) Thornton, the former 
a native of New York and the latter of Vermont. The grandfathers, 
Joseph Thornton and Francis Converse, were among the early pioneers 
of New York. Frank Thornton came to Bradford county in 1865, and 
engaged in farming. He received his education in the common schools 
of New York, and had a fair education for his time ; his early life was 
spent on a farm, but he learned the carpenter's trade, working at that 
for several years, and then learned the shoemaker's trade. He owns 
a farm of sixty -four acres in the Ulster valley. He was married in 
November, 1805, to Charlotte S., daughter of Royal S. and Jemima 
(Ilugg) Alvord, and the fruit of this marriage are six children, as fol- 
lows: Rufus F., Clara A. (wife of E. B. Gilbert), Mary II., Nathan 
W., Eli W. and Florida T.; except the two eldest, the children reside 
at home. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and Mr. Thornton is a Democrat in politics. 

JOSEPH TOWNER, farmer and stock-grower, Sheshequin town- 
ship, was born in Rome township. May 23, 1828, a son of Enoch Tow- 
ner, who was a farmer and lived in this county, where he died May 
19, 1873, aged ninety-four years. His early life was spent on his 
father's farm, attending the common schools of winters and working 
on the farm during summer, and received a fair schooling for the time, 
and at the age of nineteen he was a|)prenticed to learn the builders' 
trade, at which he served two years, and then began operations for 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1231 

himself. This he followed about twenty years and has erected build- 
ings in ever}^ section of the county, and assisted in building the court- 
house and First Ward school-house, Towanda. He enlisted in the 
array, August 16, 1862, as private in Company I, One Hundred and 
Forty-first Volunteers, and was discharged in November, 1863, as 
drum-major, on account of disability. He participated in the second 
battle of Bull Run and at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and various 
minor engagements, and was in the Patent Office Hospital three 
months with typhoid fever. On his return he engaged in farming in 
Rome townshfp; then sold out and purchased a farm in Tioga county, 
N. Y., was there two years and then purchased tlie one he now occu- 
pies, about 100 acres, one-half being bottom-land, where he raises 
stock. He has a brick residence and elegant out-buildings; on the 
farm is one of the finest stone quarries in the State. He was married, 
in May, 1850, to Betsie Ann, daughter of Pardon Kenyon, and the 
issue of this union is one son, P. A. Towner, of Elmira. His wife 
died in October, 1851, and in July, 1863, he w^-^s married to Teresa, 
daughter of Theodore and Amanda (Fergurson) Gerould ; her father 
is a native of this county and her mother of Vermont; by this mar- 
riage are three children, viz. : Dora E., wife of W. S. Elsbree; Ida I., 
wife of Lucian Gooding, of Elmira. and Jerauld E. Mr. Towner is 
the originator of the celebrated Towner corn, a new and valuable 
variety of cereal, ripening in ninety days, and yielding enormousl}'. 
Mrs. Towner is a member of the Disciple Church; he is a member of 
Watkins Post, G. A. R., No. 68, and is past senior commander; also 
member of the I. O. O. F. Valley Lodge, of Sheshequin, and has 
passed all the chairs ; he has voted tlie Republican ticket since that 
party was organized. 

WASHINGTON TOWNER, farmer, Sheshequin, was born in 
Rome township, this county. May 3, 1826, and is a son of Enoch and 
Elizabeth (Moore) Towner. Enoch was the son of Elijah Towner, 
who came from New York to this county in 1793, when Enoch was 
fourteen years old, on a prospecting trip, and stopped with Gen. 
Spalding "in Sheshequin; Elijah returned for his family, leaving his 
son here, and located on the farm now owned by John S. Clark, in 
his log cabin, one of the earliest houses built in the neighborhood. 
Elijah had served in the Colonial army under Washington, and par- 
ticipated in twenty-seven battles; his family consisted of the following- 
children: Ezra, Enoch, John, Elijah, Abram, Gersham, Joseph, Ben- 
jamin, Olive (who married Russell Pratt), Elizabeth (married to George 
Billings) and Anna (deceased); his wife was Mary Knapp. The father, 
Enoch Towner, was born in New York, October 1, 1781, and lived in 
the county until his death, May 19, 1873, aged ninety-two; the mother 
was the daughter of James Moore, born July 12, 1791, and died in 1881 
in her ninetieth year. In their family were fourteen children — seven 
boys and seven girls— viz.: Laura, married to E. Whitney, and died in 
Rome, aged seventy-seven ; Philander, married to Clarissa Davidson, 
of Litchfield county. Pa., and died in Rome, aged seventy -seven ; 
Elvira, married to Owen Robinson, of Candor, N. Y.; Evalina, mar- 
ried to Philander Robinson, and died in Franklin, aged sixty; Martin, 



1232 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

married to Abigail Bidlack, of Sheshequin, Bradford Co., Pa.; Eunice, 
married to Orlando Chubbuck, of Streeter, 111.; 'Olive, to B. B. Ilollett, 
of Watkins, N. Y.; Alvin, married to Diana Andrews, of Candor, 
N. Y., and resides in Rome township; Dr. Enoch, married to Almira 
Rockwell, of Rome, Bradford Co., Pa., and died in Wilson, N. Y.; 
Mary, married to George Smith, of Potter Co., Pa.; Washington; 
Joseph, married to Theresa Gerould,of Rome, Bradford Co. Pa.; Helen, 
married to Almeron Spencer, of Reading, N. Y., and Clinton, who died in 
infancy. Washington's boyhood was s))ent on his father's farm, work- 
ing on the farm in summer and attending school, during the winter, 
when there was school ; his advantages were, therefore, in this respect, 
very limited, but in after years he secured a good business education ; 
he remained on his father's farm until his twenty-third year, and then 
secured sixty acres off the old homestead, and occupied that farm 
until 1868, when he removed to another, the old "Towner farm," in 
the immediate vicinity, which contained 100 acres, and w^as here twelve 
years, then went to Rome borough, keeping charge of his farm, and 
remained there seven years. He then bought the farm he no»v occu- 
pies, known as the Segar farm, but was originally owned by Josiah 
Marshall; this farm consists of forty-five acres, thirty-five acres being 
bottom-land; the buildings are capacious and modern; the farm is 
well-improved and makes one of the most beautiful homes. He was 
married, July 3, 1849, to Esther M., daughter of Harry L. and Electa 
(Allis) Parks, and they have had four children : Harry L., married to 
Emily Mead, and is now a physician at Athens; Malon L., married to 
Grace Kinney, of Rome borough; Carrie E., married to Vernon L. 
Beckwith, of Warren, and Flora M., married to Ward Watkins, of 
Sheshequin. Mr. Towner is a member of the I. O. O. F,, Rome Lodge, 
No. 480, and has passed all the degrees. The family are members of 
tiie Golden Cycle. Mrs. Towner is a member of the order of Provi- 
dence Sliield, Branch No. 17, Athens. In politics Mr. Towner is a 
Republican. His uncle, Joseph Towner, was among the early preachers 
of the county, a man of extraordinary power. The Towner famih^ 
are fine vocalists, and '-Uncle Joe" could both sing and preach for the 
wdiole conoregation. 

H. L. TOWNER, physician and surgeon, Athens, is a native of 
Rome township, Bradford Co., Pa., and was born May 4, 1850, a son 
of Wasiiington and Esther (Parks) Towner ; the former is a native of 
Rome, the latter of Orwell township, this county. The paternal 
great-grandfather, Elijah Towner, and the maternal great-grandfather 
were soldiers in the Revolutionar}' War. The father is a farmer and 
resides in Sheshequin township, this county. Dr. Towner, who is 
the eldest in a family of two boys and two girls, entered the Chicago 
Homeopathic College, in 1877, and began the practice of medicine in 
Athens, where he is still so engaged. He was married in Rome, this 
county, August 28, 1872, to Miss Ella, daughter of David and Sarah 
(Rudell) Newell, natives of this county (slie was the second in a family 
of six children, and was born in Sheshequin to\vnsliip, August 20, 1853, 
and died November 7, 1882), l)y which union were three children: 
Dana W., Mary A. and Carrie B. The Doctor was married, the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1233 

second time, March -4, 1883, to Miss Emma M., daughter of All)ert and 
Lucy M. (Taylor) Meade, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and 
the latter of Tioga county, N. Y. (she is the youngest in a family of 
three children, and was born in Tioga county, N. Y., May 18,1859). 
She is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Towner is a member 
of the F. & A. M., Rural xlmity Lodge, No. 70, and also of the Royal 
Arcanum, Queen Esther Lodge, No. 1153, and is medical examiner for 
the latter ; he is a Republican, and is a member of the school board. 
He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy. 

S. G. TOWNSEND, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. North Rome, 
was born in Sheshequin, this count}^ May 17, 1830, and is a son of 
Elijah and Sallie (Gore) Townsend, tlie former of whom was born in 
New York and came to this count}^ while yeta3^oung man, locating in 
Rome township, where he purchased timbered land containing 800 
acres, and for the greater portion of his life he followed lumbering and 
rafting; he had a family of eight children, asfolloAvs: Hannah Matilda, 
married to Selim Murphy, and has been dead several years; Henry, also 
deceased; Hezekiah has his third wife, and now resides in Idaho; Sarah, 
married to Enslie GiUett; Emeline, married to Henry Struble; Deborah, 
married to Austin VanAVinkle (since deceased), and is now living in 
Chautauqua county, N. Y.; S. G., subject of this sketch; Mary, mar- 
ried toRossiter Gillett. Mr. Townsend was born and reared on a farm, 
and educated in the common schools, which he attended until eighteen 
years old. On reaching his majority he purchased eighty -three acres, 
which he still owns, and began farming. In 18 — he went to Wiscon- 
sin, and worked in the pineries two years; from there moved to Minne- 
sota and pre-empted a quarter section of land. Returning to Brad- 
ford county, he was married in 18 — , then returned to Minnesota and 
took up his residence. While there he was elected to the office of jus- 
tice of the peace. In 1863 he was called home on account of an injury 
received by his father who was thrown from a wagon, which rendered 
him an invalid until his death. He at once took charge of his fathers 
affairs, and soon brought order and success out of considerable con- 
fusion. He now owns over 200 acres of splendid land; the present resi- 
dence, built in 1874, is an elegant modern farm house; he does an exten- 
sive lumbering and farming business, and his farm is well stocked. Mr. 
Townsend was united in marriage, in November, 18 — , with Elizabeth, 
daughter of Jonathan Ilockins, of Broome county, N. Y., and to them 
were born five children, as follows: Eddie, Oscar, Freddie and Jessie 
(all deceased); Eva, married to S. E. Bradley; and they have also an 
adopted daughter, Frankie. Mr. Townsend has always been remark- 
ably successful in his business enterprises, and besitles his large farm 
interests owns two houses and lots and three valuable vacant lots in 
Athens. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and holds the position of steward; is a Republican, and has held the 
office of justice of the ])eace two terms. Among the many successful 
farmers of this county, none stands higher in the respect of the com- 
munitv in which they live than Mr. Townsend. 

JULIUS TOZER (second), farmer, Athens township, P. O. 
Waverly, N. Y., was born in Athens township, this count}^, January 



r^iS-i HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

4, 1839, son of Joel M. and Elizabeth (Gross) Tozer, the former of 
whom was born in Athens, on the Chemung river, in 1806, and the 
latter in Bucks county, Pa. Joel Tozer was the son of Julius Tozer, 
who was a native of Connecticut, and removed from that State to a 
place called ''Falling Springs" on the Susquehanna river, in this 
State ; after a short stay he removed to Bradford county in 1791, 
locating on the Chemung river, north and west of Athens borotfgh. 
He pui'chased a farm of 150 acres in the wilderness, cleared a spot for 
his log house, and went on building and improving, and soon added 
2-tO to his first purchase, making nearly four hundred acres. He built 
a more commodious house out of hewed logs, of which there was an 
abundance, then built a modern frame building to accommodate his 
increasing family, which numbered thirteen, eleven of wiiom grew to 
maturity and lived to good old ages — Lucy living to be ninety years 
of age. Julius (first) died in 1852 in his eightieth year. Joel, the 
father of our subject, commenced life on his father's farm; he and his 
brother built a sawmill, which they operated several years, after which 
they sold the mill property and confined themselves to farming. He 
lived a life uneventful, and died July 3, 1879, in the seventy-fourth 
year of his age; his family consisted of eight children, six of whom 
orew to maturity and are living at the present. Julius (second) who 
is the second in the family, was reared and educated in Athens, and 
always worked on a farm at home. He married Miss Hattie Casada, 
by whom he had two children : Elizabeth and Julius, both living. He 
is an enterprising farmer, raising a mixed crop,' but giving some 
attention to tobacco. Mr. Tozer has the confidence of his fellow-citi- 
zens who elected him to the office of town commissioner; politically 
he is a Democrat. 

RALPH TOZER, proprietor of coal yard, Athens, is a native of 
Athens and was born November 9, 1829, a son of Guy and Welthin 
(Kmney) Tozer, the former a native of Athens and the latter of She- 
shequin township, this county. Guy Tozer was a farmer, a soldier of 
the War of 1812, and was elected sheriff of Bradford county in 1836 ; 
he died in Athens in 1877, in his seventN'-eighth year. Mrs. Guy Tozer 
died in 1868, in her sixty-seventh year. The grandfather, Col. Julius 
Tozer, was a Revolutionary vetei'an, raised a company from Athens 
and vicinity, was their captain in the War of 1812-14, and was wounded 
while in the service. Raij)h Tozer is the second in a family of eight 
children, of whom five are still living, and was reared on a farm. He 
clerked in a store several years; studied law and was admitted to the 
bar in this county about the year 1853, but did not practice his profes- 
sion. In 1855 he went down into the Lehig-h coal reijions. and was in 
the employ of Packer. Carter ct; Co. twelve years, beginning as book- 
keeper and when he left vvas superintendent of tlicir four mines; fi'om 
there he went to New York City, and was in the employ of G. B. Lin- 
derman tfe Co. nearly two years ; thence went to Towanda and was 
superintendent of the Schrader Manufacturing Company two years ; 
then moved to Memphis, Tenn., and was pai'tner in a wholesale grocery 
and cotton house two years. Ileturning to Wyoming X'alley, he 
started two general stores under the firm name of Tozer, Crane & 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1235 

Leonard, and remained there seven years; then went to Bethlehem, 
and organized a store in connection with the Bethlehem Iron Works, 
where he remained until 1883, when he returned to his native place and 
bought D. C. Gray's coal yard ; in June, 1884, the coal yard was burned. 
Tozer's coal yard now does a retail business of about 6,000 tons a year. 
Mr. Tozer was married in Athens, in 1853, to Miss Sarah, daughter of 
Samuel and Sarah (Bidlack) Ovenshire, natives of this county (she is 
the youngest in a family of seven children, and was born in Athens, in 
Julv, 1831). Mr. and Mrs. Tozer had born to them two children: 
Eafph F. (deceased) and Albert R. Mr. Tozer is a member of the 
F. & A. M., Rural Amitv Lodee, No. 70, and is a Democrat. 

ALBERT O. TRACY, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born 
March 15, 1829, on the farm where he now lives, a son of Bulkley and 
Bathsheba (Scott) Tracy, of East Haddam, Conn., who came to this 
county w^ith his father when a boy, in 1805. Nehemiah Tracy was a 
great-great-grandson of Mary Chilson, the first woman who put her 
foot on Plymouth Rock, at the landing of the Pilgrims; the family 
trace their'ancestry back to the year 965. Hugh Tracy, who was a 
sheriff of Gloucestershire in the time of Queen Elizabeth and James I., 
was one of the family. Our subject's grandfather was a major in the 
Revolutionary War, and served seven years; was a man of influence 
and many years a strong supporter of the Congregational Church, at 
East Smithfield. Mr. Tracy's mother, who resides with him, and is 
eighty -one years of age, is a member of the same church. In early 
life Mr. Tracy taught school many years; he is a member of the Free- 
masons, and has been secretary of many Lodges and Societies in this 
town ; is a Republican in politics and has held various offices of public 
trust. His mother's grandfather, William Scott, was a quarter-master 
in the War of the Revolution, and was probably one of the same 
family of Gen. Winfield Scott. 

CHARLES L. TRACY, president of the First National Bank, and 
a member of the firm of Humi)hrey Bros. & Tracy, Towanda, is a 
native of Bradford county, born January 30, 1845, and is the son of 
Guy and Ulilla (Hoyt) Tracy, natives of Bradford county and Con- 
nec*ticut, respectively. The father w^as a merchant, and for years was 
one of the leading prominent business men of the county, where he 
died in 1867, regretted by a wide circle of friends. His family was 
composed of one daughter and two sons, of whom Charles was the 
second, and who attended the public schools in his native place and 
then entered Fort Edward Institute, New York. Soon after leaving 
his school he sought and found employment as a clerk in the First 
National Bank of Towanda, where he remained five years ; he resigned 
this position to become one of the firm of Humphrey Bros. & Tracy, 
manufacturers of boots and shoes, an institution that is now one of 
the most important business concerns in the county, employing over 
one hundred operatives, their product being over 60,000 pairs of shoes 
annually, and in connection with their factory they carry on a large 
jobbing shoe trade. September 29, 1869, Charles L. Tracy was mar- 
ried to Eliza F.. daughter of Hon. Judson HolcomI), who for many 
years was Index clerk H. R. IJ. S., Washington, I>. C, and editor and 



1230 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUJSiTY. 

one of the proprietors of the Bradford Repuhlican. Of this marriage 
are the following children : Ulilla H., Clara M., Charles H. and Fan- 
nie Louise. The subject of this sketch is a member of the Universal- 
ist Church, of which he is a trustee; he is a thirty-second degree Mason; 
riepublican in politics; and his steps in the bank have been clerk, 
director, vice-president, up to president, a position which he now holds. 

HON. ELIJAH G. TRACY, M. D.,a prominent physician of Troy, 
was born in Smithfield township, this county, May 30, 1S25, and is a 
son of Orramel and Cynthia (Kellogg) Tracv, whose ancestors were of 
Puritan stock, having come over in the "Mayflower," in 1620. The 
paternal grandparents, Nehemiah and Lucy (Olmstead) Trac}?^, were 
natives of East Haddam, Conn., and settled in Bradford county in 
1805. locating in Smithfield township, where they cleared and improved 
a farm, on which they lived and died, the grandfather dying in 1816; 
they reared a family of seven children, viz.: Olmstead, Orramel, Aro- 
bul!, Bulklev, James G., Elijah S. and Sally L., of whom Orramel was 
born in East Haddam, Conn., in 1793, came to Smithfield with his 
parents in 1805, and, on attaining his majority, cleared a farm of 130 
acres, on Avliich he resided until his death, in 1857; his wife was a 
(Uiughter of Samuel and Sarah (Pierce) Kellogg, of Smitlifield town- 
ship, formerly of Poultney, Yt., by whom he had seven chiklren, who 
grew to maturity: Cai-oline (Mrs. A. Mott), Elijah G., Alonzo, Ann E. 
(Mrs. Emor F. Wood), Alanson C, Chapin and Edward G. Subject 
was reared in Smithfield township, educated at Genesee Wesleyan 
Seminary, Lima, N. Y,, began the study of medicine, in 1850, with 
Dr. Daniel Holmes, of Smithfield, and entered the Medical Department 
of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in 1853. In the 
fall of same year, he began the practice of his profession at Windham, 
this county, later carried it on in Lycoming county, and in the fall of 
1855 he located in Sylvania, this county, where he remained twenty- 
one years; in 1876, he removed to Troy, where he has been in active 
practice since. The Doctor -was married, October 26, 1856, to Juliette, 
a daughter of David L. and Clarissa (Baldwin) Smith, of Sylvania. 
Dr. Tracy is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Sylvania, which 
he was lai'gely instrumental in building; his uncle, Bulklev, and grand- 
father were members of the Congregational Church of Smithfield, his 
grandfather having erected the first Congregational Church in that 
township, and his uncle, Bulklev, tlie second, on the site of the old one; 
each died within a year after their respective churches were erected; the 
Doctor left Sylvania before the Presbyterian Church of that place was 
completed, thus avoiding the fate of his forefathers. Dr. Tracy is a 
member of the Bradford County Medical Society and the American 
Medical Association. He is a Sir Knight Templar. Politically he is 
a stanch Republican, and was a member of the State Legislature in 
1875-76. 

GEORGE P. TRACY, M. D., Monroeton, was born in Towanda 
l)orougii, this county, April 18, 1827, a son of George and Hannah M. 
(liidgway) Tracy. Ilispatei-nal grandparents were Solomon and Mary 
(Wells) Tracy, of whom the former was boi-n at Preston, Conn., June 
1, 1756, the second son of Isaac and Mehitable (Ford) Tracy. Isaac 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 1237 

Tracy was a son of Francis Tracy, who was a son of Jonathan and 
Mary (Griswold) Tracy, Jonathan being a son of Lieut. Thomas Tracy, 
born in 16l(», a native of Tewkesbury, England, who immigrated to 
Salem, Mass., in 1636; in 1645 he moved to Saybrook, Conn.; then in 
1660 to Norwich, Conn., where he died, November Y, 1685. Solomon 
Tracy, paternal grandfather of our subject, was a soldier of the Revo- 
lutionary War, and one of the earliest pioneers of the county, having 
settled in Ulster, this county, in 1790, where he had, in 1788, purchased 
400 acres of land under the Connecticut title, and here he resided until 
1809, when he removed to Angelica, Allegany Co., JST. Y.; he died in 
Canandaigua, N. Y., April 4, 1835; his widow died in Standing Stone, 
this county, November 22, 1848. Their children were: Mehitable 
(Mrs. Solomon Rawson), Charlotte (Mrs. Oliver Moore), Catherine 
(Mrs. Zebadiah Nobles), Hila (Mrs. Jonathan Nobles), Ira, George, 
Leicester, Isaac, Guy and Henry W. Of these, George was born in 
Ulster townsiiip, this count v, April 11, 1797, and removed with his 
father to Angehca, N. Y., in 1809. In 1824 or 1825 he bought back 
the old homestead in Ulster at sheriff's sale, but sold it the same year, 
and located in Towanda, where he engaged in mercantile business, and 
resided until 1832, when he removed to Monroeton, where he carried on 
mercantile business up to 1840. He was a justice of the peace for 
many years, and in 1850 \vas appointed associate judge of Bradford 
county by Governor William F. Johnston. George Tracy died June 
3, 1877. His wife was a daughter of Burr and Alice (Coolbaugh) 
Ridgway, early and prominent settlers of Br-adford county (of whom 
mention is made elsewhere), and by her he had children,' as follows: 
George P., Henry C. and Burr R. " 

George P. Tracy, the subject proper of this sketch, was reared in 
Monroeton, and received an academic education. In 1851 he engaged 
in railroad enterprise in Ohio, as book-keeper and general overseer on 
sections 24, 25 and 26 of the Steuben ville & Indiana Railroad, and in 
1854 he applied for, obtained and finished a contract for a portion of 
the Chartiers Valley Railroad, runnmg from Pittsburgh to Washing- 
ton, Pa. In 1816 he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. J. M. 
Goodrich, and later studied with Dr. D. N. Newton, of Towanda, and 
graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in March, 1859. 
In 1862 he was appointed, by Governor Curtin, assistant surgeon of the 
Ninetieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volimteers, and was promoted 
and commissioned surgeon of the Forty-Sixth P. V. I., June 8, 1863. 
On July 1, 1863. he was taken prisoner at Gettysl)urg, but was paroled 
on the spot, which parole, however, the Government did not recog- 
nize, and he was ordered to resume the duties of his command. On 
July 4 he was mustered into the Forty-sixth P. V. I. as its surgeon 
and chief medical officer, which position he filled until the close of the 
war. He then engaged in the practice of his profession at Burlington 
until April, 1886, when he retired from active practice, and has since 
resided in Monroeton. On March 26, 1868, the Doctor was married 
to Ann W. (Larsen) Lomax, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Larsen, 
and widow of William Lomax, of Philadelphia, and by her he had two 
children : Hannah M. (Mrs. Lodell I). Burns) and Larsen. Dr. Tracy 

73 



1238 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

is a member of Bradford County Medical Society, to which he became 
attached in 1860. 

HENRY C. TRACY, Monroeton, is a native of Towanda, Pa., 
born April 8, 1829, a son of George and Hannah M. (Ridgway) Tracy. 
He was reared in Monroeton from three years of age, and educated 
in the common schools. In 1857 he embarked in the mercantile 
business at Monroeton, at which he successfully continued, off 
and on, for twenty years, and has been interested in a general 
store in New Albany since 1870. He married, in 1858, Harriet S., 
daughter of Lyman and Samantiia (Preston) Dodge, of As3^1um town- 
ship, and has one daughter, Eugenia (Mrs. Jolm L. Rockwell). Mr. 
Tracy is a member of the E. & A. M. and is a Royal Arch Mason. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

HON. HENRY W. TRACY (deceased) was born in Ulster town- 
ship, this county, September 24, 1807, a son of Solomon Tracy, who 
was born in Litchfield county. Conn., June 1, 1756, and left home 
when but a young man, going to a place called " Drowned Lands," 
in Oswego county, N. Y., and from tliere he went to Lackawanna. 
He was a soldier in the French-Indian War, and came to Wyoming, 
whence he moved to Ulster, where he arrived in 1789. In 1809 he 
removed to Angelica, N. Y., and lived with his son, Ira Trac}'', near 
Canandaigua, dying April 4, 1835. He had married Mary Wells, who 
was born in Southold, L. I.; she was a sister of Gen. Henry Wells, 
for whom Wellsburg, N. Y., and Wells township, this county, were 
named ; she died November 22, 1848, leaving ten chiltlren, as follows: 
Mehitable Rawson, born October 19, 1789 ; Charlotte, born October 
24, 1791, wife of Oliver Moore ; Catherine, born November 3, 1793 ; 
Ira, born March 25,1795; George, born April 11, 1797; Hila. born 
Mav 3, 1799, wife of J. Nobles; Leister, born April 3,1801; Isaac, 
born October 30, 1803; Guy, born October 14, 1805, and Henry W. 
Tracy. The last named was educated in the Angelica Seminary, in 
Allegany county, N. Y., and studied law in the office of Aaron Burr, 
and then came to Standing Stone and engaged in business with his 
brother, George Tracy, in 1830, under the firm name of Tracy Broth- 
ers, dealers in general merchandise, who carted their goods from 
Rochester and Owego. They had a lumber yard in Havre de Grace. 
He purchased liis bi-otiier's interest in the business, in 1S39, and formed 
a partnership with II. P. Moore, undei- the firm name of Trac}'^ & 
^.looi'e, dealers in general merchandise, Towanda, but they were 
burned out in 1868. He was also in pai'tnership with Judson Holcoml) 
in a store in Rome, Pa.; he dealt largely in real estate, and owned at 
his death 1,000 acres; he built his house in 1833, and two of the 
largest barns in the township. He married, December 5, 1833, Emma, 
daughter of Elisha and Sarah (Myer) Reed (she was the third of eight 
cliildi'en, a native of Dutchess county. N. Y.); she died IMarch 26. 1847, 
ami Ml'. Tracy nuiri'ied. June 30. 1870, Emma T., daughter of John 
C. and Jane A. (lieed) Wells, and who is now the only surviving mem- 
ber of her family. There were by this marriage two childi'en : Ileni-y 
W., Jr., born October 4, 1874, and Jennie, born April 4, 1871, wife of 
E. W. Hale, Jr. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 123'J 

Henry W. Tracy died full of years and honors, his great wealth 
equaled by the esteem and confidence of his feilow-nian. Prominent 
many years in all public affairs, and in his private business a man of 
large affairs, yet he served his neighbors well in the Legislature in 
1861-62; soon thereafter he was a member of the XXXVlIIth Con- 
gress. In 1S66 he was Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, was one of 
the influential delegates to the Kepublican National Convention, Chi- 
cago, in 1860. and was one of the first to advocate Abraham Lincoln of 
that 'strong Pennsylvania delegation that did so much finally for his 
nomination. He passed from earth April 11, 1886. 

JAMES G. TRACY, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born m East 
Haddara, Conn., February 17, 1802, and came to Smithfield township, 
this county, with his parents, ^ehemiah and Lucy (Olmstead) Tracy, in 
1805. This family trace their genealogy directly back to Mary Chil- 
son, who came over in the "Mayflower/' and was the first woman to 
land on Plymouth Rock. John Tracy married Mary Winslow, a 
daughter of' Marv Chilson. Our subject's father was a great-grand- 
son of this celebrated woman, and a man of influence. The family 
united with the Congregational Church at Smithfield, in 1810, of 
which he was a strong supporter. James G. Tracy married, in 1828, 
Louisa Childs, and to them were born four children, two of whom are 
living, as follows: Harriet, wife of W. H. Carpenter, and Edwin P., 
born November 23, 1834, is a bachelor and now owns and manages 
the farm, also operates a saw and grist mill on his farm. Mr. Tracy 
was a Federalist, then a Whig, and afterward a Republican from the 
formation of the party. He has always been an active and consistent 
member of the Congregational Church at East Smithfield, and is one 
of the most interesting men of the town, being now in his ninetieth 
year, and still bright and active, mentally and physically. His mind 
IS well-stored with historical reminiscences. His father. Nehemiah, 
was a Revolutionary soldier, as were two of his brothers; they were in 
the Light Horse Cavalrv. 

WILLIAM TRACY, farmer, P. O. Hoblet, was born January 13, 
1824, in Smithfield, this countv, near where he now resides, a son of 
James O. and Anna (Watkins),'Tracy, the former of whom was reared 
at East Haddam, Conn., and came to Smithfield when fourteen years 
of age with his parents in 1805; he died in February, 1870, aged 
eighty years; he was a man of influence, a Whig and Republican, 
strong in politics, and a faithful Christian. The mother's family were 
among the earlv settlers of the tow^n ; she died in June, 1872, at the 
age of eighty.' The grandfather, Nehemiah Tracy, was a direct 
descendant of Mary Chilson, one of the "Mayflower Pilgrims;" he 
died at the age of sixty -three. The subject of this memoir is fourth in 
a family of twelve children, eleven of whom are now living. He was 
married, February 28, 1849, to Harriet M., the eldest of four children 
of Albert and Cvnthia M. (Sargent) Leonard, of Springfield; she was 
born October 7', 1827. The Leonards were the first settlers in the 
townshii> of Springfield. Grandfather Leonard was a soldier in the 
Revolution. Her father died at the age of eighty -one, and her mother 
at seventy-two years. To Mr. and Mrs. Tracy were born three 



I'-i-iO HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

children, two of whom are living: Myrr T., born July 29, 1853, 
married to Emma Wood; and Edwarcf P., born December 7, 1858, 
married to Ida Moody. Mr. Tracy is a strong Republican, and has 
been an active man in the affairs of the township, holding the offices 
of school director, auditor and commissioner and other positions of 
public trust; he and his wife are members of the Congregational 
Church, and he is a member of the F. & A. M. He owns one farm of 
about 120 acres of fine land, and is respected by all. 

J. HENRY TRIPPE (deceased) was a native of Tyrone, N. Y., 
born April 3, 1839, a son of William and Clarissa (Palmer) Trippe, 
natives of New York. He was the eldest in a family of three children, 
was reared in his native place, and learned the miller's trade, which 
he followed at Centre Village, N. Y., until 1865, when he purchased 
a general store there which he carried on until the winter of 1869 ; 
then sold out and removed to Canton in the spring of 1870; then 
engaged in the hardware business with Theodore Pierce, under the firm 
name of Pierce & Trippe. At the end of two years the firm was 
changed to Pierce, Trippe tt Pierce. Mr. Trippe sold his interest in 
November, 1878, and again engaged in the hardware business by him- 
self, which is still carried on by the sons. He was married, December 
31, 1862, at Centre Village, N. Y., to Florence V., daughter of James 
M. and Sarah A. (Watrous) Marshall, natives of Broome county, N. Y. 
James M. Marshall, a farmer, was born April 21, 1816, and died in liis 
native place, Centre Village, October 30, 1882. Mrs. Marshall still 
survives him and resides at Centre Village. Mrs. Trippe is the second 
in order of birth in a family of three children, and was born near 
Centre Vdlage, l^roome Co., N. Y., September 14, 1843. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Trippe were born four children : Grace A. (deceased); James L. 
(deceased); William M. and Fred II. J. Henry Trippe died September 
30, 1885, a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church ; he was a 
member of the I. (). O. F. The following is taken from the Canton 
Sentinel: "As a business man ]\Ir. Ti'ippe wasone of the best. In his 
knowledge of men, and in adapting himself to their needs, in forming 
friendships, and in retaining friends he had rare power, i^s a citizen he 
sought the moral and spiritual welfare of the community. He had the 
wisdom to see that whatever promoted these interests caused the 
town and its homes to prosper. As a Christian he has cheered the 
hearts of his l)rethren by his earnest and wise words, his ardent prayers 
and hoi)eful spirit, by beai'ing disagreeable duties and by filling places 
of trust with credit to himself and great good to the church of which 
he was for ten years a member." Mrs. Trippe is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

J. C. TURNER, farmer, (Janton townshi]), P. O. Canton, is a 
native of Canton township, this county, and was born October 14, 
1828; his parents were Jolin and Lida (Sellard) Turner, nniives of 
County Armagh, Ii-eland, and Bradford county, respectivelv. -lohn 
Turner was a son of Francis Turner, a shoemaker by trade, who Jilso 
followed farming; he emigrated from Ireland to Quebec, in 1821, 
remained there a short time, then located in Philadelphia; he resided 
there until 1826, when he removed to Canton township, where he died, 



HISTORY OF RRADFORD COUNTY. l^i-il 

in ISOG, in his sixty-sixth year. Mrs. Turner was born in 1813, and 
still survives her liusbantL Mr. Turner's maternal grandfather, 
Stephen Sellard, was a soldier in the War of 1812. J. C. Turner, the 
subject of the sketch, who is the eldest in order of birth in a family of 
five livino- children, received his education in the common schools, 
learned the shoemaker's trade, which he carried on until 1851, when 
he went to California, and followed mining there until 1854. Returning 
to Canton in 1855, he engaged in the boot and shoe business, and fol- 
lowed that until 1861. He enlisted, August 27, 1861, in Company D, 
One Hundred and Sixth P. V. I.; he was in active service, taking part 
in the following: the battle of Fair Oaks, and Siege of Yorktown and 
Fredericksburg; he was mustered out at Washington, D. C.,on account 
of disability, March 3, 1863, and returned home, where he farmed five 
years; then sold his farm, on account of his health, and in 1875 
removed to San Bernardino county, Cal., purchased a small farm, and 
remained there about nine years; he then returned to Canton town- 
ship, where he has been farming and in the dairy business. He was 
married in Canton, in 1857, to Julia, daughter of Lewis and Maria 
(Taber) Wheat, natives of Canton township (she is the eldest of four 
living children, and was born in Canton township, June 21, 1838). Mr. 
Turner is a member of the G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91, and in 
politics he is a Republican. 

HON. EDMUND M. TUTON, merchant, Bentley Creek, was born 
in County Down, Ireland, near the city of Belfast, October 16, 181:1, 
a son of George and Christine (Longwell) Tuton, natives of the above 
place. The father was a blacksmith. His parents were of Scotch- 
Irish origin, and were professors of the Quaker religion. The family 
removed to America when Edmund M. was one year old. They 
remained a time at Troy, N. Y., and then removed to Bradford county, 
and, in 1855, settled in Ridgebury, where they were farmers. Subject, 
in 1863, enlisted and served as a private soldier in Company E, Tenth 
New York Cavalry, until the close of the war. On his return home 
he attended school for nearly two years, and then, in 1868, engaged in 
mercancile business, and, in 1876, he embarked in business for him- 
self, under the firm name of Craig & Tuton. The firm has been very 
prosperous, and now conducts probably the largest business of the 
kind in the township. Mr. Tuton is a Republican, and is popular with 
his party. In the fall of 1886 he was elected to the State Legislature, 
and was in the House two years. He is a member of the G. A. R., 
I. O. O. F. and Order of Knights Templar. Mr. Tuton was married, 
January 8, 1871, to Miss Eva Robinson, by whom he has five children, 
as follows: Fannie, Frederick, John C, Harriet and Christine. He is 
one of the most genial and progressive men in the township, and is 
much respected bv a large circle of friends. 

JOSEPH W.^ TUTTLE, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. Allis 
Hollow, was born in Standing Stone, this county, January 8, 1842, and 
is a son of Harvey and Margaret (Mingle) ' Tuttle, pioneers, who 
resided the greater portion of their lives at the lower end of " Red 
Rocks." The Mingles came to Standing Stone in 1825. The father 
was one of a family of five children. There were seven children in 



1342 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the father's family, viz.: John P., M. C. Alfred, Joseph W., Francis 
M. (married to F. M. Brown), Jane R. (married to Frederick Brooks) 
and M. L. The mother died when Joseph W. was eight 3^ ears old, and 
from that time until his majority his home was with Capt. Isaac Parks, 
of Ilerrick township. He received the usual school privileges of the 
time, and secured a good education. After reaching his majority he 
went to Mahonmg county, Ohio, where he worked at farming for a 
short time, and October 21, 1863, he enlisted in the Twelfth Ohio 
Cavalry. On April 19, 1865, while on a scout with four comrades, he 
was captured. He participated in the battles of Mt. Sterling, and 
Cynthiana, K3^, and many others, where he was under constant fire 
four days; then was in two raids to capture King's Salt Works, the 
last of which was successful; then went across Broad Mountain and 
and along the line of the North Carolina Central Railroad. He was 
mustered out at Camp Chase, Ohio, under General Order No. 77, and 
went to Mahoning count>% where he resided until 1868; he then 
returned to Orwell. Mr. Tuttle was united in wedlock, November 1, 
1871, with Sarah L\^ons. [See sketch of Isaac Lyons.] Mr. and Mrs. 
Tuttle have had one child, Don Isaac Lee, born August 16, 1879. The 
family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a mem- 
ber of the I. O. O. F., and of the F. & A. M.; is also a member of 
Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R.; he is a Republican, and has been 
school director several years. He now resides on the farm of his 
wife's father, Isaac Lyons. But few command more respect than he 
and his excellent wife. 

WILLIAM UNDERWOOD, farmer, P. O. Greene's Landing, was 
born in Spencer, Tioga Co., N. Y., March 22, 1835, a son of James 
and Delilah (Crum) Underwood, the former born in Vermont, the 
latter in New York. The father of James was a Revolutionary 
soldier, and a native of Vermont. William Ci-um, grandfather of 
William Underwood, was a soldier in the War of 1812. James, the 
father of subject, removed from Vermont to New York State about 
181 1, coming to this county in 1839, and locating near Greene's Landing, 
where he passed the remainder of liis days; he died in 1852 in the 
fifty-fifth year of his age; his family consisted of three children — two 
sons and one daughter. William Underwood, whose name opens this 
sketch, is the eldest in the family, and always worked on a farm. At 
the age of twenty-seven, in September, 1861, he married Miss Agnes, 
daughter of Edward and Agnes McMorran, of Greene's Landing, by 
wliich union there were four children born: James, Mary, Ellen 
and William, two of whom grew to maturitv, one now living, James, 
married to Miss Emma, daughter of George and Elizabeth Page. Mr. 
Underwood is an enterprising farmer, residing on a well-cultivated 
farm of 150 acres, on which he has lived fifty-two years; his farm is 
adapted to grain-raising and butter-making. His mother is still living 
at the age of eiglit3'-three years. He is a RepiUjlican, and has held 
the office of town commissioner; he is a member of the Knights of 
Ilonoi". 

LEVI W. UPIIAM, farmer. Pike township, P. O. Neath, was born 
in Rome, Pa., November 2, 1837, son of Cyrus and Elizabeth (Thatcher) 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COU^'^TY. 1243 

Upliam, the former ;i native of Massachusetts, llie latter of Home, I*a. 
L. W. was adopted at an early age by an uncle living in Dudley, Mas- 
sachusetts, where he was educated, and began teactiing at eighteen, 
and taught Mve years. He enlisted in September. 18(51, in Company 
D, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, participated in all the raids 
and skirmishes of his regiment in North (yarolina, including the follow- 
ing engagements : New Berne, Roanoke Island, Beaufort, Whitehall, 
Kingston, Gum Swamp, Tar-Borough, and (loldsboro Bridge, also Ber- 
nuuhi Hundred, several fights at Petei'sburg and at Drury's Bluff, 
where he was wounded. He s|)ent a short time in hos[)ital, and was 
then detailed as ordnance clerk of the military post at Point Lookout, 
Md., and was mustered out July 13, 1865, at Boston, Mass., then came 
to Pike, where he engaged in farming. lie married Catharine Thomas, 
a daughter of John and (Twennie (Williams) Thomas, natives of Wales; 
her parents came to Pike in 1831. This happy union has been blessed 
with the following children: Mary, Carrie, Walter, Katie and John. 
Mr. Upham and two eldest daughters are members of the Congrega- 
tional Church at Neath, and Mrs. Upham of the Baptist Church at 
Warren Centre. He is a member of the G. A. E., Spalding Post, No, 
33, and is a Republican in politics. 

WILLIAM UPSON, farmer and stock-grower, Orwell township, 
P. O. Orwell, was born in Burlington, Conn., February 2, 1848, a son 
of Charles H. and Amanda (Humphrey) Upson, the former of whom 
was born in Wolcott, Conn., June 4, 1809, was a currier and trainer, 
and came from Connecticut in a lumber wagon in 1848, settling in 
Orwell township, and he died of heart failure June 7, 1SS8 ; the latter 
was born in 1811, and died Api-il 10, 1884. Thev were married in 
1832, and had a family of eleven children (eight born in Connecticut), 
viz. : Washington, Henry (deceased), Charles (who was in the army 
and died in a Southern hospital), Mar\' (married to W. D. Chaffee, 
of Potterville), Caroline (deceased wife of L. A. Darling), Rhoda (mar- 
ried to J. D. Cook, of Nebraska), Amanda M. (married to J. D. Cook, 
and after her decease he married her sister, Rhoda), Cyrus (wdio was a 
member of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry and tlied in the Alexan- 
dria Hospital), William, Theodore (deceased), Marcus H. (in Connecti- 
cut). William Ujison was reared in Orwell township and educated in 
the common schools, and Albion College, Michigan, When aged 
twenty he left home and went to Connecticut, where he remained 
about two years, and then to Michigan, where he attended school for a 
time, and became a traveling salesman. He returned to Connecticut 
and farmed three years; October 16, 18T3, he was married to Adella 
J. Russell, of Connecticut, and had four children: the first died in 
infancy, Russell M., Adella May and Charles AV. His wife died 
December 29. 1885, and he was married, the second time, March 29, 
1888, to Perintha Payson, daughter of J. W. and Elizabeth (Alger) 
Payson. Her father was a son of Nathan Payson, who came a pioneer 
to this county in 1810; her mother was a daughter of Elijah and 
Martha (Kennedy) Alger, who came to Bradford county in 1819, and 
were among the hardy set wdio stripped the hill-sides of the primitive 
forests. Mr. and Mrs. Payson were married April 14, 1850, and, with 



1244 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the exception of eleven years spent on Orwell Hill, passed their entire 
lives on their farm, and had a family of three children, viz.: Perintha; 
Martha, married to J. W. Ford, of Orwell, and William G., died, aged 
four. J\f r. Payson died July 20, 1882, but Mrs. Payson survives. Mr. 
Upson has 170 acres of line farm land, well stocked with cattle, sheep 
and horses, and he has a dairy. The family are members of the Pres- 
byterian Church ; he is a Republican, has held various town offices, 
and is at present road commissioner. 

JOHN B. VANDEMAPtK, merchant and butcher. Sugar Run, 
was born in Wilmot, this county, July 23, 1861, and is the eldest of 
the three children of Stephen D. and Polly (Brown) Yandemark, the 
former a native of New York, born of English and Dutch descent, 
the latter a native of Pennsylvania, of New England origin. He 
began life for himself at the age of twenty-six, in the butcher's busi- 
ness, and January 1, 1890, he opened a grocery store in Sugar Run, 
Avhere he is now engaged in business; he also continues the meat mar- 
ket; in the fall of 1890 he shipped more game than any other dealer 
in Pennsylvania. Mr. Yandemark was married, August 20, 1887, to 
Miss Mary, daughter of Albert D. ajid Alice (Bartram) Hoag, of 
Sharon, Conn. They have three children: Loran, born Jul}'- 14, 
1888, Alice, born February 11, 1890, and S. Franklin, born August 29, 
1891. Mr. Yandemark is a member of the I. O. O. F., Clauson Lodge, 
Sugar Run, No. 920, and in politics he is a Republican. 

DANIEL YANDERPOOL, farmer, of Terry township, P. O. 
Marsh Yiew, was born March 10, 1840, and was reared and educated 
in the township. He is a son of Samuel and Nancy (Yanderpool) 
Yanderpool, the former born in Towanda, and the latter in Moni-oe, 
this county. Samuel is the son of Richard, who was also born in 
Monroe, and Richard is the son of Anthonv, who was descended from 
a German who immigrated to this country. Anthony was a mill- 
wright b}' trade, and it is said built the first gristmill in the countv. 
He had a family of eight children, one of whom is now living at the 
advanced age of eighty-six years. Richard was a farmer and resided 
in Towanda township until fifty years of age, when he came to Terrv, 
where he resided until liis death, at the age of sixty-five years. Sam- 
uel was also a farmer, and manufactured lumber to some extent, and 
proved more successful than his progenitors ; he cleared and improved 
a neat farm of fifty acres; his family consisted of thirteen children, by 
two marriages, eight of whom grew to maturit\^ Daniel was the 
third, and is al^o a successful farmer, having in his own name and 
right two hundred and ten acres, in two farms ; he is a general farmer, 
but giv^es prefarence to hay making. At the age of twenty-one, June 
12, 1801, he married Miss liebecca, daughter of Cornelius and Delight 
Yanderpool, and they have had thirteen children, eight of whom 
are now living, viz.: Chester, P'rank, Louisa, Lewis, Martin, Norman 
H., Nellie and IMinor. He is a member of tlie P. of L 

NELSON A^ANDERPOOL, farmer, Terry township, P. O. Marsh 
Yiew, was born in Terry township, this county, February 12, 1827, a 
son of Henry and Esther (Yincent) Yanderpool, both of" whom came 
from New York aiul are supposed to have been natives of that State. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1245 

The father is the son of Aiithonv Vanderpool, a native of Holland, 
who came to this county when a young man ; was a man of genius, 
and made all kinds of musical instruments ; he was a mechanic, and 
built a mill, the first in the county, located near Hale's mill, Towanda ; 
his life was an eventful one, and he died at the advanced age of one 
hundred years, after having reared a famdy of nine children. Henry, 
his son, was not as enterprising. He married Esther Vincent, and 
began life near Terrytown, on the Susquehanna river, as a shingle 
maker, but made no effort in agricultural pursuits ; he died in 1871, 
at seventy years of age. Nelson Vanderpool was reared and educated 
in Terry' township, this county, and is a wide-awake farmer, having 
bought "the land on which his "father located, and to which he had no 
title; but which, under his watchful eye and strong arm, became a 
productive farm. At the age of twenty-two, Nelson Vanderpool 
was married to Miss Sarah, daughter of Charles and Sally O'Connor, 
and there were born to tliem two daughters: Eunice, married to 
Warren Hall, a farmer of means, and Permelia (deceased). Mr. Van- 
derpool is much respected by the people, and was honored by being- 
given the position of road commissioner, an office he filled satisfacto- 
rily ; has also been school director. In 1801 he showed his patriotism 
by enlisting in Company A, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., 
and defending his country in time of danger ; he served until the close 
of the war, was honorably discharged, and now draws a pension. His 
daughter, Mrs. Eunice Hall, owns the farm above referred to, 

CtEOKGE H. VANDYKE, ex-county commissioner, Ulster, and a 
leading farmer, was born in Bradford county. Pa., August 27, 1819, and 
has lived all his life in Ulster townshij>. In 1845 he began farming, but 
continued to saw and raft lumber until 1869, since which year he has 
devoted his time entirely to farming and dairying ; he owns 160 acres 
of fine river land, well improved and under a high state of cultivation, 
and keeps a dairy of not less than twelve cows. His early education 
was received in the common schools of his day, -when the children 
walked five or six miles through the woods to a round log school-house ; 
in going to and returning from school the children would frequently 
have to run nearly ail the way to keep from being late. His parents 
being poor, he was compelled to labor hard on the farm, and so his edu- 
cational privileges were limited to three months in the yeai", for about 
four years. He accumulated his first property by the lumber business, 
in which he was successful. In 1815, he was united in marriage with 
Caroline Hutchinson; by this marriage there were two cliildren, viz.: 
William, who died April 4, 1888, and Henrietta, wife of C. Fergurson, 
of Elmira, N. Y. In June, 1865, his wife died, and in September, 1868, 
he was married to Lizzie, daughter of William and Mary'Willie, 
natives of AVest Virginia ; there were no children by this marriage; 
his second wife died in January, 1870, and on December 25, 1874, 
Mr. Vandyke was married (the third time) to Mary Esby, daughter of 
John Taylor, and she died in February, 1878 ; the fruit of this marriage 
was two children : James, who died December 31, 1881, and Frank. 
Mr. Vandyke has for many years been a member of and earnest worker 
in the Presbyterian Church, holding the position of .elder; in politics 



1240 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

he has always been a Democrat, casting his first vote for Martin Van- 
I>ui'en; he now holds the office of county commissioner, being on his 
second term; has held the office of justice of the peace for more than 
twenty years; and has also held various other township offices. His 
father's family consisted of seven children, of whom he is the fourth, 
all of whom are in Ulster township. Mr. Vandyke has always been 
successful in his business, having secured an ample competence entirely 
through his own endeavors, and of the many excellent farmers of the 
county none stand fairer among all people. 

JAMES YAISTDYKE, farmer and stock-grower, Towanda, was 
born in Northumberland county, Pa,, January 13, 1816, a son of 
William and Susan (Daugherty) Vandyke. His father's family con- 
sisted of seven children, five of whom survive, all residents of this 
county and Ulster township. Mary Ann, the only daughter, is the 
wife of John Gillmore. William Vandyke came to this county in 1816, 
and located in Towanda, shortly afterward purchasing the property 
known as " Hale's mill," and afterward moved on to the farm now 
owned by Davis, where he died, aged seventy-eight. Our subject 
received his education in the Ulster schools, at a tender age, securing 
a fair education, for the time. His father having purchased a large 
tract of land covered with pine forests, James and his brother George, 
together, erected sawmills, sawed the lumber on the farm and rafted 
it down the river to Port Deposit. In 1859 he retired, having 
purchased the farm he now occupies in 1845; then it was deep woods, 
but it is now one of the finest farms in the county, containing 160 
acres well-improved, and, with the exception of about twenty acres of 
wood-land, is under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Vandyke was 
married, February 4, 1858, to Frances, tlaughter of Henry Tieitzel, of 
J^ancaster county. Pa.; they have no children. Mr. Vandyke is one 
of the most successful men in the county ; has secured a competence 
through his own exertions, and is surrounded with all the comforts of 
life. He is a Democrat in politics. 

J. P. VAN FLEET, deputy county sheriff, Towanda, is a native 
of New York City, and was born Juh^ 23, 1830. His parents were Sam- 
uel C. and Deborah (Denton) Van Fleet, natives of Orange county, 
N. Y. In early life his father worked at the cooi)er's trade, and later at 
farming. He moved to LeRoy township, this count}'^, in December, 1837, 
and died here in September, 1873, in his sevent^^-first 3'ear. Mrs. Debo- 
rah Van Fleet was born in 1807, and died in Towanda, December 29, 
1881. Our subject is the eldest of two sons, and was reared on the 
farm. Shortly after he became of age he suffered from a white swelling 
so much that iiis leg had to be amputated, in 1854. He then set about 
preparing himself for some other business. The opportunities for 
ac(piiring an education in tlu^se days were limited, but he attended 
private or subscri))tion school for some time, and tlien taught five 
terms of public school and one term of subscription school. He was 
married in Leiloy township, in February, 1862, to Miss Sarah A. Ing- 
ham, daughter of David and Hannah Ingham, natives of England. 
]\[i-s. \'an Fleet is the fifth in a family of seven children, and was born 
in Monroe township, in 1839. To Mr. and Mrs. Yan Fleet were born 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1247 

three children : tiie youngest died in infancy, Fannie (deceased) and 
J. Monroe. Mr. \"an Fleet moved to Towanda in December, 1863, as 
deputy sheriff under J. Monroe Smith. In 1865 he was elected county 
treasurer. In 1869 he was elected sheriff of Bi-adford county, and has 
been connected with the office since, except three years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Van Fleet are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a 
member of the I. O. O. F., No. 167, and of the Encampment, also of 
the K. of P., and in politics is a Republican. 

DANIEL VAN GORDER, was born in New Jersey, January 10, 
1812. About 1814 his parents located near Ithaca, N. Y., then 
removed to Pennsvlvania, where they resided until their deaths. Our 
subject removed to New York in 1822, where he engaged in farming 
and lumbering. In 1837 he married Sarah Bensley, and located at 
Factor vville, now Eilistown, N. Y. To them were born four children, 
as f(^llows: Anna, now Mrs. A. Warner, of Chemung Co., N. Y.; 
Lydia, Mrs. Barney Kane, Litchfield township ; Eliza, married to John 
Albert, of Athens' borough ; and Sarah, married to William Cantield, 
of Athens township. Mrs. Van Gorder died June 26, 1853. In 1855 
our subject removed to Bradford county, and settled in Athens town- 
ship, where he purchased the farm he now owns and which he almost 
entirely cleared. August 3, 1858, he married his second wife, Maria 
Ann, daughter of Walter and Lucinda (Chaffee) Tucker, and grand- 
daughter of Samuel and Azubah (Sanger) Chaffee, on her mother's side, 
while her paternal grandparents were Walter Tucker, Sr., and his wife, 
whose maiden name was Franklin, all of Woodstock, Conn. Samuel 
Chaffee served in the Revolutionary War, and was in the division in 
which John Murray, one of the first preachers of Universalism in 
America, was chaplain, and enjoyed the favor of hearing him preach. 
The Tuckers in the United States are supposed to be descendants of 
three brothers of that name, who came from England in 1635. Mrs. 
Van Gorder's parents came to Pennsylvania in the year 1822. She 
was born May 19, 1829. Although not a modern spiritualist, she is 
inclined to be visionary. When nine years of age she was living with 
an aunt in Massachusetts, and there saw her first vision; she some- 
times writes for })ublications, mostly obituaries, near-ly always adding 
some original poetry. Her marriage with Mr. Van Gorder has been 
without issue. 

LUTHER C. VANHORN, farmer, P. O. Granville Summit, was 
born May 31, 1821, in Delaware county, N. Y., in the town of Walton, 
and is a son of Sidney and Amelia" (Curtis) VanHorn, natives of 
Springfield, Mass., and Bristol, Conn., respectively, who settled in 
Troy township, this county, in 1838, locating on the farm now owned 
by Lester VanHorn, which they cleared and improved, and there died; 
their children were as follows: Luther C, Leonard, Rachel (Mrs. 
William Barto), Lyman and Lester. The subject of the sketch was 
reared in Delaware countv, N. Y., until seventeen years of age, when 
he left for Troy, this county, with a knapsack on his back (used in the 
War of 1812),"^ containing his provisions, and a dollar and-a-half m 
money, arriving at his father's house with three and sixpence left. 
Afte/ reaching his majority he cleared a farm of 165 acres situated in 



1248 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Granville and Troy townships, which he still owns, and in 1856 he 
settled on the farm he now occupies in Granville, most of which he 
cleared, and made all improvements in buildin^^s, etc. On June 15, 
1842, he married Esther, daughter of Clark and Flavia Hooker, of 
Springfield township, and has children as follows : Sidney, Edgar, 
Stanley (deceased), Emery, Ella and Alice (Mrs. Wesley Hanscom). 
Mr. Van Horn is a leading farmer of Granville; is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

F. E. VAN LOAN, commercial salesman, Rome, was born in the 
township of Lenox, Susquehanna Co., Pa., January 25, 1858, and is a 
son of Daniel and Mary Van Loan, who now reside in Athens, this 
county. John Van Loan, great-grandfather to F. E. Van Loan, was 
born in Waalwijk, Holland, and immigrated to this country with his 
family, locating near the spot where East Durham now stands, in 
Greene county, N. Y., about the year 1790 ; the wife of John Van Loan 
was a weaver, and had a large loom in one corner of their log cabin, 
and one dav, while at work at the loom, weaving the " home-spun 
gray," a band of twelve Caboose Indians came in, who, after plundering 
the'cabin for eatables, left, each Indian striking his hatchet in the yarn 
beam of the loom, severing the warp. John Van Loan, Jr., grand- 
father to F. E., also lived many years at East Durham, N. Y., but 
later removed to Susquehanna county, this State, having a family of 
twelve children, viz.: Randsom, Thomas, John H., James, George and 
Jacob (twins), Daniel, Edgar, Libbie, Hattie and Kathron (twins), and 
Caroline. Frank's father was a farmer until 1883, when he retired from 
active life, and removed from his farm at North Rome to Athens, 
where he now resides. He was united in marriage, March 22, 185T, 
with Mary E. Richards, of Orwell township, daughter of Robert 
Richards, whose grandfather was born in North Wales, England, and 
immigrated to America with his two brothers. Daniel and Mary Van- 
Loanliad two children born to them, viz.: Frank E. and Lizzie V., wife 
of B. E. Heath, who reside in Athens; Frank grew to manhood with 
his parents, and worked upon his fathers farm, and, being a bright 
boy, received a good education. Frank's father was a private in the 
War of the Rebellion, serving in the latter part of the war, under Gens. 
Schofield and Terry, accompanying the expedition to Fort Fisher, 
under Butler; was in Comi)any G, Sevent\^-sixth Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, Second Division, Tenth Army CoVps. In November, 1878, 
Frank, then twentv years of age, left the farm, and went to Sandwich, 
Delvalb Co., III., and at this time partook of his first meal in a hotel. 
He became an agent for a local sewing machine dealer, selling machines 
from a wagon. He remained there over a year, and then he went to 
Clinton, Clinton Co., Iowa, having in charge the city trade for a sew- 
ing machine company. While there, December 10, 1880, he was 
united in marriage with May F. Newhard, of Fairview, Jones Co., 
Iowa, and returned to J5radford county in the latter part of December, 
1880, his wife accompanying him. He remained but a short time, 
when he was offered anil accepted a lucrative ])osition as general 
traveling salesman for E. Remington & Sons, of New York City and 
I lion, N. Y., who were interested largely in the manufacture of fire- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1249 

arms, typewriters, sewing machines, etc., they sending him at once 
into the State of Wisconsin. For several years he was successfully 
employed traveling in the West, East and South. In August, 1885, he 
returned from the State of Georgia, removing his family from Athens 
to North Rome, where he remained with them on the homestead, work- 
ing on the farm a year, when he accepted a traveling position with an 
oil-reliningcompany, which position he still occupies. He has attained 
a fine knowledge of the oil business, and has published a small book 
on the manufacture of the various oils, their adaption, and of petro- 
leum and its products. In the fall of 1891, Mr. Van Loan removed his 
family from his farm to Eome, this county. Mrs. Van Loan was born 
in Greenfield township, Jones Co.. Iowa. October 1, 185Y ; her father, 
William Newhard, came to Iowa from Ohio, where he was born; her 
mother, Emily McFarlane, was a native of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. 
Van Loan have had born to them three children, viz.: Karl F., born 
August 31, 1881; Lizzie May lone, born August 7, 1885, and Nathaniel 
R., born April 19, 1888. The family worship at the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. In his political views Mr. Van Loan is a stanch Repub- 
lican, and takes considerable interest in politics. He is one of the best 
known of Bradford county's many business men, and is a self-made 
man, of whom Bradford county is justly proud. 

JACOB R. VANNOY, East Troy, was born in Sanderson township, 
Sussex Co., N. J., December 25, 1842, and is a son of Jacob and Maria 
(Ayres) Vannoy, who had a family of five children: John J., Sidney, 
Jefferson, Jane (Mrs. C. B. McClelland) and Jacob R.,and settled in Wells 
township, this county, in 1855. Jacob R. Vannoy, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared in Bradford county, and from twelve years of age 
has spent most of his life in farming, and has occupied his present 
farm in Troy township, on what is kn<nvn as the Loomis homestead, 
(now called "Bono farm"), since 1883; he was in the Civil War, 
enlisting August 26, 1861, in Company F.Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavaly; 
re-enlisted as a veteran in same company and regiment in January, 1863, 
and was honorably discharged from the service as sergeant, August 22, 
1865 ; he participated in sixty-four engagements, and was wounded in 
the right hip, near Petersburg, June 9, 1864. He married, October 
23,1866, Rossa, daughter of Leonard and Caroline (Loomis) Upham, 
of Troy township, and has two children: Fred P. and Leon O. Mr. 
Vannov is a member of the Evangelical Church ; Hector Lodge, No. 
166, I.^ O. O. F., of East Troy; Gustin Post, No. 154, G. A. R., of 
Troy; Patrons of Husbandry; Union Veteran Legion, Encampment 
No.' 48; and is secretary of "the Troy Farmers' Club. In politics he 
is a Republican. 

JOHN" J. VANNOY, farmer. P. O. West Burlington, was born in 
Sussex county, N. J., September 14, 1834, a son of Jacob and Maria 
(Ayres) A^annoy, farmers and natives of that county, born of Dutch 
and English descent, respectively. John J. Vannoy was reared on the 
farm, and educated in the schools of the town ; was a teacher several 
years, and also a farmer, which occupation he has continued. When 
he was twenty-one years of age he removed to Bradford county and 
settled in Wells township, where he engaged in farming and remained 



1250 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

several years ; then removed to Columbia, where he remained six years, 
and in 1870 he came to his present farm in West Burlington townshij), 
which consists of 135 acres, nicely located and under a fine state of 
cultivation ; he has an excellent dairy. Mr. Vannoy has been twice mar- 
ried ; first time in September, 1861, to Harriet Baker, by whom he had 
five children, as follows : Milton (a farmei", married to Hattie Spencer), 
WiUiam. George, Myrta and Nellie. Mrs. Vannoy died November 18. 
1SS3. and in October, 1885, Mr. Vannoy married Miriam Kymer, of 
West Burlington, sister of Rev. M. S. Kymer, now a merchant. Our 
subject is a Democrat in politics, but his sympathies are with the Pro- 
hibition movement. The family are consistent members of the Pres- 
byterian Church. Mr, Vannoy is a man of sterling integrity, much 
respected bv his neighbors and a wide circle of friends. 

JOHN A. VAN WERT, carpenter, of South Creek township, 
P. O. Fassett, was born in Veteran township, Chemung Co., N. Y., 
July 26, 1838, a son of William and Catherine (McCann) Van Wert, 
natives of New Jersey. William Van Wert was a son of John Van- 
Wert, who was a soldier in th.e War of 1812. The}' came to this county 
about 1830, traveling in a lumber wagon, in company with Jehile 
Ayres and Thomas Ferguson, and located near Aspinwall, in Wells 
township, on a farm of 100 acres, now known as the JS'athan Shephard 
farm. Two years later his father and brother, both named John, 
came to Wells and located in the same neighborhood. William was a 
carpenter, and, in conjunction with his farming, worked at his trade. 
He lived in Wells about twenty years, then removed to LeRoy, this 
county, and remained three years, and while there built the Baptist 
Church. He then moved to Fassett, where he remained until his 
death, which occurred in 1874, at the age of sixty-four; he reared a 
famil}' of five children, all of whom are now living. Our subject, who 
is the third in his fathers family, was reared and educated at Fassett, 
and attended a few terms at a select school in Columbia. He learned 
the carpenter's trade of his father, with whom he worked until the 
death of the former. At the age of twenty-four, in 1862, he joined 
Company G, Pennsylvania Drafted Militia, and served nine months, 
and attained the rank of corporal, and was honorably discharged. 
He afterward recruited a company for the First New Vork Veteran 
Cavalry, of which he took charge, and delivered them to their com- 
mand in West \"irginia. During his last term of service he was pro- 
moted to corpora], and served in the commissary depaitment as 
commissary ser-geant until the close of the war, and was honorably 
discharged. He married, for his first wife, Martha, daughter of Amnion 
and Alice Cook, December 29, 1869; she died ten months after their 
marriage; his second wife was Mrs. Mary .lane, widow of the latt; 
Benjamin Smith, whom he married December 6, 1884; politically he 
is a Democi'at, as wei-e all his familv. 

SAMUEL VAN WOERT, farmer, P. O.Athens, was born in Athens, 
Greene (Jo., N. Y., May 3, 1837, a son of Nicholas and JSlaria (Van- 
Gorder) Van Woert, the former of whom was born in Athens, Greene 
Co., N. v., the lattei- in Orange county, N. Y. John \'an (iorder, 
grandfather on his mother's side, was a Revolutionary soldier and a 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1251 

native of Holland. iXicholas, is a son of Jacob Van Woert, born May 
H, 1799; he removed from Athens, Greene Co., K Y., in 1838, locating 
in this county and Athens township. In 18-il or '42, he purchased a 
farm on " Shutliff Hill," where he made his subsequent home; he died 
during a short absence at Wilawana, February 15, 1866; his family 
consisted of six children, all of whom grew to maturity. Our subject, 
the sixth of the family, was reared and educated in Athens township; 
at the age of nineteen he began business for himself, and when thirty- 
one years of age married, February 12, 1868, for his first wife. Miss 
Isarella, daughter of Fred B. and Anna Weller; November 25, 18Y4, 
he married his second wife, Miss Mary A., daughter of Samuel and' 
Marion Spear. lie is an enterprising farmer, and is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

HEj^RY yon WOLFFRADT, farmer and stock-grower, Ulster 
township, P. O. Milan, born in Greifswald, Prussia, October 5,1830, is 
the son of Herman and Julia (Below) Yon WoMradt, natives of same 
place; he received his education in the Strasund schools, attending 
until twenty-two years old. He enlisted in the German armv darino^ 
the Austro-German War, and remained in the service for about six 
months, until the war ended. His father was a farmer, and the son 
followed farming five years preceding his migration to America in 
1868, when he located in Ulster township, renting a farm and farming 
the same until 1871, when he purchased a farm a short distance from 
the one on which he now resides, and owns 340 acres of fine farm land 
in the western part of the Milan valley, all susceptible of cultivation, 
and which he has improved since purchasing. He was married, in 
1863, to Hedwig Baltasar, a native of Griefs wald, Prussia, and there 
were born to them three cliildren : Herman, William (of Athens) and 
Harriet. Mr. Yon Wolff radt is a member of the Lutheran Church; in 
politics he is a Democrat, and is one of the most extensive land 
owners in his township, having quite a model farm ; he is popular 
and widely known as among the best citizens of Bradford county. 

C. H. YARGUSOK, carpenter and contractor, Wvalusing, was 
born in Wysox township, this county, May 12, 1847, and is a son of 
Benjamin and Clarissa (Howard) Yarguson, natives of New York. His 
father came while a boy to Wysox and located on Pond Hill, where he 
married and had a family of eleven child i-en, five of whom are yet 
living. C. H. Yarguson, who is the fourth in the family, was born 
and reared on his father's farm on Pond Hill, and attended the public 
school at Myersburg. Upon reaching liis majority he began farming, 
which he followed until 1879; then began teaming and the carpenter's 
and joiner's trade, working two years each with Martin Fee and William 
Kingsley; then began contracting for himself and now contracts for 
all kinds of carpenter work. He came to Wyalusing in 1868, and five 
years ago purchased his present place, and built his house and barn, it 
being a portion of the "Old Black farm." Mr. Yarguson was united 
in marriage, June 28, 1868, with Julia A. Hoover, daughter of Freder- 
ick Hoover, of Wyalusing (deceased), and this union was blessed with 
three children : Lizzie Belle, Lyda. and Harrison, who married, May 27. 
1891, Anna Adams, and is living in Lester Shire, wherehe works at 



1252 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

liis trade: Mr. Varguson is Independent in politics, but takes little 
interest in such matters. 

Ill A Y ARNE V, than whom there is no more higi)ly respected citizen 
of Franklin township, is a native of Luzerne township, Warren Co., 
N. Y., having been born August 13, 1810. He is a son of Joseph and 
Mary (Ilartman) Varney, and was reared on the farm, where he assisted 
his father in tilling the soil, also in making rafts and shipping lumber 
down the Hudson river. His earliest educational advantages were 
very meager, but after attaining his majority he attended a pay school. 
At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Mercy Barrows, who lived 
but two months after her wedding, and two years later Mr. Varney 
was married to Marv Ogden, by whom he had six children — two sons 
and four daughters — as follows : Mercy (deceased), Ogden, Mary, 
Susannah. Helen (deceased) and an infant unnamed. The mother of 
these children died in ISS-i. Mr. Yarney began life a poor boy. and now 
ranks among the most substantial men in his township. The story of 
his well-spent and busy life may be summed up in a few words : In 
1839 he came to Bradford county as agent for an extensive lumbering 
firm, and their affairs he successfully managed for a period of seven 
years. This lumber was rafted down the Towanda creek, and when 
reaching the river was made up in squares, and floated to the market. 
Mr. Yarney relates with much pleasure, that in all his extensive ship- 
jiing not one drop of whisky was used, a thing uncommon in those days. 
He then commenced, for his own account, in the real estate line, making 
his first purchase of land in the year 1845, 140 acres, the same being 
his present home in Franklin township. To this he has added, until 
he now owns in all 452 acres. Mr. Yarney has always voted the 
Republican ticket, has held all the town offices of West Franklin except 
justice of the peace, and was treasurer twe)it3'-seven consecutive years. 
In his religious connections he was reared in the Quaker faith. Mr. 
Yarney has now passed the honored age of four-score years, and both 
mentallv and phvsicallv he is well preserved. 

EDWARD W. YAUGHAN, farmer, P. O. Wyalusing, was born in 
AVyalusing township, this county, on the old homestead, January 21, 
1818, a 's<m of Elias and Sarah (Abbot) Vaughan. His father was 
born in what is now Wyoming county, then Luzerne, June 10, 1785, 
and died in Wyalusing, November 1, 1865; he had thirteen children, 
(of whom six are living), viz.: Elmer, born June 9. 1808; John, born 
November 9, 1809; Elias, born January 20, 1812; Harriet, born Feb- 
ruary 22. 1814 ; James, born January 18, 1816; Edward W., our sub- 
ject; Evander R., born October 24,"^ 1819; Alonzo, born August 15, 
1821; George II., born Julv 2, 1823:Rhoda II., born April 9, 1825; 
Harriet, l)orn January 20, 1827; Mary S., born August 10, 1830, and 
Aurelia W., born February 28, 1833. Richard Vaughan. grandfather 
of our subject, was a UevolutionaiT soldier, and came to this county 
after the close of the war, and was the second person buried in the 
AVyalusing Cemetery. Edward's father was a farmer, and moved to 
what is known as Yaughan Hill about 1812, also lived at Rummertield 
and was postmaster there; took u]> 1(»<> acres of woodland, about two 
acres of which were cleared, and had a lo"' cabin on it that hatl been 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1253 

built by Mr. Charlott. He added to liis farm until he had 050 acres; 
he followed lumbering during the winter, owned a sawmill on Stal- 
ford creek, and during- summer vvould farm and clear land. J>efore 
his death he had cleared at least 200 acres; he built a frame house and 
barn, both of which have been destroyed ; he was an Old-School Bap- 
tist, and at his house religious services were held prior to the building 
of the church. He filled various offices and was an important factor 
in the early settlement ; he also held a ca])tain's commission in the 
State Militia, was a large land-owner and an industrious and enter- 
prising man, and always endeavored to develop his section of the 
country, 

Edward W. Vaughan passed his boyhood in the wilderness, assist- 
ing his father in clearing and farming; attended school at Wyal using 
and at the Yaughan school-house, also down at Fairbanks, frequently 
going three miles to school. He passed his whole life here, clearing 
and farming, living on and owning a portion of his father's estate, and 
has 145 acres nearly all cleared, with the necessary buildings and 
improvements, and has his farm under a high state of cultivation. 
He married, July 12, 1849, jilmira, daughter of Samuel Cox, a farmer 
of Vaughan Hill, and they have a family of five children : George H., 
married to Mary Daley, resides in Fi'emont, Neb., where he is deputy 
sheriff'; Fremont and Almira (twins, latter deceased); Emma, married 
to E. L. Condon, foreman in the paint department of a car shop at St. 
Paul, and William, married to Elizabeth Haney, and living on the 
old homestead. Mr. Vaughan is a member of^ White Lilly Lodge, 
No. 808, I. O. O. F., Wyalusing, and has passed all the chairs; he is a 
Kepublican, and has filled nearly all the township offices. 

JAMES C. VAUGHN, farmer and stock-grower, Wyalusing town- 
ship, P. O. Wyalusing, who is among the ])ioneers of AVyalusing 
township, was born on the old Vaughn homestead (now in possession 
of Lyman Overton), January 18, 1816. His grandfather was born in 
England, and came to this country when a young man, married, and 
had the following children: William, who was a number of years a 
naval officer, and resided at Sacket's Harbor, N. Y., participating in 
the War of 1812, commanding a sloop of war; Robert, settled in 
Canada; Richard, also of Canada, but removed to Rochester, wliere 
he died; Elias, father of subject; Justice; Polly, married to Walter 
Seaman ;.Phebe, married to William Eddy, and located in Canada; 
Anna, married to Daniel Coolbaugh. of Wysox township, and Rluxhi, 
married to Daniel Martin, also of Wysox. Elias Vaughn removed 
from Wyoming to Laceyville, Luzerne coup.ty. when sixteen years of 
age, where his father died; he and his motiier moved to Rummerfield. 
where he was connected with a corps of men, engaged in constructing 
a Government road through Alleg;iny county, N. Y., and there met 
and married Sarah Abbott; he returned to Rummerfield, and Avas 
postmaster of the place, making his home there until after the close of 
the Wai'of 1812; he owned a far-m, which he traded for hisprojierty on 
Vaughn Hill; after the birth of his daughter Eleanor, John and Elias, he 
removed to Vaughn Hill, where he owned 800 acres of land, built a saw- 
mill and began clearing and lumbering, rafting his lumber down the 

74 



125-4 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Susquehanna. In 183S he built a large house, which was constructed of 
three-inch plank, which was a line substantial farm house; this house 
stood in good condition until six years ago, when it was destroyed by 
fire. James C. Vaughn, the subject of this sketch, who is the eldest sur- 
vivor of the family, passed his boyhood on the old farm, and attended 
the common school at Wyalusing. He spent his early life assisting 
his father in clearing the farm and in lumbering, also in rafting the 
same down the river ; he took possession of his first farm, which is the 
one now owned by William Boyd, in 1841, where he resided seven 
years; then traded with his father for the farm he now owns, which 
he has cleared and improved to its present state of excellence; this 
farm contains 120 acres of beautiful and fertile land. He was united 
in marriage, in 1843, with Elizabeth Ann, second in the family of 
seven children of Joseph and Sarah (Spaulding) Gamble. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Vaughn have been born seven children, viz.: Elwood L., born 
October 6, 1844, married to Lois L. Fuller, of Camptown, and died 
May 19, 1872; Sarah E., born September 3, 1846, married to Nelson 
C. Dyer, farmer, of Abilene, Kans.; Joseph G., born August 22, 1848, 
of Kingston, Pa.; Charlotte A., born June lU, 1851, married to W. R. 
Safford, of Kingston; Richard, born June 27, 1853; Orrilla W., born 
April 21, 1855, and Ralph B., born May 9, 1859, of Kingston, Fa., mar- 
ried to Rilla Major. Mi-, and Mrs. Vaughn are members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, Wyalusing, of which he is steward; in politics 
he is a Republican, has filled numerous township offices, and while firm 
in his political oj^inion has never been an aggressive politician; he is 
one of Bradford's most successful farmers, receiving but little aid out- 
side of his own resources ; he has during his life amassed a fortune 
ample for his needs. 

UR[ N. VERBECK, carpenter, East Troy, was born in Litchfield, 
this county, July 29, 1836, a son of William and Lucretia (Norton) 
Verbeck. 'Plis paternal grandfather, Henry A'erbeck, a native of the 
Mohawk Valley, N. Y., settled in Windham township, this county, in 
1808, cleared and improved a farm and died there. He maii'ied a 
Miss Dunham, by wdiom he had nine children: AVilliam, Philip, Henry, 
Svlvanus, Abigail, Lydia, Sarah, Elizabeth and Matilda; of these, 
William, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a carpenter by 
trade; he spent most of his life in Bradfoi-d county, resided in East 
Troy forty-one years, and died there in Marcii, 1890, at the age of 
eighty-nine; his wife was a daughti^r of Henry Norton, of Slieshequin 
township, this county, formerly of Connecticut, and a soldier of the 
revolution; by her he had six children: Almira (Mrs. J. Warren Park). 
Jonathan D., Margeiy, Uri N., Arlette (Mrs. Marvin Leonard) and 
Kli. Uri N. Vei'beck "was reared in Bradfoi-d county, and educated in 
the public sciiools of Elmira, N. Y. He learned the carpenter's trade 
in East Troy, which he followed for eighteen years, and has sinc(; 
been working at wagon-making, lie was in the Civil War, eidi.stingin 
Sei)teinber, 18G1, in Comi)any C, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, was 
wounded at the battle of Gallatin, Tenn., and ])articipated in lifty- 
three battles and engagements of his regiment, was jiromoted to coi-- 
poral in the winter of 1862, was for a year commissary sergeant, and 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1255 

discharged in that capacity in September, 1865. He married in March, 
1866, Julia, daughter of John Edsall, of Monroe township, this county, 
and has two children living: Meena E. and Edsall II. Mr. Verbeck 
is a member of Hector Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 166, of East Troy, and 
Gustin Post, G. A. R., Troy; he has lield various township offices, and 
in pohtics is a Republican. 

GREELEY P. VOORHIS, farmer, of Springfield township, P. O. 
Big Pond, was born July 9, 1856, in Springfield, a son of John and 
Helena (Ilosley) Voorhis, natives of Springfield. His father was a 
farmer, and died, at the age of thirty-five years, June 2, 1863, and tiie 
mother died, at the age of thirty -five years, September 15, 1857. Our 
subject was the only son by his father's first marriage ; he was edu- 
cated in the schools of the township and became a farmer. March 30, 
1886, he married Alice, daughter of Theodore and Mary (Brooks) 
"Watson, who was born December 17, 1859. Her father was born in 
Greene, Chenango Co., N. Y., December 26, 1828, and his parents were 
John H. and Maria (Upham) Watson. Mrs. Watson was born at East 
Hampton, Conn., and came here when fourteen years of age. Mr. Watson 
is a general merchant at Big Pond ; is a Republican and a member of 
the L O. O. F. Mr. Voorhis' grandfather was one of the first settlers 
in the township, and died here, at the age of eighty years, November 
19, 1861 ; and his father, John K., died at the age of sixty-eight years, 
on November 4. 1872. Mr. Yoorhis was an only child, and was 
educated in the schools of the township and at Smithfield graded school, 
and was a teacher from the time she was sixteen years of age until her 
marriage. They have no children. Mr. Yoorhis owns a fine farm of 
about sixty acres, which he has under a good state of cultivation. He 
is a Republican in politics, has been a constable and collector in the 
township; is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is amanmuch respected 
bv his many friends. 

WILLIAM E. YOORHIS, merchant. East Smithfield, was born 
November 17, 1823, in Springfield, Bradford Co., Pa., a son of James 
and Charlotte (Wilson) Yoorhis, the former of whom was a native of 
New York, and the latter of Massachusetts. The father, who was a 
carpenter and builder, came to Springfield when a young man and took 
up farming. William E., who is the eldest in a family of seven children, 
five of whom are living, was reared on his father's farm, remaining there 
until twenty-five years ago, when he came to East Smithfield and 
commenced in tiie manufacturing and dealing of furniture. He was 
married, September 10, 1845, to Nancy M., daughter of Asher Hunt- 
ington (she was born May 14, 1827, in Yernon. Conn.), and they have 
had born to them four children, two of whom are living: Clarence, 
born August 3. 1847, married to Celia Burt; Wilson F., born June 4, 
1856, married to Carrie Cowell. The sons are partners in business 
with their father, and Wilson is the ])resent ])ostmaster. Mr. Yoorhis 
continued in the furniture business ten years, then commenced in his 
present business, that of a general merchant. He is a member of the 
Freemasons and of the I. O. O. F., as is also his son Wilson. Both 
father and sons are Republicans. Mrs. Yoorhis is a member of the 
Universafist Church. 



105G HISTORY OF BKADFORD COUNTT. 

FRANK M. VOUGHT, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Towanda, 
was born July 24, 1847, a son of Edward and Lydia (Horton) Vought, 
natives of this count}', and Avhose f^rand))arents were also reared in 
this State; the family have always been tillers of the soil. Frank 
M. V(juo-ht is the third in a family of eight children, as follows : Joseph 
M*., Lewis G., Frank M., IlannalfM., Edward M., Charlotte M., Charles 
S. and Emerson W., all of whom grew to maturity, six still living in 
this county. Mr.Vought was married, November 20, 1872. to Maretta J. 
Gillett, who was born August 22, 1851, daughter of Lewis and Jemima 
(Shores) Gillett, the former of whom wasa native of Connecticut, and the 
latter of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Vought are the parents of three 
children, viz.: Euth, who died at the age of five vears; Emerson W., born 
September 28, 1883 ; and Ethel May, born May 2, 1886. Mr. Vought 
was born and reared in this county, and lived on his father's farm the 
earlv part of his life ; then taught school several years. He is now the 
owner of an excellent farm in Shesquehin township, in a fine state of 
cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Vought were visited in their eai-ly married 
life with calamity which came nearly destroying the life of the latter: 
On January 16, 1875, at midnight, they were awakened by the house 
being on fire, and Mrs. Vought, who was very ill, was carried out on 
a feather bed, along with little Ruth, who was but five days old, into 
the snow, which was two feet deep, whereby her health was so impaired 
that she has never fully recovered. The family are devoted members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are active in the Sunday-school, 
and are very genial, agreeable people. Mr. Vought is a Republican, 
and takes an active interest in public affairs. 

AMOS P. WALCOTT, farmer, of Litchfield township, P. O. Litch- 
field, was born in that township, May 20. 1826, son of Elijah and Eliza- 
beth Walcott, the former of wiiom was born at Penn's Valley, Pa , in 
1770, and the latter m Luzerne county. Pa., in 1778. Elijah W. settled 
in this county in 1807; his wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Thomas 
Park who came from Connecticut and settled in the Wyoming Valley. 
]V[r. Park married Mrs. Heady, who resided in the Valley, and was there 
during the Wyoming massacre; Thomas being absent at the time ser- 
vmg his country under Washington. Two years subsequent to this 
event he purchased 400 acres of land in Litchfield, where with others 
under Sullivan he drove the Indians Westward. Elijah W. was the 
father of twelve children, all of whom grew to nuiturity, Amos P. 
being tlie tenth in the family; he was reared on the old homestead, and 
educated at the common school. In September, 1851, he was married 
to Esther J., daughter of Lemuel and Hariiet Munn, of Litchfield. This 
union was blessed with four children, as follows: Countess I)., married 
to Svlvester K. Walcott; Prentice W., married to Iluth. daughter of 
John and Phd'be Haddock; Marion L..nuinied to Franklin I.Deci^er: and 
Viola C, who married Irani David. In early life Mr. Walcott was exten- 
sively engaged in lumbering; during his lifetime he held many town 
offices, such as commissioner, auditor, judge of elections and at onetime 
was a candidate for the Legislature. He is a member of the I. O O. F , 
at various times holding the different oHicesof the Lodge, and in politics 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNT V. 1257 

he is a Democrat, and holds a lieutenunt-coloners commission, appointed 
by Gov. William Bigler. 

H. EUGENE WALDO, miller, AVyalusing, was born in Berkshire, 
Tioga Co., K Y., August 20, 1839, a son of Orson and Lyd ia (Waldo) 
Waldo, who were born in the same house and in thesameyear (1802) in 
Berkshire, ]^[. Y. The Waldo family originated in France about the 
middle of the Twelfth century; they left there on account of the 
Huguenot persecutions, and settled in the Netljerlands about 1569-70. 
About 1650 Cornelius came to America and settled in Chelmsford, 
Mass. He married Hannah Coggswell and had five children, and died 
June 3, 1701. Of his children, John, the eldest, is the branch through 
which Eugene Waldo descended. John was born in Chelmsford, 
Mass., about 1653, and married Rebecca Adams, of the same line as 
John Adams, late ex-President of the United States. He died in 1700, 
having had seven children, of whom Edward, the second son, is the 
ancestor of oui' subject. He was born in Chelmsford, Mass., in 1683 
and at Windham, Conn., in 17 — , married Thankful Dimmock, of 
Mansfield, Conn., and had ten children. His ninth son, Zacheus, is 
in the line of our subject's ancestors, and was born in Windham, Conn., 
July 19, 1725, married Tabitha Kingsbury, and had eleven chddren, 
the second, John, being this branch of the family. He was 
born in Windham, Conn., April 22, 1750, was a physician and 
resided at Coventry, Conn., and married Lucy Lyman, August 
19, 1773 ; he was a surgeon in Col. Huntington's regiment of State 
Militia, in 1775, and probably served during the Revolution ; he had 
six children, from two of whom our subject is descended, viz.: John, Jr., 
the second child, who was our subject's grandfather, and Lyman, the 
eldest, who was our subject's mother's father. Orson, our subject's 
father, was born March 17, 1802, and his wife, Lydia, was born May 
25, 1802 ; they had the following children : Lucius Alva, Arthur Tap- 
pan, Reynold Heber and Herbert Eugene. Orson was a mill-wright 
and worked at his trade, and built numerous mills in northwestern 
New York, and invented various appliances for use in mills, among 
which was a water wheel patented during Jackson's administration. 
Our subject was educated in the common schools and at Waverly 
Academy, and at the age of seventeen began work as a mill-wright with 
his father; he worked with his father and brother until after his mar- 
riage, and then started out for himself. He has built mills in all sections 
of northwestern New York, and in 1871 took charge of a mill owned 
by Otis G. Parker, at Moravia, N. Y., and was there three years; then 
rented the Stone mill at Moravia, where he remained until April 6, 
1880, when he came to Wyalusing, and assumed charge of the Welles 
mills, where he has since remained. He married, June 21, 1865, Lucy 
Ann, daughter of Joseph A. and Lucy Hentlel (Bell) Armstrong. Her 
parents had a family of seven children: Jasper (deceased), who was for 
a number of years general superintendent of the water supply for the 
Atchison, Topeka & Sana Fe Railroad; Millicent (deceased) ; Ruth 
J., married to John W. Hollenback, a traveling salesman of Owego, 
N. Y.; Fendall, resides in the West; Lucy Ann; Addie W., married to 
C. W. Hemenway, a merchant of Owego, N. Y.; and Charles H., who 



1258 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

died in infancy. To i\Ii'. and Mrs. Waldo have been born the following 
children: Jessie Gertrude, born September 29, 1807, married, May 2, 
1886, to Frederick Armstrong, of Athens; Edward, born jS'ovember 26, 
1868, a clerk, married, June 25, 1891, to Jennie Carpenter, of Wyalu- 
sing; Lucius J., born July 1, 1873, clerk; Earnest E., born November 
22, 1877; Nettie A., born March 6, 1881 ; and Raymond W., born Feb- 
ruary 1, 1890. He and his wife are both members of the Presbyterian 
Church of Wyalusing : he is a member of the F. & A. M., Sylvan Lodge, 
No. 41, Moravia, N. Y., politically he is a Republican. 

JOSEPH G. WALDRON, farmer, Smithtleld township, P. O. 
Hoblet, born August 13, 1845, son of Billing.^ and Jane (Gray) Wal- 
dron, natives of Bristol, R. I., who came to this county in 1837. Joseph 
was one of eleven children, five of whom are hving ; he was reared on 
his father's farm. On February 9, 1873, he was married toEUa, daughter 
of John J. and Mary Jane (Riley) Woodin, early settlers of Burlington 
(she was born August 27, 1854, and isa member of the Baptist Church). 
They have had born to tliem four children, three of whom are noAv 
living, as follows: Bertha, born August 7, 1874; Grace, born June 17, 
1881 ; and Ruth, born September 11, 1888. Mr. Waldron isa member 
of the F. iSz A. M., Lodge No. 428, is a Republican and takes an 
active interest in politics. 

WILLIAM N. WALDRON, farmer, Smithfield township, P. O. 
Hoblet, born in Bristol, R. L, May 29, 1835, a son of Billings and Jane 
(Gray) Waldron, also natives of Bristol, R. I., of English descent. His 
paternal grandfatiier was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, as was 
also his grandfather. Gray. Mr. Waldron's father came to Smithfield 
township in 1837, and settled near where William now lives. William 
N, Waldron is the eldest in a familv of eleven children, five of whom 
are still living. He enlisted, at the commencement of the Civil War, 
in Company F, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves A^olunteers, in which he 
served until 1862, when he was transferred to Battery B, First Penn- 
sylvania Artillery; he was wounded severely in June, 1862, and the 
following January was discharged, on account of disability caused by 
this wound. He'was married, April 25, 1863, to Hannah, daughter of 
James Phillips, who was born in Broome county, N. Y., October 31, 
1830; they have an adopted daughter, wife of (yharles K. Burnside. 
Mr. AValdron has a fine farm, under a good state of cultivation, and 
has been an extensive dealer in stock for the last fifteen years ; he is a 
member of the G. A. R., and is a Republican in politics; he has held 
several positions of public trust, and has been school director nine 
years. The family are members of the Congregational Church of East 
Smithfield, Bradford county. 

CHARLES W. WALKER, general merchant, Monroeton, was 
born Sept. 1, 1842, in Painted Post, N. Y.,a son of Delinius and Cath- 
erine (Keeney) VV^ilker, and is of Scotch descent. He was reared in 
Tioga county, Pa., where he received a common-school education, and 
took a commercial course at Elmira, N. Y. He was in the Civil War, 
enlisting August 26, 1861, in Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteer Cavalry, particij)ating in the i)attlesof the regiment, and between 
June and August, 1864, was in a fight every day— in all twenty -six 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1259 

en<Tagements. He was discharged August 2(>, ISiU. Since tlie War 
Mr. Walkei" lias been engaged m mercantile business princijjally. He 
has spent thirteen years in Monroeton, where he located in 1878. On 
November 20, 1868, he married Sarah, daughter of Rev. Enoch and 
Parmelia (Griggs) Cranmer, of an old family of Monroeton. This 
union was blessed with two children; Fred E. and Maud A. Politi- 
cally our subject is a Republican ; he is a member of the G. A. R. and 
K. of H.. was school director and treasurer of Monroeton several times. 

EDMUND L. WALKER, farmer and breeder of blooded stock, P. O. 
Ulster, was born in Ulster township, Bradford Co., Pa.; December 16, 
1845, and is a son of Daniel and Mary Ann (Lockwood) Walker, of 
German and English origin, respectively. His grandfather, who was 
a mill-wriglit, spelled the name Walger, and from the corruption of 
that name comes Walker; he built a mill at Seeling's Grove, at the 
beginning of the present century, when Indians were more numerous 
than whites, and when going to mill was equal to a journey across the 
continent to-day. As soon as the mill was completed he leased it and 
a large tract of land for one hundred years, and of late years there 
has been a controversy over this property, in which Mr. Walker is 
interested, but on account of the changes in the names they have been 
unable to trace anything definite. The farm Mr. Walker now owns 
consists of 165 acres, and is a part of the old Lockwood estate. He 
attended the schools of Ulster, and secured quite a fair education, and 
taught a short time. In 1872 he went to Michigan and purchased a 
tract of timber land, and erected mills and opened a lumber camp, 
but sold it, and after two vears' residence there returned and pur- 
chased what is known as the Col. Wells land, cleared 300 acres of 
stump land, and made a fine farm of it, after which he returned to 
Ulster and engaged in the breeding of Jersey cattle, and has the finest 
herd in this section of the State. He also devotes attention to breed- 
ing trotting horses, and owns two Don Cossack stallions, mahogany 
bays, and which show all the points of speed, pluck and endurance for 
which the Wilkes strain is famous. He mari-ied Delia, daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary (Shackelton) Park, natives of this county, May 8, 
1872. Her grandfather, Daniel Park, was one of tlie first board of 
commissioners, and helped frame the first tax list for Bradford county. 
They have one child, Delia, Mr. Walker is a member of the Order of 
the Iron Hall, and fills the chair of vice justice; also of the Equitable 
Aid Union, and is a member of the finance committee. Politically he 
is a Republican. His father was the first officer from Ulster township, 
coroner, and is a member of the board of school directors, which office 
he has held a number of terms. 

ZEPHON FLOWER WALKER is the fourth child of the union 
between George Walker, Jr., and Ziilimma W. Walker {nee Flower), 
and was born at Factory ville (now East Waverly), Tioga Co., N. Y., 
July 1, 1824. His paternal grandfather, George Walker (in the vul- 
gate Walger), was of German nationality. Tradition is that he was 
one of a colony of Germans that migrated from central New York, 
near the source of the Susquehanna river, by boats down the same, and 
settled in central Pennsylvania, now Nescopeck, where he bought 400 



12G0 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

acres of land, and being a miller by trade constructed a gristmill near 
the mouth of the Nescopeck creek. Soon after the comj)letion of the 
mill, the same was destroyed by a flood. Next we find him at Salem, 
Luzerne county, same State, where he purchased a tract of land of 
Wm. Gray, of Philadelphia, and here erected anothor mill, which in 
the course of a few years met the same fate as the mill at Nescopeck. 
During; this interval his wife had died and he married a^ain. Becom- 
ing discouraged l)y constant reverses, he sold out his property here, or, 
as is averred by his son Henry, also liis daughter Mary, he leased the 
jiroperty to Jacob Schaffer for ninety -nine years, on a mone}' consid- 
eration which was paid m silver, being counted out into the grand- 
mother's apron on the eve of their departure from this place. But no 
lease or record of this transaction can be found. In about 1787 or 1788 
he moved from Salem up the Susquehanna river, by what was then 
called '• Durham Boats " (pi-opelletl by men pushing the boats with 
setting poles), iiis family and household goods being sent by that con- 
veyance, and his stock by the overland route, lie sojourned until he 
passed the line between the States of Pennsylvania and New York, 
where he struck camp at a place on the west side of the Susquehanna 
river, known as the " Isaac Raymond farm " in Ellistown, about two 
miles east of Wavi^rly, N, Y., and where the Plannas settled. Kemain- 
ing here for a short time he purchased, in the township of Nichols, 480 
acres of " Patent No. 1," adjoining the State line on the east side of 
the river, and moved thereon, cleared up the land and carried on the 
distilling business, becoming successful in all his undertakings. Next 
he purchased 500 acres on Cayuta creek, known as the " Cantine lot 
on the Thomas tract," which is adjacent to Waverly corporation and 
in East Waverly, and constructed another gristmill, which he success- 
fully o))erated until his death in 1812. His family by his first wife 
were: Peter (who was drowned in Rocky Riff. Luzerne county. Pa.), 
Jacob, Daniel, and a daughter who married a Mr. Reap; by his second 
wife the children were: BetS3^ Mary and Henry (born at Salem, Pa.), 
and Samuel, Elias, George and John (born in Nichols, N. Y.). His 
son. George, who was the father of subject, was born March 3, 1795, 
at Nichols, N. Y.,and died Febi'uary 14, 1837; was married November 
1, 1817, to Zulimma W, Flower, who was born April 6, 1800, and died 
September 1, 1852. To them were born Glcncarn, Leanora Leander, 
Zephon Flower (the subject of this sketch), Thaddeus S., Helen V., Ma- 
rion B., George C. and Portia Z., all yet living except Glencarn, Leanora, 
Helen V. and Portia Z. The mother was a daughter of Maj. Zephon 
Flower, a Revolutionary patriot, who was of English nationality, and 
a descendant of the family who gave the first school teacher to Phila- 
delj>hia under the Colonial government. He was born at Hartford, 
Conn., November 30, 17G5 : on March 28, 1785, he was married to 
Mary Patrick, a lady of Irish nationality, who was born at \'alentine, 
Conn,, December 25, 1765, and died at Athens, March 5, 1848. They 
reared a large family who settled in various localities of the United 
States, and are now all dead except Ithurael, who lives at Oshkosh, 
Wis., and is now ninetv-four vears old. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 12G1 

The childhood of the subject ol" this sketch was passed where he 
was born until he had reached the age of eight years, when he was 
adopted into the famil}'^ of his mother's brother, Nathaniel Flower, 
where he was schooled in the old Franklin school-house near Athens 
village, when schools were open, and assisted about the farm when 
there was no school, until about 1840, when he took an academical 
course in Athens Academy. At the age of nineteen he commenced 
land surveying under direction of his grandfather, Maj. Flower, and 
the first lot surveyed was for Henry Mitten, in the town of Herrick, 
Pa. This and civil engineering have been his vocation since. He has 
made more surveys in Bradford, Sullivan, Lycoming and Tioga coun- 
ties, Pa., and Tioga county, N. Y., than any other surveyor living at 
this time; having the advantage of all the records and maps of Maj. 
Z. Flower, who preceded him as a surveyor in these counties. His 
first work as an engineer was on assisting in the location of the old 
North Branch Canal from Athens to State line. He entered the sur- 
vey of the location of the, then, Athens & Ithaca Bailroad, now the 
Ithaca Branch of the Lehigh Yalley Railroad, being on the same from 
its inception to its final completion. Soon after this he laid out and 
staked the, now, borough of Sayre, besides many other works in the 
engineering line. He entered the service as engineer and draughts- 
man for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Northern Division, January 21, 
1882, and is in that position now. Pie has made many maps of land 
surveys as well as of railroads, both right of way and mechanical. In 
18,50 he made a very elaborate map of the subdivision of the Decatur 
Lands, situated in Litchfield, Sheshequin, Rome, Windham, Herrick 
and Pike townships, covering some 14,000 acres cut up in fifty and one- 
hundred-acre lots, which were sent to Belgium, Europe, for the owner, 
Mr. Decatur. During this time Mr. Walker carried on his farm on 
which he lives and was brought up on since his adoption by his uncle, 
Capt. Flower. His unele, Capt. Nathaniel Flower, purchased the 
homestead part of the late Col. John Franklin farm in the spring of 
1834, and at his death, September 8, 1852, he bequeathed the same by 
will to the subject of this sketch. It is on this farm that CoL John 
Franklin and his wife, as well as Maj. Zephon Flower and his wife, 
Capt. Nathaniel Flower and his wife, and Heloisa, daughter of Maj. 
Flower, are buried, and neat marble upright fiags mark their resting- 
places ; and the community can esteem tlie benevolence of Capt. 
Nathaniel Flower, who (though no way related) paid for, from his 
own fund, and placed the stones to mark the place of burial of Col. 
Franklin and wife. Mr. Walker politically was a Whig until the 
breaking up of the parties, when he identified himself with the Repub- 
licans for two years; but, their views not agreeing with his, he went 
over to the Democrats and stands firm with them today. Posts of 
honor, politically, he has never sought, although he has served and 
filled his share of the local offices of the town. Among other distant 
relatives in New York is Roswell P. Flower, governor-elect of that 
State. 

Z. F. Walker was married, August 9, 1854, at Seneca, Mich., to 
Rebecca M., daughter of Amos and Cynthia Franklin, and great-grand- 



1262 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

daughter of Col. Jolin Franklin. Amos Franklin was a son of Billa 
Franklin, whose lather was Col. John Franklin. Cynthia Franklin 
{nee McKinney) was a daughter of Henry and Rebecca McKinney, 
who had a settlement in Athens as early as 1788. The results of the 
union of Z. F. and II. M. Walker have been: Frank Z., Nathaniel F., 
Alfred I , Clara, Ada and Helena, and all are living. 

GEORGE W. T. WARBURTON, farmer, LeRoy township, P. O. 
LeRoy, was born in Elkland, Sullivan Co., Pa., November 13, 1849, 
a son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Brown) Warburton, the former a native 
of Liverpool, England, and the latter of Wilton, same country. They 
came to this country in 1816, locating in Sullivan county, but removed 
to Bradford county in 1853. Mr. Warburton died in 1872, Mrs. War- 
burton in 1884. Their family consisted of four children— two sons 
and two daughters— all of whom grew to maturity. The subject of 
these lines, who is the youngest, was reared and eclucated in LeRoy. 
In early life he was engaged in the jeweler's trade almost ten years. 
On July 19, 1882, he was married at Granville to Ettie B., daughter 
of Philander and Rebecca Foster, and this union has been blessed 
with one son and one daughter : Arthur T., born December 10, 1883, 
and Sarah Ann, born June 27, 1887. Mr. Warburton is a farmer of 
considerable ability, and has always lived on the old homestead of 
only sixty acres; he has two carp ponds, one of which is stocked ; last 
year he sold over twenty-six dollars worth of young carp. His farm- 
ino- is general, and he raises considerable wool ; he holds the office of 
Meteorological Observer for the United States. He is a deacon in 
the Baptis" Church; in politics he is a Republican, and is auditor. 

O. P. WARD, farmer, P. O. Alba, is a native of Canton township, 
this county, born June 23, 1835, a son of Eliphalet and Polly (Case) 
Ward, natives of Connecticut and Vermont, respectively. Eliphalet 
AVard was a farmer and an early settler of Canton township. He 
served in the War of 1812, and died in August, 1865, in his seventy- 
sixth year. Mrs. AVard died in April, 1876, in her eighty-fourth year. 
The paternal grandfathers were in the Revolutionary War. The sub- 
ject of this sketch, who is the youngest in order of birth in a famdy 
of eleven children, was reared in Canton township, receiving his edu- 
cation in the common schools, and has made farming his occupation. 
He enlisted, August 24, 1861, for three years in Company F, Eleventh 
Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Capt. B. B.Mitchell; took part in the 
battles of Petersburg, Wilson's Raid and Deserted House, and was in 
many skirmishes ; was mustered out at Jones's Neck, Ya., August 26, 
1864'. He was married in Fox, Sullivan Co., Pa., April 1, 1866, to 
Paulina, daughter of Aaron and Julia (Burdick) Wright, natives of 
Delaware county, N. Y. Aaron Wright was a farmer, and died in 
Fox townshij). Sullivan Co., Pa., in 1879, in his sixty-ninth year; Mrs. 
Wright still survives him, is in her seventy-ninth year, and resides in 
Alba. Mrs. Ward's greatgrandfather Wright was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War ; she is the sixth in order of birth in a family of nine 
children, and was born in Springfield township, this county. January 25, 
1844 To. Mr. and Mrs. Ward' were born three children, as follows: 
Minnie, wife of Frank Jennings; Allen T. and Julia. Mr. Ward is a 



HISTORY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. 12C3 

member of the G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 01, and (Jnion Veteran 
Legion, No. 48; also a member of the Keystone Grange. J^olitically 
he is a Democrat, and holds the office of road commissioner ; served 
six years as school director and one term as town clerk. 

DRAPER N. WARNER, farmer, Tuscarora township, P. O. Spring 
Hill, was born, June 30, 1860, about two miles from where he now 
resides, and is a son of Charles and Betsey M. (Black) Warner, the 
former a native of ^ew York, and the latter of Pennsylvania, both 
being of New England origin. Mr. Warner has one sister, Jennie, who 
was married to William Richardson, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The father 
was a soldier in the Rebellion, being a member of Battery H. One 
Hundred and Twelfth Regiment, Pennsylvania Yolunteers, and was 
taken prisoner at Petersburg, and sent to Salisbury Prison, where he 
died of starvation. Draper N. Warner was educated at the Soldiers' 
Orphans School, at Harford, Pa., and from the time he left there, 
which was when he was sixteen, he lived with his stepfather till he 
was past twenty. At twenty-one he began life for himself, farming 
on his present place, which was left to him by his father. He was 
married, December 24, 1881, to Miss Sarah L.,daughterof William and 
Mary Jane (Lacey) Peet, of Tuscarora, and they have two children: 
Charles Wesley, born December 5, 1883, and Eldridge L., born August 
19, 1885. In politics Mr. Warner is a pronounced Republican. 

JOHN M. WARNER, farmer, P. O. Windham, is a native of 
Albany county, N. Y., where he was born December 22, 1827, a son of 
Peter and Amanda (Smith) Warner, also of New York, but remotely 
of German and English descent, and belonging to the Agricultural 
class who migrated to Bradford county in 1845, and located in the 
immediate vicinity of the subject's present residence; the mother died 
in 1882 at the age of eighty-two years, and the father departed this life 
at the age of ninety-two. Their family of children were five in num- 
ber, John being- the third in order of birth. He came with his parents 
to Bradford county, and when grown engaged in farming, and now owns 
fifty-three acres. In October, 1801, he enHsted in the Fifty-seventh 
Regiment, P. Y. I., Company G, joining the Army of the Potomac, and 
was at the siege of Yorktown. He was detailed for extra duty on the 
steamer " Commodore," and was on duty there at the time of the bat- 
tles of Williamsburg and Fair Oaks. He also did arduous duty on the 
fleet at White House Landing; he was seriously hurt in the hip in 
getting off a train, and from disability was discharged from the service 
in December, 1862, having been in 'the hospital nine months; these 
injuries are a life affliction. Mr. Warner was married in Litchfield, 
in 1848, to Phoebe Kuykendall, who was born in 1828, a daughter of 
John and Betsey (Brack) Kuykendall, of New York, and they have had 
four children: Harry (deceased); Eugene (deceased); Delphine, married 
to Luther Bixby, a farmer, and Betsey Ann (deceased wife of Albert 
Johnson). Mr. Warner raises improved stock on his farm. Mrs. War- 
ner is a registered physician in Bradford county. 

M. S. WARNER,' a prominent farmer, of Ulster township, P. O. 
Milan, son of Adnijah and Nancy (Means) Warner, was born in Wysox 
township, this county, October 12, 1808. His father was of English 



1264 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

descent, and a native of Massachusetts; his mother was of Northum- 
berland county, Pa.; his grandfather, Adnijah Warner, was a resident 
of Boston at the breaking out of the Revolution, and was one of the 
crowd who organized tlie noted " Boston tea party." His father 
migrated to Athens in 1792, it then being a village containing only 
thi^e or four houses; he was a young physician, and formed a part- 
nership with Dr. Hopkins in 1797; he removed to Sheshequin, and 
engaged to teach the common school at that place, with the privilege 
of*^visiting his patients when called. He was married, in 1798, to 
Nancy Means, of Towanda, removed to Wysox and continued the prac- 
tice of medicine at that place until 1835, when he retired from active 
practice; he died in 1846, aged eighty-three years. 

M. S. Warner, the subject of this sketch, was born on the farm at 
Wysox, and attended the common schools, walking a distance of two 
miles to reach the school-house. On reaching manhood he farmed until 
1844, when he received the appointment of State weigh-master, and 
removed to Northumberland ; he remained there until 1848, when he 
bought the farm he now owns and occupies, which consists of 200 acres 
of ffnely improved land ; tiie improvements have all been made by him ; 
his business ventures have always been successful, having secured his 
entire fortune by his own exertions. He was married, January 6, 
1833. to Harriet, daughter of Ebenezer Smith, and niece of Gen. War- 
ren, the eminent Revolutionary soldier; his family consists of the 
following children : Adelaide D., wife of Dr. Addison Sayres, of Har- 
rison countv, Texas; Mary Ellen, wife of J. P. Drake, of Beech Pond, 
Wavne Col, Pa.; Frances I., wife of N. W. Price, of Rockford, 111.; 
Charles B. married to Jane Stiles, died January 16, 1890 ; and Emma 
St. Leon. Mr. Warner is a member of the Freemasons, Lodge No. 108, 
Towanda, and is a Presbyterian in religious views ; politically he is a 
Jackson Democrat on the Jefferson model. He has reached a green 
old age, and still carries on his business with a skill and success that 
many a younger man migiit envy, and is surrounded with the comforts 
of life, which his own exertions"^ have brought him. 

CHARLES WARREN, farmer, P. O. Alba, is a native of Sullivan 
countv. Pa., born August 25, 1834, a son of Josiah and Sarah (Glide- 
well) Warren, natives of Sullivan and Northumberland counties, Pa., 
respectively, tlie former born in 1808. He is a farmer and resides in 
Granville township; Mrs. Sarah Warren died in 1881, in her seventy- 
first year. The paternal grandfather, John Warren, also a farmer, 
emigrated from England, and was one of the first settlers in what is 
no\°Sullivan county, near what is now Millview ; he died in 1813; his 
wife was Mary Ward, whom he married in England. The subject of 
these lines, wl'io is the eldest in a family of six living children, was reared 
in Canton township, from one year of age. He was educated in the 
common schools and attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary two 
years. He began teaching when eighteen, and taught almost continu- 
ously until 1884. He owns a farm containing 190 acres in a good state 
of cultivation, and is also engaged in the dairy business. Ur. Warren 
was married in Alba, in 1861, to Celestia, (hiugliter of William and 
Laurinda (Lane) Shoemaker, natives of Granville and Burlington town- 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1265 

ships, respectively. William Shoemaker is a farmer, and resides in 
Granville township. Mrs. Warren is the eldest in a family of four 
children, and was born in Granville township, in September, 1842. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Warren were born eight children, of whom four are living, 
as follows: G. A., B. J., Errett and Edna. The family are members 
of the Disciple Church, of which Mr. Warren is an elder, and super- 
intendent of the Sunday-school ; he is a member of the West Granville 
Grang-e. Politically he is a Republican, and is serving his fourth term 
as township auditor. 

EZEKIEL N. WATERMAN, farmer, and one of the surviving 
veterans of the Civil War, P. O. Nichols, Tioga Co., N. Y., is a 
native of Smithboro, Tioga Co., N. Y., born October 9, 1834, a son of 
James and Lucinda (Smith) Waterman, natives of New York and 
Pennsylvania, respectively, and of remote English and German 
descent. James was a " village blacksmith," and died in 1859, while 
his widow survived until 1875. Their family consisted of fourteen 
children, of whom Ezekiel is the ninth, and grew to his majorit}'^ in 
his father's humble home. He came to Bradford county in 1871, and 
has been a farmer and mill operator in Windham township, and is 
now retired on his comfortable little home farm. He volunteered in 
the service in July, 1863, in Company B, One Hundred and Fourth 
Regiment, N. Y. V. I., and with his command was sent directly to the 
front, going from Owego to Elmira, then to New York, then to 
Rockers Island, then by sea to Norfolk, then to Alexandria, and thence 
to the Rappahannock river under Gen. Robinson, the Confederates 
living on one side of the river and the Union forces on the other. 
They then crossed over to Brundy Station, and thence to the Rapidan, 
which they reached October 11, where he was stricken with fever, and 
when the army fell back he was left, and an ambulance took him to Cul- 
peper, from where he was sent to Corse Hospital in Washington, 
where he was in the hospital five weeks, then was sent home on fur- 
lough, and was ultimately discharged July 29, 1865, and has never 
recovered fully, but remains disabled and is pensioned. On his return 
from the army he entered a store and was in partnership three years, 
when he purchased the little farm he now occupies. He married Dell, 
daughter of Job R. and Parmelia (Osborn) Bixby, the former a native 
of Bradford county, and the latter of Orange county, N. Y., of Scotch 
and German origin. Of this marriage are children as follows : George 
H., Ed J., Frank O., Iva M., Sarah N., Bertha L. and Winifred U. In 
politics he is a Republican, has been on the school board, and served 
as president last year and is now secretar\\ 

A. W ATKINS, farmer and stock-grower. Ulster township,P.O. Ulster, 
was born the thirty-first day of August, 1840, on the farm which he now 
occupies. His father, Lorenzo Watkins, was born in South Reading, 
Windsor Co., Yt., in 1807; his mother, Matilda Watkins, was born at 
Athens, this county, in 1815. Lorenzo Watkins migrated to Bradford 
countv, in 1836; his family consisted of two children. A. Watkins, the 
subject of the sketch, was reared on a farm, receiving his education in the 
country schools, with the exception of four or five terms atTowanda; leav- 
ing school he engaged in farming and has alwavs been successful. 



126G HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

December 24, 1862, he was married to Sarah, daughter of S. Chirk, of 
Burlington; by this marriage were two children: Frank, aph3^sician, of 
Grey's Harbor, Washington, and Edwin, a teacher. His first wife died in 
1870, and September 2Jr, 1872, he was married to Christena Murdoch, 
daughter of Alexander and Janette Murdoch, natives of Scotland, but 
residents of Ulster; by this marriage there were three children: Cora, 
died, January 10,1877; George H. and Leslie Day. In his political views 
Mr. Watkins is a stanch Republican; in religious views he is independent, 
not being connected with any church. In his possession is an old parch- 
ment deed, granting lands to Simonds, said lands being his and a part of 
three other farms. There is on his farm an old burying ground used by 
the aborigines as a place of interment ; it is located on the river bank 
and he has plowed up numerous skeletons, some of them being of very 
large size; he also made a discovery near the same place, tending to show 
that the aborigines either used the means of cremation, or else offered 
human sacrifices at their funerals, probablv the latter — of a large flat 
stone, of a variety and formation unknown in that locality, it was sur- 
rounded with smaller stones firml}' cemented together so as to form a 
bowl-sha|)ed cavity ; in the hollow of this structure was found charcoal 
and the charred remains of human bones. Mr. Watkins now owns 100 
acres of finely improved and highly cultivated land, and devotes his 
attention entii'ely to farming and sheep raising. 

MIAL WATKINS, a prominent farmer of Columbia township, 
P. O. Austinville, was born in Columbia township, Bradford Co., 
Pa., February 13, 1819, and is a son of David and Polly (Seeley) 
Watkins, natives of Connecticut, who were of the first settlers in 
Columbia township. David Watkins was born January 21,1779. He 
cleared the farm now owned b\" our subject and son Burt, and died 
tliere; his children were Laura (Mrs. Philip Slade), who was the first 
white child born in Columbia township; Charry (Mrs. John Wolfe), 
Seeley, AViiliam, Pebecca (Mrs. Isaac Besley), Eliada, Mial, Hannah 
(Mrs. Isaiah Montunye). Mary (Mrs. John Perry). Mial AVatkins Avas 
reared in Columbia township, where he has always resided, and is the 
owner of five farms of which he cleared a large ])art of the homestead. 
He was twice married : first time to Ophelia, daughter of Alexander 
Harris, of Putland, Tioga Co., Pa., and by her he had three children, 
as follows: Ida Belle (Mrs. David Deforest), AValter and l>urt. His 
second w^ife was ]\Irs. Hester M. (Case) Pennell. of Troy township, by 
whom he has one son named Treat. INIr. AVatkins in ])()litics is a 
Pejniblican. 

AVILLIAM B. AV ATKINS, farmer of Columl)ia township, P. O. 
Altus, was born in that township, June 3, 1869. and is a son of Joel 
and Eliza (Ilorton) AVatkins. His patei'ual grandparents were AViiliam 
C. and I'amphelia (Furman) AVatkins, and his great-grand jiarents were 
David and Polly (Seeley) AVatkins, one of tlie five families who first 
settled in Columbia township. The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
ject was Thomas Hortcm, a pioneer of Putland, Tioga Co., Pa., and 
the father of our subject was a native of Columbia township, wheie 
he followed the occu|>ation of farming, and is now residing at Austin- 
ville. He reared a family of five children: Flora (Mrs. 11. A. Bulh^ck), 



* HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1^07 

William B., Carrie, Grace and Thaddens. The children of William 
C. and his wife Pampheha (Furman) Watkins were Justus, John, Cor- 
delia (Mrs. Charles Strait) and Joel. William B. was reared in his 
native township, educated in the common schools, and resides on the 
old homestead of his father and grandfather. He married, March 28, 
1888, Lillian, daughter of William W. and Sarah (Ayres) Young, of 
Columbia townshi]), and has one son, Leslie. Mr. Watkins is one of 
the prominent young farmers of Columbia township; in politics he is 
Republican. 

NELSON S. WATSON, merchant, Springfield township, P. O. 
Big Pond, was born November 14, 1830, in Greene, Chenango Co., 
N. Y., a son of John K. and Maria (Upham) Watson, natives of that 
county. John K. was a farmer and came to this county in 1838, and 
located on a farm at Big Pond, then nearly a dense wilderness; he was 
a man of iniiuence, and^died at the age of sixty-eight years, November 
4, 1872, and the mother died March 30, 1875, at the age of sixty-nine 
years; they were of English extraction. Mr. Watson was the second 
in a family of seven children — five sons and two daughters; he was reared 
on the farm and was educated in the schools of the township, and w^as 
a lumbei-man and farmer many years. Tw^enty-six, years ago he com- 
menced in his present business, that of a general merchant, in which 
he has accumulated a competence. Two of his brothers. Thomas and 
George, were in the Civil War, and George was wounded at the battle 
of the Wilderness and taken a prisoner to Andersonville, and when 
nearly starved to death was exchanged, and brought home a complete 
wreck. August 27, 1855, subject married Hannah, of Springfield, bom 
August 31, 1828, daughter of Luke and Charity Pitts, early settlers in 
the township. Mr. Pitts built the first gristmill in the township; they 
are believed to be of the same family as Sir William Pitt. Mr. and Mrs. 
Watson have had two children: Willie, whodied when two and one-half 
years of age, and Charles, born November 2, 1857, married Jessie Ham- 
mond, of Ridgebury, and is a newspaper reporter. Mr. Watson is a 
strong Republican as well as a great tem])erance man. 

JOHN MASON WATTLES (deceaseds was born in Wysox, this 
county, February 9, 1810, a son of Arunah and Elizabeth (Allen) 
Wattles, of Scotch and Irish lineage, respectively. His grandfather, 
Jesse Allen, who was a nephew of Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary 
fame, was among the first settlers in Wysox, and one of the founders 
and leaders of the church at that place. As far back as it has been 
^ possible to trace the Wattles family is to one John Wattles, who came 
^from Scotland and settled in Go-rmeatictt-t ; he had two sons. John and 
^Dan, both uf whom settled in Delaware county, N. Y., Dan after- 
wards coming to Bradford county; he married Cynthia Williams, a 
niece of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, and hatl 
three children, Arunah, Caroline and John. Arunah Wattles was 
elected a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1818. In his 
family there were eleven children, of whom John Mason was the sec- 
ond. ' The subject of these lines, when quite a young man. was chosen 
clerk in the county commissioner's office, at Towanda, where lie 
remained several vears; then located on a farm in Wvsox, and in 



1268 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 

1872 removed to the present estate, where he died April 11, 1889. He 
was married, August 31, 1843, to Amanda, dauc^hter of Shepard and 
Sarah (CoolbauglT) Tierce, the former a native of New York and of 
Irish origin, tlie latter a native of Pennsylvania and of German origin. 
Thev hiTve five children, as follows: Henry Leslie, a conductor on 
the Nortliern Pacific Railroad, at Tacoma, Wasli.; John P., on a ranch 
near Denver, Col.; Fred, married to Ellen Moscrip (they have two 
children, Fred Mason and Helen); Sara Pierce and Paith, who are liv- 
ing on the old homestead which they now own. Mr. Wattles was, 
difrino- his life, a strong Democrat and unusually well versed in the 
workings of the Government. 

A. E. WATTS, farmer and dairyman, P. O. East Canton, was born 
January 31, 1833, on the farm where he now resides, a son of Squire 
and Margaret (Gregg) Watts, natives of Towanda and Sheshequin, 
respectivelv. Squire Watts was a farmer, born August 5, 1800, and 
was killed while helping to take down a barn in May, 1863. Mrs. 
Watts died November 1, 1886, in her ninetieth year ; the paternal 
grandfather, Frank Watts, was a native of Scotland. A. E. Watts is 
the voungest in a family of six children— four sons and two daughters — 
of whom^tive are now living. He was reared on the farm, and received 
his education in the common schools; was engaged in lumber business 
several years, but made farming his main occupation, and now owns a 
farm containing eighty acres in a good state of cultivation. He was 
married in LeRoy township, in 1866, to Saraantha, daughter of Sullivan 
and Phoebe (Bailey) Morse, natives of LeRoy township and Massa- 
chusetts, respectively. Sullivan Morse is a "^farmer, and resides in 
LeRoy township. Mrs. Watts is the sixth in order of birth in a family 
of seven cliildren, and was born in LeRoy township July 3, 1844. To 
Mr. and Mrs. AVatts were born two sons : Frank (clerk in the First 
Natiimal Bank of Canton) and Clarence. Mrs. Watts is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Watts is a member of the 
F.& A. M., Canton Lodire. No. 415, and also of the Keystone Grange. 
He enlisted, Julv 25, 1862, in Ccmipany C, One Hundred and Thirty- 
second P. V. L, for nine months ; he took part in the battles of 
Antietam and Fredericksburg, where he was wounded December 13, 
1862, and was mustered out at Harrisburg May 24. 1863. Politically 
he is Independent, and has served one term as school director and one 
term as collector. 

THOMAS MURRAY WATTS, farmer, LeRoy township, P. O. 
East Canton, was born at Towanda, January 4, 1825, a son of Squire 
and Margaret (Gregg) Watts, natives of Towanda, and Dauphin 
countv. Pa., respectivelv. He was the son of Francis Watts, of Scotch 
descent, who came to Towanda about 1782 or '83, and built and oper- 
ated a still a number of vears; he settled on 200 acres of land, now a 
part of the town of Towanda ; he was a Revolutionary soldier who 
fought bravelv tor his country, for which he was granted a homestead 
in Che State of Illinois; was in the Wyoming massacre, was (;aptured, 
but by strategy made his escape. Squire Watts removed to Canton 
about 1825, and located on a one-hundred-acre lot, where he lived 
thirty -seven years, and met his death by a timber falling upon liini. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 12^!) 

His family consisted of four sons and two daughters, all of whom grew 
to maturity. Our subject, being the eldest of the family, was reared 
and educated in Canton at the common school; in early life he learned 
the carpenters trade, also devoted his attention to lumbering, and is now 
living on part of his old homestead. AVhen forty years of age, Marcli 
8, 18()5, he married Mary, daughter of Jacob and Polly Beardsley, of 
Canton. Mr. Jacob Beardsley removed from New York and settled 
in Beech Flats about 1830; he was the son of Isaac Beardsley, a native 
of Connecticut and a descendant of Puritan stock. The grandfather 
of Mrs. Watts on her mother's side, J. B. Farr, was a soldier in the 
War of 1812. Mr Watts' family consists of one son and four daugh- 
ters, viz.: Marv Louise, Grace Delphine, Margaret Marion, Thomas 
Murry, Jr., and Helen LaVille. He makes a specialty of lumbering, 
but works his farm to some extent, is a member of the F. tfe A. M., 
is a Granger and politically is a Democrat; has been honored with tlie 
office of commissioner nine years, held the same office in Sullivan 
county tliree years, was justice of peace at same time, and was school 
director thirteen years. He is a man of much thought and intelligence. 

J. N. WEAVER, master mechanic, Lehigh Yalley Railroad shops 
at Sayre, is a native of jS^orthampton county. Pa., and was born July 
25, 1844, son of Henry and Marian (Semple) AVeaver, the former of 
whom is a mechanic, a native of the same place, latter being a native 
of Scotland. J. N. Weaver, who is the fourth in a family of nine 
children, completed his education in the high school at Easton, Pa., 
and served an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade in Phillipsburg. 
He Avas employed by the L. V. R. R. as journeyman machinist in 
South Easton, where he remained until the fall of 1869, when he was 
transferred to Waverly, N. Y., and placed in charge of the engines 
and machines of tliis branch of the Lehigh Yailev Railroad. In 1880 
the company moved their shops to Sayre, where he suiierintended the 
construction of the shops, and has been in the emplo}^ of the com]iany 
since. Mr. Weaver was married in Waverly, N. Y., in 1872, to Miss 
Lila, daughter of Zura and Fanny (Lyman) Travis, natives of Sus- 
quehanna county (she was born in Bradford county. Pa., in July, 1847). 
To Mr. and Mrs. Weaver were born three children, viz.: T. Desmond, 
Agnes F. and Xellie F. The family are members of the Episcopal 
Church. Mr. Weaver is a member of the F. & A. M., Union Lodge, 
No. 108, Towanda; Cayuta Chapter, No. 245, and Northern Com- 
mandery, No. 16; also of the Provident Life and Trust Company. He 
is a Republican, and served serveral terms as member of the council in 
Waverlv, and two terms as school director in S'avre. 

HON. JAMES H. WEBB, attorney and counselor at law, 
Towanda, is a native of Tioga (nou^ Chemung) county, N. Y., and was 
boi-n December 4, 1820. His parents were John L. and Annis (Ham- 
mond) Wel)b, natives of Connecticut, and of English descent, agricul- 
turists, who came to this county in 1823, and located in Ridgebury 
township, west of Athens, lie was a man of strong personality, and 
impressed u])on his boys the lessons of an upright life and a vigorous 
brain and constitution, and died on his farm, in 1846. He left four 
sons and one daughter, and a marked incident of these brothers is the 

75 



1270 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

strong similaritv of their political and public lives. These robust 
farmer boys acquired good educations, and all studied law and engaged 
while vet"'joung men in the practice, except our subject, who began 
reading law in 1883, and was licensed to practice in 1885. Scattering, 
as by mstinct, to different county seats, they rose rapidly in their pro- 
fessions; all were active and stanch Republicans, and every one of 
them was elected time and again to the Legislature, and this gentle- 
man was elected Speaker of the House at the beginning of his fifth 
term, and re-elected in the Senate. This apparently being the first 
break in the line where all moved abreast, it is reasonable to suppose 
that if there had been four speakers' chairs at the disposal of the body, 
the boys would have as a matter of course taken seats together ; as 
there was but one chairman or speaker possible, the other three 
boys started a new departure, and all three were elected to the Bench. 
Tlie youngest, Charles M., is now filling his second term as President 
Judge, in%isconsin. If there is a family in Bradford county that has 
turn^ed out more self-made men, who, as "'it were, have gone hand in 
hand, from the plow handles to eminence and fame, they can not now 
be readily recalled. James H. Webb was first married to Sally Cham- 
berlin; she died in 1879, and left four children, as follows: George, 
who is now in Government employ, Philadelphia; Charles G., bank 
cashier, Kansas; Edwin R. and William II. The second marriage was 
with Mrs. Mary M., widow of Joseph Munson, of Elmira. In the famdy 
of Mr. and Mrs. Webb is an ado])ted daughter, Margaret. James H. 
Webb has served as register and recorder of Bradford county three 
terms, six terms in the Legislature, and in his public life has been an 
efficient friend of the county and its interests. His intelligence, probity 
and suavity have ever called about him since early manhood troops of 
admirers and sincere friends, and he has never had to swap his old 
friends for new ones ; gentle and charitable, courageous foi the right 
always, yet forgiving toward the faults of others: the living personi- 
fication of what Scotia's bard wrote: 

" The rank is but the guinea's stamp — 
A man's a man for a' that." 

JOHN J. WEBB, contractor and builder, Towanda, is one of the 
prominent citizens of his township, and has contril)uted largely to the 
improvements of the borough. He was born in Orange county, N. Y., 
^[arch 27, 1833, and is a son of David and Charity (Patterson) Webb, 
who were natives of New York, and of AVelsh and Dutch descent, 
respective! V, and for generations were tillers of the soil. David 
Webb, however, was a tailor by trade, and the father of six children ; 
the grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution. John J. Webb was 
the ''third in the familv of children, and grow to manhood in his 
father's home. He received the advantages of a fair English educa- 
tion, and learned the carpenter's trade, and in connection with this 
occupation has carried on a farm which is situated in North Towanda 
township. He came to Ih-adford county in 1855, and first settled in 
Sheshe(iuin township. In lsr)4 he enlisted in the 1^'irst New York 
Veteran Cavalry, Company D, and was honorably discharged at the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1271 

end of tlie war, June 1, 1865. He married, January 1'2, 1859, Frances, 
daughter of Albert and Susan (Bull) Lent, whose mother was a native 
of New York, and her father of Wysox township, and the latter is 
now residing on the farm, where he was born in 1808, a representative 
pioneer of the valley. To this marriage have been born two children : 
Charit}^ and Susan. Mr. Webb is a member of the G. A. R., Wat- 
kins Post, and a Republican in political affairs. 

WILLIAM WEIGESTER, of Weigester & Morse, marble and 
granite works, Troy, Pa., was l)orn in Peterboro, Canada, December 
9, 1858, and is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Kimble) Weigester, 
natives of Germany. He was reared in his native town and educated 
in the common schools. He settled in Troy, Pa., in 1881, served an 
apprenticeship of three years with his brother, George, at the marble 
cutter's trade, afterward worked as a journeyman, and, on the death 
of his brother in 1880, carried on the business for the widow one and 
one-half years. In 1888 he purchased the business, which he con- 
ducted alone six months, when he formed a partnership with Mr. 
Frank Morse, and under the firm name of AYeigester & Morse have 
since conducted a successful business. He married, Septem.ber 8, 
1886, Susie J., daughter of Benjamin and Lorinda (Putnam) Smiley, 
of East Troy, and has one son, Charles. Fie is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Prohibitionist. 

C. H. WELCH, general foreman, locomotive department, L. V. R. R. 
machine shops, Sayre, is a native of Philadelphia, and was boi-n May 1, 
1855, only child of James and Eliza (Whitehead) Welch, the former a 
native of Norfolk, Ya., and the latter of Philadelphia. The father, 
who was a rope spinner, died in Philadelphia in 1855 in his thirt}'- 
sixth year; the mother now resides in Philadelphia. C. H. Welch was 
reared in Philadelphia, and received his education in the city schools. 
When seventeen years of age he went to Renova, and began an appren- 
ticeship at the machinist trade in the Philadelphia ife Erie Machine 
Shops, where he worked until February, 1881, when he came to Sayre 
and found employment in the L. Y. R. R. Machine Shops as journey- 
man until 1887, when he was made foreman of the machine department, 
and in July, 1889, was ])romoted to his present position. He was 
married in Renova, in 1878, to Miss Jennie, daughter of Rev. McCor- 
mick and Mary (Bolinger) Graham, natives of Clinton county. Pa. 
Rev. McCormick Graham is a minister in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church; his family consisted of seven children, of whom Mrs. Welch 
is the fifth in order of birth, and five are living. Of this marriage 
there were born two children : Claire and Willmina. The family are 
members of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Welch is a member of the 
F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, also of the Patriotic Sons of 
America, and in politics he is a Republican. 

ARTEMUS WELLER, Litchfield townsliip, P. O. Athens, was 
born in Tioga county, N. Y., February 25, 1840. a son of Frederick 
Weller, a farmer who spent the greater portion of his life in Athens 
township; his mother's name was Anna Spear; they had fifteen chil- 
dren, six of whom are livmg: Elizabeth J., married first to Isaac 
Osborn, and afterward to William Fish ; Ei'astus, married to Temper- 



127'2 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

ance Care}', resides in Tioga county, N. Y.; Rachel, married to Je- 
rome Wliite, of Athens; Leartus, married to Amelia Cornaby; Daniel, 
married to Jane YanGorder, of Athens, and Artemus, Our subject 
came to Athens when three years old, and lived there continuously 
until 1878, when he removed to where he now resides. He attended 
school in Athens until about sixteen, and received a good common- 
school education. He enlisted in the army, October, 1862, in the One 
Hundred and Seventy-first liegiment, Company C, P. Y. I.; he was 
in the service nine months, when he was stricken with paralysis and 
returned home helpless, and for two years after was unable to do an}^ 
business. Recovering somewhat, he engaged in the sawmill business, in 
which he had Avorked but a short time when b}'^ misfortune he lost the 
fingers of his right hand, which prevented him from doing anything. 
He then engaged for a time in peddling, and for a period of three 
years thereafter he was emploved at Athens with the Union Bridge 
Works. He came to Litchfield township and ]nirchased the farm he 
now occupies, containing fifty acres; the handsome residence and sur- 
roundings attest the success which has attended his efforts, lie was 
married, in 1869, to Ceiicia Fitzgeralds. daughter of Adam and Mahala 
(Carman) Fitzgeralds. Mr. Weller is a member of Perkins Post, G. A. 
R., No. 202, Athens. The family are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and in ])olitics he is a Republican. 

NATHAN Y. WELLER, dairyman, Athens, a native of Chemung 
county, N. Y., was born March IS, 1842, and is a son of Jacob A. and 
Julia (Fitzgerald) AVeller, the former a native of Newburg, N. Y., and 
latter of New Jerse^^ The father, who was a farmer, died at Greene's 
Landing, Athens township, this county. May 12, 1887, in his seventy- 
eighth year. Mrs. Weller died in 1876, in her sixty-eighth year. Nathan 
Y. is the seventh in a family of twelve children, of whom two died in 
infancy; he came to Athens township with parents, March 4, 1843, was 
reared on the farm, and received the early part of his education in the 
public schools; then attended a ])rivate school two years. He enlisted in 
the army July 6, 1862, in Company I,One Hundred and Ninth N. Y.Y.I., 
and some of the engagements that he participated in were the battles 
of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, North Anna and Hatcher's 
Run; he was wounded at Petersburg and North Anna, and at Spottsyl- 
vania he was taken prisoner, but esca[)ed the night after his capture 
with two others. He was mustered out at Tennallytown, June 16, 
1865. After his return from the army he worked at the blacksmith 
trade ten years, and then abandoned it on account of ill health ; after- 
ward he engaged in farming and began the daiiying business in 1875; 
his farm contains 208 acres of well-improved land with good buildings; 
he also handles agricultural implements. j\[r. Weller Avas mari'ied in 
Athens township, November 8, 1865, to Miss Mary A., daughter of 
Edward and Agnes (Holmes) McMorran, natives of Scotland ; they 
immigrated to this county about the year 1849, and are now residents 
of Athens. Mrs. Weller," who is the youngest in a family of four chil- 
dren, was born i)i Scotland, August 21. 1844, and to them were Ixmii 
three children : Ki-ed M., Harry E. and Mary A. The family are mem- 
bers of the Presbvterian Church. Mr. Weller is a member of the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1273 

F. & A. M., Eural Amity Lodge, Xo. 70, of the Chapter and Com- 
manden?^, is also a charter member of the G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 
202, and a member of the Union Veteran Legion, No. 28, and of the 
Union Veteran Union, of Sayre, also of the Royal Arcanum. Mr, 
Weller is a Republican, and has held the office of "township treasurer, 
auditor and secretary of the school board. 

N. A. WELLES, Wyalusing, the son of Matthias II. and Mary 
(Acklev) Welles, was born at Wyalusing, but spent most of his youth 
in Elmira, N. Y. He was educated in the public schools and Cornell 
University. After graduating, he came to Wyalusing, where he is 
connected with the M. H. & (t. II. Welles Lumber Company. He is 
married, and has two children, Sayre and Mary Ackie}^ The family 
worship at the Presbyterian Church. He is a Republican, but inde- 
pendent in town and county matters. 

RAYMOND M. WELLES, a prominent citizen of Towanda, was 
born in Wyalusing township, this county, in 1825, and is a son of 
Charles F. and Ellen (liollenback) Welles. His paternal grandfather 
was George Welles, a native of Connecticut, who settled at Tioga Point 
(now Athens), in this county, about 1800, where he engaged in farm- 
ing and later in merchandising, and resided there until his death ; his 
wife was Prudence Talcott, of a noted Connecticut family, by whom he 
had five children, viz.: Susan, Mrs. John Hollenback, of Owego, 
N.'Y.); General Ilenry (who married Sarah Spalding); Charles F.; 
James and Mary (Mrs. William Pumpelly). The maternal grandfather 
was ]VIatthias Hollenback, of German and Welsh descent, a pio"neer of 
the Wyoming Valley, who is said to have been the first trader at what 
is now Athens and Wysox, in this county, and at Elmira N. Y., and 
boated merchandise up the Susquehanna river on what was called 
" Durham boats ; " he was for many years a resident of Wilkes-Barre, 
and died there. Charles F. Welles^ father of our subject, was a native 
of Connecticut, and was reared in iiradford county from ten years of 
age. He had but three months of steady schooling in his life; however, 
he educated himself and studied law in Binghamton, N. Y., but never 
practiced his profession. Most of his life was spent in farming and 
in the land agency business. He was the first prothonotary, register 
and recorder of Bradford county, receiving his appointment to the 
office by the governor in 1815, and served in that capacity until 1822; 
he then removed from Towanda to Wyalusing, where he ^'esided until 
his death. Llis children were as follows: Charles F., Jr.; Sarah; 
Matthias H., Jane M. (Mrs. George M. Bixby); George H.; Henry H.; 
Raymond M.; John W. (whose name was changed to John Welles 
Hollenback by act of Legislature in 1862); William and Edward. 
Raymond M. Welles was reared in Wyalusing township and educated 
in the common schools and at Owego and Athens Academies. In 
1850 he engaged as a dealer in agricultural machinery and hardware 
at Athens. In 1856-57 was engaged in the business of manufacturing 
fanning mills in Athens, and from 1857 to 1860 in the manufacturing 
of agricultural machinery, and from 1873 to 1876, was interested in 
agricultural works at Ithaca, N. Y. He has been a resident of 
Towanda since 1865. In 1850 he was married to Marv J., daughter 



1274 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

of Thomas and Anne (West) Page, of Athens township, formerly of 
Kngiand, bv whom he has five children living-, viz.: Charles P., Francis 
K., Edward M., Emma L. and Arthur T. Mr. Welles is a member of 
the Baptist Church, and in politics is an Independent. 

Charlks Page Welles, eldest son of the above, was born in 
Athens, August 31, 1851, and was reared in Athens and Towanda and 
educated in the common sciiools and at Susquehanna Collegiate Insti- 
tute. He has been engaged in the crockery and I'ancy-goods business 
in Towanda since 1877. He was married, June 2, 1875, to Ellen, 
daughter of George and Sabra (Shinn) Best, of Quincy, 111., and has 
live children, as follows : Ellen and Florence (twins), Alice, Amelia and 
Mary. Mr. Welles is a vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church, 
Towanda. and is a member of the F. & A. M., K. T. Scottish Kite, and 
I. O. O. F. and K. of P. He served two terms as auditor of Bradford 
county ; was elected a member of the borough councils of Towanda 
1888. Running 108 votes ahead of ids ticket, and was elected burgess of 
Towanda in 1890, and re-elected to council in 1891 by the unanimous 
vote of the second ward. He is a popular and enterprising citizen, and 
in politics is a Democrat. 

CHAPtLES WELLS, miller, Ulster, is a son of John J. and Harriet 
(Smith) Wells, both natives of Johnstown, N. Y., and was born in Mont- 
gomeiT county, N. Y., May 7, 1829. The Wellses are of Welsh, and 
the Sniiths of English, descent; their parents were born in Connecti- 
cut. His maternal ancestors came to this country in the " Mayflower/' 
and landed at Plymouth Rock, in 1620 ; the next year the " Mayflower" 
bore, on its second trip, among its passengers, the ancestors of his 
family on his father's side. His father was a farmer and miller. The 
son attended the common schools of New York until the age of seven- 
teen, and secured a fair education. At the age of eighteen he ran 
awav and shipped as assistant carpenter on the whaling-vessel, 
"Sophia,"' of Nantucket, bound to the Pacific, and forty-four long 
months were passed on the voyage; finally they reached Australia, 
and he left the ship, remaining at Sidney about two months ; then 
secured passage for California, which place he reached in the fall of 
1852, three years after the gold discovery; he started for the interior 
to mine gold immediately on landing, and located in Maraposa county; 
was at the mines six months, when he started to i-eturn home, coming 
via the Isthmus and l)v steamer to New York, which he reached in 
December, 1852. In 1853 he came to Pennsylvania, locating at Mason- 
town, and engaged in the lumber business until 1861. Was then in the 
navy as master mate ; served on the United States supply ship, " Sup- 
ply,"" from which he was transferred to the United States sloop-of-war, 
'• Lackawanna," and joined tiie West Gulf squadron. In 1864 he was 
promoted to ensign ' and transferred to the United States steamer, 
"Glasgow," serving on board that vessel as executive officer until the 
close of the war. The vessels on which he served were in the block- 
ading fleet on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and also participated in 
the capture of Mobile. Mr. Wells served altogether over three years 
in the navy. In 1865 he came to Towanda, and was appointed super- 
intendent of the mines at Barclay mountain. He built, in 1866, the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1275 

first Steam gristiiiill that was ever erected in Towanda ; in 1868 he 
sold out and went to Ulster, where he purchased the Holcomb mill, 
running it until 1872, when he built the Ulster steam gristmill ; in 1878 
lie added the roller process in this mill, for the manufacture of wheat 
flour. He has retired from active business. In 1857 Mr. Wells was 
married to Mary, daughter of G. 11. Mason, of Towanda, and by this 
marriage there were three children : Cora and Ida (twins), and Charles 
A., a printer. Mrs. Wells died in May, 1865, and Mr. Wells after- 
ward married Mrs. Amelia (Birdsall) Payne, by which marriage there 
are three children : Emma J., Jennie V. and Kate. Mr. Wells is a 
member of the G. A. 11., being one of the charter members of Gilmore 
Post, No. 227, and senior vice-commander. He has always voted the 
Republican ticket. When Mr. Wells was enlisted in the service, his 
name was spelled "Welles" on the books and papers, and he has never 
succeeded in getting it entirely corrected on the records. He draws a 
pension for injuries received in the service. The maternal grandparents 
of Mrs. Amelia (Birdsall) Wells were of French origin, and on her 
father's side tliey were English, by name Betts, three brothers taking 
passage on the "Mayflower," the second trip she made to this country. 
Mrs. Wells' first husband, J. Arthur Payne, enlisted in the Union ser- 
vice March 24, 1864, died April 24, 1864, and is buried at Monroeton, 
this county. 

J. M. WELLS, farmer, P. O. New Era, was born, June IS, 1843, 
reared and educated in Terry township, this county, a son of Daniel and 
Ruey (Strong) Wells, the former of whom was born in Terry June 27, 
1820; the latter was born in Northumberland, Wyoming*^ Co., Pa., 
April 14, 1825; they were married February 3, 1841. Daniel Wells 
is the son of Samuel, who was a native of Rhode Island and a shoe- 
maker by trade, who removed to this county as early as 1778, at that 
time a young man ; it is said that he owned most of Terrytown, four 
hundred acres, but by some mismanagement he lost possession of it, 
and it is now owned by the Terrys. Like all early settlers, he did 
not confine himself to shoemakmg, but worked at other business. His 
family consistetl of nine children. Daniel was adopted by Maj. John 
Horton, with whom he lived until of age, when he married Miss Ruey 
Strong. To them were born thirteen children — six daughters and seven 
sons — all of whom grew to maturity; his grandchildren number fifty- 
six. He began with nothing, but by hard work, energy, patience and 
the co-operation of a devoted wife, he left behind him a large prop- 
erty, bequeathing to five of his sons a productive farm ; he was exten- 
sively engaged in the lumber trade, and during the war took a fair 
advantage of the high prices ; he lived in Terry township his entire 
life, with the exception of five years spent in Columbia county, this 
State; he held the oflice of justice of the peace nine years, showing 
the confidence and trust reposed in him. The subject of this memoir 
is the second son, and, like his progenitor, is a successful man of busi- 
ness and a practical farmer. At the age of nineteen (in 1862) with 
his brother George, whose age was twenty, he entered the army 
as a member of Company xi. One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., 
for the term of three years, or during the war. J. M. was honorably 



1270 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTT. 

discharged, on account of disability, and now enjoys a life pension. 
On February 22, 1872, when twenty -eight years of age, he was mar- 
ried, at Wysox. by Rev. David Craft, to Adelia A., daugiiter of James 
and Amanda Furman ; by this marriage there was born, January 10, 
1873, one son, Herbert. ' Mrs. Adelia Wells died January 24:, 1874, 
aged twentv-three 3'ears, and for his second wife Mr. Wells married, 
August 11, 1875, Miss Mary J., daughter of Dr. J. M. and Lydia 
Furman, a cousin of his first wife, by which marriage there were born 
four children, viz.: Anna A., Burtie G., Daniel F. and Jessie M., 
all of whom are living and unmarried. Mr. Wells, who is an exten- 
sive farmer, owns 225 acres of fertile and productive land, 200 of 
which are cleared ; his dairy is large, and he makes that branch a 
specialty, and his stock is of the Jersey breed ; it is said that there is 
iron ore on his farm ; he is a member of the G. A. R., and a Democrat 
politically. 

LEVI WELLS, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Spring Hill, was born 
October 20, 1832, a son of Chester and Rebecca (Ilines) Wells, natives 
of Bradford county, the father born at Merryall. Chester Wells was 
a farmer by occupation, and a pioneer of the Spring Hill section of 
Tuscarora, while that country was so dense a wilderness that he was 
under the necessity of marking the trees so as to find his way back to 
Merryall settlement; he located on a farm on Spring Hill, built him- 
self a log cabin and commenced to clear a farm ; he was a t3q)ical pio- 
neer and made a competency from the farm and timber; be followed 
lumbering to a considerable extent, assisting in building the old slide 
down the hill to Ingham's mill, just above Camptown, and would send 
his logs down this slide, have them sawed at Ingham's mill, and then 
float the lumber down Wyalusing creek and raft it down the river. 
At his death he owned about two hundred acres of well-im|)roved 
land. His family consisted of five children, viz.: Clara II., married to 
John Bi-adford, merchant (deceased), late of Gold's Ferry, Conn.; W. 
W., merchant tailor and coal dealer, of Webster City, Iowa ; Eleanor 
J., married to Hiram Taylor, now residing at Cawker City, Kansas; 
E. C, residence, Newark, N. J., and Levi, the subject of this sketch. 

Levi Wells was born and reared on the farm he now occupies, and 
was educated in the common schools, i^ellaysville Academy and Wyo- 
ming Seminary. Attheageof seventeen he began teaching, and taught 
ten years during the winter seasons, devoting his attention to farming 
and stock-growing during the summers; he also became a practical 
surveyor, and has spent considerable time in the practice of that pro- 
fession. He now owns 2-10 acres of finely improved farm land, 200 
acres being the old homestead. Pie makes a specialty of dairying, 
having recently completed a commodious stock barn, with a capacity 
of from fifty to sixty cows, and has it filled with choice Jersey stock. 
He has been using jerseys in his dairy since 1871, and is a pioneer of 
the breeding of that grade of stock in the county ; he ships the cream 
from his own and several of his neighbors' dairies to New York City 
and Philadelphia. Mr. Wells was married, January 21, 1861, to Helen 
S. Jones (deceased Se))tember 15, 1887). a daughter of Edward Jones, 
of I'ike township, and this union was blessed with six children: N. J., 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1277 

now in the Wj^alusing Creamery; Chester, a cadet at the Naval MiH- 
tary Academy at Annapolis, Md. (he received his appointment to the 
cadetship in 1887, and will graduate with the class of 189o); Guy and 
Maud at home ; Fanny T. and Ilari'y B. (deceased). In 1861 Mr. 
Wells became a member of the Twelfth Keserve band, and went to 
the front; after about live months' service he was discharged and 
returned home ; in 1863, he became captain of Company G, Thirty- 
sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Mditia, and served two months; in 

1864, he received a commission as captain United States Volunteers, 
and served on Gen. Duval's staff during Sheridan's campaign in the 
Shenandoah Valley. In February, 1865, he was transferred to tlie 
Army of the Potomac, and assigned to duty on the staff of Gen. Ramsev, 
commanding the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Second Army Corps, 
and was with him until the surrender of Lee, except when, for a short 
time, a prisoner of war; from that time until his discharge in August, 

1865, he was on staff' of Gen. Pierce of a provisional corps organized for 
duty in the South whenever the exigencies of the times might demand 
their presence; was appointed commissary of subsistence with i-ank of 
captain, May 18, 1864, and brevetted major, for efficient and meritorious 
service, August 9, 1865. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, 
and is an A. Y. M., Franklin Lodge, No. 263, Lacevville; a member 
of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. II., Wyalusing. Politically Mr. Wells 
is identified with the Republican partv, and has always been a promi- 
nent factor in politics in his section. In the bitter campaign of 1890, 
he was candidate for sheriff on the straight Republican ticket. 

MARKLE C. AVELLS, music and sewing-machine dealer, Towanda, 
was born in Jackson township, Tioga Co., Pa., July 30, 1844, and 
is a son of Benjamin and Eliza (Updyke) Wells, of English and 
German descent. His paternal grandfather, Norman Wells, was a 
pioneer of Wysox, in this county, where he married Elizabeth Cool- 
baugh. He was many years engaged in lumbering and merchandis- 
ing at Daggett's Mills, Tioga Co., and in later life removed to Jackson 
township, in that county, and died there; he was a prominent politi- 
cian of his day, was a Whig, and a natural orator. The maternal 
grandfather was Foster Updyke, of Holland-Dutch extraction, and a 
pioneer of Jackson township, Tioga Co., Pa. The lineage of the 
Updyke family is traceable back to the Thirteenth century. Benja- 
mm Wells, father of our subject, was a native of Barrington, Yates 
Co., N. Y., and for eight years was a captain of a militia company. 
He was for many years engaged in the lumber business in Tioga 
county, and died in Jackson township, that county. Markle C. WeTls 
was reared in Tioga count}^ and educated in the common schools and 
what is now the State Normal School, at Mansfield, and began life as 
a teacher in the common schools, and later, for four years, was em- 
ployed in different capacities in the lumber business. During the late 
Civil War he was a Government sutler two years, and then engaged 
in the mercantile trade at Lamb's Creek, Tioga Co., and later at Dag- 
gett's mills. For a time he was a book-keeper for a business house at 
Owego, N. Y., and spent one year at Corning, N. Y., as local and 
traveling agent for the Howe Sewing Machine Co., and in 1873 settled 



1278 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

in Towiuida, where he has since been engaged as a dealer in sewing 
machines and musical merchandise. He married, October 23, 1872, 
Mable, daughter of Asher and Betsey (Silvernail) Armstrong, of 
Owego, N. Y., and had three children, as follows: JSTellie, Harry B. 
and Fred B. Mr. Wells is trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and is a member of Owego Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 587, Owego, N. Y. 
Politically he is Independent. 

S. M.^ WELLS, farmer and mechanic, Orwell township, P. O. 
Ilerrickville, was born in Orwell, November 11, 1834, and is a son of 
Henry and Betsie (Baily) Wells, the former of whom was born in this 
county, was a mechanic and a noted singing teacher, having taught 
many years; he removed to Illinois, where he died in 1850; he had 
seven children, viz.: Elmira, married to Allen Brown, and died several 
years ago; Mary C, married to B. F. Walker, and died in 1890; S. M.; 
Chester, in Dakota; Charles, deceased; Henry, in Florida; Abagail, 
married to Fred Kewcome, of Iowa. S. M. passed his boyhood 
attending the common schools ; he learned the carpenter's and joiner's 
trade, which he followed until May 13, 1861, when he enlisted in Com- 
pany F, Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves,, and served until 
June 11, 1864, when he was discharged. He was in nearly every 
engagement in which the Army of the Potomac was involved during 
the time of his service, except the battle of Antietam, being in the 
hospital at that time, and was in the battle of Dranesville, the Penin- 
sular Campaign, the battles of Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, 
Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and in numerous minor engagements. 
During the battle of the Wilderness (fifth day) he received a shell 
wound in the calf of the leg, and at Bethesda Church he received a 
shell wound in the head, which fractured the skull and which still gives 
him great trouble. Leaving the army, he resumed his trade until 1882, 
when his health became impaired, and he was obliged to retire; he 
owns a small farm. Mr. AVells has been twice married, the first time 
to Anna Matdda, daughter of John ]\[urphy, and to them were born 
the following children : Charles, married to Josei)hine Warner ; Grove, 
married to Flora Allis ; Alonzo, married to Flora Coggswell Burton ; 
John, and Ora. The mother of these children died August 8, 1889, 
and July 5, 1890, Mr. Wells married Susanna Roberts, widow of Joshua 
Roberts'! Mr. Wells is a member of the Baptist Church, and of the 
I.O. O. F., Rome Lodge, having passed all the chairs; he was a charter 
member of the G. A. R. Post at Ilerrickville, and is a Republican. 
Mr. Wells saw as much hard service while in the army as almost any 
one, and returned suffering from the effects of his wounds and exposure. 
The Government gi-anted him a pension of twelve dollars a month. 

JOHN S. WESTBROOK. farmer, P.O. Macedonia, Avas born in 
Standing Stone, May 10, 1835, and is a son of Isaac and Deborah 
(Smith) Westbrook, natives of the county, of German ancestry ; he was 
reared on his father's farm and educated in the schools of his native 
township, and then taught some time, and when yet a young man 
commenced contracting on public works, and was about sixteen years 
engaged in building railroads, and among other jobs was one on the 
Union Pacific Railroad. August 26, 1866, he married Mary E., daughter 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1279 

of Philip and nannah(Sliei-rv)Ilenry, natives of this State, and wlio was 
born in September, 1845. There liave been born to them tliree children, 
two of whom are living: William II., born August 16, 1871, and Eobert 
A., born October 12, 1878. Mr. Westbrook came to Asylum township, 
in 1851:, commenced farming, and is now the owner of several farms, 
of a total of 250 acres, and by economy and industry is rated as one of 
the solid and substantial citizens. He has been a Democrat many 
years, but is at present Independent, and votes for the best man ; has 
held positions of public trust, and is now a school director and the 
town commissioner. 

O. B. WESTGATE, carriage manufacturer. Canton, is a native of 
West Burlington township, near the Troy township line, this county, 
having been born May 4, 1833, a son of Wanton and Betsey (Headley) 
Westgate, natives of Massachusetts and New Jersey, respectively. 
Wanton Westgate was a blacksmith by trade, and also followed farming, 
having settled in West Burlington about the year 1815; was born Octo- 
ber 15, 1789, and died in Granville tow^nship, March 17, 1839. Mrs. 
Westgate, a daughter of James Headley, was born November 21, 18 — , 
and died May 27, 1873. She was a cousin of J. T. Headley, author of 
the " History of the Rebellion," and also a cousin of P. C. Headley, an 
author, both of whom were educated for the ministry. Our subject, 
who is the younger of two sons (his brother, who was the elder, died 
at the age of fifteen), was reared in West Burlington, attended school 
three months, but received the principal part of his education from his 
mother who taught school over fifteen years. He served an appren- 
ticeship at the house painters' trade in Troy, and during the winter 
taught singing schools through the western part of the county, and also 
pla3^ed the clarionet in bands. He removed to Monroeton, and was 
engaged in the manufacture of wagons five years; thence went to Troy, 
and was there engaged in the grocery business one year; then moved 
to Towanda, and worked at carriage painting one year; returning to 
Monroeton, he worked at house painting one year; then was again in 
Towanda for a short time, and thence returned to West Burlington, 
where he still owns the old homestead. At the end of two years (in 
1870), he removed to Canton and began the manufacture of carriages, 
which has since been his occupation. In the spring of 1886 he started 
a harness shop, which he still carries on. Mr. Westgate was married 
April 26, 1865, to Emma, daughter of Benjamin H. and Lucy (Crippen) 
Steevens, natives of New York; her father, a farmer b}^ occupation, 
was born April 20, 1805, settled in Tro}-^ township in early life; was 
married (the second time) in Vermont, "^in 1842, and died March 22, 
1887. Mrs. Steevens was born May 21, 1810. The paternal grand- 
father, Joel Steevens, settled also at Tro}^ in early life, and the mater- 
nal grandfather, Amos Crippen, who was a native of Vermont, and 
resided in Rutland county until advanced in years, removed to Troy 
borough, this county, and died in 1864 in his eighty-seventh year. Mrs. 
Westgate is the third in order of birth in a family of three daughters, 
and one son, and was born in East Troy, September 29, 1844. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Westgate were born two children: Benjamin H., married to 
Ora Andrews, and Lucy Helen. The family are members of the Pres- 



1380 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

byteriaii Cliurcli. Mr. Westc^ate has served as justice of the peace, 
assessor and school director; is leader of the Canton Cornet Band, and 
a member of Westgate's Orchestra; is also a member of the 1. O. O.F., 
Canton Lodge, No. 321, and has passed all the chairs of the Order; polit- 
ically he is a Republican. 

G. W. WETHERBEE, blacksmith, Grover, is a native of Tioga 
county. Pa., and was born August 28, 1838, a son of M. W. and Olive 
(Houghton) Wetherbee, natives of New Hampshire, former of whom 
is a farmer and resides in Tioga county, Pa., now in his eightieth 
year; the latter died in 1888, in her seventy-fourth year. The grand- 
fathers, Edmond Wetherbee and Simeon Houghton, were among the 
first settlers of Delmar township, Tioga Co., Pa. Our subject, who is 
the second in order of birth in a family of eight sons and one daughter, 
was reared on his father's farm in '^Tioga county, and received his 
education in the common-schools. After he became of age he farmed 
four years, and then served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade, 
which occupation he has since followed. On July 7, 1865, he removed 
from Tioga county to Canton, Pa., where he remained four years, then 
came to Grover, where he has since resided. He purchased the first 
building lot sold in Grover. He was married in Union township, 
Tioga Co., Pa., December 23, 1858, to Emeline, daughter of Hubbard 
and°Eliza (Kilburn) Spencer, natives of Connecticut. Hubbard Spencer 
was a farmer, and resided in Tioga county, near Grover, where he 
died, September 30, 1888, in his seventy-fifth year; Mrs. Spencer 
died March 28, 1884. Mrs. Wetherbee is the eldest in a family of 
eight children, and Avas born in Tioga county. May 30, 1839. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Wetherbee have been born two children : Carrie E. (wife of 
Frank Fitzwater) and George D., who is a partner with his father. 
The family are members of the Disciple Church. Politically Mr. 
Wetherbee is a Republican, and served four years as school director, 
and three years as constable. 

WILLIAM WPIEATLEY, farmer, Franklin township, P. O. West 
Franklin, was born in Durham county, England, November 2, 1841, 
the son of William and Jane (Hall/ Wheatley, both of whom are 
natives of England. His father came to this country in 1845, locat- 
ing in Frankhn, on the south side of Towanda creek, near where 
David Smiley now resides; he died in January, 1876, aged eighty -seven 
years, his wife following him Se[)tember, 1877, aged sixty-six. Their 
family consisted of ten children, eight of whom grew to maturity, 
and are now living; five of them were born in England. Our subject 
is the fourth of the family, and was reared and educated in Franklin, 
and spent his life at general farming. At the age of twenty-five he 
married Miss H. Gerahline, daughter of Hiram and Sarah (Allen) 
Fairciiild, of Franklin township. 'J\[r. and Mrs. Fairchild removed to 
this countv from Glens Falls, N. Y., when Hinim was a boy of seven- 
teen. To"^Mr. and Mrs. Wheatlev were born children as follows: 
Fred L., Leon F. and William II. Fred has embarked in the mercan- 
tile business, under the firm name of Mason <k Wheatley, with every 
indication of success. Mr. Wheatly is a general fai-mer and a success- 
ful man of business ; his farm consists of seventy-five acres of very 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1281 

fertile land along the Towanda creek, twenty acres of which is creek 
flat, the remainder is upland. He has held the office of township 
treasurer one term. In 1864 he joined Company B, Two Hundred 
and Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the Civil War, serving until 
the close ; he now enjoys a pension, and is a member of the G. A. R. 

SAMUEL A. WHEATON, farmer and stockman, Warren, was 
born in South Warren, April 30, 1830, and is a son of Samuel and Mary 
(A bell) Wheaton, natives of Rhode Island, and of old English stock ; 
the family were farmers from generation to generation. The family 
removed to Bradford county about 1820, and settled in the, then, wild 
wilderness of Warren township; Samuel Wheaton died in 1875, and 
was followed to the grave b}^ his widow in 1876 ; tiie}^ reared eight 
children, of whom Samuel, the subject of this sketch, is the sixth; 
he spent his childhood and youth on his father's farm, learning to 
work and givnng some little time to the chance of winter schools of the 
neighborhood of his day and time. He launched himself upon this 
busy world as a 3^oung farmer, with no other fortune than his bare 
hands and stout heart, and is now the owner of ninety acres all in 
a fine state of cultivation, and all with suitable and modern buildings. 
He is one of the leading, prosperous farmers of this part of the county. 
He was married in LeRaysville, in 1860, to Rachel Willson, daughter 
of Harry and Lydia (Johnson) Willson, and to them have been born 
two children, namely: Frank M., a printer, and who is now editor and 
publisher of the LeRaysville Advertiser, and Fred L., who is a success- 
ful young farmer, and bids fair to soon be among the leaders in the 
countv in that line. Mr. AVheaton is a Republican in politics. 

FRANK MERTON WHEATON, Pike township, P. O. LeRays- 
ville, was born on May 29, 1862. in Warren township, a son of Samuel 
Abell and Rachel (Wilson) Wheaton, now living in Warren township. 
Frank M, spent his early childhood on the farm, and at nineteen began 
life for himself, teaching the Beecher school in Pike township ; he 
taught two years and then attended the Mansfield Commercial College, 
where he was graduated m 1883, was then engaged with Bosworth & 
Lyon one year in the mercantile business, and three years with John- 
son & Son in the furniture and undertaking business; afterward pur- 
chasing a half-interest in the LeRaysville Advertiser, and is now one of 
its editors. He was married, September 16, 1885, to Beulah Bostwick, 
a daughter of Willis G. and Martha (Chaffee) Bostwick ; they have one 
child, Aruna A., born January 15, 1889. In politics Mr. Wheaton is 
a Rejiublicari. 

SEYMOUR M. WHEATON (deceased) was a native of Warren 
township, this county, born March 26, 1852, a son of Frederick and Susan 
(Humphrey) Wheaton, natives of Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respec- 
tively, and of English descent. Frederick Wheaton was the son of John 
and Sally (French) Wheaton, natives of Rhode Island, who came to Brad- 
ford county about 1820, and located in Warren township ; they had 
eight children, of whom Frederick was the youngest of the sons, and the 
seventh child; he died in 1854; his widow survives; they had but one 
child, Seymour M., subject of this sketch. Seymour M. Wheaton grew 
to manhood where he was born, and, like his ancestors, has always 



1282 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

carried on farming, except during two years of his life, when he was 
engaged in a tub factory. lie was married in 1875 to Augusta 
Bowen, daughter of William C. and Susan (Tibbetts) Bowen. natives 
of Rhode Island, who came to this county and township in 1832; they 
had four children: Mary (Mrs. David Brink), of Orwell; Augusta (Mrs. 
Sevmour M. AVheaton)fWheaton (married to Mary Cordis and residing 
at Ann Arbor, Mich.); John (married to Adelaide McCrery, and who 
died in 1876). The father, William C. Bowen, died NoVember 12, 
1886, and the mother died October 22, 1889. Mr. Seymour M. 
Wheaton died June 12, 1889. leaving a widow and seven children. 
The children are as follows: Frederick, born July 23, 1876; Bena, 
born September 28. 1877; Clara, born November 18, 1878; Susan, 
born Julv 17, 1880 ; Harry, born September 9, 1882; William, born 
December 26, 1883, and Guy, born May 31,1887. Mr. Wheaton left 
his family a tine farm of 110 acres ; he was one of the eminently 
respectable farmers of the countv. 

EXSIGN W. WHEELEPt, merchant, Luther's Mills, was born at 
Luther's Mills, Burlington township, Bradford Co., Pa., November 11, 
1856, a son of Clark cOid Susan (Rundell) Wheeler, farmers, of Irish 
and French origin, respectively, natives of this county. The father is 
living at the age of sixty-three years. Ensign W., who is the second 
in a family of four children — three daughters and one son— was reared 
on the farm and educated in the common schools of the township. He 
followed farming successfully until the spring of 1888, when he 
embarked in mercantile business at Luther's Mills, where he is doing a 
large and increasing business, keeping a large and general line of 
countrv merchandise. He was married, November 25, 1879, to Hattie 
Marvin, of Smithfield, who was born January 18. 1859, a daughter 
of Charles and Olive (Walker) Marvin, natives of Tioga county, Pa., 
now of Smithfield. To Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have been born two 
children : Charles Clark, born May 8, 1886, and Fayette Ensign, born 
May 25, 1889. Mr. Wheeler is a Republican in politics, and has held 
the' offices of collector, assessor, auditor and constable, also several 
other positions of public trust; he is a Freemason, a member of the I. O. 
O. F., and one of the growing and substantial men to the town. His 
father is a pensioner, having been a soldier in the Civil War, when he 
])artic!pate(l in many hard-fought l)attles. and was present at the 
surrender of Gen. Lee. 

PIARRISON L. WHITAKER, farmer and stockman, Warren 
township, P. O. Warren Centre, is a native of Susqueh;inna county. 
Pa., born October 12, 1823, a son of Abraham and Catherine (Sleeper) 
Whitaker, natives of Vermont, and of English extraction. His father 
was a farmer, who came to this State, in iSll, and settled in Warren 
township, where he passed the remainder of his days, and died Feb- 
ruary 4, 1869. Harrison L. Whitaker was born and reared where he now 
resides, a pioneer farmer's boy, and is now a leading farmer of the 
county, owning 112 acres of hind, with all necessary buildings, which 
arc n)o<iei'n and commodious, the farm being in an excellent state of 
cultivation. He was married, in Warren township, Fei)ruary 25, 1853, 
to Hannah A. Chaffee, daughter of William and Martha (Bowen) 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1283 

Chaffee, natives of Providence, II. I., who came in the early ))artof the 
century to Bradford county, and settled in Warren township ; they 
had thirteen children, of whom Mrs. Hannah A. Whitaker was the 
sixth, and was reared and educated in Warren township ; she died 
February 3, 1889, mourned by her husband and a wide circle of friends. 
Mr. Whitaker is one of our most prominent citizens, a leading farmer, 
and a Republican in politics. 

CHARLES E. WHITE, justice, P. O. North Towanda, was born 
in Hillsdale, Columbia Co., N. Y., July 26, 1820, and is a son of Peter 
and Catherine (Sharts) White, natives of Otsego and Columbia 
county, N. Y., respectively. He was reared in his native county, and 
educated in the common schools; in early manhood he removed to 
Delaware county, N. Y., where he engaged in farming five years. In 
1846 he settled"^ in Bradford county, cleared a farm of sixty acres in 
Asylum township, and one of forty acres in Franklin township. In 
the spring of 1865 he settled in North Towanda, where he has since 
resided, and where he was engaged in farming up to 1880. He 
married, November 24, 1838, Lavina, daughter of Alanson and Lorahy 
(Elliott) David, of Delaware county, N. Y^, a.nd by her had ten 
children, as follows : Ann J. (Mrs. Samuel Schrader, deceased), James, 
George, Marv (Mrs. Solomon Talada), Elisha, Johri, Emma (Mrs. John 
Place), Ida (Mrs. Hiram Granger), Charles and Chester. Mr. White 
is a prominent and well-known citizen of Bradford county ; he is a 
member of the I. O. O. F. and Good Templars, and has held many of 
the local ofBces in the township in which he has resided, in Bradford 
county, and is now serving his third term as justice of the peace of 
North Towanda township; politicallv he is an advocate of Prohil)ition. 

ANDREW J. WHITNEY, civil engineer, P.O. Rome, was born in 
AVysox, this county, January 2, 1830, and is a son of Alvin and Mary 
(Woodburn) Whitney, the former of whom, a native of Massachusetts, 
and a farmer, came to the Wyoming Valley in 1811, and to Wysox in 
1816 ; the latter was born in Rhode Island, and was the first school 
teacher in this section, and was conducting the school in a house that 
was destroyed by a tornado. The father had a family of children, as fol- 
lows : John D., died in his third year; Alvin, died in infancy; Asa 
Clark, born 1819, died in 1890; Sarah, died, aged twelve; Ellen; 
AndrewJ.;Mary H.; Charles; Carrol, married to Maggie Vought, and 
resides on the old homestead ; Carrie, died in infancy; Allen Dorrance ; 
Emma Y., married to Dr. William Rice. The early life of Andrew J. 
was spent on the old homestead farm in Wysox township, and he was 
educated in the district school and the academy at Wysox, then at the 
academy of Towanda, and at the Harford University, Susquehanna 
county. He studied civil engineering, and began its practice in 1852, 
when he was employed on the surveys and construction of the old 
Junction Canal, from Elniira to the State line, which occupied him 
until 1854 ; then was on the construction of the Barclay Railroad from 
1854 to 1856; was mining engineer and superintendent of the coal 
mines at Peru, Ills., where he sank the first shaft to the lower seam 
of coal in that now famous coal field. He was engaged from 1859 to 
1880 by the Pennsylvania Canal Company, widening and improving 



1284 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

the canal ; then was for a short time engaged in surveying and building 
the Louisburg & T3'rone Railroad in 1884; he entered the employ of 
tlie Pennsylvania Railroad Company as engineer of special work, which 
position he has since filled. Daring his busy and active life he has 
been engaged in various outside enterprises, among which was the 
construction of the Stand-pipe system of water-works at Ilarrisburg, 
Pa., built in 1874. He was united in marriage, November 10, 1856, 
at Rockford, 111., to Olive A., daughter of Lemuel S. and Amanda 
(Cranmer) Maynard, natives of this county, and to this union were 
born the following children : Williard Prentice, married to Josephine 
Thomas, a locomotive engineer; Mary Hellena, married to Charles A. 
Study, a book-keeper; A. J., Jr., assistant superintendent Pennsylvania 
Railroad; Grace Hover, of Tyrone ; Olive A., married to William L. 
j\[adill; Thomas and Ruth M. The family are Presbyterians, and in 
politics Mr. Whitney is a Democrat. He is a member of the Grange. 
Of his ancestry, two brothers came to the United States in the six- 
teenth century, and settled, one on Long Island, and the other in 
Massachusetts; his grandfather, Eli. Whitney, descended from the old 
Massachusetts branch, was a Revolutionary soldier, and closely related 
to Eli A\"hitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. Mr. Whitney left 
Bradford county in 1852, since which time his life has been mostly 
spent in other sections. He owns his interests in the old homestead 
farm of Wysox, besides fifty-five acres of finely-situated farm land in 
Rome township, all well improved. 

GEORGE WICKIZER, farmer, Herrick townsliip, P. O. Herrick, 
was born in Rome township, tliis county, March 7, 1827. His father, 
Jacob Wickizer, was born near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., October 18, 1784; 
he was a farmer, purchasing a farm of 150 acres, and died March 5, 
1868; his wife was Thankful Green, whose parents were natives of 
this State, and she was born in 1790, and died December 28, 1862, 
leaving thirteen children, viz.: Rosina, wife of H. Russell ; Lucy, Mar- 
garet and Andrew, all three deceased ; Jacob, Catherine, John, Alex- 
ander, Willard, Sarah (wife of John llorton), George, Marium 
(deceased) and Andrew. George, the subject of this sketch, attended 
school in Orwell township until his eighteenth year, and worked on his 
father's farm until 1848, when he purchased seventy-two acres of his 
present farm, on which he erected his house in 1856; his barn was 
destroyed by fire in 1887, having been struck by lightning, and rebuilt 
in May, 1889. He is a Republican, and was school director one term. 
On December 18, 1846, he married Emily Permelia, daugliter of John 
D. Wage, of this county. By this union thei'e is one child, George L., 
a farmer in Wyalusing township. Mrs. Wickizer died December 22, 
1890, in her sixty-fourth year. Mr. and Mrs. Wickizer were members 
of the Baptist Church. 

WILLIAM J. WIGSTEIN, farmer in Springfield townshij), P. O. 
Big Pond, was born in County Down. Ireland, Januai'y 18, 1836, a son 
of M;ittlie\v and Mary (Johnston) Wigstein, also nativesof Ireland, born 
of Scoicli-irisli ancestry. The father, who was a farmer, immigrated 
to this country in 1850, the voyage occupying eight and one half weeks, 
on account of a disaster which befell the ship. He settled on the farm 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1285 

where the son now resides, and lived to the age of eightv-five years, 
the mother living to be seventy-six. The father was a member of the 
Presbyterian Church, and the mother of the Episcopal, in Ireland. Our 
subject, who is the second in a family of three children, was married, 
March 7, 1807, to Mary McKee, 'who was born March 18, 184:7, 
daughter of Thomas and Sarah (McCaw) McKee. of Kidgebury, but 
natives of County Down, Ireland, having come here in early life; her 
father was a farmer, and died at the age of seventy-three, and her 
mother died when aged forty-three years. To Mr. and Mrs. Wigstein 
have been born six children, as follows : John H., born December 20, 
1867; Frank A., born February 17, 1869; William, born August 10^ 
1872 ; Judd, born December 31, 1873 ; Cora, born December 29, 1878; 
Jennie, born October 4, 1882. Mr, Wigstein is the owner of a farm of 
200 acres under a fine state of cultivation, dairying being tlie principle 
industry. In politics he is a Republican, has been assessor ten years, 
and has hekl other offices of public trust; is a member of the 'F. t% 
A. M., Trov Lodge, and is a verv genial and pleasant gentleman. 

GEORGE W. WILCOX, farmer, LeRoy township, P. O. East 
Canton, was born in LeRoy, this county, August 4, 1834, a son of 
Hezekiah and Eliza (Moore) Wilcox, the former of whom was born 
in Orange county, N. Y., December 24, 1809, and the latter at the 
same place March 30, 1806. The subject's father was unfortunate in 
losing one of his limbs when quite a young man, in consequence of 
which he learned the tailor's trade; he soon turned his attention to 
farming, which occupation he foUo^ved until fifty years of age, when 
with the aid of his sons he engaged in the lumber business under the 
firm name of H. Wilcox & Sons, which firm continued until his death, 
April 22,1876. His family consisted of six children: Samuel W.. 
born October 30, 1831, and died in infancv; George W.; Marv, born 
March 23, 1836, married W. P. Tillotson; E. Western, born Julv 13, 
1838; S. A., born October 8, 1841, and R. D., born January 7, 1844. 
Our subject is the second in the family and was reared and educated 
in his native town; in early life he taught school in this county several 
terms. He married, at Canton, November 4, 1857, Joanna Elizabeth, 
danghter of Augustus and Amy Ellis, of Tompkins county, N. Y. To 
them were born three sons and three daughters, as follows: Mary O., 
born March 30. 1860, married to Jonathan Bellows; Amv E., born 
December 8, 1861, married to J. T. O'Brien, of Williamsport, Lvcoming 
Co., Pa.; J. D., born April 9, 1863; H. S., born August 31, 1867; 
Charles E., born May 20, 1869, and Sarah, born March 24, 1872, all 
of whom grew to maturity. Mr. Wilcox devotes his time to fai-ming, 
but often fills the position of clerk for the mei'chants of Canton. He 
owns a farm of 100 acres of fertile land, which is well watered with 
living springs, and which he has stocked with Jerseys. His princii)al 
pursuit is dairying and market gardening. He is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, also of the Grange, and in politics he is a 
Prohibitionist. 

JOHN" L. WILCOX, merchant, Bentley Creek, was born June 20, 
1863, in Smithfield, this county, a son of Orrin and Esther (Ilarkness) 
Wilcox, the former of whom", also born in Sjiiitbfield, is a carpenter 



1281) HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

and farmer; his father (the grandfather of John L.) was among the 
pioneers of Ridgebury township and a veteran of the War of 1S12. 
The mothers grandfather, John Ilarkness, was tlie first permanent 
settler in the town of Smith field, and was a Revolutionary soldier. 
John L. Wilcox is an only son, and has two sisters. He was reared to 
the carpenter's trade with his father, and graduated at the Mansfield 
Business College in April, 1885. In August, 1883, he located at Bent- 
ley Creek, and engaged as clerk in the mercantile establishment of 
Craig- & Tuton. On' September 14-, 1887, he married Ettie B. Raynor, 
who was born in Ridgebury, Pa.. July 22, 1302, a daughter of AVilliam 
II. Raynor, a son of Samuel and Charlotte (VanBuskirk) Raynor, who 
were born in Orange county, N. J., and moved to Wellsburg, N. Y., 
many years ago. The grandfather was a veteran of the War of 1812. 
She was a granddaugliter of Elijah and Lucetta Brown. Her father 
died June 30, 1863, aged thirty-three years, and her mother is now the 
wife of James Stirton, of Ridgebury. ]\[r. and Mrs. Wilcox have one 
son. Earl O., born August 27, 1889. Mr. AVilcox is a Republican in 
politics, but takes litttle interest in the affairs of the ])arty, rather 
devoting his attention to business affairs; is also a consistent member 
of the Disciple Church, of Smithfield. He has one of the most pleas- 
ant homes in the village, and is one of the growing business men of 
his communitv. 

LUCIXDA ]\[. WILCOX, farmer, P. O. East Canton, widow of 
Samuel W. Wilcox, was born in l>rady townshij). Kalamazoo Co., Mich., 
February 2, 1837. a daughter of Levi and Philena (Clark) Burton, who 
removed from Michigan to Tioga county about 184:0, where they 
engaged in farming. In 1854 she came to this county, and made her 
home with William Lewis. On August 5, 1855, at LeRoy, she mar- 
ried Samuel W. Wilcox, a carpenter, who was born in Bradford county, 
Pa., a son of Isaac Wilcox, one of the pioneers of this county. To 
this union were born four sons, three of whom grew to maturity : 
Emery B. and Emerson B. (twins), born April 13, ISSf) (Emery B. 
married, in September, 1881, Rose, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth 
Sellard, of Canton; Emerson B. married, Mav 2, 1877, Ilattie R.. 
daughter of Walter and Emdy Leavett, of Canton), and George L., born 
August 22, 1800, married, in December, 1884. to Lettie D., daughter 
of Orlando and JAK'inda Perry. Samuel W. Wilcox (deceased) enlisted 
in the army in lSr»2, in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-second 
P. V. I., and, for courage and good behavior, he was promoted during 
the first year to the rank of sergeant; he was wounded in the first 
finger of the right iiand. After his discharge from the One Hundred 
and Thirty -second he joined, on September 16, 1864, a regiment of 
New York (.';ivalry foi' the term of. three years, of which he served 
six months. While on a i-aid near (^oldsborough he was shot dead on 
the field. Mr. Wilcox was a soldier loved and resi)ected by his com- 
rades in arms. His widow, the subject of this sketch, lives on the 
farm of eighty acres, and on whicii an; rjiised stock, grain and l)uttei-. 
Her two eldest sons were educated at the Soldiers' Or])haiis School, 
Hartford, where they spent six years, Mrs. Wilcox is a mcml)er of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, 



HISTORY OK BRADFORD COUNTY. 1::>87 

S. A. WILCOX, farmer, LeRoy township, P. O. East Canton, was 
born in LeRoy township, this county, October 8, 1841, a son of Heze- 
kiah and Eliza (Moore) Wilcox, natives of Orange county, N. Y., who 
removed to and settled in LeRoy ai)out 1830, on a farm of eighty 
acres, where in addition to farming Mr. Wilcox also gave his attention 
to the lumber business. At the age of twelve the father lost one of 
his limbs through sickness, which made it difficult for him to move 
aronnd in after years ; his family numbered four sons and one dauo-h- 
ter, all of whom grew to maturity. The subject of these lines, \vlio 
is the fourth member of the family, was reared and educated in his 
native town. On June 19, 1863.^ he married Carrie, daughter of 
George W. and Hannah (Morse) Porter, of LeRoy, and to them has 
come one child, Coryell, born May 21, 1866, who married Mary, 
daughter of Hiram and Lucinda Parkhurst, and is now a prosperous 
merchant in North Dakota. Mr. Wilcox is engaged in general farm- 
ing on a tract of 117 acres. He served nine months in Company C, 
One Hundred and Thirty-second P. V. I., was wounded at the battle 
of Fredericksburg, and now draws a pension of $10 per month. Mr. 
Wilcox is a member of the I. O. O. F., and of the G. A. R., and is a 
Republican in politics. 

FREEMAN N. WILLCOX, farmer, P. O. New Albany, was born 
on the farm where he now resides, in Albany township, this county, 
April 19, 1828, a son of Hiram S. and Maria (Langford) Willcox, 
farmers, of English origin, former of whom was also born in Albany 
township. Grandfather Freeman Willcox, who was a pioneer in New 
Albany, and one of the first permanent settlers, was a great hunter, 
and is believed to have killed more deer and panthers than any man 
in the county; he was a soldier in the War of 1812, a man of influence 
in political matters, one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in Albany township, and a great Abolitionist. Hiram S. 
Willcox was also an active man in politics, and was a justice of the 
peace many years. Freeman N. Willcox was reared on the farm and 
at the age of fifteen years engaged in a general store at Wyalusingas 
a clerk; was also many years in mercantile business for himself, and 
has been successful in all his enterprises. Returning to his farm in 
1859, he engaged in farming. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Com- 
pany K, Fiftieth P. V. L, and in April, 1862, he was discharged on 
account of ill-health, but re-enlisted in March, 1864, in Conipanv G, 
same regiment; he was wounded through the thigh by a gun-shot at 
the battle of Spottsylvania, and was eight monthsin thehospital; then 
was detailed as clerk of his regiment, which position he held until 
July, 1865, when he was discharged. Mr. Willcox is a Republican in 
l)olitics, and in 1880 he was elected a justice of the peace, and is now 
serving his third term. He was married, November 16, 1852, to 
Celinda A. Lawrence, who was born February 24, 1830, and whose 
maternal grandfather, Ephraim Ladd, was one of the pioneers of the 
township of Albany. Mr. and Mrs. Willcox have had the following 
named children: George H., married to Ada L.Jones; Franide J., 
wife of Edward E. Cole; Fi'eeman C, married to Ida Bowman, and 
Maud E. Mr. Willcox has a fine farm of seventy-five acres, and his 



1288 HISTORY OF HRADKORD COUNTY. 

oTanclchiUlren are of the fifth generation of the name who are living 
on the place. He is much respected bv^ the entire community. 

G. H. WILLEY, farmer, of Franklin township, P. O. Franklindale, 
was born in Franklin township, this count}^, May 26, 1852, a son of 
Horace S. and Debby Ann ( Andrus) WiUey, the former born in Dutchess 
county, N. Y., in 1801, the latter in Schuyler county, N. Y. The 
father removed to this county in 1830, locati"^ng at the mouth of Sugar 
creek, where he engaged in wool carding and fulling business. After 
the lapse of a few years he removed to Franklin township, locating on 
what is now known as the " Willey property,'' a part of a 400-acre lot 
which he purchased from the State. His property was divided into 
two parts, one known as the "upper place," and the other as the 
" lower place," both being situated on the north side of Towanda creek. 
He tirst lived on the upper place a few years, and then moved to the 
lower place. He successfully engaged in the manufacture of lumber, 
chieflvonthe upper place, and operated a gristmill on the lower place, 
buy i no- an old mill which he so materially impnn^ed and operated as 
to make a success of it, and at which he continued until his death, 
which occurred November 29, 1889, at the age of eighty-eight years. 
He was a self-made man, accumulating all of his property by hard 
labor, which property is now divided among his heirs. At the age of 
thirty-five he married Miss Debby Ann, daughter of Cyrus Andrus, by 
whom he had six children — three sons and three daughters— four of 
whom grew to maturity, our subject being the sixth in the family. He 
was reared and educated at Franklindale. spending two terms at the 
Mansfield State Normal School, and has always followed farming. On 
December 17, 1879, he married, at Monroeton, Mari(m, daughter of 
Humi)hrev and Esther Knickerbocker, former of whom was a native 
of New York, and died in Libby Prison during the ('ivil War. To 
this marriage has been born four children : Horace K.. (1. H., Jr., Max 
L. and Mattie L., all unmarried. iMr. Willey follows general farming. 
His stock is well mixed with Jerseys, and 'he has lOO acres of fertile 
bottom-land well under cultivaticm.' He is a member of the Patrons 
of Industrv, of the Methodist Ej)iscopal Church, and is a Democrat. 

A. D. WILLIAMS, of the firm of Burk. Thomas 6c Co., Canton, 
was born in Trov, Mav 25, 1840. His parents were Edwin C. and Julia 
A. (Williams) Willianis, natives of Troy township, where the former 
was a mechanic and also followed farming; he died in Troy, in Octo- 
ber, 1875, in his sixty-third year. The mother was the daughter of 
Ansel Williams, of Troy, and was born July 30, 1815, and for forty-five 
years resided on the spot where she died; she was a person beloved l)y 
all who knew her. "Kind to the ])oor and un Fortunate, her cheery words 
have lightened the gloom of many hearts and nuule life seem bright." 
Her grandfather, David Williams, emigrated from Wales to this 
count°v in an early day. Our subject was an only child, ancl was 
i-eared in Troy, receiving his education in the iniblic schools of Troy^ 
Trov Academy and Dickson- Seminai-y, at Williamsport, Pa. In 18fi7 
he removed tc) Canton, and formed a i)artnership with Timotliy l*>urk 
and E. II. Thomas in the general merchandising business, and il is one 
of the oldest and most successful business lii'ms in tiie county. He 



HISTORY OF MKADFOIII) COUNTY. l^S!) 

was united in inafi'iao'e in (Janton, in lS(iO, with Emma, dauglitor of 
Samuel II. and Almira (Manley) Newman, natives of Wyoming' county, 
Pa. Mrs. Williams, who is the second in ordei" of birth in a, family of 
six children, was born in Wyoming countNS Pa., in IS-IS. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Williams was born one daug-hter, Anna. The family are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Churcii, of which Mr. Williams is an elder, 
and a teacher of the Sunday-school ; politically he is a Republican. 

FPtANK WILLIAMS, larnier, Pike townsiiip, P. O. Neath, was 
born in Middletown, Susquehanna Co., Pa., July 28, 1864, a son of 
Samuel F. and Elizabeth (VV^atkins) Williams, ruitives of Pennsylvania 
and of Welch descent. In his father's famil}' there were three children, 
of whom Frank is the second. Mr. Williams spent his boyhood on the 
farm, attended the common school and the Leliaysville Academy ; he 
purchased his present home of 125 acres, in ISOO. On April 10, 1890, 
lie ^vas married to Miss Anna, daughter of James and Mary (Howells) 
Jones, natives of Wales. Mrs. AVilliams is a member of the Congrega- 
tional Church at Neath; in politics Mr. Williams is a Republican. 

H. N. WILLIAMS, of the law firm of Williams, Elsbree S^ Wil- 
liams, Towanda. This is one of the prominent firms of Bradford county, 
known all over this section, and commanding a clientage both large 
and respectable. Mr. Williams is a son of N. P. and Elizabeth (Miller) 
Williams, natives of the same place; the father of English descent, 
the mother of Dutch. The famihMvere agriculturists on their farm in 
Steuben county,N.Y., where they had located in 1835, and remaineduntil 
the death of the father in 1884 at the advanced age of eighty-one ; his 
widow survives and is aged eighty-six. They had born to them six chil- 
dren, of whom H. N. is the eldest living of the four sons. He grew to his 
majority as a farm boy, with the advantagesof superior home influences, 
and was in attendance at the academy some time. When a well-grown 
youth he commenced teaching school, and followed this some time both 
in the country and village schools, and then was engaged as principal of 
the Wellsborough (Pa.) Academy, during three years., While teaching he 
occupied his spare hours, and commenced taking a, bird's-eye view of 
the " garnered wisdom of the ages " of a long time ago, when " the 
memory of man runneth not to the contrary," and in 1850 was licensed 
to practice law in the town of Wellsborough. Soon thereafter he 
opened his office at Canton, where he remained in a busy professional 
life seventeen years. In 1878 he removed to Towanda, and has made 
this his permanent home and abiding-place. As an advocate before 
the courts it can be truthfully said of Mr. Williams that he has, upon 
appeal to the highest court, succeeded in reserving the decisions from 
which he has appealed in an average of more cases than perhaps any 
lawN'er in the county, having had four cases rev^ersed, aiul sent back at 
one term of the Supreme Court. Ilis statement of the case to the high 
court is always so clear and distinct that it is all the printed argument 
that he needs to make. While Mr. Williams has eschewed office hold- 
ing, and given himself almost wholly to his profession, yet he is not an 
unknown quantity in the politics of the day either in the county or 
State. A Republican, he has wielded a significant influence in the 
councils of his party, and has carried its banners, to many of its most 



1290 HISTORY OF BRADFOim COUNTY. 

brilliant victories, and has helped successfully in guiding it between 
the Scylla and Charj'bdis that at one time or another will frown upon 
the progress of every dominant party. In 1858 he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Lucy A. Austin, who died Ai)ril 1, 1889. They had a 
family of two children : Charles R. Williams (in the Government 
employ as postal clerk) and Robert H. Williams, a partner in his father's 
law office. 

JOHN WILLIAMS, molder, Sayre, is a native of Bavaria, and 
was born March 1, 1837, a son of Frank and Magdalena (Achna) 
Williams, natives of Bavaria, who immigrated to New York City, in 
1838. In earh' life the father was a farmer. John is the eldest in a 
family of four sons and daughters; he served an apprenticeship at the 
molders' trade in New York Ciiy, where he remained about twenty- 
six years, and then worked in Buffalo, Jersey and Mauch Chunk, and 
remained in the latter place about ten years; then went to Elkhart, 
Ind., and from there returned to Mauch Chunk, and remained until 
March, 1885, when he came to Sayre. and has worked in the L. Y. 
R. R.. foundry since. He married, in Mauch Chunk, in 1873, Miss 
Mary A. Keefer, a native of Lehigh county. The family are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Williams enlisted in the 
" One-hundred-day call," in Company A, Eleventh N. Y. Y. I., and was 
discharged at the expiration of his term; then re-enlisted in the lat- 
ter part of 18G3, in the North Atlantic Sciuadron of the United States 
Navy, and was in the engagement at iort Fisher and other battles 
along the Caj)e Fear river. He w^as mustered out after Lee's surren- 
der. Politicallv, Mr. Williams is a Democrat. 

B. G. WILMOT, miller, and of the firm of B. G. Wilmot & Son, 
Rome Planing Mill, Rome, was born in Orwell township, this county, 
August 10, 1840, and is a son of Henry and Sarah (Crum) Wilmot. 
His father was twice married and had eleven children, three by his iirst 
wife, of whom our subject is the youngest, and the only one living. 
Of the children by the second marriage, Albert N. resides in Sullivan 
county. Pa.; Henry B. is in Larrabee City, N. Dak., the oldest engin- 
eer on the Union Pacific Railroad ; Ida married George Fields and 
resides in Groton, N. Y., and Mary married Alonzo Robinson, of 
Towanda. Our subject's boyhood, up to his tenth year, was speni on 
the farm, then he Ijegan driving teams, hauling mercliandise and prod- 
uce to and from Smithboro, N. Y., Orwell and Rome, and followed 
this six years, and attended district school, receiving (juite a good 
education for that period. He then worked in a gristmill in Allegany 
county, N. Y., and remained there three years and learned the trade 
of a miller in a mill now owned by W. H. Sypher, and remained there 
until August 11, 1861, when he enlistetl in the Union Army in Com- 
pany G, Fifth N. Y. v. C, and participated in every battle fought by 
the Army of the Potomac, as well as many skirmishes; he was cap- 
tured at the battle of Ilagerstown, July 6, 1803, and was taken to 
Libby Prison, and then to l>elle Isle, where he was paroled October 
28, 1863, and sent to Navy Yard Hospital at Annapolis. From there he 
was sent to Dismount Camp, Geesboro, and Washington, D. C, and 
there he was prostrated by intermittent fever and erysipelas, and was 



HIvSTORY OF ItKADFORD COUNTY. lJ>f»l 

sent to Dismount Hospital. After his recovei'v lie was appointed 
ward master of that hospital, hut when fully recovered rejoined his 
regiment at Frederickshui'g'. At the battle of Nye River he was 
recaptured, in company with his ca|)tain. May 15, ISOi, and experienced 
all the horrors of all the Southern prison pens, as he was moved from 
one to another, from Richmond to Charleston, and after nine months 
of horror was released, January 3, 1865, a mere shadow of liis former 
self, weighing only 112 pounds. He with others had attempted to 
tunnel out of the prison, with nothing but knives to dig their wav, 
and some who got out, after weeks of such labor, were recaptured and 
returnetl. When again well, he rejoined his regiment, in May, 18(55. 
He married, April 7, 1863, while at home on a ten-days' furlough, 
Sophia C, daughter of Damford and Debora (Rockwell) Chaffee. The 
fruits of this marriage are six children, viz.: Lettie, married to F. E. 
Boothers; Minnie R.; Charles L., married to Alice J. Johnson (he is 
associated with his father in the planing mill); Claud B.; Daisie and 
Susie. After returning from the army our subject learned the trades 
of wagon making anti house carpentering, which he has followed 
since, and he is also a stair builder of pronounced skill. He and his 
son Charles built the mill they now operate, in 1889; the machinerv 
consists of two planers and two buzz-saws, turning lathe, one jig-saw, 
one scroll-saw, shingle machine and feed-mill; the mill has not the 
capacity to fill the orders they have. Mr. Wilmot is a member of 
Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., is past senior commander, and now 
holds the office of adjutant; is a member of Roman Lodge, No. 418, 
F. vfc: A. M.; has taken the degrees, is past master, and now fills the chair 
of senior deacon. He is a straight Republican, has been elected to 
nearly all the borough offices, and was constable and tax collector 
nine years. 

ERASTUS WILSON, farmer, Terry townshii>, P. O. West Terry, 
was born in Eaton, Wyoming Co., Pa.,' September 12, 1837, a son of 
Andrew and Margaret (Bush) Wilson, the former born in Northamp- 
ton county, the latter in Monroe county, Pa. Andrew was a black- 
smith, and worked at his trade in early life; he came to this county 
in about 1854, and located in Wyalusing township, on what is known 
as "Oak Hill,''' where he purchased a farm of eighty-two acres, which 
he improved, and in a short time made a beautiful farm. At one 
time before he removed he held the office of constable; he died at 
the age of seventv-seven in the year 1883. His family numbered 
thirteen, ten of whom grew to maturity, and six are now living. Our 
subject, who is the sixth in tlie family, was reared and educated in 
Wyoming county, and has always confined himself to agricultural 
pursuits. In 1859 he married, at"^ Wyalusing, Miss Eliza, daughter of 
John and Catharine Terry, and there were five children born to them, 
three of wdiom grew to maturity : Elma E., married to Lewis Hoff- 
man, by whom she had one son, Erastus, and afterward married Free- 
man N. Phillips ; Mary, married to Delmar Lenox, and George H. 
Mr. Wilson is a self-made man, having received only $400 from his 
father's estate ; the rest he has accumulated by economy and perse- 
verance. He is a successful farmer, raising grain and hay chiefly. In 



1293 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

1889 he erected a beautifully constructed residence; has lived on his 
present pro])erty twenty-five years, and has the confidence of his fel- 
low-citizens, who have elected him to the office of road commissioner 
four years. In 1864 he entered the army, and joined Company I, 
Forty-fifth P. Y. I., and served until the close of the war, at which 
time he was honorably discharged, and now draws a pension. Polit- 
icallv he is a Republican. 

REUBEN WILSON, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty 
Corners, was born in New York City, April 15, 1832, and is a son of 
Thomas and Caroline Wilson, natives of Connecticut, and of Scotch 
origin. In their family were two cliiklren, of whom Reuben, the elder 
of the two, came to Frenchtown in 1856, and three years later moved 
to Libertv Corners. On August 10, 1861, he enlisted, at Monroe, in 
Companv"' K, Fiftieth P. Y. I., and participated in the following 
battles :'Pocataligo, Coosaw River, Second Bull Run, Poplar Springs, 
Chantillv, South Mountain, Antietam, Mine Run, Spottsylvania, Cold 
Harbor, 'South Anna, Nye River and Petersburg; was struck several 
times, and had his whiskers shot off, but was never wounded. At the 
expiration of his first term of three years he re-enlisied, and was dis- 
charged on surgeon's certificate of disability, December 28, 1861; he 
then returned to Libertv Corners, where he has since resided. Mr. 
AVilson was married, March 22, 1865, to Miss Harriet T. Gale, born 
March 13, 1840, daughter of John and Charlotte (Benjamin) Gale, and 
thev have one child, Herman A., born January 9, 1866, married, 
December 30, 1885, to Mary Connmey, by whom he has two children : 
Nellie May and Ethel. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of tiie 
Methodist Episcopal and Baptist Churches, respectively; he is a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R. Post at Towanda, and is a Republican. 

STEPHEN F. WILSON, farmer, Austinville, was born in Columbia 
townsiiip, this county, September 25, 1858, a son of James and^ Mary 
(Gustin) Wilson. His paternal grandparents, George antl Jane (Fowler) 
Wilson, were among the pioneers of Columbia township, settling on 
the farm now occupied by Orr Wilson, which with the assistance of 
their sons they cleared and improved, and there they died ; their 
children are as follows: Letitia (Mrs. Hosea Kennedy), Nancy (Mrs. 
Labon Rockwell), John, James, William, Orr and Stephen. Of these, 
James was born in Southport, Chemung Co., N. Y., in 1815, was reared 
in Columbia township, and cleared and improved the farm now occu- 
pied bv our subject, and died there ; his wife was adaughter of Thomas 




(Mrs. Fred Watkins) and Frank (Mi 

of this sketch was reared on the old homestead which he now owns 

and occupies, and mai'ried :^riss Flora Dewey, of Austinville. lie is 

one of the enterprising young farmers of Columbia, and in politics is a 

Democrat. 

MORGAN L. WINSTON, buyer of hides, leather and wool, Troy, 
was born in Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., July 31, 1811, and 
is a son of Lewis and Lvdia (Bennett) Winston, of English descent. 
He was reared in his native State, educated in the common school 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1293 

antl bcn'iin life as a tanner and currier in his father's tannery, in Che- 
nango county, N. Y., which business he followed until thirty years of 
age; for five years thereafter he was engaged as a boatman on the 
Erie and Chenango canals, and then for four years was manager of a 
tannery in Greene. Chenango Co., N. Y. About the year 1850 he 
came to Bradford county, locating in Columbia township, when he 
engaged in farming two years ; then removed to Wells, engaged 
in farming there two years, and one year as buyer of grain, pro- 
duce and hides, and in 1856 he located in Troy, where he has since 
resided, engaged as a buyer and seller of hides, leather and wool. 
He was married three times, his first wife being Polly C. Benedict, his 
second wife Luc}' Keech, and his third wife Harriet Madge, of Troy, by 
whom he has three children : Jennie, Nellie and Martie. Mr. AVinston 
is a well-known and respected citizen of Troy ; is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and politically is a Democrat. 

LELAND O. AVOLCOTT, farmer and stock-grower in Windham 
township, P. O. Windham, was born in Warren township, this county, 
January 20, 1801, and is a son of Loren B. and Laura A. Wolcott, also 
natives of Bradford county. The maternal grandparents were Joseph 
and Laura Morey, natives of New York, who came to Bradford county 
in 1817, and located in Warren township; the paternal grandparents 
were Josiah and Lydia (Yerbecks) Wolcott, of Connecticut, who came 
to Bradford county in 1830, and located in Warren township; on both 
sides they were agiiculturists, and had boldly ventured into the almost 
unbrolcen wilds. The parents of Leland O. are still living, anil have 
reared five children, of whom he is the eldest. He was reared on his 
father's farm and educated in the public schools of the vicinity. In 
1880 he went to Windham township, where he commenced farming, 
and now is the possessor of a finely-improved farm of 120 acres. Leland 
O. Wolcott and Minnie Beckwith, of Orwell, were joined in happy 
wedlock; she is the daughter of Austin and Julia A. (Russell) Beck- 
with, of Pennsylvania. Of this union there are three children, as fol- 
lows : Irving L., born February 1, 1886, and Florence and Flora 
(twins), born August 12, 1888. Mr. Wolcott is a Republican, and is 
now serving his fifth term as town clerk. Mrs. Wolcott is an exemplary 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

T. D. WOLCOTT, merchant, Athens, is a native of Litchfield 
township, this countv, and was born February 11, 1840; his parents 
were Samuel P. and 'Lydia (Bidlack) Wolcott, "natives of this county. 
Samuel P. Wolcott was a farmer, and was born December 27, 1811, 
and died in January, 1882 ; his maternal great-grandfather, Capt. James 
Bidlack, lost his life in the Wyoming massacre ; it is a fact in his- 
tory that he was held on a burning brush heap by the Indians with 
pitchforks, and burned to death. The paternal great-grandfather, 
Silas Wolcott, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War ; was with 
Washington through many of the hard campaigns during that strug- 
gle, and acted as one of Washington's body guards, during the 
memoi'able winter when the army lay encamped at Yalle}' Forge. T. 
D. Wolcott is the third in a family of eight children, six of whom are 
now living. He received a comnion-scliool education, and the early 



1294 HISTORY OF BRADFOKD COUXTY. 

part of his lite was s))eiit in tlie lumber business. lie was foreman for 
Harris & Saltmons and llunsicker & Harris, of Athens, Pa., and after- 
ward for Canfield tt Cotton, of Williauisport, Pa. He quit the lum- 
ber business in 1872, and in the spring of 1873 engaged in the gi-ocei-y 
trade with Mr. Gobi, under the firm name of Wolcott & Gohl, and 
continued in that business until the fall of 1888, when he sold to his 
partner. Since then he was engaged in building and improving his 
proi)ertv until 1891, when he went into his former business again. 
He was"^ married, in Wellsboro, Pa., January 15, 1872, to Miss Eva, 
daughter of Edwin and Samantha (Horton) Hastings, the former a 
nati° e of Massachusetts, and the latter of Kew \ ork ; they have 
always lived in Tioga count}" since childhood, and he is one of the 
oldest merchants in Wellsboro. Mrs. Samantha (Morton) Hastings is a 
descendant of Barnabas Horton, who came with two of his brothers 
in the ''Mayflower;" Mrs. Wolcott is the eldest in a family of six chil- 
dren, and was born at Stony Fork, Tioga Co., Pa., July 18, 1852. To 
Mr. and JVLrs. Wolcott were born five children, viz : Harry L., Carrie 
E., Mark P., and Edwin and Wyland (both deceased). Mrs. Wolcott 
is a member of the (Jniversalist Church. Mr. Wolcott enlisted in the 
State Militia during the Civil War, but was out only a short time ; he 
is a member of the G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 202, also a member of 
the F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70; has served one term as 
burgess of Athens borough, and politically he is a Prohibitionist. 

HORACE L. WOLF, baker, confectioner and proprietor of res- 
taurant, Troy, was born in Troy, this county, August 27, 1850, a son 
of James and Anna (Mink) Wolf, the former a native of Columbia 
township, this county, a son of Michael and Betsy (Furman) Wolf, 
who settled in (/olumbia township in 1811; the maternal grandfather. 
Rev. William Mink, of Rhinebeck, N. Y., was a native of Germany, 
James Wolf, father of subject, who was a shoemaker by trade, and was 
for manv years a resident of Troy, in later life removed to Elmira, 
N. Y., wheVe he died in August, 1861 : his chiklren were ten in num- 
ber: William, Martha (Mrs. J. W. Harding), Charles, John. Kate, 
Thaddeus, Lottie (Mrs. J. W. Gustin), Horace L., Frank and Howard. 
The subject of this memoir was reared in Troy, and educated in the 
public schools; during the Grant campaign in 1868, he lost both arms 
by the premature discharge of a cannon. In 1887 he embarked in his 
present business in Troy, in which he has since successfully continued; 
he is an enterprising citizen ; in politics he is a Re|)ublican. 

NELSON WOLF, a prominent fai-mer of Columbia township, was 
born in Columbia township, this county, August 11, 1815, and is a son 
of Michael and Elizai)eth (Furman) Wolf. He was reared in Colum- 
bia township, where he has always resided, and occupies the old home- 
stead of his father, which he partly cleared and im])roved. He 
married twice: his first wife was Cecelia Edwards, of Columbia town- 
ship, bv whom he had four children: Sarah J. (Mrs. liayton Shepard), 
DeWit"t, Mattie (Mrs. Harry Chase) and Miranda; his second wife was 
Phebe Ferguson, also of Columbia township. Mr. WoU is a member 
of the Presbyterian Church : jmlitically he is a Republican. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1:^05 

rtENSELKx\U WOLF, tanner, of Columl)i:i townsliip, P. O. Vir- 
tus, was born in Columbia township, tiiis count\\ May 7, 1813, and is 
a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Furinan) Wolf. His father was a 
native of Connecticut, of German parentas^e, and located in Columbia 
township in 1813, and soon after settled on what is known as the 
Wolf settlement, and, with the assistance of his sons, cleared and 
improved the farm now owned and occupied by his son, Nelson, and 
died there. His wife was a daughter of William and Abigail (Ilal- 
leck) Furman, pioneers of Columbia township, and by her he had 
eleven children, as follows : Abigail (Mrs. Robert Early), William, 
Georg-e, John, James, Michael, Martha, lienselear, Nelson, Horace 
and Maria (Mrs. Henry Gifford). Our subject was reared in Columbia 
townshij), where he has always resided, and cleared and imjiroved tlie 
farm of 1*20 acres he now occupies. He married twice: liis first wife 
was Emma, daughter of Obetiiah Brown, of Columbia township, and 
b}^ her he had one daughter, Alice (Mrs. Abram Joralemon) ; his sec- 
ond wife was Martha, daughter of James Fries, of Columbia town- 
ship, and by her he had two sons: Jacob and James. Mr. Wolf is a 
leading and well-known citizen of the township; in politics he is a 
Republican. 

HORACE WOLFE, retired farmer of Columbia township, P. O. 
Snedekerville, was born in Columbia township, this county, Februarv 
7, 1810, and is a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Furman) Wolfe, who 
settled in Columbia township in 1813. He was reared in his native town- 
ship where he has always resided, and cleared and improved the farm 
now occupied by his son-in-law, Lewis Hammond. His wife was Hul- 
dah Haynes, by whom he had three children: George IL, Maria (Mrs. 
Lewis Hammond) and John II.; his daughter (Mrs. Hammond) has 
one daughter, Nora. Mr. Wolfe has been one of the most successful 
farmers of Columbia township, and is one of its leading and represen- 
tative citizens; politically he is a Republican. 

GEORGE H.AVOLFE, farmer, P.O. Snedekerville, was born in Co- 
lumbia township, this county, October 11, 1854, and is a son of Horace 
and Iluldah (Haynes) Wolfe. He was reared in his native township, 
educated in the common schools, and has alwaj^s followed farming as 
an occupation. He lived on the farm where he has resided since 
1880. On March 17, 1880, he married P>elle, daughter of Ananias 
and Rachel (Gordon) Knapp, of Wells township, and has two sons, 
LeRoy H. and Ilallock C. Mr. Wolfe is an enterprising and promi- 
nent farmer, and in politics is a Republican. 

JOHN II. WOLFE, farmer, P. O. Snedekerville, was born in 
Columbia township, this county, November 8, 1858, a son of Horace 
and Iluldah (Haynes) Wolfe, and a grandson of Michael and Eliza- 
beth (Furman) Wolfe, who settled in Columbia township in 1813. 
The subject of these lines was reared in his native township, where he 
has always resided, and has occupied his present farm nine years. In 
August, 1881, he married Hattie, daughter of James and Mary 
(Gustin) Wilson, of Columbia townshi]i, and thev have three children : 
Fowler, Olive and Horace. Mr. Wolfe is one of the leading farmei's 



1::>9G HISTORY OF BKADFOKD COUNTY. 

of ('oluiiibia township, and is an energetic and enterprising citizen. 
Politicallv he is a Iiei)ublican. 

. HOSE A C. WOLFE, farniei-, V. O. Columbia Cross Iloads, was 
born in Columbia township, this county, October 10, 1832, a son of 
George and Leefe (Kennedy) Wolfe ; his paternal grandparents, Michael 
and Elizabeth (Furman) Wolfe, settled in Columbia township, in 1813, 
and his maternal grandfather, Alexander Kennedy, was one of the 
pioneers of Spring-Held townsiiip. George Wolfe, father of subject, 
after reaching his majority settled on the farm now occupied by his 
son, John I). Wolfe, cleared and improved it and died there; his 
children were six in number, as follows; Lydia (Mrs. Charles W. 
Joralemon), Susan (Mrs. Oliver O. Besley), Hosea C, lihoda (IMrs. 
Eugene Youmans), John D. and Betsey (Mrs. Jefferson Warner.) 
llosea C. Wolfe was reared in Columbia township, where he has always 
resided, cleared up a good deal of land in the township, and has 
occupied his present farm since 1867 ; he is owner of four farms, con- 
taining, respectively, 170 acres, 107 acres, 100 acres, and 235 acres. 
He married, P^ebruary 15, 1855, Lucy L., daughter of Levi and Fannie 
(Luther) Cornell, of Columbia township, and by her he had three 
children : Clinton A., Ella E. (Mrs. Charles P. Shaw) and George L. 
The last named was born October 26, 1865, resides on the homestead 
with his father, and was married, December 7, 1887, to Minnie E., 
daughter of Churchill and Ida (Goodrich) Strait, of Columbia town- 
ship, and they have one daughter, Dora. Mr. Wolfe is one of the most 
prominent and enterprising farmers of Columbia township. In poli- 
tics he is a llepublican. 

PETER WOLFE, farmer, P. O. Sheshequin, is a native of New 
Baltimore, N. Y., born February 18, 1820, and is a son of John and 
Esther (Parker) Wolfe, of New York. There were six childi-en in his 
father's family, and four came to this county: William, Ephraim, 
Jane and Peter. The family wei-e tillers of the soil, and came to this 
county about 1842, settling in Ghent. The grandfather, Peter Wolfe, 
served in the Ilevolutionary War seven years, was a captain, and was 
a prisoner two years, confined in the "hulks. The father was a success- 
ful farmer; he sold the farm at Ghent, and bought 300 acres in the 
same township. Peter was reared at North River, N. Y., where he 
was educated until he was twelve years of age, when he commenced 
life for himself. In 1868 he bought the farm he now owns, and which 
consists of 100 acres of bottom-land, well improved, and has a dairy of 
eight cows. He married, F'ebruary 21, 1845, Marshie, daughter of 
Roswell and Polly (Webster) Russell, the latter of whom was related 
by blood to Daniel Webster. To them were born the following chil- 
dren : Adelaide, married to Rufus Mallery ; John, married to Ethlen 
Brown, of Shesliecjuin ; Roswell, died when aged sixteen ; Jda, died in 
infancy; Kate, married to Cornelius Alliger; Peter, mairied to Emma 
Smith; Isabelle, married to Ossie Vandozer, and Jessie, married to Loyd 
Kinner, of Waverly; there are eleven grandchildren. Mr. Wolfe was 
in the country's service during the Civil War, four months, employed 
in the Construction Corps, serving in Tennessee; he is a Democrat 
in his political [)references. 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COfNTY, 1297 

I5EEBE W. WOOD, farmer uiul stock-grower, V. O. Laceyville, 
was born in Pike township, this county, December 29, 1827, and is a 
son of David Wood (born in Dutchess county, N. Y.) and Amy 
(Wells) Wood, the latter of whom is a native of Bradford county. 
The father of subject came with his parents to Pike townshi|) pi-ior to 
1800, where they took up a considerable tract of land. The fatlier 
passed his life in that township, and had the following children: Polly 
Ann, Beebe W., William J., Sarah Ann, Abigail, Abner, Harriet and 
John A., of whom Beebe W. and William J. are the only residents of 
this county. Beebe W. Wood was reared on a farm and educated in 
the common schools of his day. At the age of twenty -one he j)ur- 
chased the farm where he now resides, the only improvements at the 
time being a small clearing and a small frame dwelling; the first 
purchase contained seventy acres, which he proceeded to clear and 
improve; he has' added to it until he now owns over 200 acres well 
improved, 175 acres being cleared and under cultivation. He operates 
a large dairv, and has his farm well stocked with horses and cattle. 
Mr. Wood was united in marriage, April 30, 1856, with Susan E. 
Wood, daughter of Josiah Wood, of Pdce township, and this union 
was blessed with two children : Mary, married to Cornelius Overton, 
now a farmer of Nebraska, and Ella (deceased). His wife dying in 
1868, Mr. Wood married, November 4,1869, Emma E. Wakeley, a 
daughter of Burton Wakeley, of Tuscarora. The family are members 
of the Baptist Chui'ch, at Laceyville; he is a deacon of the church, 
and also licensed to preach, but has not made a practice of preaching. 
He is a charter member of the Tuscarora Insurance Company, and has 
been its treasurer since its organization; politically, he is aliepubliean, 
and has filled various town offices. 

CHAPtLES C. WOOD, master painter. Northern Division L. V. 
It. II. Shops at Say re, is a native of Binghamton, N. Y., and was born 
July 10, 1834, a son of Orin and Sallie (Baldwin) Wood, the former a 
native of Connecticut, who settled in Ijinghamton, in early life; the 
latter a native of Monti-ose, Susquehanna county. The father, who 
was a mechanic and boot and shoe merchant, removed to Niles, Mich., 
in 1835, where he died in 1840, in his thirtieth year; the mother died 
in Candor, N. Y., in the spi'ing of 1869, in her sixty-fifth year. Great- 
grandfather Baldwin was a soldier in the Pevolutionary War. The 
family consisted of five children, of whom the last three died in Michi- 
gan ; the surviving brother, Orlando S., is a piiysician and resides in 
Omaha, Neb. Charles C. Wood came with his mother from Michigan 
to Susquehanna county, where he received a common-school education, 
and learned the baker's trade in Montrose. In 1853 he began an 
apprenticeship at the painter's trade in Sullivan county, and completed 
same in Owego, N. Y.. where he remained about foui- years; then went 
to Towanda in 1861, and worked at house and carriage painting. In 
October, 1869, he accepted the position of foreman painter on the 
railroad, which he has held ever since. Mr. Wood was married in 
Candor, N. Y^., December 31, 1854, to Caroline E.. daughter of Elijah 
and Marion (Boeie) Moody, the former a native oi' Massachusetts, the 
latter of lioylston. N. C; her father, who was a merchant and exten- 
sive live-stock dealer, died in Towanda, in 1863; her mother died in 



1298 msTOKY OF bkadkord county. 

same place in 1874. Airs. AVood was the 3'oungest in a family of seven 
children— five daughters and two sons — of whom three are living; she 
was born in Montrose September 26, 1834, and died in Sayre, Kovem- 
ber, 1886, a most estimable wife and a consistent member of the Epis- 
copal Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Wood were born three children, of 
whom two are now living, as follows: Minnie, wife of Edward Black- 
mui'e, of iSTew York City, and Charles M. The family are members of 
and worship at the Episcopal Church. Mr. Wood is a member of the 
Knights of Honor, and is serving his third term as president of the 
AVilbur Hook and Ladder Companv, No. 1.; is also president of the 
Democratic club of Sayre. 

C, M. WOOD, stone-cutter, Tuscarora township, P. O. Silvara, was 
born in Tuscarora township, this county, January 11, 1867, and is a 
son of W. J. and Elizabeth (Owen) Wood. His mother died, and his 
father mari'ied, for his second wife, Mary Finch. By the first mar- 
riage he had the following children: Milly, married to B. E. Wood, a 
lumberman, of Sullivan county, Pa.; Louie, married to James Harvey, a 
farmer, of Susquehanna county, Pa.; George, a farmer, of Bradford ; 
Hattie, married to Horace Bristor, a farmer, of Pike township; C. M.; 
Carrie, mai'ried to George Share, a miller, of Pike township, and Gertie, 
residing with her grandparents on Spring Hill. Our subject ])assed 
his boyhood in Silvara. and at the age of fourteen began life for him- 
self; he followed farming a few years, and then for live years was in 
the lumber business, and since then has been following the trade of a 
stone cutter. He began his occupation in the Bennett quarry, and for 
the past several luonths has been in the quarr}" of Fish c'c Iloudly; he is 
a Republican in politics, and takes an active interest m the political 
aflfairs of his neighborhood. 

FPtANCIS WOOD, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born June 
16, 1845, on the farm where he now resides, a son of Mei'it and Abi- 
gail (Kingsley) Wood, natives of this county. The Woods trace their 
genealogy back to the year 1582, and one of the family came to this 
country from Derbyshire, England, settling at Concord. Mass., in 1638 ; 
the great-grandfather of our subject was Samuel Wood, boi-n at 
AV^estminster, ALass., in January, 1761 ; when sixteen he enlisted in the 
service of his countrv, and served through the Itev(jluti()nary AVar : 
in 1780 he was in the Department of AVest Point, and was one of the 
participants in the taking of Maj. Andre into camp after his capture 
by the three "cow boys." He settled in East Smithfield township, 
this county, in 1809, with his family. Francis Wood, who is the 
second in a family of five children, was educated in the common 
schools of the townshi)) and at Mansfield Xormal Sciiool. He was 
nuirried, December 28, 1869, to Louise D. Campbell, who was born 
July 17, 1847, a daughter of Alber and Rowena (Phelps) Cam|)bell, of 
Athens. To Mr. and Mrs. AV^ood have been born five children, viz.: 
Raymond, born May 31,1871; Mmnie, born June 22, 1872; Merit, 
born August 5, 1877; (ilennie, born January 29, 1879; and one not 
named. l)orn November 17. 1890. The family are members of the 
Disciple (Jhurch, of which AFr. Wood is deacon. IJe is a, sti'ong Pro- 
hibitionist, and was on the ticket of the party in the fall of 1890 for 



HISTORY OF BRADFOKI) COUxN'TY. 1200 

slicrili' of the county ; has a line farm, dairying bein<i,- his princi})al 
business, and is very prosperous. 

J. M. WOOD, merchant, Allis IIoUow, was born in Wysox. this 
county, May 10, 1857, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Waters) AVood, 
the father a native of Susquehanna county and the mother of 
Wales. His grandfather, Jonathan Wood, a pioneer, lived many years in 
Standing Stone, and his maternal grandfather, Morgan Waters, came to 
this county from Wales about 1S?)0, and located lii'st in Pike, and after- 
ward removed to Burlington, where he died. The father's family 
consisted of six children, four living, viz.: Nancy (married to Charles 
Daugherty), Frank D., Elizabeth and J. M. Our subject was born 
and reared on his father's farm in Wysox, attending the district school 
until he was aged twenty. When reaching his majority, he began 
farming for himself, and was so engaged until March 27, 1889, when 
he traded his farm for the property he now owns and a stock of gen- 
eral merchandise — his present business. He was married, December 
7, 1880, to Fidelia A., daughter of Dr. M. E. Keed,of Standing Stone, 
now of Genesee Fork, Potter Co., Pa., and this marriage has been 
blessed with two children : Carleton H., born December 10, 1885, and 
Iva Christine, born December 18, 1887. Mr. Wood is a Eepublican, 
and has been jwstmaster at Allis Hollow since June 12, 1890. 

DR. SKILES M. WOOD BURN, a prominent physician of 
Towanda, was born in Penn township, Cumberland Co., Pa., June 20, 
1850, and is a son of John and Isabella (Dunlap) Woodburn, and of 
Scotch-Irish descent. He was reared in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and 
educated in the common schools and Pennsylvania State College. He 
began the study of medicine, in 1869, with Dr. J. T. Rothrock, now 
professor of botany in the University of Pennsylvania, in which insti- 
tution, in 1870, he continued his medical studies, where he was grad- 
uated in the Sjiring of 1872, and immediately located in Towanda, 
where he has been in active i)ractice since and has built up a lucrative 
business. In the fall of 1871 he married Margaret E.. daughter of 
Leonard K. and Elizabeth B. (Robbins) Dilts, of Ringoes, Hunterdon 
Co., N. J., and has two children living: Charles L. and Isabella E. 
Dr. Woodburn is a member of the Presbyterian Church, R, A., K. of 
H., etc., and of the Bradford County Medical Society and Pennsyl- 
vania State Medical Society. He was for nine years pension examiner 
for Bradford county, and in politics he is a Republican. 

ALLEN WOODIN, liveryman. Canton, is a native of Granville 
township, this county, born December 18, 1843. His parents were 
Joseph and Sarah Jane (Vroman) Allen, natives of Newfield, N. Y., 
and Schoharie county, N. Y.. respectively; his father, who is a black- 
smith and farmer, resides in Granville township; his maternal grand- 
father, Peter I. Vroman, was a soldier in the War of 1812. Allen 
Woodin, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest in a family of ten 
children — eight sons and two daughters (the average height of the 
family, including the parents, is six feet one and one-half inches). 
Oui" subject was. reared in Granville township, and educated in the 
common schools. He enlisted in August. 18(t2. in (Company I, Fif- 
teenth }\G\v York Engineers, and served until the close of the war; 



1300 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUXTY. 

was mustered out at Elniira iu ,Iuue, 1865. lie then returned home 
and enoacred in farming ;ind lumbering, also operated a sawmill until 
the fall of 1883, when he removed to Canton and engaged in the 
livery business. lie was married in Granville township, January 1, 
1867^ to Elise, daughter of Charles and Harriet (Brigham) Taylor, 
natives of Springfield and Granville townships, respectively; she is 
the eldest of live children, and was born in West Burlington town- 
ship in February, 1845. To Mr. and Mrs. Woodin were born the fol- 
lowing children: Jennie (wife of Burton Kiff), Harvey, Ilattie, Billy, 
Alison, who died in 1876, and Charles. The family are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Woodin is a member of the 
G. A. R., Saxon Post, No. 63, at Granville Centre; he was commander- 
in-chief of the Encampment of the G. A. R. during 1886; is also a 
member of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, and in politics he 
is a Democrat. 

GEORGE E. WOODRUFF, proprietor of Woodruffs book-store, 
Towanda, was born in Monroe township, this count}^, September 17, 
1863, and is a son of J. Ferris and Jane (Howie) Woodruff. His pater- 
nal grandparents were Jared and Sophia (Alden) Woodruff, pioneers 
of Monroe, and his maternal grandfather, William Howie, was a native 
of Scotland, and for several years a resident of Ulster townsliip, this 
(bounty. George E. Woodruff was reared m Monroe township and 
educated at Monroeton giaded schools. In June, 1887, he embarked in 
the book and stationery business at Towanda, in which he has since 
successfully continued. On October 23, 1889, he was married to Hat- 
tie, daughter of Stanley W. and Eleanor (Stark) Little, of Towanda. 
He is a member of the Presbvterian Church, and is a Republican. 

WILLIAM W. WOODRUFF, blacksmith, LeRoy, was born in 
Dresden, Ohio, September 17, 1845, a son of L. V. and Eliza 
(Allen) Woodruff, the former a descendant of the Quick family, a 
native of Wyoming county. Pa., and a olacksmith by trade. Their 
family consisted of five children — four sons and one daughter — three 
of whom grew to maturity. William W., the subject of this sketch, 
who is the eldest, was reared and educated in Illinois, from which 
State he enlisted in the army in Company C, Fifty-third V. V.; he 
was wounded at the battle of Jackson, July 12. 1863. After serving 
his country during the entire war, and being honorably discharged, he 
came to this county, locating in Litchfield in 1866. He was twice 
married : to his first wife, Gustie Johnson, on July 4, 1868; his second 
wife, whom he married July 21,1888, was Rose E , daughter of James 
and Seba Crofutt, and by her he had two sons: John E. and James L. 
Mr. Woodruff is an enterprising mechanic and a good workman in 
general blacksmithing ; in |)olitics he is a Democrat. 

AFTOX M. WOOSTER, of Wooster A: P.oothe. grocers, Troy, was 
ijorn in LeRoy township, this county, February 5, 1840, and is a son of 
ALilvin and Fidelia (Ilolcomb) Wooster. The ])aternal grandfather, 
Enos Wooster, was born in 1704, came to this county from Danbury 
Conn., and died in LeRoy in 1823, leaving two children, Malvin and 
Lucy. The maternal grandf;ither. Marlin IFolcoml), was also a pioneer 
of LeRoy township. .Malvin Woostei', a fanner l)y occupation, was 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 130J 

born in 1S22, and died October 11, 1854; his wife died November 28, 
1851, both dying witti typhoid fever, which was very fatal in LeRov 
that year; they had a family of five children: Lowell A., Maria (Mrs. 
A. E. Case), Afton M., Lillie J. (Mrs. S. S. Surdam) and Seymour M. 
Left an orphan at five years of age Afton M. Wooster was reared in 
the family of L. D. Taylor, at Granville Centre; he received a common- 
school education, and on reaching his majority engaged in farming one 
year in Troy township. He settled in Troy borough in 1872, and for 
six years was engaged in the dray business; in 1878 he embarked in the 
grocery business with Mr. O. E. Boothe, under the firm name of 
Wooster & Boothe, in which he has since successfully continued. He 
married, November 16, 1870, Philena, daughter of Dr. S. W. and 
Amanda (Bailey) Shepard, of Troy, and has three children: Melvin S., 
born February 7, 1875; Frank A., born February 7, 1881, and Harold 
A., born November 8, 1886. Mr. A¥ooster is a member of the Disciple 
Church, and in politics is a RcDublican. 

ANDREW WORTENDYKE, retired farmer, Gillett, was born in 
Sussex county, N. J., April 29, 1820, a son of Abraham and Rachel 
(Doremus) Wortendyke, natives of Bergen county, N. J., the former 
of whom was a son of Rynear Wortendyke, who was a native of Hol- 
land, born March 11, 1759, and whose father removed to this country 
about the time the colony was started at "Bergen Hill." Rynear 
Wortendyke's wife, Hannah, was also a native of Holland, born Mav 
4, 1765. Abraham, about 1820, left Bergen for New York City, where 
he remained six years ; he was a shoemaker by trade, but, being a 
natural mechanic, worked also at other vocations as opportunity pre- 
sented itself. In 1827 he removed to this county, locating in"^South 
Creek township, at that time a part of Wells; this was in the early 
settlement of the town when there were only a few houses where the 
village of Gillett now stands. Mr. Wortendyke experienced the priva- 
tions of all the pioneers ; the mill facilities were limited, taking two 
days to go to mill and return; at that time wages were one dollar per day 
in harvest season, and flour was worth twelve dollars per barrel. Dur- 
ing his residence in Gillett he worked at the cooper's trade, which 
increased the facilities on the settlement in that direction ; he spent 
thirty-four years of his life in South Creek township, clearing and 
improving his farm which consisted of one hundred and twenty-one 
acres; he died September 20, 1861, at the age of sixty -five years ; he 
had a family of eight children, all of whom grew to maturity, and five 
of them are now living. Andrew, the second, and subject of this 
sketch, was reared and educated in Wells and South Creek townships, 
and in early life followed the example of his father, working at the 
cooper's trade which he pursued in connection with farming about 
fifteen years ; he fell heir to his father's property. In 1865 he married 
Nancy M., daughter of Gideon and Sarah Ingersoll, of South Creek 
township. The Ingersolls were among the oldest settlers in the town- 
ship. Mrs. Wortendyke in her maiden days was a prominent and com- 
petent teacher in the scliools of the various townships for twent3'-five 
years, and at her present age is a lady of marked intelligence."^ Mr. 
Wortendyke is now living in a neat little home in the village of Gil- 

77 



1302 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

lett; be owns a farm of one hundred and twenty -one acres of fertile 
land, and it is believed tbatthe farm lies above an iron ore mine. He 
has always enjoyed the contidence of his fellow-citizens who elected 
him to tlie office of town commissioner for a term of four years. 

RAYMOND H. WRIGHT, farmer, P. O. Canton, is a native of 
Canton township, this county, and was born July 9, 1865, a son of 
Charles Clark and Elizabeth (Fitzwater) Wright. Charles Clark 
Wright was born in Middletown, Vt., August 11, 1818, and died Janu- 
ary 4, 1889 ; he was a son of Joel and Mary (Ilolbrook) Wright, natives 
of Connecticut. Joel Wright was a soldier in the War of 1813, 
removed to Canton township with his family, in 18oo; he was a car- 
penter by trade, and died in 1866, in his eightietii year ; his wife died in 
1867, in her seventy-fourth year. His father, also named Joel, was a sol- 
dier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Charles Clark Wright in early 
life worked at the carpenter's trade with his father, and invested his 
savings in a land claim (then a forest), where he resided until the 
time of his death ; he was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church 
for more than twenty-nine years. He married, in May, 1844, Elizabeth 
Fitzwater, who was born in Jerusalem, N. Y., January 11, 1826, and 
still survives her husband. Our subject is the youngest of eight living 
children, as follows: Oscar, married to Mary Adell; Diantha, wife of 
Frank Ammerman ; Silas, married to Anna Hatten; Mary, wife of 
John Turner; Clara, wife of Delos Webster; Martin, married to Jessie 
Crandle; Lena, wife of Lawrence AVright, and Raymond II., who was 
reared on the farm and received his education in the common and 
graded schools of Canton borough. He was married in Grover August 
28, 1889, to Addie L., daughter of James and Cassandra (Congdon) 
Rittenhouse, the former of whom was born in Newtield, N. Y., March 
21, 1834, and the latter in same place, February 25, 1839. They were 
married, December 3, 1857, and removed to LeRoy township, this 
county, about the year 1863, and to Canton township in 1882. James 
Rittenhouse is a'^carpenter by trade and resides in Grover. Mrs. 
Wright is the third in order of ^birth in a family of five living children, 
as follows : Dell (wife of Horace Kiff), Byron (married to Nelia Den- 
mark), Addie L. (born in LeRoy, January 20, 1864), Ilattie (wife of 
Elisha Ploom), and Elda, still residing with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wright are members of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, 
respectively; politicallv he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM S. WRIGHT, justice of the peace, and a cooper by 
trade, of Burlington township, P. O. Burlington, Avas born May 3, 1832, 
in Wyoming A'allev, and had friends killed by the Indians in the 
massacre at that place. He is a son of Chancy D. and Elizabeth 
(McKean) Wright, the former of whom was of English extraction, a 
shoe-maker, and also a rope-maker, and quite a politician ; the latter 
was of Scotch-Irish descent. The grandfather Wright was an officer 
in the War of 1812, and died of a wound at the age of nearly one 
hundred years. Our subject was reared as a farmer, and in August, 
1862, enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., 
and at once went to the Army of the Potomac ; was wounded in two 
places in his left leg at Chancellorsville, and laid twelve days on the 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1303 

battlefield ; was taken prisoner, but was soon paroled, tlien exchanged, 
and servetl to the end of the war. He was, for a time, ordei'ly on 
the staffs of Gens. Hancock and Humphreys. January 1, 1860, he mar- 
ried Emily, daughter of Daniel PI. and Lydia (Morton) Lane, of Bur- 
lington, of Scotch-Irish origin, who was born April 24, 1844, and whose 
parents were of the same family as Gen. Lane, of Kansas fame. Mrs. 
Wright's grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather 
fought side by side in the Revolutionary War; her grandfather, who 
died at the age of eighty years, was buried in Burlington township. She 
had two brothers in the Civil War, Alexander and Daniel. She has 
borne our subject seven children, all of whom are living, as follows: 
Willie S. (married to Maggie Fenner), Daniel W. (married to Jane 
Walters), Permelia (wife of Douglass Brown), Homer D., Howard II., 
Arthur L. and Lydia Ma}^ Mr. Wright is a E,ej)ublican and a worker 
at the political wheel ; has been a justice of the peace seven years, and 
is on his second term; is generallv known in all political circles. 

MANASSAH M. YORK, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. W>sox, 
was born March 28, 1821, a son of Amos and Harriet (Hinman) York. 
He has been engaged in contracting, lumbering, milling and boat- 
building, in various parts of the United States and Canada ; he was 
foreman on the ]^orth Branch Canal, and assisted in putting the hrst 
water over it, and has charge of keeping a portion of it in repair. He 
enlisted, February 15, 1864, at Ithaca, N. Y., in Company K, New 
York Artillery, and was in the following battles : Wilderness, Korth 
Anna, South Anna, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and was wounded 
while on picket duty in front of Petersburg, June 17, 1864 ; was taken 
to Harwood Hospital, Washington, D. C., and was discharged on 
surgeon's certificate of disability. May 29, 1865. He returned to 
Wysox, boated on the canal, and contracted in lumbering as long as he 
remained in active life. For several years after the war he carried his 
disabled left arm, but was finally obliged to have it amputated at the 
shoulder. He purchased his present home in 1879, and has resided 
on it ever since. Mr. York married Arila Birchard, and they had 
three children : Nellie H.. Loella and Fi'ederick W. His first wife 
having died April 1, 1879, Mr. York married Mrs. George Fox, of 
Wysox. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post, at Tow^anda, and has 
always been a most loyal Democrat. 

SIMEON A. YORK, farmer, P. O. Wysox, was born in Wysox 
township, this county, October 15, 1829, a son of Amos and Harriet 
(Hinman) York, the former a native of Wysox, and a descendant of 
the old English York family ; the latter a native of Connecticut, and 
of English origin. Amos and Lucretia (Miner) York, great-grand- 
])arents of Simeon A. came to Wyalusing, in 1876, where he was taken 
prisoner and carried to Canada, the mother escaping with the children 
and making her way back to Connecticut ; one of the children died on 
the way. and she was obliged to bury it with her own hands under a saw- 
mill. Her Ijusband, being liberated, returned to Connecticut, and was 
buried one day before she reached there. The paternal grand))arents of 
Simeon A. were Rev. Manassah M. and Elizabeth (Arnold) York, who 
came to Wysox, and the maternal grandparents were John and 



1304 HISTOKY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Hannah (Mallory) Hinman, who came to Wysox about 1701, the grand- 
father having made a previous visit and taken up a farm soon after his 
arrival; he built the first gristmill in Bradford county, on the farm 
now owned by J. L. Morgan, and it was in o))eration three years, 
hence is not remembered by some as the first mill in the county. Rev. 
Manassah Minor York was about the first permanent minister in the 
county, and preached from Wyalusing to Athens. The children of 
Amos and Harriet (Ilinman) York were: Wealthy Ann, married to 
J. V. Woodward, of WiUiamsport, Pa.; Xelson PL, of LaGrange, 111.; 
Manassah M., a one-armed soldier living in Wysox; Harriet M., 
deceased wife of E. A. Coolbaugh ; Saphrona E., E. A. Coolbauoh's 
second wife; John C, a farmer in Missouri; Simeon A., the subject 
of this article ; Penelopy F., who died at fifteen years of age; James 
S., clerk in drug store at'Rockford, 111, and three deceased. Simeon A. 
York has always been connected with the homestead farm and now 
owns seventv-five acres of it. He was married, June 11, 1856, to Jane 
D., daughter of John and Phebe (Kelley) Barnum, natives of Delaware 
county.^l^. Y., of English and Irish lineage, respectively ; they have 
six children, as follows: John, born April 9, 1857, engaged in ranch- 
ing in Montana ; Harriet M., born October 8, 1858, married Lyman J. 
Xorton. a farmer, Hillsgrove, Pa.; Charley H., born August 23, 1861, 
a farmer, Colorado: Mary N., born March 30,1864, married D. A. 
Crawn, of Wvsox; Amos M., born September 5, 1866, and Lizzie F., 
boi-n March G, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. York are members of tlie Presby- 
terian Church at Wysox, of whicii he is elder, Sunday-school superin- 
tendent and president of tiie board of trustees. Politically he was 
formerly a Democrat, then a RepubHcan, but is now separated from 
all partV influences, and votes independently. 

EDWARD B. YOUNG, druggist, Monroeton, was born Decem- 
ber 11, 1838, in Beaver Meadows, Pa., a son of Edward F. and Eunice E., 
(Hinman) Young. His father, who was a native of Oneida county, 
N. Y., was a molder, machinist and draftsman by tiade. As early 
as 1830, he located in Towanda, and later at Monroeton, where he 
engaged in the foundrv business; from there he went to Beaver 
Meadow, and thence to Foundryville. In 1838, he returned to Mon- 
roeton, and operated a furnace' and foundry, which in 1850 was com- 
plete! v destroyed. He immediately rebuilt on the site where PI. W. 
RockwelTs foundry now stands, and to whom he sold in 1864. He 
resided in Monroeton until his death. His wife was a daughter of 
John B. Ilinman, a pioneer of Monroeton, and by her he had two 
children: Marion E. (Mrs. Stephen R. Ormsby) and Edward B., our 
subject, who was reared in his native State. He received a common- 
school education, and most of his life has been spent in Monroeton, 
where he managed the store of D. J. Sweet, for fourteen years, and 
was deputv postmaster during that time. For three years alter the 
war he was in the restaurant business. He had an interest with Mr. 
Sweet in business two years, and since 1888 has been engaged in the 
drug business. He was in the Civil War, having enlisted October 14, 
186'l, in Company F, Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteers, and served four 
years, when he was honorably discharged, having re-enlisted January 3, 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 1305 

1864. He married twice: his first wife was Lou Douolas, and his 
second was Sarah A., daughter of William B. and Mary (Warren) Reif- 
snyder, of Albany, tliis county, and by her he had five children: Car- 
rie' E., Edward F., Willie M., Till. B. and Marion Genevieve. Politically 
Mr. Young- is a Republican. He is a member of the K. of H., the 
G. A. R., and the P. O. S. of A. 

JOHN M. YOUNG, proprietor of " Knight's Hotel," Troy, was 
born in Columbia township, Bradford Co., Pa., June 24, 1841, and is a 
son of Edward and Celinda (Woodruff) Young. His father was a 
native of Lincolnshire, England, and came to America in 1825, settling 
in Bradford county. In 1839 he located in Columbia township, cleared 
a farm, and there he died. His wife was a daughter of Jesse and 
Polly (Dobbins) Woodruff, pioneers of this county, and by her he had 
three children: William J., Henry and John M. Our subject was 
reared in his native township and remained on the old homestead until 
1874, when he engaged in the hotel business at Troy, later at Burling- 
ton, and has been the proprietor of "Knight's Hotel," in Troy, since 
1887. He was married October 18, 1866, to Harriet A., daughter of 
James and Martha (Brace) Bullock, of Columbia township, and has one 
son, Edward J. Mr. Young is a popular and genial landlord; politically 
he is a Republican. 

CAPTAIN ROBERT YOUNG, farmer, P. O.Troy, was born in 
Glasgow, Scotland, June 30, 1819, a son of John and Mary (Anderson) 
Young, who came to America in 1824, locating in Schuylkill county. 
Pa., and later removing to Lycoming county. In 1876 the father 
came to Troy township, this county, and died at the residence of our 
subject, in 1880. Capt. Robert Young was reared in Lycoming county, 
learned the molder's trade, in Williarasport, in 1840, located in Troy, 
where he was employed in the foundry of Seth W. Paine, fifteen years; 
then moved to Tioga, Pa., and engaged in the foundry business for 
himself, two years; in 1857 he removed toWellsboro, Pa., and conducted 
a foundry there until 1863. In Jtme, 1863, he joined, as second lieuten- 
ant. Company A, First Batallion Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was mus- 
tered out after three months' service; he immediately re-enlisted as a 
private in Company A, One Hundred and Seventh P. V. I., and was 
soon after promoted to first lieutenant and later to captain, serving in 
latter capacity about two years, and was honorably discharged and mus- 
tered out of the service in August. 1865. Tie then located m Troy, 
where he was in the employ of Mr. Paine until the burning of the 
foundry, after which he took an interest as a stockholder in the Enter- 
prise Foundry and Machine Works, in Troy, with which he Avas con- 
nected until 1884, since which time he has"^ been engaged in farming. 
Capt. Young was thrice married: first time to Elizabeth Williams, of 
Troy; and second time to Mrs. Eunice Gdmore, of Troy, and third time 
to Mrs. Melissa (Mosher) Lanud, of Troy, his present wife. Capt. Young 
is a popular and well-known citizen of Troy township, a member of 
the F. & A. M. and G. A. R.; in politics he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM W. YOUNG, clerk, Austinville, was born in Mains- 
burg, Tioga Co., Pa., December 22, 1840, and is a son of William and 
Almira (Basett) Young, early settlers of that place. He was reared in 



1306 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 

Tioga coiintv, Pa., until ten years of age, when he removed to Colum- 
bia township, this county, where he has since resided. After reaching 
his majority lie engaged' in farming, at which occupation he continued 
ten years, and since then has been in the employ of the late A. B. 
Austin and J, W. Hibbord as clerk in a general store. Me married, 
July 4, 1861, Sarah, daughter of Abijah and Thursa (Palmer) Ayres, 
of Canton township, and has four children : Austin, Lilian (Mrs. Will- 
iam Watkins), Lizzie and Curtis. Mr. Young was in the Civil War, 
having enlisted March 1, 1865, in Company I, Ninety-seventh P. V. L, 
and served six months, when he was honorably discharged. He is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a Democrat. 

ALFRED D. ZELLER, foreman of the car blacksmith shop of the 
Lehigh Vallev Railroad, Savre, is a native of Sheshequin, this county, 
and was born March 18, 1860, a son of Andrew and Mary (Stickles) 
Zeller, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, who came to this county 
about the year 1851. The father, who was a stonecutter, and, during 
the latter part of his life, a farmer, died in Sheshequin, December 18, 
1880, in his sixty-second year; the mother resides in Sheshequin. 
Alfred D. Zeller, who is the sixth in a family of seven children, was 
reared in Sheshequin, and received a common-school education. Pie 
commenced his trade in Sayre, in 1881, in the locomotive blacksmith- 
shoiis, and was promoted to his present position in r:>ecember, 1890. 
He "was married in Waverly, N. Y., January 22, 1884, to Miss Ilattie 
A., daughter of John and Ilattie (Decker) Codet, the former a native 
of France, a ship-builder by trade, and the latter a native of this county 
(Mrs. Zeller is the youngest in a family of three children, and was 
born in Rome township, this county, December 12, 1864). To Mr. and 
Mrs. Zeller were born four children, viz.: Lora B., Lillie G., Jennie M. 
and Grace P. The family are members of the Bajitist Church, and 
Mr. Zeller is a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, 
Iron Hall and Sexennial League, and is treasurer of the latter. In 
politics he is a Democrat, and was elected one of the town councilmen 
of the borough of Savre in February, 1891. 




Il^DEX. 



PART I. 



Page. 

A brave girl 84 

A land of farmers 19 

Abolition party 289 

AcacU'm ics 315 

Ateident at Towanda 181 

Adjusting the prophecies 268 

Agriculture 19,270 

Agricultural societies 387 

Canton Union society, 4;)2— Farmers' insti- 
tute, 453. 

Alba boroug-h 389, 391 

First school, 390. 

Allen, Gen. Ethan 133 

Allen, Nathaniel 434 

Allis Hollow .. 478 

American Eagle, not web-footed 157 

Amusements in Olden time 64 

Ancient giants ..441 

Anti-Masonic movement 293 

Appearance of country, discovered 39, 40 

Arrest of Col. Franklin 137 

Asylum 393 

Athens township 189,394 

Proprietors, 189-Old hotels, 395— Lots,' 396. 
—No. 1, 398— Indian treaty, 399— Penn's 
purchase, 399— Village platted, 401— Trus- 
tees, Franklin, Satterlee and Shepard, 402 
—First postoffice, 406— Cayuta mill, 406— 
Planing mill, 406— Cay uta Axle Company, 
406, 

Athens borough 408 

Offlcials,4U9— Chemung Viridge 411— Fire De- 
partment, 411 -Iron Works, 411, Hi, 413- 
Principal fires, 413— Old Exchange burned, 
415— Growth of town, 415— Titles, 416— 
Town in 1842, 416— Old stone mill, 417— 
Old stage drivers, 417— Taverns, 417— As it 
was in 1850, 418-First school, 418— First 
ferry, 418— Physicians, 41s— Fulling mill, 
419— PostofBce, 419 -First National" Ban R, 
419— Union Bridge Co., 419— Schools, 420— 
Old Academy, 420,423, 424-Foundry, 424 
—Sheridan's Iron Works, 425— Furniture 
Company, 425— Mattress Factorj-, 425— Car 
& Coach Co.. 425— Planing mill, 435— Flex- 
ible file, 425— SmuU's Tannery, 426— Butter 
Package Factory, 430 -Morlcy's Gristmill. 
426-Townin 1861, 436-Present hotels, 426 
—Business concerns, 426 -Cemetery, 427— 
Whisky Insurrection, 427. 

Sayre borough 427 

Ground purchased, 437— Rail road shops, 438 
—Arbor Association, 428— Water- works, 439 
—Fire board, 439— Railroad division, 439— 
Borough incorporated: first olHcers, 429— 
Cayuta Wheel & Foundry Co., 429— Rapid 
growth of place, 429 -Schools 430. 

South Waverly 430 

Called Factoryville, 430— .lohn Shepard, 
founder, 430— On State line, 431— Incorpo- 
rated, 431— Official, 431— Gas and electric 
lights. 431-Two Herdic lines, 431— Popula- 
tion, 431. 



Page. 

Attorneys 317 to 324 

Austinville 459 

B 

Ballibay 464 

Barclay coal mines 433 

Bai'clay postoffice 432 

Bartram John 42 

Bascom, Henry B 435 

Battle in Bradford county, 103— Battle of 
Wyoming, 88. 

Bennett, Thomas 100 

Bontley Creek 483 

Biddle, Nicholas 217 

Big Pond ■ 4b3 

Bird's-eye view of county, 1813 149 

Blacksnake and Mrs. Ballard 4:15 

Blossl)urg mountain 33 

Boroughs, number of 384 

Boston Tea Party. 280 

Bowman, Jacob 59 

Boy, ye olden time 62, 63, 67, l.'^3 

Bradford county 191 

Called Ontario, 191— .lustices' districts, 193 
—Obstacles encountered, 199— Trustees, 
200— Townships, when formed, 201. 

Brave escape from Indians 100, 101 

Burlington borough 441 

BiitliT, .lohn 88 

Butler, Zebulon 132 



Cabot township. 

Camptown 

Canal 



Canton townsliii* 

Kccdllcctidus, Hoi'ace Spalding, 443— Ezra 
Spalding's ledger, 414— Spalding's house 
burned, 448— First schools, 448— Arrests 
vnider intrusion law, 449. 

Canton borough 

Officials, 45 —Business concerns, 451, 453— 
Schools, water-works, tannery, mills. 451 
—Union Agricultural Society, 452— Farm- 
er's Institute. 452. 

Cannibals 

Captives 83, 84, 88, 100, 102, 

Carr. Robert 

Cash books balanced b.v war 

Centrcville 

Chilloway, Job 

Chubbuck, Aaron 

"Circuit riders" 

Civilization advances inider difficulties ... 

Civilizing Indians 

Claverack - 

Coal 24, 

Cold plague 

Collectors, 1815 

Columbia Cross Roads 

Compromise act of 1799 

Connecticut people 54, 



454 

59 

217 

443 



450 



28 
108 

58 
180 
48!} 

59 
177 
318 

47 

28 
189 
4>3 
436 
187 
459 
143 
127 



1308 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, 



Page. 

Co()lbauf?li, Closes I'''! 

Comity seat contontion 'Ml 

Located, 203 — Org-anized, 203 — Topog- 
raphy, 129— County Poor Farm, 441— 
Where people lived, 203— Retrospective, 
203. 

Courtship, fifteen minutes 162 

Churches . . 351 

Baptist, Troy, 351 — Presbyterians, SSI- 
Methodists, ;i52— Ot East Troy and Colum- 
bia Cross Roads, ;{52— Episcopal Cluuch, 
Troy, 352— Disciples, 352 — Universalists, 
3 '2— Catholics, 352— St. Oohn's, 352-IMeth- 
odists. Canton, 353 — Baptists — Seventh 
Day Adventists of Alba, 3:i3— Di-ciijles, 353 
—Methodist, East Troy, 353— Free Will, 
353— Disciples, <! ran ville, 353 -Free Will, 
West Grain illr, ;i54 — Baptist, 354— Wes- 
leyan Methodist. 354— Universalist, 354— 
Baptist, of Wells and Columbia, 354 — 
Methodist, .Judson Hill, 354 — Baptist, 
Springfield, 3."i4- Universalists, Spring- 
field. 354— Met hoilist, Lcona, 3")5— Method- 
ist, Big Puiid, 355-Mcihnilist, Burling- 
ton, 355— Protest ant Met liodist, 355— Evan- 
gelical, 355— Mctliodist, Canton, 355— 
Presbyterians, :i5ii l)is(ii)le, 356-Baptist, 
356— Presbyterians, Oiwell, 35fi— Brothers 
and Sisters disciplined, 357 — Churches, 
Towanda, 358- I'lcsliytcrians, :!5S Meth- 
odist, 358— Christ Church, 35S-Catholic, 
359— Baptist, 360— Universalist, 360— Afri- 
can M. E., 360— Episcopalian, 361- Method- 
ist, 361— Presbyterian, 361— Catholic, 361— 
Baptist, 361- "Episcopal, 361 — Methodist, 
362— Evangelical, 362— Wysox Church, 362 
-At Smithfield, 363 -At Orwell, 362— 
Keen Summit Cluirch, 363— Raptist, 363— 
Catholic, 363 Methodist, 363— Presbyte- 
rian, 363- Methodist, 363— Methodist, 364— 
Methodist, Le Ravsville, 364 — Methodist, 
Rome, 364— Methodist. Orwell, 364— Pres- 
byterian, Terrytown, 364— Second Presby- 
terian, Wyso.x, .364— Reformed Presbyte- 
rian, :i64 - Ballibay congregation, 365— 
Heri'ick Church, 1365- Monroeton Presby- 
terian Church, 365— Stevensville Church, 
365— Barclay Church, 365— Rome Church, 
365— Church of Orwell and Warren, 365— 
Ridge l{nad riuirch, 36.5— Church of Wells 
and Coluniliia. 3(i5 Presbyterian of Or- 
well, 366 Methodist, Ulster, 366— Method- 
ist, East Troy, 366— Methodist, Liberty 
Corners, 366 -Methodist, Albany, 366— 
Methodist, Wilmot, 366 -Lutheran, 306— 
Universalist. 366. 

D 

Death, violent, Benjamin Martin 181 

Decree of Trenton 120 

Dennison. Col. Nathan 89 

"Divine rulers"' 57 

Door of Six Nations 29 

Dorrance, Col 87 

Dt)w, Lorenzo 436 

Douglas and Lincoln 297 

Drainage 22 

Durell, Stephen, and Durell Creek 391 

Dutch 53 

E 

Early settlers 53, 43.3 

EastSmithfieid 489 

Economic subjects 182 

Education 264, 340 to 3.51 

Elec'tions In 1813 1.53, 384, 387, 288 

First, 291, 448-GeneraI elections, 297. 

Election districts 194, 197 

Elevations 24 

Elliott, .loseph 102 

Eminent people 302 

Evans, Lewis 42 

Evergreen 389 



F 



Page. 



Fall Creek, hamlet 433 

l<"arms in couiit.v 19 

Farmers' Institute 453 

Fassett 490 

Federalist party 284, 288 

Federal Republicans 150 

Female s\itf rage 198 

First white man, 43— settler, 54, 4;53— On 
Susciuehanna, 58— AVhite child, 87— Real 
Democracv, 1 19 Paper, 14S -Prayer meet- 
ing, 4153- P"olitical iiieetiiig, 149— Axe fac- 
tory, 179-(!errymaiidcr, 193. 

Fitch, Lemuel 58 

Five Nations 28 

Flower, Maj. Zephon 108 

Foot of Plane 433 

FortSi'.lhvan 99 

"FortN" settlers ...117 

Fox, Rudolph 54, 83, 84, 87 

Fox, Elizabeth 87 

Franklin, Col. John.. 89, 90, 100, 102,110, 134, 

137, 138, 284, 395, 400 

Franklin township 459 

Burr Ridgeway's recollections of, 459. 

Fraiikliudale 460 

Fricilcnhiitten 44 

"Free press" 353 

G 

Gas 24 

Gaylord, Justus 387 

Geology 20, 21 

(iiddings, Joshua II 418 

Gillett 490 

(4leanings from early papers .148 to 189 

GoddanI, Ezra and Luther, killed 438 

Good versus splendid government 258 

(Joodiitli. E. O'Meara 316 

Gordon, Samuel 83 

Gore, Samuel 101,103,104,107,108 

Goveriniient, best form of 2.58, 290 

Giauleer, .lacob 449 

Granville Centre 463 

Granville Summit 463 

(i raydon 433 

Granville township 460 

First arrivals, schools, first born, 461— 

Draft in 1813,463-Mails and postollice, 463 

Grover 449 

II 

Hagan, Betsey 437 

Half-share rights 134,144, 198 

Hamilton, Alexander 282 

Hammond, Libeus, captured 100 

Hancock, Isaac f>9 

HappyValley 59 

Harrison, W. H., and Tammany Hall. 261 

Death of President 389 

Hartford Convention 179, 3:54 

Hartley,Col »U 90 

" Have I one son left ? " 108 

Herrick township 463 

Named for Judge Herrick, 463— First 

settlers, 463— Ballibay settlement, 464— 

Hon. Gtorge Iiandon, 464. 

Hibbardtown 

H icks, Edward 

History, advance in 

Hollciiback, Mathias 

Homicide, 1.58— Dalton killed Hurlbut. 230. 

Hooker, A. S. ("Wirt Arland") 

Hoover, Casper 



389 



110 
59 



Immigrants 48 

First arrivals. 49 Compared to Napoleon, 

49 Remarkable people, 51. 
ItKlians 27 to 39 

Barbarities, 33— Paths, 33— "Roothojf or 

die," 33— Irotiuois, 39. 



IXDEX. 



1309 



Paoe. 

Infant industries 260 

Insei'soli a captive 83 

Intellectual prog'ress 249 

Intrusion law HO 

Iron 25 



Jackson and Clay 293 

Jai'ndyce vs. Jurndj'ce 319 

Jetl'erson, Thomas 253 

Jenkins, Col. John 287,394 

Joliet 34 

K 

Kinney, H. L 318 

Kinney, Simon 183, 317 

Laddsburg- 389 

Land disiiutes .. 283 

Lamlon, Hon. George 464 

Laixnte, liartholomew 288 

Law. study of 3:i0 

LaAv of averages 249 

Leather breeciies 63 

Leona 492 

LeRaysville 482 

Le Roy township . 465 

First settlers, 465 -On south side Towanda, 

466. 

Le Key village 466 

Letts, Catharine (Mrs. Cole) 110 

Liberty, blessed 252 

Libert J' Corners 471 

Lincoln and Douglas 297 

Lincoln and Trumbull, episode 297 

Litcliticld township 467 

Localhistorv 249 

Log cabin " 69 to 79 

Lord,John 58, 59 

Lott, Leonard 59 

Luther's Mills 441 



M 

McKean, Samuel 

McKean, Thomas •. 

Macedonia 

Madison's message 

Mail routes 207, 

Manors, Stoke and Sunbury 

Manufactures 19, 

Marquette 

Mason and Dixon's line 

Mason expelled 

Meade, Justice David 

Means, William 149,159, 

Mercur, Chief Justice 

" Middle British Colonies " 

Middletown 

Milan 

Mill creek 

Milltown 

Minequa springs 

Missionaric's and traders 39, 

Monroe struggling for county seat 

Monroe township 

Early settlers. 468 to 470 -Liberty Corners, 
471— Northrup Hollow, 471— Westnn, 471— 
Masoutown, 471 — Greenwood, 471— Tan- 
nery, 471. 

Monroe boi'ough 

Moore's Hill 

Mora vian s 

Morrow, J udge P . D 

Mount Pisgah 



437 
287 
393 
261 
208 
117 
270 

34 
283 
172 
132 
201 
305 

42 
483 
540 
407 
394 
450 
560 
201 
468 



472 
540 
.560 
310 
492 



Napoleon, sympathy for 178 

Nations, rise and fall of 34 

Navigating the Susquehanna, 108,109,110 



Pa(ji:. 

Negro suffrage 190 

Slaves. 288, 435-" Cesar," 448. 

Newsi)apers, lirst here 148 to 189 

Then and now s!54, :;57 

Press chaptei- 330 to 340 

New Albany 389 



O 



284, 271 to 280 

25 

435 

42 

191 



Officials 

Oil 

Old church 

Old map 

Ontario, first (x)unty name 

Act creating county, 191. 

Orwell '. 197, 

Orwell township 

Called " Mount Zion," 473— Early settlers, 
474, 477— Church organized, 477— Making 
rails to get marriage license, 477— Orwell 
Hill, 478— Allis Hollow, 478. 

Overton township 

Overton village 

Overton, first name of Towanda J 



Paine Island 

Painter, Philip 

Palatines 53, 

Pawling, Henry 

Pennamites and Yankees 81, 114, )19 to 

Pennsylvania and Maryland line 

Petit inns for new coun'y 

Pike township 

Indiun trail, 479— Josiah Bosworth, 479— 
" Half- Way House," 4i9 — Soldiers, War, 
1812, 479-Welsh Settlement, 481— Welsh 
church, 481— Stevensville, 481— The Pha- 
lanx, 481— LeRaysville, 483. 

Pioneers, character of 41 , 

Persecutions in the Old World 

Politics 149,170,171,172, 

A "Merino ticket," 174, 2.5ii, 257— Begin- 
ning of, 280 — Talk of disbandinji- the 
States, 281— Jefferson and Hamilton, 282— 
Constitution formed, 282 - l'\)un(ling a 
democracy, 282— First meeting.--, 284 — 
Early leaders, 287— Abolition party. 288— 
Countv Democratic, 288 ~" Hunker " and 
" Free-soller," 289— Labor partv, 289— 
"Tylerized," 289— Party platform, 290— 
Farmers' Alliance, 290— Anti-Masonic, 293 
—Jackson and Clay. 293— Presidential elec- 
tion 1888, 300-Election 1890,298. 

Poor Farm 

" Poor Richard's " philosophy 

Population.. •. 19, 

Postage in 1816 

Postmasters, early 

Postoffices in county 212 to 

Potatoes 



477 
4.3 



478 
479 
202 



398 
59 
.54 
.59 
129 
28:5 
199 
479 



44 
41 
173 



441 
253 
3KJ 
188 
207 
314 
384 



Q 



Queen Esther 30,83, 91 

Village 394 

R 

Railroads— 
Lehigh Vallev. 218-Barclay, 218-Sullivan 
and State Line, 219- Southern Central, 2 9 
— G. I. and S., 319-Northern Central, 219 
Miles of road in the county, 384. 

Religion, old time 262 

Return after Revolution 61 

Revolution 79 

— War meeting 1 78 , 8 — Effects of. 25 ■ . 

Ridgeburv township 483 

Centreville, 483-Bent;ey Creek, 483— Mid- 
dletown, 48.3. 

R dgeway. Burr 101, 167, 183. 257, 315. 4.59 

Rivers, Chemung and Sus(iuehanna 399 

Rogers, Jonah • 100 

Roads, tirst 207,210,441 



1310 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Page. 

Knmc township ')tS3 

Biiinptown 4^4 

Home boroURli 485 

Koyultv and lotieh 47,67, 60 

Kinnnu'i-flold. Anthonj' 58, 59 

Itumnu'rliold villat?e 393, 495 

Russia and its miserahles 'SSO 

s 

Satterlec, Col 109,193, 400 

Schools. 340 to 351 

Primitive schools, 340— Master Root, Ben- 
diet Satterlee, Thomas Wijjton, Uriah 
Terrv, David Lake, Eliphalet Mason, 
Theodosia Wells, Mr. Brevost, Clarissa 
Woodruff, early teachers, U t — Free 
schools established, flist county superin- 
tendents, 34 L — Academies, 345 - school 
property, :W8— Scholars by towns and bor- 
ouglis, 3i8— Teachei-s, expenses, etc., 351 
—Teachers' Association, 351. 

Scconis, John, James and Cyrus o9 

SeeU'y, Samuel 393 

"Scscnteen townships" Ill 

First and Second P^-nnamite and Yankee 
Wars, HI to 148— Decree ol Trenton, l:iO 
—Confirming Act, I'^-HaU-share rishts, 
124,144— Sketch of Franklin,lCK— Confirm- 
ins- Act failed, 138— Act repealed, 139— 
Intrusion law, i40— Liti^iated, 140. 

Shawnees, 30 

Shuefelt, Peter 54 

Shepard, John 407 

Sheshequin township 485 

Meanms of name, 48.5— Col. Spalding, 
Judg-e Obadiah Gore, 486— Fi-ankliu Blue 
Stone Co., 487. 

Sheshtiiuin villase • 487 

Simple »nnals of the poor 44 

Simi)S()ii, Thomas 148 

Si.\ Nations 'J~ 

Slocuin, Frances 108 

Smitlilield township 488 

East Smithfield 489 

Snedekerville 459 

Societies 369 

Masons : Rural Amity, No. 70, 369— Union 
Lodge, No. 108, 370— Royal Arch Chapter, 
No. 161, 371— Northern Commandcy, No. 
16, 371— Mt. Moriah Lodge, 371— Trojan 
Lodge. 372— Citnton Commandery, 373 — 
Canton Lodge, 372 Evergrt en Lodge, 372 
—Roman Lodge, 372 Sniitlili»-ld Lodge, 
372— LeRay Lodge, 373-Sisterho()d O.I.H., 
373— Royai Arcaninn, 373— Asa Packer 
Lodge, 373-B. of L., 373-n. of L. F., 363 
—Alumni, 374-Pomona Grange, 374— 
Golden Cvcle. 374— Union Agricultural, 
374-K. ofP.,374-K. of H., 374-l.O.O.F., 
374, 37o, 37ti, 377-G. A. R., 378, ,379, 380. 38 1 
—Sons of Veterans, 379— Iron Hall, 379— 
K.of H..379 Mystic Lodge,379 P.O. S.A., 
380-Buil<ling and Loan, 380— Band, 380— 
U. V. Legion, 380- S. of V., 381— Hull's 
Batt<?ry, 1382. 

South Creek township 490 

Gillett 490 

Fa^sett 490 

Si)alding, Simon 59, 193 

Spanish Hill 407 

Sprlnglield township 491 

.Mount Pisgah, Springfield, I^eona, Big 

Pond 493 

Stalford, J. B 29 

Standing Stone, survey 58 

Standing Stone township 495 

A hist(»rical rock, .595— Settlement aban- 
doned, .59.5— Rummerfield, .5iM)-Standing 
Stone, •'95. 

State road 211 

Statesmanship . • 291 

Statistics 382 

Stevens, Ira 401 

Stevensville 461 



Pack. 

Stokes township 193 

Sullix anV-^ cvpediticm, 91— Centennial of, 99. 

Sullivan Fort 395 

Superstitions 267 

Sus(|ueluuuia Company 58,283 

Suscjuelianna river 23 

Ue.lared highway -^08 

Sylvania 459 



T 



Ta.xables 

Teeter, Conrad 

Terry township 

Teii'\t(nvn 

" I'lie Day We Celebrate " 

The " old man " and hopeful heirs 

The Se\ eiiteen Townships 

Tioga I'oint 

Tioga township 

Tobacco 

Tom jack 

Tories 

Township organization 

Towanda township 

Claverack, 497— Township named, 499— 
Pioneers, 499, 500— Settling the Towanda 
hills, .501. 

Towanda borough 502, 

(Naming the town, 168, 69, 202)— Early set- 
tlers, 502— William Means, !)03— Old red tav- 
ern, ,503— Some of the first in Towanda, .505 
— Bridge, 524— Fire Department,525— Tow- 
anda Gas Co., 525— Electric Light Co., 526 
— Water-works, 526— Towanda Bank, 52r^ — 
First National Bank,527-('iti/.eiis National 
Bank, ,527- Towanda libraiy, 527- Hum- 
phrey B OS. & Tracer's factory, 527— Day- 
ton's mill, 527— Hale's planing mill, ,528— 
Humphrey Manutacturing (^o., 528— Nail 
works, 528— Foundr.v, 528— Furniture fac- 
tory, 528— Toy factory, 528— Business con- 
cerns classified, 531. 

Towanda mountain ... 23, 

Townships- 
Albany 

A rmenia 

Asylum 

Athens 

Barclay 

Burlington 

Canton 

Columbia 

Franklin 

Granville 

Herrick 

liCRoy 



383 
212 
496 
496 
164 

64 
190 
394 
193 
384 
433 

82 
498 
497 



520 



Litchfield... 

Monroe 

Orwell 

Overton 

Pike 



Ridgebury 

Rome 

Sheshequin 

Smithfield 

South Creek.. . 

Springfield 

Standing Stone . 

Terrj' 

Towandas, Two 

Troy 

Tuscarora 

Ulster 



Warren 

Wells 

West Burlington 

Wilmot 

Windham 

Wyalusing .. 

Wyso.\- 

Townships, Four 

To/er, Col. Julius 109, 

Trade with England 260, 

Treason 



39 

388 
389 
£91 
394 
4;J3 
433 
443 
4:.3 
459 
460 
463 
465 
467 
468 
478 
479 
473 
483 
485 
4»3 
488 
490 
491 
495 
496 
497 
533 
539 
541 
544 
546 
551 
553 
556 
559 
576 
189 
401 
261 
363 



INDEX. 



1311 



Paoe. 

Troy township 583 

In 180;j, ri;i:i— Old ruins, 532- Samuel Kock- 
well, .OSii— First mills, 53i— First schools, 533 

Troj- boroush 534 

First house, 533- Horse raeing- in the 
Streets, 534— Rinrs-e.\ c \ie\v of, 534— IJor- 
ous'h olHeials, 53")— I'icrce's i'oeoll(H;tions, 
535-Dr. Almerin Herrick, 535 Eai-ly trade, 
536— As it was in \8'i~. 53t) -Fire company, 
536— Tanneries, 53d- Schools, 536~Farmefs' 
Club, 538. , 

Turnpike, old Berwick 207, 211 

Tuscarora township 539 

Originally Spring- Hill. 539— Samp-mill, 539 
—First burial, 540—" Toad smashers," 541. 

" Two whole families lost " 183 

U 

Ulster township 541 

Oriainally Sheshequin,541— Early Settlers, 
542— Old sravevard, 543— First mill, 543 — 
Milan, 540— Moore's Hill, 510— Ulster vil- 
lag-e, 540. 

Upson, Asa, killed by Indians 100 

V 

Vaccine, first in cou nty 430 

Valleys 190 

V^an Campen, Moses lOJ 

Van Valkenbergs 58 

w 

Walker. Z. F 108 

" Walking- purchases " 4i 

War- 
People driv-en off, 60— Three companies, 
8-i— War meeting-, 81— Committee of Safe- 
ty, 81, 83-War 1812, 181, 253, 221-Mexican 
War, 221— War c.oud in '97, 220— Hollen- 
back's recruits, 22li. 

Civil War, 221 -('ounty responds to Presi- 
dent's call, 232— First Bull Run, 223-War 
meeting, 223 -Number furnished by 
county, 224— County's fallen heroes, 227— 
Meetuig in Towanda, 227— Three compa- 
nies, 227— Sixth Reserves, 228— (Jettysburg- 
monument, 230— Twelfth Reserves, 23l— 
Fiftieth regiment, 231— Piftv-second, 238 
—Seventh cavalry, 2i8— One Hundred and 
Sixth, 2.38— Eleventh cavalry, 238— One 
Hundred and Thirty-second, 239— One 
Hundred and Thirtv-seventh, 239 -One 
Hundred and Forty-tirst, 2o9-Call for 
;i()0,UOO men, 240— Rapid recruiting, 240, 
241, 342. 243, 244— Seventy-se\enlh cavalry, 
344— One Hundred and Seventy-first, 244 
—Two Hundred and Seventh, 247— Emer- 
gency men, 247— Governor's supplement- 
al call, 347— Summary of county's doings, 
247, 248— Bounty raised, 248— Survivors, 
349. [See biographies of Gen. Madill and 
Col. Edward Overton.] 

Welles, Charles F 160 

Welles, James 58 



Welles, Roswell ' -jjjf 

Welles, (Juy .. 149 

Warren township ' "544 

Martell settlement, 544 "Old Clearing,"' 
544— Bowen Hollow, 544--(ioing to mill, 
545— l''irst birth, 545- Taxables In 1804, 545 
—Church, ,546— South Warren, 540— War- 
ren Centre, 546— West Warren, 540. 

Wells townshij) .5.46 

Named for Henry Wells, 546— "Priest" Smith, 
546— First death, 549— School, 550 — Revolu- 
tionary patriots and 1812 soldiers, 550 

Wells vill.ige, .551— Aspinwall 55! 

West Burlington r,r,j 

West Biirlhigtnn village 6,51 

Westni()nlan<l county erected 120, 189 

Westmoreland town 119 

Westover, Cynthia M 342 

Whig party .'.'."..' 388 

Whigs and Tories 81 

Wiles, G. H ;!'.!.'.'".".'..'" 29 

Wiimot, David ggg 303 

Wilmot township '. "' ' 553 

Named for Da\ id Wilmot, .\53— First .set- 
tler, 552— Ingham's purcha.se, 554— School- 
house and burymg-ground, 5,55 — First 
school, 555. 

Wilson, Irad 3^9 

Windham township ...!.. .556 

Draft in War 1812, .556- Shoemaker's mill, 
6.58— First sawmill, 558 — Rafting, 558— 
Going to mill, 5.58. 

Wind ham 559 

Windham Centre ,5,59 

Windham Summit 5.59 

Wyal using 29, .54, .58, 59, 88, 193 

Wyaiusing township 559 

Change, 5.59 — Friedenshiitten, 5.59, 56i— 
Curious river, 5i9— Vaughan Hill, .5.59— 
David Zeisberger, 560-Browntown, 500- 
Judge Stalf'ird, -'jOI- Zeisberger's iouriial, 
562— Exodus, 56.3— Town surveyed, 503- 
Henry Rowling's purchase. 504— Memorial 
Stone, .504— First whites, 56.5— Tragedy at 
Kingsley's, .505 — First tavern, 56.5— JFive 
stills, 565- First church, 565— Return of 
settlers, 567— Election in 1806, .507— Elliott's 
escape from capture, .567— Floods, 568— 
Bridge at Camptown, 5T0— Mills, .571— Pop- 
ulation in 179.5, .571— Roads, .571-Taxables, 
1795,572— Fairbanks settlement, ■'>72— Holl- 
enback's store, ,573— First .iustice, 573— 
Camptown, ,574— Churches, 574— Hornet's 
ferry, 574— Merryall, 575. 
Wyaiusing borough, 675— Incorporated, 575 
— Officials, 575— Creamery, 576 — Industries. 
576. 

Wyoming battle 88, 91 

"Wyoming bed" 108 

Wysox township 576 

Early mention, 193— Was to be "Ke\y 
Baltimore," 202— First settlers, 576, ,577— 
First school-lunise, 578— Pond Hill, 577 — 
Myersburg, ,578. 
Wysox village 578 



PART II. 



A 

Abbott, Wallace D ,581 

Abell, Amaziah A 581 

A bell, Lois A 582 

Abell, Preserved T ,583 

Abrams, David 583 

Ackley, Demmon 583 

Ackley, J. B fi84 

Alden, Hon. John 584 

Alden, Philo E 588 



Allen, Darwin N ,589 

Allen, Ezra 589 

Allen, Henry H 590 

Allen, John 591 

Allen, J. A 591 

Allen, Roberts ,593 

Allen, S. O 593 

Allen, William 593 

Alliger, Cornelius W ,594 

Alliger, Elijah 593 

AUis, Charles H. . 594 



1312 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Allis, Edwin I 

Allis, (icorwe K 

Allis, H. C 

Allis, I. M 

Allis, N.H 

Allyn, Jacob S 

Allyn, Thomas B. .. 
Alvord, Stephen! W. . 
Andei-son, Jeremiah 

Andress, L. J 

Andrews, W. H 

Andrews, W. W 

Angicr, G. M 

Angle, Elea/.er J 

Ang-lc, Philip C. 



Pack. 

. ... 594 

... 595 

.. 5% 

... rm 

.... 597 

... 597 

... 597 

.... 598 

.. 598 

... 599 

... (iOU 

, .. eoo 

... GOl 

... t50:i 

... 601 



Antis<U>l. William tiOiJ 

Arey, Houry W 603 

Arey, James L ti03 

Armstrong, A 604 

Armstrong, Georjre R 604 

Armstrong, William E 605 

Arnold, Corington T 605 

Arnold, Henry C 606 

Arnold, Senaca L 606 

Arnout, Ijevi G 607 

Atwood, Klmer J. 607 

Atwooii, Frederick G 608 

Atwood, Geoige N 609 

Atwood, Rollin C 609 

Avery, Cyrus 610 

Ayer, O. F Oil 

Ayres, Enoch J 611 

Ayres, Jacob J 61:J 

Ayres, M. P 61-' 

Ayres, Mrs. R 1086 

Ayres, Shelly 613 

B 

Bailey, George AV 614 

Bailey, Mrs. Marian 614 

Bailey, Newton J 614 

Bailcv, Robert 615 

Bailey, liodolphus D 614 

Baker, William V 615 

Baker, William W 616 

Baldwin, Vine H 616 

Baldwin, William F 616 

Ball, Jacob L 617 

Ball, Joseph A 618 

Ballard, Charles H 618 

Ballard, Lert J 619 

Ballard, Shepard H 619 

Ballentine, Kev. Georg-e 6-0 

Barbour, James D 620 

Barker, Perley N., M. D 6:^1 

Barnes, GeorKe 6:il 

Barnes, rivssiis 622 

Barnes, William.. 623 

Barrett, lleiny 623 

Barrowclitl, Washin^on I 62:5 

Bartch, Jacob .T 624 

Bartlett, Henry Arthur 624 

Ba.xter, I'riali D 6 5 

Beaman, John W 625 

Beardsley, Chas. 1 626 

Beardsiey, George G 6-.'(> 

Beck. Cyrus 626 

Becker, Joseph 627 

Bcebe, AbMPrM 627 

Beidlcinan, (ieorge .M 628 

Beidlenian, Josejih H 628 

Benjamin, -Vlonzo E ; . 628 

B i!n net t, .lames .. . 629 

Bennett, W. A 829 

Benslev, John G 6:50 

Berrv. Alvin L 6:ifl 

Berry, Woodard 0:{1 

Besley, John 6:11 

Besley, William W 632 

Bessey , Francis E 632 

Best, Jerome E 633 

Biles, Charles 635 

Biles, John A 633 



Page. 

Biles, Peter A 636 

Bishop, Alonzo A 636 

Bishop, .Joseph W 637 

Bixby, Mrs. Clara 637 

Bixbv,G. M 637 

Black, Mrs. Elizabeth 639 

Black, Harrison 638 

Black, John 639 

Black, John H 639 

Black, N. A 640 

Blackman, George W 640 

Blackwell, John 641 

Blackwell, Thos 642 

Blair, A. Strvker.. 642 

Bhiuvelt, Charles D 643 

Bliss. Liston 643 

Blocher, Jacob F 644 

Bloom, Carpenter J 645 - 

Bohlaier, John J 645 

Boland, i)ani-l F 646 

Boland, Patrick 646 

Bonnev,().M 646 

Boslwick, Arthur 647 

Bostwick, John 647 

Bostwick, Wm 650 

Bostwick, Zechanah 647 

Bosworth, E. E ; 650 

Bosworth, J. Alonzo ' 652 

Bosworth, James W 651 

Bosworth, Jasper P 651 

Bosworth, Lewis A 653 

Both wel 1, James L 654 

Boughton, Lyman C 654 

Boiu-ne, Danvers 655 

Bo wen, A nson H 655 

Bowen, Brainerd 656 

Bowen, George A 656 

Bowen, (ieorge W 657 

Bowen. Kichard T 6,58 

Bo^vcn, Zachary T 658 

Bowma n, Frank A 659 

Bovce, Joseph G 659 

Boyd,J. W 660 

Boyle. Francis 660 

Bradburv, Daniel 661 

Brailford, Daniel 662 

Brainard, Spencer S 662 

Brennan, Patrick P 663 

Brink, T.W 663 

Brink, Mrs. G. W 663 

Brink, George W 663 

Brons<m, Samuel N 664 "J M ' 1 

Brown, B.F 666 ' 

Brown, Charles J 666 

Brown, Charles L 667 

Brown, (^lark M 667 

Brown. D. K 668 

Brown, D.S 669 

Brown, Kdward H 669 

Brown, F. S 670 

Brown, Ira A 670 

Brown, .James R 670 

Brown, John H 671 

Brown, J. H 673 

Brown. Mrs. Lydia A «70 

Brown. L. O 673 

Brown, Morris C .674 

lirown, Oscar M 674 

Brown, R. '1 675 

Brown. T. F 676 

Brown, Ulvsses F 676 

Brown, Ifockwell & Co 669 

Brun<lHge. John L. 676 

Brustei.G.C 6*7 

Bryant, .James 678 

Buchanan, Abram 676 

Buck, I'erley H 079 

Buck, Samuel W 6i9 

Biidd, London 679 

Bullington, Rufus C 680 

Bull, Hiram E 681 

Bull, .losci>h 681 

Bullard, C. W 681 

Bullock, C. E. (Canton township) 683 



INDEX. 



1313 



Paoe. 

IJullock. ('. E. (SpriiisliPl<l towii.sliip) C8:i 

Bullock, (i. K 6h3 

Bullock, William A 68;i 

Bunyan,Geo.L «S4 

Burcli, ^^al•cus K 085 

Burcliill Brothers 685 

Burk, Isaac 685 

Bunitt, Charlos H 68(5 

Buiroii«hs, J). M 687 

liuiTounlis, Arthur B 687 

Bush, J . K 688 

Buttles, EUihu 688 

Butts, S.S 689 

c 

Califif, John N 690 

Caliir, Rev. Stephen A 690 

Camp, Charles O 691 

Camp, Geo. S 691 

Camp, William H 69a 

Campbell, A. .J 69i 

Campbell, Chauncy C 693 

Campbell, Daniel 694 

Campbell, D. V 695 

Campbell, H.C 695 

Campbell. .Jesse W 694 

Campbell, Joseiih 695 

Campbell, Josephus 695 

Campbell, Sterling- K 695 

Campbell, William B 696 

Cantield, Clarence W 696 

Caiitield, Daniel C 697 

Card, Charles H 697 

Carey, John H 698 

Carl & Pierce 1084 

Carniodv, John 699 

Carpenter, Philo S., M. D 699 

Carrier, Charles W., M. D 699 

Case, Prank P ' 710 

Case, Hiram A 701 

Case, H. L 701 

Case, Samuel R 70^ 

Case. Warren 703 

ChalTee, Cordis M 704 

Chatfee, D. W 703 

Chatfee, Ephraim 704 

Chaffee, John H 704 

Chatfee, N. P 705 

Chatfee. W. B 705 

Chamberlain, Byron A 706 

Chamberlain, J. W 707 

Chamlicrlain, Milo 707 

Chaiiil 11 Tlain, Samuel 708 

Chandler, H. I '109 

Cnapman, M. C 709 

Chase, Daniel . . 709 

Chase, David 710 

Chase, William P 711 

Chesley, A. N 711 

Child, Charles A 711 

Child, Ruf us W 713 

Chilson, Francis 713 

Chubbnck, L. S 713 

Chiibbuck, O. J 714 

Chubbuck, Rev. S. A 716 

Chubbuck, Traitv J 717 

Churchill, Calvin W 718 

Clapper, John 718 

Clark, Benjamin 719 

Clark, B. M 719 

Clark, Gilbert M 719 

Clark, Harry 720 

Clark, H. L 730 

Clark, J. Fred... 731 

Clark, S. S 721 

Cleaver, Isaac 723 

Cleveland, E. J 732 

Coburn, Franklin 723 

Coburn, J. P 723 

Coburn, Lewis B 734 

Codding-, Edgar H 734 

Codding, James H 727 

Codding-, John A 735 



Page. 

Codding, John AV 727 

Coddinj; \- Wheaton 7:i4 

Cog-swell, I {ela 737 

Cole, ('has. C 729 

Cole, (;. 11., M. D 739 

Cole, David W 730 

Cole, Win. F 731 

Cole, J. H 731 

Cole, William W 732 

Coleman, H(Miry H 733 

Coleman, Mrs. Irene 733 

Coleman, Leroy 73;j 

Collins, nani(!l J 733 

Collins, Timothy 733 

Colony Bros 734 

Colt, Dr. Samuel Fisher 734 

Coraerford, Rev. Thomas J 736 

Conant, Emery L 736 

Conklin, JoseiJli L 736 

Conklin, Sophia L 737 

Conklin, William H 737 

Cook, Cyrus 737 

Cook, Reed 739 

Cook, Willard 738 

Cook, Zeri 739 

Coolbaugh, Chester J 739 

CoolliiMmh, lliistis A 740 

Coolbaugh, .b-Ucrson L 741 

Cooley, Rodney H 741 

Coons, G. M 741 

Cooper, Cort 743 

Cooper, Joseph F 743 

Corbin, Alfred B 744 

Corbin, George G 744 

Corbin, J. T 745 

Cornell, Alvah M 745 

Correll, James W 746 

Corss, Rev. Charles C 746 

Cory. John H 747 

Covell, Albert 747 

Covert, Georg-c L 748 

Cowell, Edward M 749 

Co.x, George H 749 

Craft, Rev. David 749 

Craig-, Mackaj- 750 

Craig, Samuel W. 751 

Crandal, Armenia 751 

Crandal, Charles H 751 

Crandall, George A 753 

Crandall, Gilbert B 753 

Cranmer, Ashbel L 753 

Cranmer, Chester W 753 

Crawford, Hugh 754 

Crum, Harrison . ; 755 

Cuff man, George . . 755 

Gulp, Rulandus 756 

Culver, Lafayette J 756 

Currier, John M 758 

I) 

Daggett, S. 758 

Daniels, Jacob 759 

Daniels. William H 759 

Dare, Charles V 780 

Daugherty. Jabez G 760 

Davidson, J. A 761 

Davidson, Thaddeus B 761 

Davies, Evan W 761 

Davies, E. W 762 

Davies, John D 762 

Davies, Montague A 763 

Davies, William T 763 

Davis, A. M 764 

Davis, George E 'J'OS 

Davis, Samuel J 765 

Dean, John H 7H6 

Decker, Rev. Alex. D 766 

Decker, Edwin W 767 

Decker, P. E 946 

Dekay, Samuel S 767 

Delaney, Weslej^ H 767 

De Lano, Orrin L 768 

Denmark, R. B 768 



13U 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Page. 

Depue.D.D 7C9 

DiTrali, Clmrles U 769 

Desmoiul, Ainlrew itO 

Detrick, Mrs. May A 7.0 

Detrick, Harrison 7<0 

Dettm, Cliivil<'s .J '71 

Dewey, Andrew J va 

Dewey Brothers iif 

Dewey, Floyd... y} 

Dewinff, George F ■ i^^f 

De Witt, William F 116 

Dibble, Joel ^74 

Di(!kinson, Levi S 'i* 

Diellcnbauch, W. S 7ii.t 

Dillin, (ieurg-e & Sons i'i> 

Dimon, Charles ^76 

Dinan, Thomas J. Jr ^*t) 

Dobbins, John E '*S 

Dobbins, William A 7ii7 

Dobbins, William S '^7 

Dodge, John E ;i,i» 

Dotv, Benjamin H ii9 

Donglas, L. H -.9 

Duart, D.H '^0 

Dubert, George W /«0 

Dumond, William E .»1 

Dunbar, Oliver G -81 

Dunham, William H 761 

Dunklee, E. L ;*«2 

Dunn, Bareley ^o^ 

Duruz, Augustus '«. 

Dwyer, Dr. Charles S 'o<* 

E 

Eastabrook, Frank E 784 

Eastabrodks, A, J '84 

Kastabrooks, Charles J 785 

Eastabrooks, Marcus 786 

Eastgate, James H 787 

Eastman, Calvin J 787 

Eastman, John 1 787 

Eaton, William H 788 

Edinger, Peter H ■i89 

Edsell, John W 789 

Edsell, Mrs. Sarali E 789 

Edson, John M 789 

Eighraey, Lewis 791 

Elliott, John H 791 

Elsbrce, A. C 793 

Elsbree,J.L 793 

Elsbree, N.N 793 

Elsbree, Perry H 793 

Elwell, E|)hraim W 794 

Ely, Joseph M 794 

Emery, Jacob 79.) 

English. Orlando 79G 

Ennis, Frederick A 79b' 

Estell, Geo. S 797 

Evans, DavldT 79. 

Evans, Henry 798 

Everitt, Edward A 798 

F 

Fairbanks, Morris 799 

Fanning, Adelbert C 799 

Fassott, .John (^ A 800 

Fee, Andrew 80u 

Fee, Deborah A 800 

Fee, Martin 801 

Fell, Ul v.^^ses M 803 

Field. Oliver D 803 

Finch, Ira 803 

Fitch, E. (i 804 

Fit/.giTald, Cornelius 804 

Fitzgcralii, Thomas 804 

Fleisher. Daniel 80.") 

Fleming, David T 805 

Fletcher, B. Frank SOB 

Fletcher. John P 806 

Flory, William H 807 

FoleV. Thomas F 807 

Follett, James 808 



Page. 

Forbes, Andrew D 808 

Foster, Frederick 809 

Fox, Geo. H 809^\ 

Fo.v, JohnA 810 '' 

Foyle, William 810 ■ 

Franklin, Geo. W 811 

Frawlcy, John 811 

Frazer,J. W 811 

Frazer, N. S 812 

French, Walter H 813 

Fries, Abraham 814 

Frisbie, Addison C 814 

Frisbie,A.G 815 

Frisbie, Frank • 816 

Frisbie, William L., M. D 817 

Frisby, William 817 

Frost, Edward 818 

Frost, E. M 818 

Frost, James O 819 

Frutchey, Reuben 819 

Fnlford, W. R ... 830 

Fuller, Edgar S 830 

Fuller, George L 831 

Fuller, I. C 823 

Fuller, N. A 823 

Fuller, R. J 824 

Furman, Finley 824 

Furman, Hiram 834 

Furman, James B 8.i5 

Furman, John M 836 

G 

Oalligher, William 826 

Gamble, Judson .1 827 

Gamble, Nathaniel N... 827 

Gamble, Thomas A., M. D 828 

Gamble, Thomas J 827 

Garey, R. R 838 

Garrison, Prof. C. P 829 

Gaylonl, H. B 830 

Gaylord, H. P 830 

Gaylord, Joseph 831 

Gavl ird, Justus J 831 

Gaylord, N.J 831 

Gee, Julius 832 

Geiger, J. Valentine 832 

Genung, S. A 833 

(Jeniert, John P 833 

Gerncrt, Stephen C 834 

Gernert, Stephen G 834 

Gernert, William E 834 

Gerould, Samuel W 835 

Gillette, John F 835 

G lailding, Charles E 836 

(;k-ason,L.R 8:'6 

(ileason. Kutus B 837 

G lover, Henry A 838 

Golf, L S 838 

Gooding, E.G 839 

Gore, Abraham 840 

Gore, Charles E 840 

Gore, W. H. H 841 

Gorsline, Abel L 843 

Gould, Ira A 843 

Grace, Addison 844 ■* 

(irace, Thomas 84.5 

( i radv, Francis P 845 

Grant, J. H 845 

G reen, .In mes H 846 

Green, William H. D 847 

Green, Walter K 846 

firegorv, (Jeorge W., M. D 848 

firilliii. Job 848 

Grillith, Joseph P 849 

G riggs, Lucius E . . . . ^ 860 

Grimes. Terrv 850 

Grinnell, Henry G 851 

G rohs, (,"harles N 851 

II 

HaHett,Gco.H 851 

Hattett, JohuW ., 852 



INDEX. 



1315 



Page. 

Hager, Ca'eb S 85'Z 

Hufroman, Francis H •. 853 

Haif>li, John F 853 

Haislit, Harry L 853 

Hai lies, Charles A 854 

HaiiH'sJno. F 8S'l 

Hale, Elias W 855 

Hale, H. W. Jr 855, 1^38 

Hall.Chas.M 85r. 

Hall, Darius Custer 856 

Halloek, H. J 857 

Hamakcr, J. S 859 

Hamm, Aaron 8B9 

Hanimorl v, A. C 860 

Hammond, Chas. N 861 

Hanlvinson, Kichard S 861 

Hannon, James J. 863 

Hannon, Patrick J 803 

Harkness, Stephen D 864 

Harlow, Stephen B 864 

Harps, Titus 865 

Harris, Arthur H 865 

Harris, Charles V 866 

Harris, Nathaniel C 866 

Harshharg'er, David W 867 

Hawthorn, Jas. A 868 

Hayden, Bert 868 

Heath, Wm. S 868 

Heidt, Edward 869 

Henson, Alfred C 869 

Herman, Moses D 870 

Herrick, Edward C 871 

Herrick, Edward F 871 

Hibhard, James W 871 

Hie kev, Maurice 87 1 

H iukock, Francis R 873 

Hickok, A. H 873 

Hiekok, Newton 873 

Hicks, F M 873 

Hisgins, Mrs. Addie 875 

Hill, Chauncey 876 

Hill, Mrs. Dolly 875 

Hill, Ed<iar J 876 

Hil',JohnL 876 

Hill, Jonathan A 877 

Hill. Lorenzo D 878 

Hill, Randolph P. 878 

Hillis, Alliert S 879 

Hinds, AdolphusH 880 

Hinds, John B 880 

Hinds, Mrs. John B 880 

Hoaglin, Orliu W 881 

Hobart, Burdick H 881 

Hoflfman, Charles M 881 

Hoffman, George M 883 

Holcomb, George O 883 

Holcomb, Harvey 883 

Holcomb, Jasper N 883 

Holcomb, Halleck L 884 

Holcomb, Judson 884 

Holcomb, LeRoy 885 

Holcomb & Tracy 884 

Holdridge, Henry A 886 

Holdridge, Howard B 886 

Hollon, Daniel O 886 

HoUon, Guv C 886 

Holmes, George F 886 

Hornet, Charles S 887 

Hornet, Edward 887 

Hornet, George S 888 

Homet, Seth 889 

Hornet, W. H 890 

Honeywell, Nathaniel ... 891 

Hooker, Augustus S 891 

Horton, Elijah H 893 

Horton, Earl W 893 

Horton, George H 893 

Horton, George L 893 

Horton, Horace 894 

Horton, J. B 895 

Horton, J. P 895 

Horton, Miles E 896 

Horton, III v.sses E 8»6 

Horton, William T 897 



Page. 

Hosley, Norman S 897 

Hoslov, Norman S. Jr 897 

Hottcnstcin, Jno. C 898 

Housckuccht, Benjamin J 898 

H<)V(!r, Allen 899 

Hovcy, K. M 899 

Howe, E. A 900 

Howe, Henry 901 

Howell, Howell 903 

Howie, James G 903 

Howie, John «04 

Hovt, L. T 9(4 

Huhbard. F. N 904 

Hutf,J.V 905 

Huggins, Savill S 905 

Hull, Chas. T 906 

Humphrey, Newton 1235 

Hunt, Mrs. Francis J 908 

Hunt, James 907 

Hunt,JohuF 907 

Hunt, Mrs. Wealthy 907 

Huntley, F. H 9r8 

Hurlev, Daniel 908 

Hutchins, Burt 909 

Hutchinson, Lewis H 910 

Hutchinson, Stephen S 910 



Ingham, Abraham M 910 

Ingham. Geo. T 911 

Inman, Mrs. Solome 911 

Innes, Adam 913 

runes, ColinA 9i3 

Innes, Daniel 914 

Innes, Jno. A 914 

Innes, Judson K 915 

Irvine, Charles N 91.t 

Irvine. John M 916 

Irvine, .lames W 915 

Irvine, Robert M 917 

Irvine, Washington !*17 

Irvine, William W 9)7 

Tsbell, Wm. and John 918 

Isbell, Philemon .918 

J 

Jackson, W. C 018 

Jaeoby, E. H 919 

Jakway, S. Atwood 919 

Jarvis, F. H 920 

Jeffers, Moses, Jr 931 

Jennings, Charles E 931 

.Tennings, Henry W. 933 

Jewell, S. H 933 

Jillson, Amos 923 

Johnson, Alfred 923 

Johnson, Frank E 933 

Johnson, George N • 925 

Johnson, H. F S36 

Johnson, T. B., M. D 336 

Jones, Charles F 927 

.Tones. Hei.ry 927 

.Tones, Henry IT 928 

Jones, Rev. John D 929 

Jones,JohnF 929 

Jones, Leonard W 929 

Jones. S.0 930 

.Tones, Wm. H 930 

Jones, Wm. Henry 931 

Joralemon, Charles W 931 

Joralemon. Joseph 931 

Jump, H. D 932 



K 



Kane, Patrick 

Keeler, Alanson L 
Keeler, Ezra P . . . 
Keeler, John G. . 

Keen, John A 

Keen, Robert. 



932 
933 
933 
933 
934 
934 



Kelly, Augutus G 935 



1316 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Page. 

Kelley, C. A 936 

Kelley, Curtis 93i 

Kellogg, Chas 9o6 

Kellogg, Myron 937 

Kendall, F.phraim B 937 

Kendall,.!. W 9^8 

Kendall. Robert C 938 

Kerwin liros 938 

Kerwin, .lames 938 

Kiersted.C. F 939 

Kilmer, (Jeorge W 939 

King, William H 940 

Kingsbury, L. S 940 

Kingsland, J . C 941 

Kinney,(i.A 941 

Kinney, .lames 943 

Kinnev, .lolm I) 943 

Kinsman, Dr. Hinnn T 943 

Kintner, W. H 943 

Kintner, W. M 944 

Kline, .John W 94.5 

Knapp, IJenjamin F 94.5 

Knapp, Edson U 94(5 

Knapi), Robert M 946 

Knitlin, Orrin A 947 

Kram, Lina F 948 

K ram, William 948 

Kramer, .lohn M 948 

Krise.G.F 949 

Kuykendall, Benjamin 949 



Lafferty, C. S 9?0 

Lamb. Harrison 9.)1 

L>imkin, deo. A 951 

I.arakin, .Tames W 9b2 

I,amphere, H 953 

liandmesser, Frederick C 9.53 

Landmesser, Peter B 954 

I.andon. Neuton 9.54 

Lane, Ki'v. Alexander 955 

T,ant', fiiistavus G 9.55 

Lane. Stephen A 9.55 

Lane, Wm. P 9.56 

Laning, Uotert H , 9.5t5 

La tz. Geo 9.57 

Lantz, L'Ster R 9.57, 

Lantz, Mrs. Mary 9.58 

Lantz, Peter 9.58 

l,antz, W. L 958 

Lai)«)rte, IJartliolomew 959 

La porte. F,mi 1 v 9.59 

I>arkin. Michael .1 9.59 

Layman, Peter 9.59 

Le-, .lohn 960 

Lee, .Joseph P 960 

Lee, Thomas A 961 

Lees, James P 96:* 

Leno.x, David S 96.' 

lA'iiox. Edward P 96-' 

Lent, Abel K 964 

Lent, Albert 963 

Lent. Lewis T 964 

Lent, Thornton F 965 

Lentz, George W 965 

Leonard, Henry S 96*1 

Lewis, A. IJ 967 

Lewis, (;..! 968 

Lewis, E. 1) 968 

Lewis, Elmer F 96'.» 

Lewis, Evan ^d^ 

Lewis, Leonard 97(1 

Lewis, W. S 971 

Lillev, McKean 972 

Lillpy, Mial E 973 

Fiiiiilerman, .burob A 973 

Lindlev, Denton G 973 

Lindl.'V. Sh<-ldon H 974 

liOder, Anthony 975 

lii.cwiis, Nathan 975 

Long, Alon/.o. 976 

Long, .Martha . J 976 

Long, Martin J 976 



Page. 

Loomis, Frank 977 

Loomis, Milton O 977 

Loomis, Noah 978 

Loomis, Seth 978 

Lowe, Fred 979 

Lovd, William T 979 

Lull,G.M 979 

Lunn, George 980 

Luther, Hiram D 981 

Luther, Roswell 981 

Lynch, Hugh M 983 

Lynch, Jerry J 982 

L'yneh, Thomas P 983 

Lyon, Geo. F 984 

Lyon,01iverD 984 

Lyon, Samuel 985 

Lyon, S. W 986 

Lyons, Isaac 986 

M 

ISIeCabe, James 987 

McCabe, Hugh 987 

McCabe, Richard 988 

McCain, William W 989 

McCallum, C. A 9P0 

Mc( 'arty, James 990 

McCraney. A. Douglas 991 

MeCianev, Henrv W 991 

.Mc( "raneV, Albert B 992 

Mil )nnald, James 993 

Mr DoiHJUiih, Michael J 993 

MiKaddin, Theodore L 993 

Mad arlane, Edward 993 

McKean, Arthur B 997 

Ml Kian, Henry B 997 

McKee Brothers 999 

McKee, Charles J 998 

McKlnney,A 994 

Ml- Kinney, Huston 994 

>U' Kinney, .Joseph. 995 

MeMahdM, Michael. 996 

McNultv, Michael .1 995 

McPherson. Isaiah 996 

McQueen, John 1000 

Madden, John KOO 

Madill, H.J 1000 

Madill, Thomas F., M. D 1002 

>Iallory, William M 1 003 

Maloney, Lawrence H 1004 

Maney, James B.. 1004 

Manley, Samuel N 1005 

Mauley. Ulysses J 1005 

Maiui, P. J 1006 

Marr, James 1007 

Marr. J. M 1007 

Marsh, Joseph H " lOOS 

Martin, IJev. James A 1009 

Mason. Hiram 1010 

M.ison, .lames G 1010 

Mason, Mary lOln 

Mason, Kobert 1011 

.Masun. Walter 1011 

Mather, James 1013 

Mather, .lohn 1013 

Mather, John C 1013 

Mather. William 1013 

Mattocks, Xathaniel H 1013 

Ma.vwcll, Thonnis 1014 

Ma.\wrll,Wm 1015 

Maxwell, William P 1014 

Mav, D.Smith 1015 

Mav,T.S 1016 

May, William H 1016 

Mavnard, F. M 1017 

MaVnard, H. F 1018 

Mead, Charles F 1018- 

Mceks, Hiram l{ 1018 

Melville, An. bew 1019 

Mer.iir,John I).,M.n 1019 

Mcr.ur. Hodncv A 1030 

Mri-edilh, John 1030 

Merrill, U. A 10"-1 

Middaugh, A.B 1033 



INDEX. 



1317 



Page. 

Miller, Carroll E 1033 

Miller, Frederick J 1023 

Miller, K.W 1033 

jriller, Louis .1 1024 

Millei', Russel 1034 

Miller, William W 1025 

Mills, George B 1035 

Mills, Silas 1036 

Mitchell, Austin 102ti 

Mitchell, B B 1027 

Mitten,W.T 1028 

Mitten, AVilliam 1028 

Moger, Frederick A 1030 

Monro, Geo. P 1030 

Monroe, Alexander 1('31 

Monroe, Arthur B 1031 

Montgomery, Martin 1031 

Moody, Dr. Hf^race M 1053 

Moody, Ulysses & Son 1033 

Moore, Geo. H 10h3 

Morev, P. W 1034 

aror^an, Enos W 1034 

Morgan, Zophar L 1035 

Morley, Dwight 1035 

Morris, J. D 103H 

Morris, Thomas J 1036 

Morrow, Newton J 1037 

Morse, C. T 1038 

Moscrip, Kev. Geo 1038 

Mosher, E. M 1039 

Mosher. James S., M. D..: 1040 

Mott, Rev. A braham M 1040 

Mott, Hiram K 1010 

Mullen, Martin 1041 

jNlulleu, Thomas 1041 

Murdock, Alexander 1041 

Murdock. Georye R 1043 

Murray, John H 1043 

Murray, John R 1043 

>rver, Berlin F 1044 

Myer, Geo. V 1014 

Myers, Wm.G 1045 



Nash. A. J 1045 

Newell, Daniel C 1046 

Newell, E.J 1047 

Newell, J.J 1047 

Newell, Dr. J. K 1048 

Newman, Albert S 1048 

Newman, David C 1049 

Newman, Henry T 1049 

Nichols, O.F..." 1050 

Nichols, James W 1051 

Nicholson, P. H 1051 

Noble, Geo. W 1051 

O 

O' Brien, John 1 053 

Ochs. Joseph 1053 

Oliver, Edwin C 10.53 

Ormsby, Sevellon S 10.53 

Osborn, Daniel G 1054 

Osborne, \V. H 1055 

Ostrander, Chas 10,55 

Overfleld, B. J 10.56 

Overton, Edward 1C.56 

Overton, Lyman C 10.59 

Overton. Nelson 1059 

Overton, Orenzo S 1059 

Owen, Augustus 1060 

Owen, Edward 1060 



Packard, Kileon 1061 

Page, F. T 1061 

Palmer, (Jh.as 106? 

Palmer, li. K 1063 

Park, Benjamin 1063 

Park, Gharles F 1063 

Park, D. F lOCi 

Park, EliasT 1064 



Park, Geo. B 

Park, Dr. Ira R 

Parks, Frank W 

Parks, Harrv 

Paiks, Isaac A 

Parks, William B.... 
Parsons, F. Ashmun 

Parsons, Jesse 

Parsons, Jno. A ... . 

Parsons, J. W 

Paitridge, Edward. 



Page. 
. . . . 1064 
....1065 
....1066 
....1067 
....1067 
. . . . 10B8 
. . . 1068 
. . . . 1069 
.. .1070 
. . . 1070 
....1071 



Passraore, .1. E . 1072 

Paul, Thomas 1073 

Payne, Edward D., M. D 1073 

Pease. .loseph K. 1075 

Peck, Benj. M 1076 

Peck, George S . . 1077 

Pendleton, Fred Albert 1078 

Pendleton, Mrs. Lettie 1078 

Pepper, Raymond 1078 

Perry, R.N 1079 

Pettes, Jno. F 1079 

Phelps, Diton 1080 

Phelps, Henry L lOSO 

Plieli>s, William H 1081 

Phillips, H. F 1081 

Phillips, Israel 1081 

Piatt, John M 1083 

Pickering, William R 1083 

Pierce, E. Corodon 1083 

Pierce, F. H 1084 

Pierce, Israel A 1085 

Pierce, Noble Willis 1085 

Pierce, Stephen 1086 

Pierce. Theodore 1087 

Pike, Frank 1087 

Piollet, John 1093 

PioHet, Joseph E 1091 

Piollet, Louis 1093 

Piollet, Victor E 1088 

Pitcher, Wilton L 1093 

Plants, George 1094 

Pomeroy, C. Burton 1094 

Pomerov, Samuel W 1095 

Porter, A. B 1096 

Porter, Clark B 1097 

Porter, Jasper B 1097 

Porter, Theodore F 1097 

Porter, Cel C 1098 

Powell, Joseph 1099 

Powers, Patrick 1101 

Pratt, C. Mnnville, M.D 1102 

Pratt, Davids., M. D HOI 

Fratt, D. Leoi.ard 1102 

Pratt, Sophronus S 1102 

Preston, Eben L HP3 

Prince, L. D 1103 

Prince.Miles 1104 

Pritchard Jas. T 1105 

Pultz, J. Scott 1105 

Putnam, Edward W llf^6 

Putnam, Ltnuan 1105 

Putnam, Philander H06 

Q 

Quick, W. Clinton H07 

Quick, Mrs. Elizabeth H07 

Quinlan, Edwin E., A. M 1107 



Rahm, John M 1109 

Rake, Oliver B 1109 

Randall, L. D HIO 

Ransom, Miles F IHO 

Rayni nd, W. R Hll 

Reed, Charles HU 

Relvea, Wm 1H3 

Kevnolds, Ezra E H13 

Kevnolds, George F 1113 

Kevnolds William S 1114 

Rice, William HM 

Richards, J. W 1115 

Kichards, Kobert 1115 



1318 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Page. 

Richards, Samuel Y 1116 

Rinebold, Lt'wis 1117 

Kinebold, Ueubt-n 1118 

Rino-, John 1118 

Robbins, Grin (f 1119 

Robertson, J. W 1119 

Robinson. Alphonso L 1120 

Robinson, C. IJ 1121 

Robinson, .loel H 1121 

Roc!<efoll('r, Mrs. Emeline 1122 

KockclVlltr, Robert .1122 

Rockwell, AlbertN 1123 

Roekn-.'U. Delos 1123 

Rockwell, F-dward 1 124 

Rockwell, Elmer A 1124 

Rockwell, Gamajie 1124 

Rockwell, Hiram L 112.5 

Rockwell, Horace W 1125 

Rockwell, .lohn 1126 

Rockwell, .Tosej.h L 1126 

Rockwell, Oscar H., M. D 1127 

Roi'kwell, Samuel A 11 "'^7 

Roekw^'ll, William A 1128 

Rockwell, W. H 1128 

Rockwell, Willis N 1129 

Rodfjers, Mrs. Betsey J 1130 

Rojrers, Burr 1130 

Rotters, Charles S., D. D. S 1130 

Rofrers, James C 1131 

Rosrers. John A 1131 

Rogers. Orlando S 1131 

Rolison, Henrv C 1132 

Roof, Joseph L 1132 

Roof, Thomas J 1132 

Ross, A Ibert S 1133 

Ross, Charles H 113t 

Ross, Devellum 1135 

Ross, Henry A 1134 

Ross, William F 1135 

Rowe, JohuH 1136 

Rowe, Wni. S 113(i 

Rowe, Walter V 1137 

Rowlev. Prof. E. Lincoln 1 137 

Run, A 1138 

Rundell, David M n:« 

Rundell, AVilliam S 1139 

Russell, Asa 1130 

Russell, Austin H 1113 

Russel I, diaries P 1 140 

Russell, C. S 1 140 

Russell, Daniel E lue 

Russell, Joseph P 1143 

Husseil, L. F 1144 

Russell, Stephen C 1144 

s 

Sairs. Frank G 1145 

Sanderson. John F lUn 

Satterlee, C. H 1146 

Siitterlee, John F 1147 

Savajre, Albert W 1148 

Sa.ve, Lewis 1149 

Saxtcm, Adolphus 1149 

Saxton, Charles H 115ii 

Saxton, Franklin 1150 

Saxton, Oscar T 1150 

Saxton, Solon J 1150 

Saxton, Valentine (Granville township) ...1150 

Saxton, Valentine (Troy township) 1151 

Savlcs. Charles G 1151 

Scheutler, KeulKin L 1153 

Schoonover, J. II 1153 

Schrader, J. M 1153 

Sclirier, I^ouis.r 1153 

Schuman, Michael F 1154 

Scott, ("has 1154 

Scott. Frank H 1155 

ScotI, Wititleld 11.55 

Scov.ll. Harrv 1155 

Scovcll Silas .M ' 1155 

Seafuse, ."^amuel M 1156 

Scchrist, W. C .1156 

Sceley, H.c; n.57 

Sellard. L R. 1157 



Page. 

Seward, M. P 1158 

Sexton, Geo. W 1158 

Shaw, Adelbert 1158 

Shaw,Henry 1160 

Shaw, Uriah '1.59 

Shepard 1160 

Shepard, Morris 1 1C3 

Shepard, O'Meara 1164 

Shepard, Dr. Samuel AV 1163 

Shepard, Dr. Silas E 1162 

Sheridan, Robert E 1 1C>4 

Shiner, .Tames W — 1165 

Slioemaker, Abram F 1 165 

Shores, Mahlon W 1166 

Shortelle, Henry W 116(i 

Shuman, .lohn A 1167 

Shumway, Wm ll'J7 

Sible, Henry R 1168 

SiblcMrs. H. R 1168 

Silvara, A J 11«9 

Sims,Wra.R 1169 

Sleeper, Charles J 1 1 70 

Sleeper, George B 1170 

Slocum, John Jay 1171 

Sluyter, Wiufleld S 1171 

Smiley, David 1173 

Smith, AlvahC 1172 

Smith, Cady 1173 

Smith, C.C 1173 

Smith, Clark H 1174 

Smith, GeorgeG 1175 

Smith, G. S 1176 

Smith, J . H 1 176 

Smith, John M 1 177 

Smith, Lester S 1178 

Smith, Prescott A 1 178 

Smith, P. J., D. D. S 1178 

Smith, W. A. and M. D 1179 

Smith, W. H 1179 

Snedeker, Augustus E 1 180 

Snyder, William (Sheshetpiin township) ...11^0 

Snvder. William (Tuscarora township) 1181 

Soper, Collins W 1182 

Soper, Isaac D 1183 

Soiier, John E 1183 

Soper, Walter S 1182 

Spalding, Chester P.. 1183 

Si>alding, Horace M 1184 

Spalding, Israel P 1184 

Spalding, Joseph E 1185 

Silencer, Elijah C 1186 

Spencer, George P 1187 

Spencer, Horace 1187 

Spencer, James E 1187 

Sponslor, Frank H — 1 1 88 

S<i"irea, John D H88 

Stjuires, Levi S 1180 

Siiuires Pembroke S 1190 

Stallord, Frank R UOl 

Stalford.W.H 1191 

Steele, Charles W 1192 

Steiihens, Alonzo R 1192 

Stephens, fra H 1193 

Stethers, Samuel 1193 

Stevens. Achat! us 1194 

Stevens, Asa S 1195 

Stevens, ("yrus L Ij95 

Stevens, I'.henezer L 1196 

Stevens, Elmer F 1'96 

Stevens, Gcia-ge W 1196 

Stevens, Mrs. J. A 1200 

Stevens, Jonathan B 119^ 

Stevens, Joel '197 

Stevens, Oliver W 119^ 

Stevens, Philander G 1199 

Stevens, Silas W 1199 

Stevens, Walter R 1196 

Stevens. William V 1200 

Sti-wart, Rev. John S., D. D 1200 

Stiles. H. A 1202 

Stirton. James '••"•^ 

ftone, < 'has. R 1~'" 

Stone, Wesley n J-'f-J 

Storrs, Jonas F 120* 



INDKX, 



1319 



Page. 

Straviss, Alviii 13i)4 

Streby, 1' rank I 120'T 

StricRhind, Clias. B 1^05 

Strons-, Daniel 12(«; 

Strong, James H 120b 

Strublc, James H l~w 

Strunk, Jacob 1207 

Strunk, Dr. Benjamin T. . 1208 

Strunk, ZibaS 1~0'-' 

Stuart, Andrew J 120H 

Sullivan, JdluiQ 1210 

Sullivan, Stephen 1210 

Sunniu IS, Jolin H 1211 

Sunuiit IS, .Mrs. JohnH 1211 

Sunnucrs, .li)ab. . . 1310 

Summers, Mrs. Sallie 1210 

Sumner, Archibaia B 1213 

Sumner, Georg-e 1211 

Sumner, Jesse 1212 

Sumner, P. H 1212 

Swartwood, Lutlier 1213 

Swajze, Aldcn 121:5 

Swayze, Alden Jr — 1213 

Sweet, Dallas J 1214 

Sweet, James Thcron 1214 

T 

Taylor, Fred 1215 

Taylor, George F 1215 

Taylor. Harris Browning- 1216 

Taylor, Hiram P 1217 

Taylor, HoUis H 1216 

Taylor, James A 1218 

Taylor, John M 1218 

Taylor,J.H 1217 

Taylor,J.R 1219 

Taylor,J.W 1219 

Taylor, Luman D 1220 

Taylor, Orlando 1220 

Taylor, Volney 1221 

Tears, Lewis H 1221 

Teed, W. 1 1223 

Templeton, Hugh 1223 

Terry, James - 1223 

Thomas, Alex . H 1223 

Thomas, Hiram W 1234 

Thomas, John W 1234 

Thomas, Morgan 1235 

Thomas, Rev. Thomas 1225 

Thomas, Thomas F 1335 

Thompson, Burleigh 1237 

Thompson, Charles C 1227 

Thompson, Chai-les W 1238 

Thompson, E. M 1228 

Thompson, John B 1229 

Thomson, George H 1229 

Thornton, Frank 1230 

Towner, Harry L 1232 

Towner, Joseph 1230 

■ Towner, Washington 1231 

Townsend,-S. G 1233 

Tozer, Julius 1233 

Tozer, Ralph 1234 

Tracy, Albert O 1335 

Tracy, Charles L 1235 

Tracy, Elijah G., M. D 1236 

Tracy, EdwinP 1239 

Tracy, George P., M. D 1236 

Tracy, Henry C 1238 

Tracy, Henry W 1238 

Tracy, James G 1239 

Tracy, William 1339 

Trippe, J. Henry 1240 

Trippe, Mrs. Florence V 1240 

Turner.J.C 1240 

Tuton, Edmund M 1241 

Tuttle, Joseph W 1241 

u 

Underwood, William 1242 

Uphara, Levi W 1343 

Upson, William 1243 



V Page. 

Vandemark, John B 1344 

Vandcrpool, Daniel 1344 

Vanderpool, Nelson 1344 

Vandyke, Gi'orgeH 1345 

Vanth'ke, .lames 1216 

Van Fleet, Charles G 1053 

Van Fleet, J. P 1346 

Van Gorder, Daniel 1347 

Van Horn, Luther C 1247 

Van Loan, Frank E 1248 

Van noy, Jacob R 1249 

Vannoy, John J 1349 

Van Wert, John A .13.50 

Van Woert, Samuel 1350 

Varguson, C. H 1351 

Varney, Ira 1253 

Vaughan, Edward W 1353 

Vaughn, James C 1253 

Verbeek, U ri N . . . . 1354 

Von \\"<illlra(lt, Henry 1251 

Voorhis, (ireeley P 1355 

Voorhis, William B 1355 

Vought, Frank M 1256 

W 

Walcott, Amos P 1256 

Waldo, H. Eugene . . 1357 

Waldrou, Joseph G 1358 

Waldron, William N 1358 

Walker, Charles W 1258 

Walker, Edmund L 1259 

Walker, Zephon F 1359 

Warburton, George W. T 1263 

Ward,0. P 1263 

Warner, Draper N . ... 1263 

Warner, John M 1363 

Warner, M.S 1363 

Warren, Charles 1264 

Waterman, Ezekiel N 1265 

Watkins, A 1265 

Watkins, Mial 1266 

Watknis, William B 1266 

Watson, Nelson S 1267 

Watson, Theo 1265 

W attles, John Mason 1267 

Wattles, Sara Pierce 1267 

Watts, A. E 1268 

Watts, Thomas ?i 1268 

Weaver, J.N 1269 

Webb, James H 1269*' 

Webb, John J 1270 

Weigester, William 1271 

Welch, C. H 1271 

Weller, Artemus 1271 

Weller, Nathan V 1272 

Welles, N. A 1273 

Welles, Raymond M 1273 

Welles, Charles Page 1274 

Wells, Charles 1274 

Wells, J. M.... 1275 

Wells, Levi 1^76 

Wells, MarkleC. 12'7 

Wells, S. M 12.8 

Westbrook. John S 12*8 

Westgate, O. B • • •1279 

Wetherbee, G. W 1280 

Wheatlcy, William 1280 

Wheatori, Mrs . Au gusta S . . . 1281 

Wheaton. Frank M 1281 

Whcaton, Samuel A 1^81 

Wheaton, Sevraour M 1281 

Wheeler, En-ign W 1282 

Whitakei, Harrison L 1283 

Whit-, Charles E 1283 

Whitney, Andrew J 1-8^ 

Wickizer, George 1-8^ 

Wigstein, William J 1384 

Wilco.x, George W 1285 

Wilcox, John L 1285 

Wilcox, LucindaM I-85 

Wilcox, S. A 1287 

Willcox, Freeman N 13o< 



1320 



HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. 



Page. 

VTillcy.G. H 12S8 

Willi:ims,A. D 12-<8 

Williams, Frank !289 

Williams, H. N 1289 

Williams, John 1290 

Wilmot, n. G 1290 

Wilson, Kiiistus 1291 

Wilson, Utnihon 1293 

Wilson, Stt-iihcn F 1293 

Will-ton, Moraran L 1292 

Woloott, Lclaiid O 1293 

Wolcot t, T. D 1293 

Wolf, Horace L 1294 

Woir.Nelson 1294 

Wolf, lU'nseloar 1295 

Wolfe, Goo. H 129.5 

Wolfe, Horace 1295 

WolfcHoseaC 1296 

Wolfe, .John H 1295 

Wolfe, Peter 1296 

Wood, Heebc AV 129V 

Wood, Chas . C 1297 



Page. 

Wood,C. M 1298 

Wood, Francis 1298 

Wood, J. M 1299 

Woodliiirn, Sidles M., M. D 1299 

Wood in, Allen 1299 

Woodniil, Ceo. E 1300 

AVoodnitl, Wll iam W 1300 

Wooster, Alton M 1300 

Wortend vke, Andrew 1:501 

Wright, Raymond H 1302 

Wrght, Wm. S 1303 

Y 

York, Manassah M 1303 

York, Simeon A 1303 

Young, Edward B 1304 

Young, John M 1305 

Young, Robert 1305 

Young, Wm. W 1305 

z 

Zcller, Alfred D 1306 




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OCT 1968 



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